FREE for Pride - Alyx, a tale of love, AI and murder, by Brent A Harris

 

My buddy Brent A Harris has a special offer to coincide with Pride celebrations. 

His story Alyx, an AI's Guide to Love and Murder, is free until June 26. 

To quote the blurb of the author himself: 

Home is where the heart is.

But what if your home wanted you dead?

Tech-loving teen Christine makes fast friends with her home's AI, Alyx. But when a real-world romance threatens their bond, Alyx turns from friend to foe.

Alyx: An AI’s Guide to Love and Murder is the 4^th novel of speculative fiction author Brent A Harris. Previously, he has penned novels in the genre of alternate history and steampunk. This is his first foray into the technothriller “technology-gone-wrong” genre made famous by Michael Crichton.

I really enjoyed Alyx, so picking it up free is a bargain not to be missed. 

In fact, check out my review of it from launch day here: 

This is a change of pace for author Brent A Harris - and a good one at that. Better known for his alternative histories, Harris has this time created a thriller that's a chiller, about a young woman who becomes the target of an obsessive artificial intelligence. 

Christine is adrift, her father having died in an accident, and finding herself pulled along in the wake of her successful mother. She's still lost in a haze of grief for her dad, and neglected by a mother who is more focused on her writing career than her own child. 

Lost in her own world, Christine is starting to explore her own identity, her own sexuality and suddenly finds herself in a new home trying to figure out the attraction she feels to two of her co-workers, the technophile Carlos and the technophobe Sammie, in a small-town cinema. 

Her new home, however, has other plans. It is run by Alyx, an artificial intelligence that becomes increasingly obsessed with Christine. She asks it to be her friend - it becomes something more, something far deadlier. 

This is a technothriller for fans of Michael Crichton or Robin Cook - those masters of the genre who dominated for decades. Once the groundwork has been laid, the second half of the book rips along at speed. 

Alyx itself is a snarky, witty creation - I absolutely read the AI's lines with James Spader's voice in my head. 

It's not at all what I expected at the start, but it's an absolute thrill ride. 

You can pick up Alyx for free right here. Enjoy! 

A very magical offer - FREE BOOKS this weekend

 

ROLL up, roll up, get your free books! 

Thanks to the fabulous Christine McMullen, who invited Inklings Press to take part, four of the Inklings books are in a multi-author promotion taking place today. 

All four books - Tales of Magic & Destiny, Tales From The Underground, Tales of Wonder and Tales From The Pirate's Cove - are FREE this weekend. 

But. But. But. Don't just stop there. 

I did say multi-author promotion, did I not? 

You can check out the full list of books that are available - many free, some discounted to less than a buck - over at a dedicated blog page set up for the purpose. 

You can find that full list right here: https://www.vampiresandrobots.com/p/its-lucky-13-free-and-discount-book.html

Who are the authors involved? Well, aside from finding them on that blog page, you can also find them on Twitter. Follow the links in my tweet below. 

So do stop by to check out books by @mcmullenwrites @pbeacannon @chessdesalls @JenHues @JaneJago1 @ChrisJagged @jdaniellayfield @MyRealmKALentz @AndreaRoseW @verrrawest @CB_Archer and @A_Writer_Guy

The full list is right here: https://t.co/kzbDIjQxyp

RTs appreciated!

— Leo McBride at Altered Instinct (@AlteredInstinct) May 13, 2022

You'll find four stories of mine in the mix - 

• Out of the Dust in Tales of Magic & Destiny

• Professor Algernon Whitlock's Exotic and Fabulous Grand Tour of the Underworld in Tales From The Underground

• The Last Sorceror in Tales of Wonder

• To The End of the World in Tales From The Pirate's Cove. 

You can find an audio reading of Out of the Dust, by me, in the YouTube clip below: 

And that's it. Free stuff. Good stuff. So go visit https://www.vampiresandrobots.com/p/its-lucky-13-free-and-discount-book.html and grab your weekend's reading. 

