Four Hours

Knowledge is the death of research — Walther Hermann Nernst, German Physicist 1864 – 1941

Four hours left…

Tharlia had to stifle a yawn. It had been her choice to work the night shifts at the lab so she couldn’t really complain that she never slept. Working at night not only allowed her to continue her lessons during the day but it gave her almost totally unsupervised access to the specimen. She felt her hearts quiver as she looked at it.

The stasis pod itself was nothing to be excited over. Lacklustre grey metal surrounded what should be clear glass, it was however tainted by the deep frost on the inside. The pod wasn’t of their own design, it had been found floating aimlessly in space. It had collided with one of the military patrol crafts. It was badly scarred but obviously durable as no leaks had appeared. The inside was frozen but it couldn’t have been from the cold recesses of space. Perhaps it was just how this race functioned.

They had set the pod on a course for extremely slow defrost. They didn’t want the being in the pod to have life pushed on it too quickly. What if it couldn’t survive in their World? She sighed and glanced out of the observation decks window. The sky was a deep shade of sapphire, the shades of blue trying to draw her into a sombre mood. She jumped as the comm screen screamed to life. She didn’t know why such an annoying beep was needed. It wasn’t like it was ever loud in here.

She moved to press the accept button and wasn’t surprised at all when she saw it was only the computerised text she was used to. Why waste time actually talking to the scientists? They were only the ones on the front lines doing all the work. In truth she had never met her bosses, she had been hired through the employment bot which had come to the stagnant, depressingly grey hole she lived in. They had apparently read her thesis on life in other Universes and wanted to hire her for their top secret agenda. She could understand why the government wanted to keep this quiet but still it made it hard to talk to others about her work.

She glanced at the screen once again to make sure she had read the message correctly. She was to begin the neural screening. Was that even possible at this stage of deep freeze? Not to mention she didn’t want to think of the pain she would be causing the poor being with the drills. Yet, she was a good little drone and did as she was ordered. Pressing a few buttons she had to admit she watched in fascination as the pod door slowly opened. A few more button presses ensured that the drills were lowered slowly from the ceiling. They neared what she assumed was the head of the being; this process definitely wouldn’t work if it wasn’t. The drills almost tentatively touched the ice as if deciding where best to begin. Finally they plunged deeply into the ice and began their whining movement. They made quick work of the cold barrier but Tharlia felt, much to her astonishment, her stomach churn somewhat when the whining increased at what she assumed must be the skull. Ruby red liquid tried to escape the tracks made but another button press ensured the openings were seared. The drills slowly removed themselves allowing the black wires to carefully enter. A screen lowered to viewing level and flickered to life before her very eyes. She wasn’t sure the being had any thought patterns left in tact but it was worth a try. She sat forward as images began to appear…

…There was darkness and pain. It was never ending. The cold harshness of deep, dark black space. Stars sparked to silver infused life and were snuffed out just as quickly. There was darkness. There was pain. An emerald planet with sparkling sapphire blue oceans. A flash of a blade. A mouth screaming. Blood pouring like a river. An attack. An army. So many dead. An explosion. Unending grief, and then… utter loneliness…

…Tharlia had to drag her eyes away from the rest of the imagery, momentarily unaware there was tears streaming down her cheeks. Was this what the being dreamt of while stuck in their frozen prison or was it something more? Was this the last moments of it’s existence branded forever in its DNA? Tharlia almost hoped it was the former. No one should experience something like that no matter where they came from.

Shaking off the effects of the screen, she ensured everything was recorded to be sent to the higher ups. Let them think of it what they will. She didn’t want to watch any more so only left the wires in another nano second. Finished, she ensured the wires were properly removed and the wounds seared shut. What if they had caused the being irreparable damage? Her colleagues always laughed that she was too soft for this job. Maybe they were right.

Recordings safely sent she sat back to study more of the life signs of the life form. She felt like nothing more than a keeper, she wasn’t a true scientist. If only there was some way she could prove herself better than her peers.

Three hours left…

Tharlia stifled yet another yawn. She hated to admit she had gotten distracted. The shining sparkle of the moon seemed far more interesting than work that was tantamount to babysitting. The rocky surface outside beckoned her; she was an avid climber, something unheard of for a scientist. Apparently they were all supposed to be geeky. Well nerdy tendencies aside she had outside likes too dammit.

