Friday, September 25, 2015

Give Me Yesterday by K Webster




Title: Give Me Yesterday
Cover Design: K Webster & Elle Christensen
Genre: Contemporary Romance
 Release Date: September 25, 2015



Blurb


High powered divorce lawyer, Victoria Larkin, is known as the ice queen. Tough. Emotionless. What they don’t know, is that ten years ago, she lost everything. Including her hope for the future. 


Chase Monroe struggles with his own demons. Devastated by guilt and on a mission to correct his past, he uses his skills as a college psychology professor to help others move beyond their grief. 

When Victoria is forced to attend grief counselling, she meets Chase, and there is an instant attraction. Chase is determined to help her confront her past and find happiness. Victoria is afraid to relive her pain. 

Just as they begin to step forward, tragedy strikes and throws them backwards, and they find themselves, once again, shackled to the past.

Can Chase and Victoria find the path to a happy future together? Or will they forever be wishing for yesterday?








Purchase Links

AMAZON TO US / UK
B&N / KOBO






Excerpt

Clack. Clack. Clack.

The angry clicks of high heels on linoleum thunders through the buzz of voices in the room, alerting me of our newest arrival before she even emerges from the hallway. I check off her name on my list and fold the paper, tucking it into the back pocket of my jeans. Lifting my eyes to the doorway, I await the notorious Victoria Larkin.

I’m not sure what I’m expecting.

Maybe a monster with bright red claws.

Perhaps a manlike woman with bulging muscles and a bowl cut.

What I don’t expect is a gorgeous, angry angel.

A blonde, blue-eyed woman, despite it being a casual, Saturday afternoon, fills the doorway with her fierce presence and perfectly styled hair. Whereas everyone else, including me, is wearing jeans and T-shirts, she’s overdressed and out of place in her white silky, long-sleeved shirt that’s tucked into her crisp, black pants. Her lips are blood red, as if she snacked on the ducks that live on the pond behind the community center before arriving and match her glossy, spiked heels.

Her nostrils flare in resentment as she surveys the room. Disdain paints her features as she makes quick work of eyeing up everyone in the room, clearly judging them before she meets them. I’m sure Bill seems like a dirty old man flirting with sweet Glenda. And Nate, probably appears to be some goofy goon as he guffaws at a joke Claudia tells him.

The way she lifts her nose in the air in a haughty manner has me bristling with irritation. What she doesn’t see is Bill, the man that used to cry at every session over the loss of his wife of twenty-three years, is finally beginning to smile and test the dating waters after three years since her death.

What she doesn’t see is Nate, a single father of three, who despite his laughter, aches for the loss of his wife Cindy in Afghanistan. He struggles each day to be mom and dad to his little girls.

What she doesn’t see is me, a psychology professor that teaches about the five stages of grief, but most days, I'm fighting depression and the self-loathing that threatens to swallow me up.

She may be sexy as hell—rockin’ the whole naughty librarian look—but her insolence grates on my nerves. Her holier-than-though attitude leaves a sour taste in my mouth and a desire to defend every single one of my friends to her.

When her sapphire eyes meet mine, relief washes over her features and I sit up to face the woman head on. She ignores the diarrhea promised cookies Glenda offers and stalks over to me. With each step, I admire the way her full tits bounce with the fabric. She may be a bitch, but she’s a hot one.

Instead of introducing herself, she sits on the chair beside me and clasps her hands in her lap, lifting her chin high in the air. I watch with interest as she then glances at the time on her expensive watch and huffs.

“Jesus, I swear. People have no respect for other’s time. Time is money,” she gripes. “When a meeting begins at three, I expect it to begin at three. Not three-oh-five.”

I raise a dark brow at her and steal a glance at the clock on the wall that reads one minute till three.

“Bastards,” I agree, with a chuckle. “Some of us have shit to do.”



Also Available


AMAZON US / UK




K Webster


K Webster is the author of dozens of romance books in many different genres including contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. When not spending time with her husband of twelve years and two adorable children, she's active on social media connecting with her readers.

