Amazon makes it so damn hard

Just spent an hour trying to find an independently published science fictoin book on the kindle...

You do a search on "science fiction" and go from high to low and you get books selling for $100 which are text books on SF. You go from low to high and you get books that don't cost anything - which means they're published by well-established publishers who have a deal with Amazon to allow them to give their books away from free - freezing out those independent publishers who'd like to offer their books for free to get some readers, too.

(I know this because I'd intended to offer The Coldest Equations: The Labyrinth Makers for free, in order to tweak people's desire to buy The Coldest Equations: The People Out There, only to be unable to do so because as an independent publisher, we're not allowed to do it!)

So I'm fed up for the day, and therefore this is not a post about an independently published sf book, but rather a rant about the incompetence of Amazon.

Will try again tomorrow.

Veterans of the Psychic Wars, by Wayne Gerard Trotman

TITLE: Veterans of the Psychic Wars
AUTHOR: Wayne Gerard Trotman
PUBLISHER: Red Moon Productions Ltd.
US DISTRIBUTION: Ingram, Baker & Taylor
UK DISTRIBUTION: Bertrams, Gardners

(Check out the author's blog: http://redmoonchronicle.blogspot.com/)

Synopsis:
In a distant galaxy known as the Cosmic Sea, Baron Seti Aljyk has caused the Second Psychic War by seizing Najura, the last of the ancient swords of power, and usurping the imperial throne from Sakara Rey, the True Emperor. On Earth, young schoolteacher Roman Doyle remains unaware he is Prince Armon Sakara, heir apparent of the True Emperor. That is, until he encounters Chi-Ro Jin, a Veteran of the Psychic Wars. Chi-Ro’s mission is to return Roman to the True Emperor, but Roman believes that Chi-Ro is crazy.

When Roman’s wife, Soraya, is abducted by the Baron’s assassins, Roman is forced to make the epic journey to the Cosmic Sea. However he does not go alone. He is joined by his shamira Chi-Ro, Nuri Nemsys a beautiful secret agent, Anah Sadaka the mysterious captain of the Starglider Sanura and Roman’s friend, Zachary Silverman, a quantum physicist.

With his dormant psychic and astral abilities awakened by an alien drug and pursued by the Baron’s assassins, Roman, his friend, and the Veterans of the Psychic Wars face evil and danger in uncharted space and on alien worlds. Roman must overcome his fears, master the martial art of Hatari Ikou, and learn the secrets of astral projection, in order to rescue his wife, retrieve the sword of power, and bring the Psychic Wars to an end.

FORMAT: Paperback / Kindle / eBook
BACK MATTER: Appendices, Glossary of Terms

Sample Chapter

Chapter 52
Armed with the combat knife, which once belonged to Jin, father of Chi-Ro, Roman Doyle sprinted into the darkness of the Marusa Forest. He no longer heard Soraya’s screams and feared the worse. Instinct brought him to an abrupt halt. Ignoring the painful pounding of his heart, and the throbbing in his head, he strained to listen.
Roman heard only his own shallow breathing. Chi-Ro and Zachary were nowhere to be seen and could not be heard.

Why haven’t they followed?

The fear, which had been replaced by desperate bravado, returned with crushing intensity. And, with the fear, came doubt. Roman doubted his senses.

Did I imagine Soraya calling me?

Suddenly he heard a faint sound, directly behind. He tightened his grip on the dagger.

Roman spun quickly. From the darkness, a yellow-eyed hulk, possessing horns, fangs and claws, sprang towards him. The creature roared; a mighty roar, which drowned Roman’s scream and stopped his heart from beating.

Miraculously, the makra-gak’s large horns lunged on either side of Roman’s body; but the creature’s head slammed into his chest, hurling him through space.
Roman held on to the dagger for dear life, hoping not to land on its blade, hoping not to crash on his head. He managed to fall on both feet, but the momentum threw him to the ground on his back.

In a flash, the makra-gak was again upon him, sinking its claws into his shoulders. Roman stabbed with the dagger, and the creature roared with pain and anger. Roman stabbed again and again, tossed and rolled on the ground like a rag doll, as the vicious creature, relentlessly tried to kill him.

Desperately, Roman managed to drive the blade of the combat knife into the monster’s body. Blood made the hilt slippery, and Roman lost his grip. The knife remained lodged in the side of the makra-gak. The animal tossed its head in pain and anger; a horn crashed into the side of Roman’s body, hurling him five metres away.

Roman rolled into a shallow ditch and cowered. He heard the grunts and snorts of the wounded creature. It approached very slowly, in ever-decreasing circles.

“Roman, where are you?” came Soraya’s desperate call.

“No! Stay away! Get out of here, get out of here!” shouted Roman.

He dragged himself out of the ditch and to his feet. For the first time, he clearly saw his opponent.

The humanoid beast towered three metres tall. Its angular skull, reminiscent of a ram’s, sported a large forehead, pointed ears and a goateed chin. Its sickly yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.