She sighed, looking back towards her frozen charge. Did they have likes, interests, hobbies? Were they even nice? They’d never heard of life on other planets until her thesis and the military discovery. Just because they were out there didn’t mean that they should be sought out. She’d had no reply from her bosses yet about the recordings either. Her damnable curiosity had her wanting to try the drills again, completely forgetting the images had overwhelmed her last time. She theorised the planet she had seen was the one that had exploded. What a shame, it seemed to be a beautiful, peaceful sort of place. Would she do untold damage if she were to use the drills again?

She sat forward in her chair, a daunting yet almost impossible to ignore idea coming to her mind. She wondered if the drills would have less of an effect on the subject if they were more defrosted. It was risky. She didn’t know if the being was peaceful but she was already seeing images of the awards she could achieve if she worked on her charge on her own. What fame and fortune would come!

She moved toward the temperature control, her hand hovering as the last vestiges of good sense left her. She could do this, she would do this. Any danger the subject could prove surely couldn’t be that substantial. They had had the being here for years before Tharlia had come. Steeling her resolve, she pressed the button to increase the temperature in the pod. There was no immediate alarm so evidently her bosses can’t have noticed yet. There was no great difference anyway, apart from the slightly increased condensation on the inside of the glass, probably only noticeable by her due to the fact that her vision had always been really good. At least she told herself that to make her feel better.

She sat down to monitor the beings statistics, noting the blood pressure had risen considerably. Slivers of unease crept through her soul. She was the only one there this night shift. What if the subject was too much for her to handle? Allowing panic to consume her, she decided to administer a sedative to ensure the beings compliance. She watched in fascination as the hyperneedle came down from the same hidden place in the ceiling as the drills had. The pod door again slowly revealed it’s prize. Perhaps she was a sadist, she felt a little amount of satisfaction as the long, lethal looking needle plunged without hesitation into what she hoped was the neck. Sedatives always worked best there, allowing the chemicals to enter the veins quickly. Others preferred to use the hearts but it could prove to be fatal and Tharlia couldn’t afford that in so many ways.

Retracting the needle quickly she let that same original panic spur her to shut the pod even quicker. She sat back, a small sense of relief washing through her at the fact that so far she had been successful. What if she had been caught mid needle thrust? She’d hate to think what would happen.

She shut her eyes, just for a moment, and let her mind wander. The cold and grey landscape surrounding the lab was at a stark contrast to her home. She missed the deep shades of emerald that made the hills the natural beauty spot they were. The deep mahogany chocolate of the surrounding forest had always called to the very essence of her soul. She knew that if she hadn’t been that motivationally driven to become a famous scientist she would have gotten a job somehow linked to the forest. She didn’t however need her fathers mocking tones and condescension if she should have picked anything but scientist. The man was a real demon about science.

A screaming beep tore through her reverie as well as an ice cold bucket of liquid would have. What now? She wondered, somewhat perturbed at being interrupted. She needed to focus on stealing this discovery right from underneath her bosses noses. She grimaced. She was well aware that in a very short space of time she’d gone from a quiet geek to an impassioned usurper but she was desperate to prove herself to colleagues that see her as nothing but a little woman, and a father who thought she would amount to nothing.

The scream of the comm screen sounded again and she pressed the accept button a little harder than was perhaps necessary. It wasn’t the message she had been expecting from her bosses. The text showed it was the engineering team that monitored the equipment of the entire complex. They had noted a change in the systems in the lab. Could she please check and let them know. She glanced quickly at the pod hoping not to see anything too drastic. What if they had noticed because the being had broken out somehow. Instead she saw that everything was the same. Well the same except that the ice was now noticeably thinner. Was that a peach skin tone she could see? She waited an appropriate amount of time then replied that all was okay on her end. She hated lying to them, knowing that now they would spend ages checking all of the individual systems to find where the fault lay. They couldn’t know what she had done, no one could until she had seen it through to the end, come what may.

Two hours left…

Panic was now rising in her throat like bile. Time seemed to stand still. The beings statistics were rising at an incredible rate. Lung function was accelerating but not yet to the degree where they could wake up. She tapped on the screen so she could monitor the beings neural pathways. It appeared the earlier invasive procedure had made little difference as she literally watched signals race across the board. She had never seen so many impulses, it astounded her. Another flick of her finger on the screen and she could see the essence of a DNA strand of the subject scanned by the sensors in the ceiling. It was incredible. There seemed to be the basis of all DNA, the double helix, but seemingly fused to the centre was a third strand, making it a triple helix. There was also so many more hydrogen bonds than was normal. What could this mean? From this information alone she could win prestige but she wanted, no needed, more.