Her other passions besides writing include reading and graphic design. K can always be found in front of her computer chasing her next idea and taking action. She looks forward to the day when she will see one of her titles on the big screen.

You can easily find K Webster on:








Elle Christensen


I'm a lover of all things books, a hopeless romantic, and have always had a passion for writing. Between being a sappy romantic, my love of an HEA, my crazy imagination, and ok, let's be real, my dirty mind, I fell easily into writing romance.

I'm a huge baseball fan and yet, a complete girly, girl. I'm an obsessive reader and have a slight (hahaha! Slight? Yeah, right) addiction to signed books.

I'm married to my very own book boyfriend, an alpha male with a sexy, sweet side. He is the best inspiration, my biggest supporter and the love of my life. He is also incredibly patient and understanding about the fact that he has to fight the voices in my head for my attention.

I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoyed writing them!





Giveaway

The Poet And The Prophecy by Cecilia Tan

Cecilia Tan
THE POET AND THE PROPHECY: Magic University Book Four
Release Date: September 15, 2015


Synopsis


Kyle Wadsworth has mastered sex magic, dreamwalking, and even poetry in his years at Veritas. But in this conclusion to the Magic University series of new adult paranormal fantasy romance, Kyle begins his senior year full of doubt. Will the dire ancient prophecy he has been studying come true if Kyle cannot find true love? The signs of the Burning Days seem to be everywhere—odd storms,
earthquakes, and people losing their magic—and though Kyle has many loving friends and eager acquaintances, he has no true love in sight. The only person in Kyle's heart is Frost, and the last time they laid eyes on each other, it didn't end well.

Frost has a troubled past and deep secrets. Kyle begins to hope, though, when it appears he and Frost will be in a class together. A poetry class. Maybe Frost will start to thaw after all, though Kyle has a long way to go from nemesis to lover. If the prophecy speaks true, our hero will need love to keep the world, his friends, and himself from losing magic forever.

What Others are Saying


"The Magic University books really need to be read all together to be understood. You should definitely grab all four books and get comfortable – you’re in for an exciting ride! The Poet and the Prophecy is a satisfying conclusion to the series, and one that adult Harry Potter fans will no doubt enjoy." —Lucy Felthouse, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"I love that in The Poet and The Prophecy Kyle needs to draw on everything about himself to succeed, from his talent as a poet to his bisexuality. How often do bisexuals get to save the world in books? Kyle accomplishes things that a 'typical' straight hero would fail at, including the 'enemies to lovers' relationship we've all been waiting for since book one." –BookPost

"Tan has long been one of the foremost voices in writing and publishing erotic scifi and fantasy. With her New Adult paranormal romance Magic University series, Tan combines her favorite elements from the Harry Potter books with LGBT characters and eroticism. Her protagonist Kyle Wadsworth, studying at the secret magical university Veritas, learns to harness sex magic to combat sirens and
prophecies alike. With Kyle starting out knowing less than Jon Snow, he experiences the kind of in-depth sexual apprenticeship that Anastasia Steele should have learned at the hands of Christian Grey." —Tor.com

"Very nice series of books that I look forward to rereading some day. The frequent description of 'Harry Potter for Adults' made me fear it would be totally derivative, but it really wasn't." —BookLikes


Buy Links






In the Series



The Siren And The Sword (Book #1)

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo



The Tower And The Tears (Book #2)





The Incubus And The Angel (Book #3)

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Kobo



Meet the Author


Cecilia Tan is "simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators
in contemporary American erotic literature," according to Susie Bright. RT
Magazine awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and their
prestigious Pioneer Award. Tan's BDSM romance novel Slow Surrender
(Hachette/Forever, 2013) also won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in Erotic
Romance and the Maggie Award for Excellence from the Georgia Romance
Writers chapter of RWA. She lives in the Boston area with her lifelong partner
corwin and three cats.

