Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Book Feature: Repeating History A Time in Yellowstone Novel by M.M. Justus

If you like time travel and history, check out Repeating History. It sounds really good!

Blurb: 

What if people and places are connected in ways we’re not aware of?
Could those connections change the future? Could time be a Möbius strip, never ending, always circling back?  What if someone, in exactly the right –
or wrong – place at exactly the right – or wrong – time, could be transported into a past that wasn’t at all  what he expected, only to have to create his own future?  And how would that affect the people around him, and those people he loves in both times?

In 1959, 20-year-old college dropout Chuck McManis is strolling the geyser boardwalks in Yellowstone National Park when an earthquake plunges him more than eighty years back in time, into the middle of an Indian war. And into his own past – to become the great-grandfather he’d idolized since he was a boy.

The problem was, nobody’d ever told him every single story about his hero
was a lie. That he’d need instructions for sheer survival. Or lessons in
escaping from Indians. He does know he can’t abandon Eliza Byrne, the woman who teaches him both. By the time they struggle back to civilization, 1870s style, Chuck has discovered courage and competence he never knew he
possessed. Then comes the risk, and the opportunity, to fulfill the legacy
he’d left for himself the last time around, and he must face decisions he
never wanted to make, that could cause him to lose not only his own life and
that of the woman he loves, but to destroy his own future before it ever had
a chance to be.

Author Bio:

M.M. Justus's first visit to Yellowstone National Park was at age four,
where it snowed on her on the Fourth of July. She spent most of her
childhood summers in the back seat of a car, traveling with her parents to
almost every national park west of the Mississippi and a great many places
in between.

She has a bachelor’s degree in British and American literature and history,
a master’s degree in library science, and a certificate in museum studies.
In her non-writing life she is an independent museum curator and exhibit
designer.  She lives on the rainy side of the Cascade mountains within easy
reach of her other favorite national park, Mt. Rainier.

Here are the buy links for Repeating History:

Book Review: Time’s Echo (The Chronos Files) by Rysa Walker

Omg! I love Time’s Echo. It’s a novella based off of Rysa Walker’s novel Time’s Twisted Arrow now called, Timebound. Here’s the review I did on her first book. You should check it out: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8121777278506489563#editor/target=post;postID=609574018300170779;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=182;src=postname

You need to read the first book before you read Time’s Echo. And yes, they’re time traveling novels and one of the best out there.

Time’s Echo is in Kiernan’s POV, instead of Kate’s (the first book is in her POV). He’s a great character who was born in the 1800s. Kate met him when she traveled to his time, back when he was a boy, and she gave him a CHRONOS  (Chrono-Historical Research Organization and Natural Observation Society) key before she blinked out of that century. It’s a round medallion that gives people who have the designer DNA, the ability to activate this nifty device and travel through time. Kiernan still has the key, and as an adult, he hooks-up with Kate in other times. He's in love with her and secretly joins her crusade to thwart Saul's wacky, religious plan to basically rule the world as a wealthy Messiah.

In Time's Echo, someone fools with the timeline, and Kate disappears. Kiernan is desperate to find her and will go to great lengths to do so. There's also a mystery he's anxious to solve regarding the first time he meets Kate.

This novella is written in such a clever way that it ties in with the first book. I think Time's Echo is a treat for fans of The CHRONOS Files, and I'm so glad Rysa wrote this. The reason why I say that is because you get to see what Kiernan is doing in the first book, while Kate's eccentric grandmother tells Kate, she inherited designer DNA from the time traveling historians of CHRONOS.


This book is full of awesome sauce, and I can't wait to read the next installment in this inventive tale.  

http://www.amazon.com/Times-Echo-CHRONOS-Files-Novella-ebook/dp/B00JY0FOUS/

Binary Code From Aliens?

I’ve been crazy busy since October. My full time day job has been insane, I run a street team on Facebook, I’ve been marketing my books as best I can, I’m writing two books at the same time, right now I’m working with my cover artist, I’m in the process of getting some kickass swag made that will represent my books, and (deep breath) not to mention I have to do the daily mundane things in life that’s required from all of us. Oh! And find time to read. That's important ya know? I’m seriously running behind schedule, so I haven’t had time to write a proper blog post; therefore I’m reposting this one from 2011. 

Enjoy.

We love watching the History Channel and last night I caught the tail end of a show on Ancient Aliens. Thirty years ago in December 1980, two military airmen were in the English forest. From what I understood, they had an encounter with an alien ship, and when one of the airmen (James) touched the spacecraft, a numerical sequence of ones and zeros went through his head. The two men rarely spoke about the incident afterwards, but James kept getting a mental picture of those codes. He tried to ignore it, but couldn’t, so he wrote them down–the numeric sequence of ones and zeros–in a small notebook. There was like, I think six pages of those numbers he wrote down, and then he tucked the notebook away and never spoke about it until last year. He ended up given a computer programmer he trusted those codes to see if on the off chance they meant something. He was doubtful though. It turns out that the ones and zeros are a binary code. I didn’t know what a binary code was, so I went to Wikipedia and here was what it said:

A binary code is a way of representing text or computer processor instructions by the use of the binary number system’s two-binary digits zero and one. This is accomplished by assigning a bit string to each particular symbol or instruction.

Anyway, after the computer programmer entered those numbers, to his amazement a message came up. This is what the message was:

EXPLORATION OF HUMANITY
52 09' 42.532 N
13 13' 12.69" W
CONTINUOUS FOR PLANETARY ADVANCE

The numbers are supposed to be (they’re guessing) navigational coordinates. They determined that it points to a mysterious sunken island known in Celtic legend as Hy Brasil. Legend says that Hy Brasil was a civilization that was thousands of years ahead of its time. The other Atlantis is what Hy Brasil is occasionally referred to.