She felt her mouth constrict. She needed things to happen sooner rather than later. She didn’t know what would happen should she be discovered. It was strange, she didn’t really think of whether the being was dangerous, all she could see was the fame and fortune that she needed.

Lost in thought, she barely noticed that some of the ice had fallen away; not enough to show the features of the being but she could see some of the writing at the bottom of the pod. It seemed to be engraved into the dark metal, who would go to such an effort? She moved closer to the pod, straining to determine what it said. She was fluent in a few languages but this resembled none of the modern ones. She knew about a few ancient dialects but again this stumped her. She found herself almost mesmerised by the swirling circular design. It echoed an ancient dialect she had studied in lessons, although it was far more beautiful in orientation.

Squinting, she struggled to remember what she had learned. She sounded out the words to see if they felt right.

“L… Lar…st… Ha… ooo…,” there was ice blocking off the middle of the sentence so she went to the end. “Way… re… Knoe… lege… all.” Tharlia sighed in disgust. That made absolutely no sense to her. Why hadn’t she paid more attention in lessons? Deciding, perhaps ignorantly, that it was nothing to worry about she went back to her console.

Moments later that damn comm screen beep echoed through her skull. She would love one day just to smash the thing up but while she was doing something so dangerous she fought against the urge. She really didn’t want to purposefully draw attention to herself. She pressed the accept button in agitation, willing the sender to disappear. She almost swallowed her tongue when she saw it was her bosses. They were still viewing the recordings but they would inform her of their findings soon. In the meantime they had had reports from engineering that faults lay all over the lab and she was to go into the viewing room to check them out. She should only report back if she found something urgent. She had a little time until engineering finally figured out what was going on. By then she would hopefully have all the knowledge in the World; but actually go into the viewing room when defrost was almost complete? Not in their lifetimes.

Her eyes shot to the pod. She could have sworn there had been movement just then. Was the being finally waking? It was too soon, she wasn’t ready. She could feel hyperventilation trying to set into her psyche. She wasn’t ready… she wasn’t ready…

One hour left…

Things were going from bad to worse. There had been faults she had blindly ignored, feeling they were reporting solely on what she had initiated. She bashed the screen as it displayed something else. The lighting system was failing. Some would consider that a small problem but it did nothing for her piece of mind. Soon another screen popped up, the comm network was failing. That was fine by her, it meant no more beeping headaches at least, though she supposed it should worry her that she essentially couldn’t contact her bosses.

She glanced at the pod, hoping, praying that everything was all right in there. She knew the being would be out soon and she needed them to stay alive. What would happen if life support failed? Her hopes for the future and her dreams of fame would die with the subject. She watched dispassionately as some more ice broke away from the glass. She could now see the entire sentence within the pod but it mattered little as she couldn’t make out its meaning.

Suddenly, a harsh fire broke out within the viewing room. Only then did she notice a warning saying that the wiring was failing for all the machines. How had so many faults gone unnoticed? Had she blindly ignored them in quick succession assuming she was the centre of everything and it was all her doing with the pod? She cursed her own ego and ran into the viewing room willing the water system to come on until she remembered she had had a warning about that too. She looked wildly about for anything that might prevent the fire from spreading. She had no desire to go up in flames but more pressing was that she couldn’t let the being die either. He was her meal ticket. She looked into every lonely corner of both rooms until eventually her eyes landed on the pod and she wondered if their guest was unaffected. They seemed so, though she was now shocked that she could see the features. Their guest was a male, tall with peachy skin and some facial stubble. She moved closer. He would’ve been handsome if he had more resembled her race. Still her hearts gave a little flutter as she stared.

Suddenly, his blood shot chocolate eyes shot open and focused solely on her, a stark contrast to her now fearful deep black ones. His eyes became all that there was. The heat from the flames faded to the back of her awareness. His breath misted on the glass as his eyes stared unblinking and froze her to the spot. She could feel centuries of hate and despair directed towards her and she wondered fleetingly if he even saw her or was he reliving the last few moments before he was frozen. She watched, almost in slow motion, as a gigantic hand shot forth and shattered the glass of the pod. She hadn’t realised she had been bent towards him until his gigantic hand curled around her weak neck. His grip tightened and she knew instinctively that it wasn’t about her, not really. She smiled at the fact that that was the first unselfish thought she’d had all night.