Author Links:






Girl On The Run by B.R. Myers

Pre-Release Blitz ~ Katie In Denver by R. Colora

Blindfold Volume 2 by M.S. Parker and Cassie Wild

Bindfold2RBBanner

Blindfold_Vol_02

35fe1-add-to-goodreads-button31

button synopsis

I knew it wasn't my fault that my boss, Isadora Lang, had gone missing. I was just her assistant, not her bodyguard. Why, then, did I feel so guilty? Right, because I'd been fooling around with her older brother, Ash, when she'd been taken. Worst mistake of my life.


When heiress Isadora Lang disappears from her house, her brother Ashford is convinced that she's been kidnapped. The police, however, do not believe him. They think she just left on her own. As more time passes, it becomes clear that something isn't right.

Be sure to check out the second sizzling installment from M.S. Parker and Cassie Wild's Blindfold series.

buy links


button Books in this series

Blindfold_Vol_01


button About the author

M.S. Parker
M.S. Parker is a USA Today Bestselling author and the author of the Erotic Romance series, Club Privè and Chasing Perfection.
Living in Southern California, she enjoys sitting by the pool with her laptop writing on her next spicy romance.
Growing up all she wanted to be was a dancer, actor or author. So far only the latter has come true but M. S. Parker hasn't retired her dancing shoes just yet. She is still waiting for the call for her to appear on Dancing With The Stars.
When M. S. isn't writing, she can usually be found reading- oops, scratch that! She is always writing.

Cassie Wild
Cassie Wild loves romance. Ever since she was eight years old she's been reading every romance novel she could get her hands on, always dreaming of writing her own romance novels.
When M.S. Parker approached her about co-authoring Serving HIM series, it didn't take Cassie many second to say a big yes!!

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M.S. Parker

Cassie Wild

tour-host-ouaa

Never Forgotten by Stacey Nash





Never Forgotten by Stacey Nash  
(Collective #3)  
Published by: HarperCollins 
Publication date: September 1st 2015 
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult 


Synopsis ~

Continuing on from Forget Me Not and Remember Me, this is the thrilling third novel in
Stacey Nash's unforgettable series.

Since the strike on Collective territory during Anamae's rescue, things have taken a turn for the
worse. Unprovoked attacks on innocent people have Anamae and her friends fighting day and
night to minimize the damage. With hundreds of lives lost, morale amongst the resistance
fighters has plummeted. But that's the least of her worries.

Manvyke still has Anamae's mom, Annie, secreted away somewhere and after the way they
parted, Anamae worries it's not at her mother's bidding. Maybe Annie's disappearance all those
years ago wasn't her choice. But with Manvyke scouring the world, there's something far more
pressing than the need to find Anamae's mother ...

It's a fight against time to find the other keys before Manvyke. In his hands, the three relics couldunlock enough power to reek a much worse havoc than the current issues at hand. If the
councillor gets his hands on those keys, civilization will bow down.

THE RACE IS ON!