So what does this mean?

When I was watching this last night, Kevin had stepped out of the room, so he missed the story. This morning I told him about it, and he told me that each computer is different when entering a binary code. Therefore, you can get a different result from that code. He went on and said just like the Bible Code. You could make anything out of it. Hell, you could do the same thing with Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Then he said, "Hey, I hate to be a skeptic here and maybe that story and the binary code is true." He paused, shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the TV. "But that black box tends to bend the truth or leave out important facts to suit its purpose. You have to question everything that’s on it."

I wholeheartedly agree with him, that’s why when you watch something like Ancient Aliens, you should do further research on your own. I just never heard a story like it before and that guy James seemed genuine. I mean, he kept those codes for 30 years. I think archaeologists should check out the sunken island that was supposed to be Hy Brasil and maybe they could find something that would definitely say yes, they were a highly advanced civilization.

Anyway, I wanted to share that with you because I thought it was interesting. It also makes me wonder if that binary code is true, then why are aliens exploring humanity? Is their planet in trouble, or are they eventually going to let themselves be known to us and show us a way to advance ourselves? Who knows, but if it does happen, I hope I’m alive to see it.



Love of History Creates Story Idea That Chills the Bones


I’ve been fretting over what to post about for a few days now, and then Sunday morning this idea came to me. I have to warn you, though, I’m going to be talking a little bit about my Beyond the Eyes trilogy, so this post will have some spoilers in it.

I think I’m fortunate to have a love of history. My dad is the same way, and I love talking to him about it. We get into some interesting conversations like historical mysteries and occultism. He knows a lot of shit. What’s even cooler is, I get ideas for my stories from these conversations, not to mention the things I’ve learned and experienced in my childhood.

Any writers out there or future writers who are sitting on the fence on what type of story to write, there are only two things you need to do to get you started . . .

1.) Don’t write what’s trending right now because by the time you finish your story there might be a different trend.

2.) Write what interest you–that fuels your passion. If you don’t, you won’t stick with it. You got to have that fire in your belly to where you’re thinking about your story off and on throughout your day and can’t wait to get back to it.

Wah-cah-cha-pah!

Easy peasy.

Of course, writing a book doesn’t end there, but that’s how you get started. I can always do a post on the rest some other time.

Anyway, after I came up with my story idea for my YA paranormal trilogy, it soon took on a life of its own. My love of history and mysticism began to pour into my story, bringing depth, color, and plausibility.

How?

I’ll tell ya how, but here’s where I say, “Spoiler alert!” Now there’s a lot going on in my, Beyond the Eyes trilogy, so I’ll just point out a couple historical parts where I interlaced it with fiction, thus creating a tapestry for the mind.

1.) King Solomon’s ring. There’s a legend he had a ring that can control demons. One night I was watching a show on The History Channel about it.

Bingo!

I already had a rough idea for a story: dark spirits walking among us in soulless humans. Now I have a motive. The “old one” who is an ancient dark spirit has been looking for this ring for thousands of years. Imagine what he can do if he gets a hold of it. He can control all the dark spirits and become God. He wants the ring and only Paige (my main character) can find it.

If it wasn’t for my love of history, I would have never known that. Of course, I added my own spin to it. I made the power of the ring impotent without Solomon’s incantations. But my characters can’t find the spells without the ring.

I personally think when you’re writing a story you should put your own twists in it. An author by the name of Regina Morris did just that in her book called Eternal Service. It has vampires; however, these vampires can adjust their age by the amount of blood they ingest. It’s a fresh idea and a good way to explain how these bloodsuckers are able to live with humans for thousands of years without raising eyebrows.

2.) Nazi week on The History Channel. Hitler and the whole Nazi regime fascinate me. I think it’s because I can’t fathom how one man can entrance others to do horrific and unspeakable things to another. And did you know the Nazi’s were heavily into the occult? They had a special organization under the control of Henrich Himmler who was the chief of the SS and head of the Gestapo. A very evil man–BTW. The organization was called Ahnenerbe. It was a Nazi think tank. They would send teams of archaeologists on top secret expeditions. Himmer was a Holy Grail enthusiast, and he once funded and promoted an expedition to find it. This is just the tip of the iceberg on how deep they were into the supernatural.

Anyway, check out these pictures. Doesn’t it chill you to the bone knowing the atrocities these men had committed?


Henrich Himmler.





Rudolf Hess. He was Hitler's deputy, the third most powerful man in the Third Reich. He was known to be a big occult supporter.



Hitler.


There are people who believe Hitler was possessed by Satan. I didn’t know this until recently and had already written in my third book in my YA paranormal trilogy (The Devil’s Third) that the “old one” done just that. He had possessed Hitler and the other dark spirits were the Nazi party. In Dark Spirits, Carrie tells Paige and Nathan about Aosoth (a wicked dark spirit) dwelling inside a Nazi. She then goes on and tells them what happens. To me, that’s some dark, scary shit. But again, I used my love of history and intertwined it into my story, making it my own and hopefully giving the YA paranormal genre something fresh and new to read about.

Here's what one reader said in her five star review on Dark Spirits:

I find her twist on a regular paranormal genre refreshing. She makes her own rules and forms a world all her own.


Here's what some other readers had said about my trilogy in their reviews:

A fresh look at the spiritual world.

Beyond the Eyes is a unique read.

The paranormal element of this story is really interesting.


They're saying it's fresh, unique, interesting, and I make my own rules.

That's what I'm talking about.

Make your story your own and readers will appreciate it. :)