She felt her life slipping from her and thoughts came to her sporadically almost like waves crashing against a cliff… what had she done?… shouldn’t have turned the temperature up… she was so selfish… so blind… what had she unleashed on her World… should have told bosses… should have checked comm screen… …damn warnings… … can hear screaming beep… … … so cold… … … … please help…

Time’s up…

From: Boss C Tulanie

To: Scientist Tharlia Balen

Importance: Extreme Urgency

Scientist Balen, leave the lab immediately. We have had reports that along with the other faults the stasis pod has accelerated its defrost rate, not unheard of in some cases. However we need to isolate that lab. We have finished the viewing of the recordings and found the specimen to be highly dangerous. Our ancient records show it is the last human being, sent into space before their planet Earth was destroyed after an interplanetary War some centuries ago. After decoding the images we could see they implanted the knowledge of their race into that sole being that drove him to insanity and implanted maniacal tendencies. Coupled with the infection in his DNA we cannot risk exposure to our people. Terminate immediately and retreat. That is an order.

Last human being – Beware – Know that the blind pursuit of knowledge destroys all.

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Thank You and Goodbye :)

Morning dear friends 🙂

I have to warn you, this is one melodramatic post coming your way 🙂 I am shutting down my blog for now. Recently,  I received back my novel draft for Incarnate. The person who proofed it for me, I’m not going to lie, was pretty harsh. Harsh but funny, how does that even work? 🙂 Anyway, because I am an over emotional obsessive wreck my heart pretty much ended up like the picture I have added above. Oh I can tell you, it was the end of the World last night, nothing would ever be the same again etc. 🙂 I am such a drama queen 🙂

BUT… I could see the value of every single point he said. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in that situation but when someone points out the flaws in something you’ve spent years loving and doing, it’s heart-breaking but it can open your eyes to points that you were just too blind to see. I hold no grudge against the person that proof read my work. He has shown me that I need to stop and take a look at the direction my writing is going 🙂

SO… I have decided I am going back to basics. I am going to put Incarnate aside and concentrate on improving my writing as a whole. I may go back to it at a later date. There is no way I can stop completely as I just love writing too much. However, I need to research, practice, do something to improve myself. I can’t have distractions from this so I am shutting my blog and closing my twitter account so that I can work solely on something new and focus on that completely. They will be shut tonight. In the mean time I will be posting a sci-fi short story I recently submitted to an anthology that got rejected (no shock there then lol) to make sure it is here for when I come back… if I come back 🙂

Thank you for all your love and support and go see J. S. Collyer, she rocks 🙂

Zero by (the always exceptional) J. S. Collyer

Hi lovely readers 🙂

As most will know I’m a bona fide fantasy nut; give me a World full of magic, swords, sorcery and adventure and I can be gone for hours. However, there are times where even I will branch out my literary interests and diversify to broaden my knowledge; also, who isn’t completely in love with Mr Darcy? 🙂 My first understanding of sci fi came from reading my mothers books. She had a fabulous series by the late Anne McCaffrey called The Tower and the Hive series; the first book The Rowan. I remember being taken by such strong female leads in a World where science and technology runs on the power of the mind. I love creative and original stories along those lines.

To which, Zero is the début novel from my wonderful friend, and admittedly my writing hero, J. S. Collyer. It’s a literary slice of ooey gooey space pirate cake that leaves you not only wanting but needing to know more, especially after your damn lucky eyes have taken in the epic ending. This is a multi layered piece rife with exceptional writing, adventure, in-depth character development, adventure and oh yes, lasers; but did I mention adventure? I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy and my goodness all I can say is: as soon as the sixteenth of August gets here buy this book, you won’t be disappointed.

Kaleb Hugo is a Service man through and through; he lives, eats, works and breathes that life like no other. He’s positive he’s the best, most focused soldier… until one fateful day he ignores the commands of his higher ups and moves the ship he’s in command of to attack a perceived weakness in the War. What came over him? To the public face Hugo is disgraced, demoted and hated; but in secret he is promoted to Captain of The Zero, a beat up space ship concealing more than just a dented hull; it’s a ship that can get under the radar and accomplish things most Service ships couldn’t. Hugo has to act as a contact for the Service, keep an eye on the missions and report back to his superiors. He didn’t, however, expect to find those on the ship that were loyal, steadfast and perhaps the only friends he could remember having. What would await them in their coming missions?