Buy Links ~

Amazon | iBooks | Google Play | B&N | Kobo



Excerpt ~

We’re too late.
The minute I step out of the alley with my crew of resistance fighters I can tell. Blood, so
much blood everywhere. And the silence. You’d think in the midst of such horror it’d be loud:
people screaming, wailing, crying even. But it’s not. The silence is almost deafening.
My heart constricts like someone tugged at its laces.
We’re too late.
We can only help the survivors now and that’s the horrid truth. On autopilot, I walk thenrun to the closest victim. A woman sprawled on the ground, blood covering every inch of her, so
I can barely make out the color of her blouse. She moans when I hold my fingers to her neck,
checking for a pulse.
Not too late for her, thank god.
“I’ve called 911.” Will’s voice echoes through my mind. Even with the lack of inflection
due to the telcom I can hear the sorrow in his words.
“Damn it,” Jax says through the same tech device, “we’re getting later each time.”
And he’s right, we are. More people perish with each attack and all because we can’t
reach them in time to intercept the Collective. I’ve never felt so useless.
The woman groans—a long drawn-out noise like no other I’ve ever heard—and slowly
sound returns to the scene. Moaning, whimpering, noises of pain, and my friends’ voices pitched
low and soothing as we reassure the wounded it’s okay. They’ll be okay. Even though sometimes
we know that they won’t. Like this woman. Each ragged breath now comes a little shorter and
sharper than her last. I hate the damn Collective for stealing people’s lives, but she doesn’t need
to see that.
“I’m here. You’re okay.” I rest my hand on her sticky arm.
Her breath hitches, she gives a last weak heave and she’s gone, her head rolling to the
side.
We are too late.
The saddest thing in this whole mess is that I can’t cry. I’ve seen so much it’s like
nothing’s left in me but hatred. My compassion is drained. I glance around trying to decide where
I’m needed most, but too many dead and wounded lay in the open-air amphitheater that it’s
impossible to know where to turn next. In places, the bodies pile on top of each other, just lying
where they fell.
So much loss and devastation and for what? Because the Collective want to send a
message to us; that they’re in control, that the resistance is hurting more people, not helping.
Somehow I don’t think us backing off will help.
A guy walks toward me, his T-shirt—an advertisement for the main band—a tattered
mess with his bloody shoulder peeking through a gaping hole. His eyes lock on me, but they’re
unseeing, glassed over like he’s retreated inside his mind. He steps over and around those on the
ground as if he knows right where they are without looking.
Hate isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about the Collective.
I dread the day we might turn up to find one of my friends, like Cynnie or Xane. I’m not
sure how I’d react, but I like to think I won’t see them. That neither of my free-thinking friends
would be involved in something like this, regardless of agent duty.
It doesn’t take long before the wail of sirens fills the air and as the paramedics arrive on
the scene, we’re no longer needed. Jax and Will both appear at my side looking as somber as I
feel. Today we have another person who’s seen too much, left with too little, and has no choice
but to port with us. We can’t leave him for the Collective’s clean up.
Jax takes a look at the ragged, zombie-like guy and says, “I’ll catch a ride with one of the
others.”
I nod, any words I might have had stolen by this day’s horror, then grab my charge and Will to
port us out.




Book Trailer ~






Meet the Author ~

Stacey Nash writes adventure filled stories for Young Adults in the Science Fiction and Fantasy
genres. She loves to read and write books that have a lot of adventure, a good dose of danger, asmattering of romance, and KISSING! Hailing from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, she
loves nothing more than immersing herself in the beauty and culture of the local area.
Author of the Collective Series and the Oxley College Saga. 

Author Links:








Giveaway ~


Regina Shen Series by Lance Erlick



Synopsis:

Outcast Regina Shen is forced by the World Federation to live on the seaward side of barrier walls built to hold back rising seas from abrupt climate change. A hurricane threatens to destroy what’s left of her world, tearing Regina from her family. Global fertility has collapsed. Chief Inspector Joanne Demarco of the notorious Department of Antiquities believes Regina holds the key to avoid extinction. Regina fights to stay alive and avoid capture while hunting for her family.

Book Links:



Excerpt:

Richmond Swamps, June ACM 296
A gray Department of Antiquities patrol boat motored across our path. I paddled into a cattail-covered cove, kept a wary eye for alligators, and waited for the gray-uniformed agents to leave. In the morning heat, sweat trickled down my neck and soaked my green canvas top, causing me to itch. I ignored the irritation and swarms of black flies.
“Regina, we should go home,” Colleen whispered from the front of my log-boat.
“We’ll be fine, sis,” I said to keep her calm. “School is safe.” I hoped.
While there was ebb and flow to life in the swamps, three patrol sightings so far this week were unusual, and it was only Thursday. Something was up.
The Antiquities boat finally headed up the channel. We crossed and tied the mooring rope to reeds below our school. I made sure the log-boat was secure and hidden from view, in case the patrol returned. Then I led Colleen up the rocky incline beside stilts that kept the wood-frame buildings above water.
Colleen and I hurried to our respective classes. There was no one in the clearing between the buildings, on the stairs, or at the tiny balconies by classroom entrances. I ran up the steps, pushed open the rickety wood door, and dropped my wet, muddy boots beside others on a stone slab inside.
School was the best part of my day. I didn’t have to watch my twelve-year-old sister, since she was secure in her own classroom. Mo-Mere, our nickname for our teacher, Marisa Seville, brought the dozen girls in her class warm soup of beans, turtle, and spuds.
My favorite part: she let me touch real books—brittle paper ones, yellowed, edges worn, with stories that tickled my mind, stories the World Federation had purged from the Mesh-cloud. Mo-Mere’s books made the six-days-a-week slog through miles of swamp in a hollowed-out log worthwhile.
“Regina,” Mo-Mere placed her weathered face next to mine and whispered in a warm voice with a tough edge. “You might be my best student, but that doesn’t excuse tardiness.” She pinched my cheeks to let me know she meant both comments.
She was too kind. Though I was fifteen, doing seventeen-year-old work, I took too much of Mo-Mere’s time. She was like a second mom to me. In fact, the other girls gossiped that she was my donor mother, providing half her DNA to Mom to conceive me in the local fertility clinic. Mom refused to talk to me of such matters.
Mo-Mere nudged me toward the four rows of four small tables facing the front of the room. “Take your seat. I was telling the class I received a report of a Category-5 hurricane bearing down on us tomorrow night.”
I shrugged. This would be the second big storm of the year.
A new student sat in the first row, in front of Mo-Mere’s rough-cut maple desk. I took the vacant seat next to her, where no one else wanted to sit, so I could learn without all the distractions of the older girls whispering. Mostly they gossiped about how I had a little girl’s body. My hips hadn’t filled out, and I refused to stuff my bra like two girls did.
We all wore the same faded green canvas trousers and pullovers. Raw canvas came in one color, dull green, and most of us Marginals had nothing to barter for expensive dyes. Mo-Mere said if I studied hard, she might get me into the university on the other side of the Great Barrier Wall, in the Federation proper. “You could become a Professional and have a real future.”
Yet life outside the Richmond Swamps seemed unimaginable. This was the only world I knew, unless you counted the literary world of banned books by ancients such as Charles Dickens, Isaac Asimov, and David Brin.
Compared to the river and swamp channels, the classroom felt small, boxy, and musty, though I didn’t mind if it meant I could read.
“Let’s pray to the Blessed Mary,” Mo-Mere said, as part of our Federation-required morning ritual.
Tapping my foot, I mumbled along with the other students, paying no attention to words as distant as the world beyond the Great Wall, a massive concrete structure that separated us from the Federation. They accepted only one religion, though it seemed to me they’d picked the wrong one: devotion to Mary Devereaux and the other Grand Old Dames.
Our teacher pointed a gnarled wooden stick at the board on the right side of the room. “Let’s recite our Twelve Commandments.”
I mouthed by rote, recalling phrases with what Mo-Mere called my photographic memory. “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not leave the Marginal swamps without Federation permission.” Blah, blah, blah.
“Everyone should live as a Marginal swamp rat for a year,” Mo-Mere said, “before complaining about their life.” She made this sound like a badge of honor, a way to build character and help us survive in our drenched world. She’d said this on my first week and repeated it whenever a new student arrived.
“Who can tell Beth how the Community Movement and Federation began?” Mo-Mere’s intense eyes looked from student to student. When no one volunteered, her sharp eyes drilled into me until I nodded.
She expected me to give the official answer for the new student, another chance to stand out so the older girls could ridicule me. It didn’t matter. They wouldn’t be friends with the “little girl” no matter what I did.
