Another Taste of Rift Jump

In the midst of the multiverse, Michael saw something else. No, not saw. Felt. Sensed. A
presence there, dark and undulating, worming its way through the layers of Creation.
And, in one terrible moment, the presence saw him too.
Michael…the Black called out to him, beckoning him. Michael…
“No,” he whispered, twisting in the nothingness, trying to swim or fly away. But there
was nowhere to go. There was nothing. Yet, in the nothingness, the presence slithered for
him, caressing his soul, whispering to every cell in his body.
Welcome back…

Read more in Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell, out now from Splashdown Darkwater. You can also find more tidbits, excerpts and interviews, at these participating blogs:

http://frederation.wordpress.com/

http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/

http://www.pabaines.com/page8.htm

http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/

http://blog.rlcopple.com

http://www.kevennewsome.com

http://www.katheckenbach.com/

http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime

http://dianemgraham.com/blog/

http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/

http://blog.frankcreed.com/

Find Greg:

Website: http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecomingevil

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TCEauthor

To order Rift Jump: http://www.splashdownbooks.com/darkwater/rift-jump

Splashdown Tour - Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell

The day Michael Morrison died was the day his life began.

A sinister threat is growing in the void between realities, and Michael has been recruited to stop it. Ripped from his own violent life, he is sent rift jumping to other worlds seeking out the agents of the Dark and putting them to an end by any means necessary. The love of his life, Sara, joins him as he battles Civil War space ships, sea serpents, superpowered humans, and even his own duplicate from a parallel timeline.

But the darkness he fights is growing within him too, calling him to the same destiny as every other Michael from every other world. If he is to change his fate, he must learn to love, to forgive, to trust, and to let the man in the Stetson guide him to become the warrior of the Light he was always meant to be.

Mini-Interview with Greg Mitchell

What was the first book you ever wrote?

Ever? My first book was a Gifted and Talented Program project in the fifth grade, I think. We typed our own pages, drew illustrations, then bound them together with rubber cement. Mine was about a team of superheroes with such sterling names as Candy Man, Lasso Man, Diaper Man (threw dirty diapers, naturally), and Meat Man. They fought off a guy named Mr. Bad, I believe, and, once defeated, they realized they had vanquished all evil everywhere and were out of jobs. Then they retired. And that was the first book I ever wrote.

Hm. Well, is your latest novel any better?

I hope so! My new book is Rift Jump. It’s a hodge podge of everything I love—monsters, aliens, horror, light-hearted adventure, heart-pumping action, and a thrilling teen angst-ridden romance! It’s about a young man named Michael Morrison who travels the multiverse, pounding evildoers and righting wrongs. At his side is the love of his life, Sara. But rift jumping is not all sunshine and roses. A dark thing in between the worlds has it out for Michael and wants to recruit him to Evil’s cause. Can Michael resist or will he succumb to the killer inside him? Find out in the pages of Rift Jump—now on sale!

Greg Mitchell can be found at:

Website: http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecomingevil

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TCEauthor

To order Rift Jump: http://www.splashdownbooks.com/darkwater/rift-jump

Visit the following blogs on this Splashdown Blog Tour for Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell.

Grace Bridges             http://grace.splashdownbooks.com

Fred Warren               http://frederation.wordpress.com/

Caprice Hokstad         http://caprice.splashdownbooks.com/

Paul Baines                 http://www.pabaines.com/

Travis Perry                http://travissbigidea.blogspot.com/

R. L. Copple               http://blog.rlcopple.com

Keven Newsome         http://www.kevennewsome.com

Kat Heckenbach         http://www.katheckenbach.com/

Ryan Grabow              http://www.egrabow.com/rm.php?e=Prime

Diane M. Graham       http://dianemgraham.com/blog/

Robynn Tolbert          http://ranunculusturtle.blogspot.com/

Frank Creed                http://blog.frankcreed.com/

THE PLAN

So I'm heading for America in early August. I'm posting my general itinerary here, so that you, my friends, can figure out if I'll be near you. Here goes...

01 - 08 August - Rural British Columbia
09 - 16 August - Rural Manitoba
16 - 19 August - Hamilton, Ontario
19 - 23 August - Butler, PA (near Pittsburgh)
23 - 30 August - Winston-Salem, NC
31 August - 3 September - DragonCon, Atlanta, GA
03 - 11 September - Valrico, FL (near Tampa)
11 - 16 September - New Orleans, LA
16 - 19 September - Paragould, AR
19 - 23 September - ACFW conference, Dallas, TX
23 - 30 September - Rural Oklahoma
30 September - 12 October - Colorado Springs, CO
12 - 18 October - Rural Illinois (near St. Louis)
18 October - 15 November - Rural Iowa (near Cedar Rapids) (including 8 - 10 Nov HACWN conference)
15 - 18 November - Lincoln, NE
18 - 21 November - Lenexa, KS (near KC)
21 - 26 November - Topeka, KS
26 - 30 November - Layton, UT
30 November - 3 December - Boise, ID
03 - 07 December - Portland, OR
07 - 11 December - Escondido, CA

Things might change a little bit here and there, but I already have most of my tickets. Get in touch if you're nearby and want to meet up! Or if you have a writers' group I am able to run seminars on a couple of different topics - Indie Publishing 101, and Cliché Man to the Rescue!