I cannot begin to tell you all the things which are great about this novel, but I’ll give it a jolly good go anyway. J. S uses such literary diversity that simply pulls you straight into the Universe she has expertly created. I love the velvety feel of language such as ‘Hugo had admitted to himself long ago that Death was something he’d accepted into his life like a friend. Or a lover. It followed him like a phantom.’ Now before you ask yes this is from the first page. Heck it’s the first few lines. I didn’t want to give too much away about J. S’s stellar narrative. However, this is just a small example of what I love about her language use. Unlike many authors, she doesn’t try to make the language too archaic and stiff (don’t ask me why but some authors think stories are better like that) but she keeps it natural and flowing allowing the narrative to just slip into your subconscious and hold onto your interest for many hours before you even notice. She also has an uncanny ability to not alienate readers by being too scientific, if you catch me. She smoothly traverses into the science part of her science fiction in such a way that even someone as daft as me can understand it and thoroughly enjoy it. This is what makes her such a stunning writer.

The part of the novel I really liked however is that J. S. manages to reach into my chest and crush my heart into a million pieces (God how over dramatic does that sound?). I won’t give any details away but there is a part of the narrative that I’m not ashamed to admit brought a tear to my eye. The crew must endure a soul destroying time and the adversity which follows not only at the time but a year later as well. You can really feel the emotion in the writing which in turn forcibly drags your emotions to the surface and waves them in your face. It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt such a response to a book that it had me enthusing about its author. It’s incredible.

Please, please, PLEASE buy this book when you can. Not only will you be getting a jolly great read but you’ll discover a literary World you may never have experienced before. You’ll love every minute. I’m still going to buy a hard back copy of the book and beg J. S. to sign it, it’s just that great.

Thank you 🙂

Requiem

Hello lovely bloggers 🙂

I am so pleased to finally be able to say that I finished my short story to submit to the epic Dagda Publishing. They have a new anthology, much like the wonderful Tuned To A Dead Channel, coming out with the theme of technology gone mad and I found an idea flowing straight out of me. Hopefully it will be good enough to make the book; I truly enjoyed writing it. This is an excerpt from the beginning. I hope you enjoy 🙂

Requiem

 

They say pride cometh before a fall. They weren’t wrong, Ana grimaced.

 

Why was she thinking of scripture now? She had a lot better things to do than think of mythology. She wobbled slightly on the support beam and had to refocus to centre herself. She had a job to do and she couldn’t afford to screw it up. This hinged on her actions.

 

She waited and she watched, checking her dual pistols as she went. They’d seen better days and were now the older model of the MK34’s but Ana loved them. They’d never let her down. Her longsword, made of hypersilver, shimmered at her back. Hypersilver was incredibly hard to get hold of on the Earthen black market but Ana had her ways; not to mention so many Eupounds it made them drool with delight.

 

She sighed. Where was the target? She knew she was no saint when it came to punctuality but tardiness in a Bot was beyond a joke. They were supposed to be the be all and end all of Humanity weren’t they? She sighed again as her patience wore even thinner.

 

Eventually there was movement below her and the target came into sight. She had chosen a deserted corridor of the station as she needed no questions. Yes her actions were sanctified, but not to the uninformed.

 

She dropped silently behind him and waited for the usual revulsion to surface. How could someone, anyone, willingly submit themselves to the Cleansing? They were taken up to the Bot home and never seen again. Soon the remnants of their previous lives would appear among the stagnant buildings left on the surface and each time Ana felt sick. She shook herself. This was no time to think of that. She drew her pistols and pointed them at his back.

 

“Nice to see you again Chancellor.” She watched as he slowly turned round and had to smile at the dispassionate shine on his robotic face. He too had once been human and submitted to the Cleansing. Not one shred of humanity seemed to be left.

 

“Be gone, pest” he replied in his metallic voice. It would have shredded the hearing of normal humans. Luckily Ana wasn’t normal.

 

“Now Chancellor, you know that’s not going to happen,” Ana began, resting one pistol on her shoulder. “The Order has sent me to collect payment and that’s what they’ll get.”

 

“You will get no currency from me,” he replied, and his monotone mechanical voice grated on her already stretched nerves.

 

“Ah Chancellor, the time has passed that you could buy us off. Payment is now in what’s left of your life.” She could tell the Chancellor wasn’t impressed with her threat. She wasn’t sure Bots were even left with any sort of emotion. Next time she would ask.

 

Slowly she cocked her pistols and allowed the threat of them to hang between them. He seemed as unimpressed as he had always been and moved to charge her. Ana quickly rolled backwards, shooting as she went, allowing her momentum to increase the lethality of the lasers. Unfortunately they merely bounced off the shining metal that passed as his skin. Evidently the Chancellor could afford a better Cleansing than most. She sighed as she landed back on her feet and drew her sword. At this point she didn’t even bother to move but allowed the Chancellors momentum to carry him forward. She watched in only minor satisfaction as what was his neck connected firmly with her blade, followed by the thud of his head unit hitting the cold floor. No true emotion surfaced at the act, but then it never did.