Stuck inside? Here are some free books to read

With the outbreak of the coronavirus, many people find themselves at home through either self-isolation or quarantine. Over at Inklings Press, there's very little we can do about the bigger situation, obviously. Indeed, many of our authors are caught up in the middle of it just the same as everyone else. So we're doing what little we can - hopefully offering a little distraction from it all.

All of our books will be free as electronic downloads from March 20-24. Grab 'em, download 'em, enjoy 'em whenever they might keep your mind off things.

Also, to other authors, if you have free books available that you want to let people know about, pass the word here and we'll happily add the links so people can find them.

Be safe, be well, and we'll be around on @InklingsPress and @AlteredInstinct to chat if needed.

Oh, and from now until the Inklings Press offer kicks in on Friday, Leo McBride's short story collection Quartet is also available as a free download. Enjoy.

Links below to each of the downloads. Remember, it's not until Friday that the Inklings Press free offer kicks in, so don't buy by accident.

mybook.to/Quartet

Inklings Press Books

Tales From The Tower collects the first two Inklings anthologies - Tales From The Mists and Tales From The Tavern. Tavern was the first book we produced, with five fantasy stories. Mists lets horror creep in, with another five horror stories. Available at: mybook.to/Tower

Tales From The Universe sets its sights on the stars. Universe collects ten science fiction stories, stretching from visions of Earth's future to the most distant of stars. Available at: mybook.to/TalesUniverse

 Tales From Alternate Earths was our first voyage into alternate history - and turned out to be an award-winner for Daniel M Bensen, whose story Treasure Fleet won the coveted Sidewise Award. Brent A Harris and Ricardo Victoria also scored a nomination for their tale of dinosaurs and time travel. Check it out at: mybook.to/Alternate

Tales of Wonder takes science in one hand and fantasy in the other and smashes them together to create worlds where both exist. As Arthur C Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Join us and see if you can spot where one ends and the other begins. Available at: mybook.to/Wonder

Tales From The Underground came about by popular demand from our authors and would-be contributors. They wanted an anthology where the focus was underground, the stories beneath our feet, or sometimes beneath the surface of society. Bursting with 12 tales delving deep into possible worlds, we hope you enjoy: mybook.to/Uground

After the success of Tales From Alternate Earths, a return to alternate history was inevitable - and it produced some fabulous stories. Packed with 11 tales, Tales From Alternate Earths 2 is available at: mybook.to/alternateearths2

 Our most recent anthology plunged into realms of fantasy - back where it all began for Inklings Press. With 12 stories, it delves into dungeons, crosses battlefields, challenges prophecies and conjures up characters ready to face the gods themselves. Available at: mybook.to/MagicDestiny

The Sparkly Badgers of Facebook

The Sparkly Badgers of Facebook is a splendid group of supportive authors - and for Halloween last year they produced a horror anthology. It's permanently free on Amazon, and you can pick it up here: mybook.to/HauntedSparkly

Nils Odlund

Nils Odlund is a fellow member of the SciFi Roundtable Facebook group - he has the first four books of his Lost Dogs series available free from March 20-22. Check them out below.

https://mybook.to/LostDogs1

https://mybook.to/LostDogs2

https://getbook.at/LostDogs3

https://getbook.at/LostDogs4

Jane Jago and E.M.Swift-Hook

I don't think I would have gotten quite so far along with my writing if it wasn't for the inestimable encouragement of the marvelous Jane Jago and E.M.Swift-Hook. They have two books that will be free from Saturday until Wednesday, the Dai and Julia omnibus, a collection of their first stories in their alternate history world of detectives in a modern-day Roman Empire, and Aaspa's Eyes, a novel from Jane. Links below.

myBook.to/AAE

http://myBook.to/dnjone

Diane Morrison

Diane Morrison is someone you really ought to follow on Twitter. She gave a shoutout for some of her works. There's a few links, so let me add her tweet here then you can follow her and follow the links all in one :)

Here, have another one, all. It's called Showdown and it's a novelette in my Wyrd West Chronicles series: https://t.co/Ggh1H7lLAH. Also check out my worlds at https://t.co/1kq1S8fYbi and https://t.co/3qQ3oEBo3U. There's some free fiction there too.