While I longed to be out, making preparations for the storm, my heart raced to recall official histories. I wanted Mo-Mere to like me so she’d let me read precious books she hid from other students. “You’re the luckiest of the lucky,” she’d told me. She only accepted students whose mothers could barter food, clothing, or other necessaries. Those whose moms couldn’t pay had to drop out.
“Three centuries ago,” I said, “our atmosphere warmed, glaciers melted, and oceans rose, destroying croplands. The Great Collapse threatened to destroy civilization. The Community Movement rose up to establish the World Federation. They restored peace in order to save us.” The last was a big lie. They restored peace so they could be in charge and remake the world in their image. To do so, they purged all knowledge and books from Before the Community Movement (BCM).
I didn’t add how GODs ran the Community Movement and its World Federation. Their notorious Department of Antiquities controlled all electronic information on the Mesh, eliminating anyone and any information that threatened their control. Even those were just words to me. I’d never seen the Federation, GODs, or the Community Movement, although Antiquities patrols made their presence known.
I stopped my foot from thumping on the creaky wood floor.
Girls behind me snickered. “ Restoorr .” They were making fun of my Federation accent, which Mom and Mo-Mere insisted I learn. It made me sound like Beth and some of the other newcomers.
Mo-Mere’s face hardened. “That’s enough.” She looked around the classroom then at me. “Very good, Regina. With waters rising, the Federation built the Great Barrier Wall to our west to hold back the seas and protect as much cropland as they could.” She gave the same introduction to each new student. Listening to it again had me squirming in my seat.
“Why are we on the wet side of the Wall?” I blurted out, since Marginals had helped build the Wall centuries ago.
Mo-Mere scowled at such an obvious question. “Why don’t you answer for Beth’s benefit?”
I shifted my bony rump on the wood seat, hung my head for disappointing her, and gave the official answer. “Marginals were cast out of the good lands after they rebelled.” Except my ancestors had been in the Federation at that time.
“And?” Mo-Mere prompted.
“We must work hard to prove our worth to the Federation.” I looked up. “But every year, the waters swamp more of our lands. Soon, we won’t have anywhere to live.”
“That’s why you must work for a chance to go to their university.”
“But—”
“Regina Shen! That’s enough. See me after class.”
While pretending to frown in shame, inside I smiled at the chance to spend more time with Mo-Mere. Looking around, I realized I’d dug a bigger grave for myself with the other girls. I wanted to learn, even if they didn’t.
Mo-Mere stood in front of her desk, towering over me. “This storm could be the worst in my lifetime.” She let that sink in.
Worst was relative. Each storm took homes and land, and made us scramble, but they were all bad. She seemed more worried this time.
“Since the storm isn’t expected until tomorrow night, school will be open in the morning, unless your moms want you home. Don’t take unnecessary risks. If you do come, bring examples of how you’ve prepared. In order to survive, we must share with other students and neighbors.”
She looked around the small room to be sure we were listening. “Find the highest shelter you can with protection against storm surges. Make sure you have emergency supplies, including medicines. Think about how the storm will affect your gardens and how you’ll hunt for food. Be careful what you scrounge to eat. Remember the pictures I showed you of poisonous seafood.”
* * *
Inspector Joanne Demarco watched the growing storm system onscreen from the helm of her Department of Antiquities patrol boat in the middle of the Richmond Swamps. Waves broke along the port side. The hurricane will make landfall tomorrow night, she thought. A big storm would send tens of thousands of Marginals scrambling for the Barrier Walls created to hold out them as well as the seas. They’ll offer themselves into servitude for a chance to live.
She remembered those days as a child. She swore never to let anything return her to the life of a swamp rat. Yet here she was, doing the Federation’s dirty work. A promotion might improve that.
An alarm pierced the calm, the sort that would send you jumping for lifeboats. Demarco cursed under her breath, forced a smile, and locked the cabin door. She took a deep breath and activated her Mesh-reader.
North American Governor Gina Wilmette’s ancient face filled the screen with a wide canvas of wrinkles and tufts of skin. Like all Grand Old Dames, the governor was more than 300 years old. Meds, treatments, and replacement parts had helped, though she still looked like the fossils Demarco seized while clamping down on local salvage efforts.
“How’s my favorite Antiquities agent?” the governor said in a politically cheery voice.
I’m probably the only Antiquities agent you know. “There’s a storm brewing,” Demarco said, sending an image of the massive swirl on her weather screen to the governor. It was the biggest she could recall, as if three storms had merged into one.