This creature is like the Minotaur of Greek legend.

Clawed hands pulled the combat blade from its flesh and threw it to the ground. Then, for a chilling moment, the creature stared menacingly at Roman.

The makra-gak growled and prepared to charge. Roman focussed. He felt the warm, tingling sensation at the base of his spine.

“Where are you?” cried Soraya.

The makra-gak swiftly turned in the direction of Soraya’s voice.

Roman shouted to Soraya, “Stay away!”

Soraya’s voice asked, “Roman?”

The creature snarled defiantly, bolted and disappeared in the direction of Soraya’s voice.

“Run, Soraya, run!”

Instinct drove Roman to retrieve the dagger. He swiftly wiped the blood on his sleeve before returning it to the sheath on his belt. With a burst of psychic energy, Roman transformed into an astral wraith.

He flew in pursuit of the beast. Despite his blistering speed, the makra-gak remained several steps ahead, leading Roman through a maze of trees and shrubs.
Flying man and running beast approached an entrance carved in dark rock. The entrance led underground.

To his horror, Roman realised, It’s made of lapys nerian.

Just as quickly, his strength began to fail. He landed, resumed human form and thanked God that he retrieved the dagger. The makra-gak turned to Roman and growled before heading underground.

Roman shouted into the forest, “Soraya, there’s a cottage not far from here; you have to get to it.”

“I’m in a maze,” came Soraya’s voice, “I can’t find my way out. There’s something here...”

Soraya screamed.

Roman realised: She’s in there with the monster!

His gut feeling told him: This isn’t right. It doesn’t make sense.

However, the fear of losing his wife and unborn child propelled him towards the lapys nerian entrance.

Set in the stone, above the entrance, a smooth crystal orb provided illumination. Roman tentatively touched it. Despite the brilliance of the light it produced, the orb was as cold as the stone surrounding it.

With both hands, Roman wrenched the orb free. He disappeared, with the light, into the underground passage.

As he ventured into the gloom of the labyrinth, Roman felt he was being manipulated. He was being led into a trap.

He tried to reassure himself with the thought: This is only a dream.

But the deeper he walked into the dark maze, the more he asked himself, What if it’s real?

Dream or no dream, he had to rescue Soraya.

To add to his rising apprehension, Roman noticed that the light, emanating from the orb he carried, was slowly diminishing. Soon he would face complete darkness.

He also had another concern: How will I find my way out of this maze?

With Chi-Ro’s dagger, Roman tried to make a mark in the lapys nerian wall but found unsurprisingly, that the metal blade could not cut the hardest substance in the Cosmic Sea. Returning the knife to its sheath, he continued to follow the trail of blood left by the wounded makra-gak.

Roman estimated that he had walked about two hundred metres since entering the underground passage. He came to a halt. The single passage forked into two. Holding the orb up before him, he noticed a slight increase in its glow, when he pointed it towards the passageway on the left.

The makra-gak went that way. The orb is a proximity beacon. The closer it is to the makra-gak, the brighter it gets.

Roman jogged into the passageway on the left and immediately confirmed the correctness of his intuition. The light of the orb grew steadily brighter.

Confidently quickening his pace, Roman sprinted several metres until a fresh breeze caressed his face. He followed a sharp bend in the lapys nerian path and instinct urged him to draw Jin Lan’s dagger once more.

Holding the brilliant orb in his left hand, and the metal blade in his right, Roman saw that the passage grew wider, until it opened into an underground cave. With caution, he slowed to a brisk walk and to his surprise, the orb grew warmer and warmer until it became hot, too hot to handle.

Roman heard laboured breathing coming from the cave. He placed the orb on the ground and tightened his grip on Jin Lan’s dagger.

The makra-gak is here. It’s waiting for me.

Stealthily, Roman walked towards the mouth of the cave, towards the sound of laboured breathing. The sound made Roman realise he had been holding his breath. He inhaled slowly and felt some of the weight of apprehension lifted from his shoulders.
With each cautious step, he steeled himself for a confrontation with the wounded animal. He noticed that the sound of breathing became more and more irregular and that the interval between each breath became longer.

I think it’s dying. Maybe I’ll get Soraya out of here without much of a fight.

But a pang of guilt, soon replaced his sense of relief.

I didn’t want to kill the beast. It attacked me. I had no choice but to defend myself. Why did it attack me? Is Chi-Ro orchestrating this and if so, for what purpose?
With a plaintive wail, a gust of wind rushed from the cave into the passage; bringing Roman to a halt, and abruptly back to full red-alert. The wind subsided, as did Roman’s guilt and the painful sound of laboured breathing. All that remained was a chilling silence. Suddenly, the brilliant light of the orb quickly dimmed, glowed briefly and extinguished, plunging the underground passage into utter darkness.
In the black, Roman heard the sound of sobbing. A woman’s sobs emanated from the cave.

Oh my God, it’s Soraya.

Roman’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt a large knot develop in the pit of his stomach.

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