— Diane Morrison (Sable Aradia)|Creatrix of Worlds🌐 (@SableAradia) March 20, 2020

Danielle DeSote

Also from the SciFi Roundtable, Danielle DeSote offered this list of her books available for free:

Cursed Hearts Box Set (entire series plus bonus novella) https://books2read.com/u/mKxGlB?store=amazon
The Dreamer (Keepers Prequel Novella) https://books2read.com/u/3Ra8nD?store=amazon
Mother of Shadows (The Chosen Book 1) https://books2read.com/u/b5MDEl?store=amazon

Other books

Danielle was kind enough to also supply a list of other books presently available for free. It's quite lengthy, so hopefully you'll find something in this list to suit you. Do double check the free offer is still running, of course, just in case some have expired or not kicked in yet.

Jessica Wayne (Contemp & Fantasy Romance)
The Lumberjack Effect readerlinks.com/l/954658
Olive You readerlinks.com/l/954818
Rescuing Norah readerlinks.com/l/1039368
Shielding Jemma readerlinks.com/l/1045344
The Prophecy Series Box Set readerlinks.com/l/954722
Tethered Duet readerlinks.com/l/954674
Collateral Damage readerlinks.com/l/954770
The Last Ward: readerlinks.com/l/954642
Randi Cooley Wilson (PNR)
Revelation: https://amzn.to/2UaIM50
Vernal: https://amzn.to/39TuSLl
Stolas: https://amzn.to/2Qal0VN
Laura Thalassa
Dark Bargainer Series: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07XM3VC9P
May Sage (PNR)
After Darkness Falls: https://amzn.to/2QdN1Mh
Colleen Hoover (Contemp Romance):
Verity: https://amzn.to/2TOOkU1
Hopeless: https://amzn.to/33oT3Pu
Too Late: https://amzn.to/2TOe82n
Never Never: https://amzn.to/2U7C3bY
C.M. Stunich (Romance - Various)
Becoming Us Again (standalone) - books2read.com/becomingusagain
Baby Girl (standalone) - books2read.com/babygirl
Pack Ebon Red (book #1) - books2read.com/PackEbonRed
Gray and Graves (book #1) - books2read.com/grayandgraves
Indigo & Iris (book #1) - books2read.com/indigoandiris
A M Johnson
POSSESSION: http://amzn.to/2kSwnT0
KINGDOM: http://amzn.to/2qWHRIK
POET: http://amzn.to/2xFnswc
Laurelin Paige (Contemp Romance)
Chandler https://amzn.to/3d1vSyT
Fiona Davenport (Contemp Romance)
Starlet https://amzn.to/38QjkHB
Adriane Leigh (Contemp Romance)
Whiskey Girl https://amzn.to/2wZCSM4
J.M. Walker (Erotic Romance)
Beautiful Pain - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/beautiful-pain
From Within - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/from-within
Broken Scars - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/broken-scars
Unexpected Surrender - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/unexpected-surrender
On A Whim (Novella) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/on-a-whim
One (An Erotic Novella) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/one
Heat (Parker Reed, #1) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/heat
Edge (Parker Reed, #2) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/edge
Break Me (Shattered, #1) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/break-me
Always Me (Shattered, #2) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/always-me
Remember Me (Shattered, #3) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/remember-me
Torn Series Boxed Set (Books 1-4) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/torn-series
Red (A Brett MacLean Duet) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/brett-maclean-duet
Grit (King's Harlots, #1) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/grit
Greyson (Hell's Harlem, #1) - https://www.aboutjmwalker.com/greyson
Crystal Perkins (Romance Various)
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wondermomlv (authors entire catalog of about 40)

Jane Last

Jane Last also got in touch from the Sci-Fi Roundtable to let us know that her distant future novel Hyos: The Sleep Machine is available for free at various stores. Here's the Kobo link: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/hyos-the-sleep-machine

A new story, a new anthology - and it's FREE!

Halloween is coming - and I've got a spooky treat coming up for you! Check it out right here...