See you round?

(Drag the map to see it better, sorry about the off-centre thing!)


View 2012 in a larger map

I'm in a Space Battle!

Just a few months ago my story Never Look Back was selected to appear in the anthology "Space Battles" - and now here we are almost published! I'm excited about being in such good company and the process has been thoroughly enjoyable. Here's the details:

Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6
Edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Flying Pen Press, 264 pp., $16.95, April 18, 2012

Red Alert! Red Alert!
This is not a drill…
Anna Paradox’s “Between The Rocks”: The Courtly Vizier, a
utility truck, renders aid to a colony ship but when they return to their
asteroid home from supply runs to mines on Old Lumpy from Jupiter’s atmosphere, the colony ship they once helped attacks them. But the situation is not what it seems, and strange circumstances are at hand.
David Lee Summers’ “Jump Point Blockade”: While pirating a mine on an asteroid, Captain Ellison Firebrandt and the crew of the Legacy find themselves forced into battle by Captain Stewart of the New New Jersey, serving as shields against the Alpha Comas at a jump point to Rd’dyggia. But instead of obeying Captain Steward, Firebrandt has plans of his own.
Jean Johnson’s “Joystick War”: Scavenging a storage bunker for salvage, Scott Grayson and Rrenn F’sauu stumble onto mint condition Targeting Drone A.I.’s, joystick controlled combat suits and can’t resist taking them for a test run. Then an old enemy, the Salik turn up, and instead of joy rides, they’re fighting for their lives and their people...
Mike Resnick & Brad Torgersen’s “Guard Dog”: Watchfleet sentinel Chang leads a lonely life of extended, dream-filled sleeps in between frenetic, life-or-death battles. The Sortu had almost defeated humanity and the lives of everyone, including his wife and son, depend on men like him. Then, called to battle again, he finds himself up against the last opponent he’d ever expected...

These and more stories await inside…

All personnel,
report to battle stations!

Contents:
9 Introduction – Bryan Thomas Schmidt
13 Acknowledgements
15 Dedication
17 Between the Rocks – Anna Paradox
29 The Thirteens – Gene Mederos
45 Like So Much Refuse – Simon C. Larter
61 Jump Point Blockade – David Lee Summers
73 First Contact – Patrick Hester
83 Isis – Dana Bell
95 The Book of Enoch – Matthew Cook
113 The Joystick War – Jean Johnson
133 Never Look Back – Grace Bridges
147 The Gammi Experiment – Sarah Hendrix
161 Space Battle of the Bands – C.J. Henderson
175 A Battle for Parantwer – Anthony Cardno
187 With All Due Respect – Johne Cook
209 Final Defense – Selene O’Rourke
219 Bait and Switch – Jaleta Clegg
227 The Hand of God (A Davi Rhii Story) – Bryan Thomas Schmidt
245 Guard Dog – Mike Resnick and Brad R. Torgersen
255 About the Authors

So long, Wal'.

He can't be gone...I've muttered it to myself for the last 24 hours. He's gotta be out there still, ready to pop up in my chat window at zany hours and what seems to be the most inopportune times. Why, just the other day we were chatting and he told me he was worried about his brain.

He can't be gone. Just six days ago he received my envelope with a couple of New Zealand comic books. He devoured them and wanted more. There were dozens in the series, yet to be enjoyed. He was so taken with them that he'd begun signing off as Wal' - the anti-hero of Footrot Flats.

We had just arranged some details for my visit to Pittsburgh in August. He was getting all excited about showing me around. And of course, we were discussing the publication of his collected Avenir Eclectia stories, in a book all his own, to be called Transfer Orbits.

It's not even been three years since I lost my own father when he was only sixty. Walt was doing a fine job as a stand-in...so often I thought he should have met my dad. They have the same twisted humour. Well, I won't pretend to know what the afterlife is really truly like, but I'll betcha my spaceship that they've met now.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's got his own spaceship, too. To him, discovering the universe piece by piece would be an utter act of worship. He may have left this life in a bus stop, but he'll be enjoying the next with rather speedier transportation, I suspect.

It sure is an odd thing to lose someone you've never met. I guess we're lucky we found out; it would be so easy for an online friend to disappear and we'd be never the wiser. But apparently he spoke of his Internet buddies enough to his family that they searched us out.

I don't even know what he looked like. He did say he bore some resemblance to Wal' in the cartoons, so I guess this is the image that's stuck with me.

So long, Wal'. Can't wait to see that spaceship.

Image copyright Murray Ball. Go here for the full book (Vol. 1)

Songs of the Stars

I just have to blog about this so that I can find it again in future. Did you know that the stars actually sing? Their sounds are eerie and individual, depending on size, brightness, pulse rate and more.

This site can tell you more: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060809_spheres.htm

In the box to the side, you can download the sounds of particular stars, and the final download is a symphony built from the tones of various ones. Amazing stuff.

Here is just one video with some more.

random stuff

You Become Who You Wish To Be.

How to make a Sell Sheet for your book.

Find your own planet! http://www.planethunters.org