“There always is,” the governor said, the mask of surgeries and makeup dulling any facial expression. “The reason I called is … are you aware fertility clinics are failing everywhere?”
“I was not, Your Majesty.” Though Demarco had heard rumors.
“We’ll need more than flimsy Barrier Walls to protect us from this. The Antarctic governor pretends she has matters under control, but they’re failing. Failing! The Federation made a huge mistake putting all our eggs in her basket, but she convinced the premier that Antarctica was the safest place on the planet.”
While the governor let off steam, Demarco contrasted the calm of the swamp around her to what this new storm would do. At least the southern continent didn’t have Marginals to deal with. Their glass-domed cities were impenetrable, though maybe that was a lie perpetrated by Antarctica’s Department of Antiquities. As North America’s chief inspector, Demarco had manipulated enough reports on behalf of Governor Wilmette to know how.
She returned her thoughts to the governor’s comments. Though birth rates had dropped worldwide, Demarco never suspected a conspiracy, certainly not one involving the rivalry between Wilmette and the Antarctic governor. “Do we know the cause?”
“My medical experts tell me more defects enter the process with each generation. EggFusion Fertilization now fails to provide live births. If we can’t solve this, we’re a generation away from extinction.”
The inspector mulled over the news. She had no children by choice, mostly the job, but the possibility of never having kids raised the stakes. This was the first time the governor discussed this issue so candidly. Demarco wondered why Wilmette was telling her now. Then it came.
“I need you to track down rumors of Marginal DNA offering better potential. They certainly replicate like mosquitoes.”
The chief inspector rarely interested herself in affairs beyond North America, but this was big. It was time to toady up to her boss and set expectations. “I’ll take this on personally, Your Majesty, but so far we’ve found no evidence.”
“Look harder.” The skin on the governor’s face pulled in various directions, as if all the surgery in the world couldn’t fix her. “You know what it means if we find a solution, even if it does come from our Marginal swamp rats.”
“I understand the urgency, Your Majesty. I’m on it.” A win could put the governor of North America in line as successor to the current Federation Premier, another GOD whose health was … less than robust. Yet what did that mean for Demarco? Well, failure meant return to the shrinking swamps as an outcast, or worse.
Demarco cleared her throat. “I sent you an image of the storm.”
“I see it.”
“Our meteorological group reports the super-cell will hit the east coast tomorrow night. Rains will be heavy with damaging winds. We expect flooding on our side of the Wall.”
“Your recommendation?” the governor asked.
“Open the dams. Push river and lake water beyond the Barrier.”
“Will that stabilize our water levels?”
“It’ll help. It’ll also thin out the Marginal population.” Demarco lowered her voice. “Meaning fewer candidates for—”
“I know what it means. Have all your resources to put tracking devices on Marginals and draw blood samples. When the storm comes, have patrols and bounty hunters round up all the girls. We’ll sort them later, use what we can, and throw back the rest.”
Like throwing back undersized sea bass, Demarco thought. “We’ll tag as many as we can. Then I’ll oversee the roundup. What about the dams?”
“Open them. I don’t need mayors complaining we let them down. Then find me girls with productive DNA.”
* * *



Synopsis:

 Regina Shen is pursued by the notorious Department of Antiquities for her unique DNA. She jumps the Barrier Wall into the Federation to find her kidnapped sister. Stuck on a heavily-guarded closed university campus, she must use her wits to escape and rescue her sister without letting either of two rival Antiquities inspectors capture her.


Book Links:





Synopsis:

Regina Shen has DNA the Federation believes can reverse a global fertility collapse. Rival Federation agents fight over capturing Regina to gain power amidst turmoil over who will become the new World Premier. Regina has to flee from Virginia through desert and w ilderness to Alaska to hunt a treasure big enough to barter for her freedom and that of her sister.


Book Links:





About The Author:


Lance Erlick likes to explore the mysteries of intriguing worlds with remarkable, often strong female guides facing and overcoming adversity as they try to change their world. He hopes readers will enjoy his writing as they discover different worlds, going places they may never have been.
He writes science fiction thrillers, appealing to young adult and adult readers. He is the author of the Rebel series. In those stories, he explores the moral consequences of following conscience. He wrote the Regina Shen series— Regina Shen: Resilience , Regina Shen: Vigilance, and Regina Shen: Defiance . This series takes place after abrupt climate change with a new society under the World Federation. Lance is also the author of short stories and novelettes.

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