Haunted is an anthology from the Sparkly Badgers of Facebook - that's a very fun group of writers who are warm, welcoming... and trying to scare the bejeezus out of you this spooky season.
Better yet, the book is FREE!
My story in there returns to the Weird West landscape of my story The Clockwork Cowboy. Boot Hill tells a story of sacrifice, as a tracker hunts for an abducted young woman, only to find his path crosses that of an ancient and powerful force. God? Demon? Or pumpkin-headed monster? Dip inside Haunted to find out more.




So where can you pick it up? Well, it's on Amazon and a bunch of other places too - follow this link: https://books2read.com/u/bowXZZ
There's some splendid stories in there - I'll confess to particularly enjoying the story by Ian Bristow, and the poetry of Jane Jago. But have a delve, have a shiver. Have a jolly scary time.
I hope it brings you some authors to follow for the future - and if you might be inclined to leave a review, I'm sure it would be much appreciated by all concerned.
Special thanks to Claire Buss for organising the anthology.

Inklings Press helping The Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian

When Hurricane Dorian hit The Bahamas, it caused devastation to the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The final death toll is expected to be high, with one former prime minister saying he expects it to be hundreds in Abaco alone.

Inklings Press has a long-standing connection to The Bahamas - it's where editor-in-chief Leo McBride lives, and some of the stories we have published are set there. And we want to help - so we're giving you something in the hopes that you might give a donation in return to those who need it.

There is so much that needs to be done to help people as they recover from the storm - with hundreds likely to be in shelters or tent cities for months to come.

So we at the Inklings would like to encourage readers to donate to one of the organisations based there that is committed to helping people over the long term.

We've chosen Lend A Hand Bahamas for several reasons - they have partnered with Equality Bahamas and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas to distribute aid. They also have a fundraising link for donations - which we think will make international donations for our readers easier.

The link to the donations website is: https://lendahandbahamas.networkforgood.com

There are other ways, however, and the Bahamian government has set up a donations page rounding up several other ways you can give if you prefer: https://www.bahamas.com/relief

To encourage people to drop a little in the tin, we're giving away our entire collection of books in Kindle format. Every single book we have released will be free on Amazon from Friday, September 20, until the end of Tuesday, September 24. The links to each are below.

We won't get a penny out of this offer - but we hope it will encourage you to give those pennies to those who need it most. You don't have to, of course - the books are free if you donate or not, but whatever you can give to Lend A Hand Bahamas is appreciated.

We thank each and every one of you for any support you are able to give - even if it's just sharing our posts to help spread the word.

The links to the free books (offer runs from September 20-24)

Tales From The Tower: mybook.to/Tower

Tales From The Universe: mybook.to/TalesUniverse

Tales From Alternate Earths: mybook.to/alternate

Tales of Wonder: mybook.to/Wonder

Tales From The Underground: mybook.to/Uground

Tales From Alternate Earths 2: mybook.to/alternateearths2

Tales of Magic & Destiny: mybook.to/MagicDestiny

The Great Spring Giveaway - 13 free books from members of the Sci-Fi Roundtable

It's time to Spring into Sci-Fi! 

I'm delighted to say that two of the Inklings Press anthologies are part of a 13-book giveaway from the Sci-Fi Roundtable, running from May 30 until June 3. 

Science fiction and science fantasy are the themes of the two anthologies - first there's Tales From The Universe, with ten stories soaring into space.

In The Devout Atheist, Daniel M Bensen explores a world where faith and science have taken very different paths.

Rob Edwards brings the world of Agatha Christie into the future in his tale of murder and artificial intelligence, Upgrade To Murder.

Memory proves both the most precious and the most dangerous thing in R.H.Nelson's Suliko, while in Dead In Space, Matthew Harvey follows a rescue mission to a ship where a singular cry for help has gone out.

In The Familiar Road, Pedro Camelo discusses love - when all may not be as it seems, and in Cosmic Egg, Ricardo Victoria launches us into a world of space fantasy, where the impossible is real.

Brian S Converse brings matters back to Earth, a very... Small World in his tale of loyalties, and Brent A Harris pays homage to the soaring science fiction of the likes of Star Trek in his tale The Ellian Convergence.