 

She sighed as she turned to survey her work. The Chancellor lay in two neat pieces with not a single drop of blood flowing. She hadn’t expected any really. Everything organic was discarded in the Cleansing. Still, she moved to crush the head. If left to it another Bot could come along and reassemble the pieces making the Chancellor whole once again.

 

It was a strange sort of immortality that Ana loathed. For some reason, the central personality core was stored in the head unit, so the best way to ultimately kill them was to crush the head.

 

Job done, she turned to leave. The constant death and conflict seemed to be weighing on her more of late. She sighed and made her way back to her entry point. She was used to jump ships, transportation, hell – even an old fashioned aeroplane drop off. This time was different.

 

This time she had been bundled into a cargo box with one air hole and had ended up on this Bot Hell. She was then told that after she was successful; she almost liked her superiors confidence; then she would have to jump from the platform, blessedly still in Earth’s atmosphere, with only a parachute as support. Suffice to say she wasn’t optimistic about her chances of surviving. Then again, she never was…

 

Writing Out Of Your Comfort Zone

In writing, creating any sort of World from nothing can be difficult. You have to wait for your Ping Moment and even when it comes you could struggle to find the fire to go on creating. You must be blessed with an idea so imaginative that the characters talk to you, helping you to define the story along the way. Now what do you do when you’re writing out of your comfort zone?

I don’t like to think I am set in my ways but I am a born and bred fantasy writer. Oh I will try to create in the genre of poetry but I will always come back to my fantasy writing. There’s just something about creating a World full of sorcery and excitement that I can’t seem to resist. You have so many options before you; you could create fantasy tinged with reality such as my novel I Cast Magic Into The Darkness, or blatantly seductive fantasy laden with the mythological such as my second concept for a novel Frozen.

Just recently however I decided to see if I am able to branch out on my writing skills and I decided to submit a short story to the wonderful Dagda Publishers for their next anthology of stories. The hurdle for me is that they require the story to be of the science fiction genre. I have nothing against this genre and I find it as stimulating as all the others. My hurdle is that I am not very versed in it. I find it stimulating that it takes just as much creativity as fantasy but with subtle differences. I must swap sorcery for science, magic for technology and bows for pistols. I will not be daunted however. I am excited at the prospect of trying something new and relish the opportunity.

I highly recommend people try the same.

Also if anyone is looking for an inspirational writer to help them with their science fiction skills I recommend a good friend of mine J Collyer. Unlike myself she is very versed in this genre and has the ability to come up with ideas bordering on sensational. Her blog is full of hints and tips that will get your story soaring, just as mine has done.

Anne McCaffery… RIP You Are Missed

Today it’s time to talk about some great nineties Sci-fi/fantasy. If you attempt to write fantasy, like me, and you have never heard of this author you should be ashamed of yourselves 😉 Anne McCaffrey has graced us with her wonderful writings for decades now and though she has sadly passed on (RIP) her works live on through their wonderful nature and through the work carried on by her son Todd McCaffrey, an author and self-proclaimed geek. He started working on one of Anne’s series, the Pern Series, before her death and they have worked collaboratively on several novels. Reading just one book of the many she has produced both during life and after her passing you will find yourself immersed in a World of fantasy, science fiction, imagination and (somehow) reality. The Worlds she creates are so real and much like several of the other books I have written about, you will find yourself needing to read more.

Her multiple works count among their number her Dragonriders of Pern series, her The Tower and the Hive Series and her Acorna series. I can tell you with some authority that all her works are marvelous but I have to concentrate on her The Tower and the Hive series as they have always been my favourite. They are based around women with telepathic and teleportation abilities that form the backbone of the FT & T world federation for… well basically they make different Worlds in different Galaxies function. These women are known as Primes and are all linked together through their considerable mental agility. I will do individual book reviews as and when I can but I love this series for how real Anne McCaffrey makes them. They are powerful beings but she deals with complexities like relationships with men of considerable character and mental abilities of their own, mental handicaps and loneliness. You will find yourself drawn into the Worlds and love every single minute of reading each book as they have a smooth tempo and immersive vocab. The first one is as the picture shows entitled The Rowan and I highly suggest you pick it up for a read 🙂

What do you think? 🙂 Thank you 🙂