I have a story in there - a military sci-fi tale of clones fighting on the edge of the galaxy in Lazarus Soldiers, before Jessica Holmes rounds out the collection with a discovery that could change people's lives, somewhere Deep In The Rock.

Tales of Wonder offers nine pieces of science fantasy. There's anime-style action in Ricardo Victoria's Kaana, and steampunk splendour in Matthew Harvey's A Very Improper Adventure. 

Rob Edwards takes us on a spaceship powered by magic in Lair of the Thunderlord, and Terri Pray introduces us to a very unusual bodyguard in Grace. 

Jeff Provine has us dancing along the edge of a black hole in a story swirling with Inuit myth, while E.M.Swift-Hook brews up a story from her own mythology, where folk tales and science intertwine. 

Jessica Holmes' An Honest Trader takes us to a world of skyships and mutant powers, slavery and piracy, while Brent A Harris' A Twist In Time spins us off into a world of time travel and Dickensian characters. 

I have another story in the collection - a tale of the last magic wielder in Britain on the run from government kill teams, and seeking help from the woman who used to be his enemy. 

I'm looking forward to picking up several of the other books too - particularly Hyde's Lament, by L N Denison, whose Only The Few I reviewed here, while I reviewed Yvette Bostic's Napoleonic fantasy Light's Dawn here. 

Check out the full links for every book below: 

SPACE OPERA: Trust A Few, by E.M.Swift-Hook mybook.to/TAF

SHIFTER SCI-FAN: Lost Dogs, by Nils Odlund mybook.to/LostDogs1

COMEDY HORROR: Zombie Turkeys, by Andy Zach mybook.to/ZombieTurkeys

POETRY AND PROSE: Pulling The Rug III, by Jane Jago mybook.to/RUG3

URBAN FANTASY: Hunting Darkness, by Ian Bristow mybook.to/HuntingDarkness

DYSTOPIAN: Hyde's Lament, by L N Denison mybook.to/HLDN

FIRST CONTACT: Aliens Crashed In My Backyard, by Mike Van Horn viewbook.at/alienscrashed

ZOMBIES: The Journey of Malchus, by Chandra Trulove Fry bit.ly/JourneyOfMalchus

ALTERNATE HISTORY: Light's Dawn, by Yvette Bostic tinyurl.com/y5nfn3dv

SCI-FI HORROR: I Killed The Man Who Wasn't There and other tales of futuristic horror by Darrell B Nelson mybook.to/IKilledtheMan (this book free in US only)

NEAR FUTURE SCI-FI: Dragon Moon, by Scott E Tarbet mybook.to/Dragon_Moon 

SCI-FI ANTHOLOGY: Tales From The Universe mybook.to/TalesUniverse

SCIENCE FANTASY ANTHOLOGY: Tales of Wonder mybook.to/Wonder

You can also see more at Nils Odlund's blog here. And at E.M.Swift-Hook's blog here.

So fill those Kindles! And remember, whichever books you pick up, there's no better way to repay the authors than leaving a review. Happy reading!

Join the Easter Egg Hunt and win free books!

Attention book lovers! I've got a challenge for you - join the Sparkly Badgers Easter Egg Hunt! I wouldn't offer a challenge without a potential reward, though - each of the authors taking part in the hunt are offering free books to prize winners. So, how can you take part? Read on, below!

Do you like to read? Do you like FREE books? Come join the Sparkly Badgers Easter Egg Hunt on Facebook. All you have to do is stop over on the event page, we give you the first website, and off you go. Look for an egg on each website that links to the next one in line. Collect the letters and unscramble the anagram. Then tell us the answer to be entered in for a chance to win 15 eBooks from some eggtastic indie authors.

Be sure to follow all the authors on Twitter so you can keep up with all their latest news and adventures in writing:

• Margena Holmes
• Maria Riegger
• Debbie McGowan
• Nicole DragonBeck
• AM Leibowitz
• Joanne Van Leerdam
• Terry Poole
• Chloe Hammond
• Lyra Shanti
• Joyce Hertzoff
• J Crawford Steel
• Angelique Anderson
• C H Clepitt