The Hidden Crystal, by Daniel Gimness

This is the link to the Amazon page to purchase the book via your computer. OR just use your Kindle to go to the Kindle Store and search under the title The Hidden Crystal.

Here's the description of The Hidden Crystal:

Sarac, a young student magician is beaten and cast aside when Alena, a priestess he loves is captured and carried off to sea by marauders who torch his village in search of the Crystal of Fire.

Sarac resolves to rescue Alena, though doesn’t realize that his urgent quest is part of a greater purpose; the Crystal of Fire is one of four Crystals of Power ancient Wizards created to prevent the terrible planetary upheaval their world suffers every one thousand years. Sarac must find the Crystals of Power and unite them before the Fall Equinox when the red planet Nibiru comes into alignment with their planet or all will be lost.

Naga, an evil sorcerer, who led his soldiers in search of the Crystal of Fire, seeks the Crystals of Power as well for a different purpose, to enslave all mankind and gain dominion over their world regardless of the devastation it will cause.

With the help of Joran, a wizard of immense power, Sarac faces increasing threats from the approaching cataclysm which is starting to rain destruction on their planet, and from Naga who is determined to retrieve the Crystals of Power at all costs. The urgency of their quest increases when Sarac learns that Naga is torturing Alena to get her to reveal the location of the remaining Crystals of Power. As the Fall Equinox approaches, Sarac struggles to unravel an ancient prophecy, defeat Naga, rescue Alena, and ultimately save their world from violent destruction.

Chapter One

Chapter 1: Land of the Golden Sun

Sweat ran down Sarac’s cheek as he raced down a narrow forest path, panicking as branches lashed his face. His boots crunched through virgin snow, now stained with drops of blood. He clutched his wounded chest and stopped suddenly, unsure of his surroundings. Nothing looked familiar.

Pale blue eyes stared out at the surroundings from a narrow face of sixteen seasons, framed by thin cheekbones. He ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair and shivered, pulling his coarse white robe tighter around him. This was supposed to be a training exercise and he was wholly unprepared for the climate. He pressed himself against the trunk of a tree as the sound of his pursuers passed close by, trying to remain as still as possible while his ragged breathing sent puffs of fog into the cold air.

Four shadows appeared around a bend in the trail. A thin boy with straw-colored hair and a sour expression on his face, wearing a white robe with a polished buckle of a golden sun stepped forward, followed closely by three other boys. “Which way did Sarac go?” came Braden’s surly voice. “I should have killed him when I had the chance. If he makes it back to the Temple of Inscriptions to tell the Elders what happened…”

Sarac picked up a small rock and threw it hard against a tree on the other side of the trail. It made a loud cracking sound as it struck the trunk.

“This way!” Braden shouted, leading the boys away from Sarac’s hiding place.
Sarac breathed a sigh of relief, and stumbled forward. Female voices drifted on the wind as Sarac’s feet snapped fallen branches. In a grassy clearing ahead, four girls were practicing their dancing. A chestnut-haired girl in a white dress caught his eye; her long, brown tresses flowed as her feet skimmed the ground. Sarac’s eyes widened as he watched, entranced as the girl spun and twirled, seeming to float across the meadow. She looked like an angel as the radiance of the sun cast a golden nimbus behind her, lighting up the edges of her dress. The way her body moves! Sarac felt faint. He looked down at the jagged tear in his soaked shirt, and the underlying wound in his chest and was startled to see how much blood he had lost. His vision wavered and he stumbled forward into the clearing. The girl’s heads spun toward him; three of the girls shrieked and fled the clearing. Sarac clutched the front of the remaining girl’s shawl as he fell forward, his bloodied fingers leaving red marks on her dress.

“What are you doing over here on this side of the river?” the girl asked, one hand on her hip. Her dark eyebrows lowered in concern and she gasped as she saw Sarac’s bloodied chest. She quickly bent down over him, her hanging hair framing her face as she shook him gently.

Sarac moaned and stirred, slowly opening his eyes as he looked at her. “There was a—”
The girl placed a finger against Sarac’s lips and smoothed back his hair. “I’m a healer. Rest now and let me see what I can do for your injuries,” she said, closing her eyes in intense concentration. White light flowed from her fingertips, snaking across Sarac’s body. Sarac gasped and arched his back; he squeezed his eyes tight, pain rippling through his body as his flesh mended and muscles knit. When the power faded, the only sign that Sarac had been injured was a lightening of the skin on his chest. The healer swayed unsteadily on her feet, her face pale.

Sarac opened his eyes and moved his lips, trying to form words as he rose unsteadily to his feet. “I’m Sarac. Thanks for healing me.”

The girl extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Alena. I’m studying to be a Keeper of the Flame.”

Sarac nodded his head. “I know, I saw you practicing―”

Color rose to Alena’s cheeks as she brushed a dark strand of hair out of her eyes. “How embarrassing!” she said. She put a hand to her head and stumbled forward.
“Are you okay?” Sarac asked.

“I just need to rest for a minute. Healing is hard work.”

“Here, let me help you,” Sarac said, offering her his shoulder to lean on.
“Thank you. I must be getting back to the temple as the Sisters will start to wonder what happened to me.”

When the golden dome of the Temple of Fire came into view above the treetops, Alena stopped on the wooded trail. “Well, this is where we part. I can’t risk them seeing us together this close to the temple.”

“Why?”

“I’m studying to be a Sister of the Flame and must remain pure and chaste. For the other Sisters to see us together and think—”

“Say no more,” Sarac said as he raised her warm hand to his lips and kissed it tenderly.

“Alena! Where are you, child?” A stern female voice carried through the forest along with the sound of snapping twigs.

Alena’s eyes widened. “Oh, no! A Sister of the Flame! She cannot see me here with you, Sarac!”

The Sister burst through the underbrush, to find Sarac still holding Alena’s hand. “Out here with a boy, and an apprentice of the Temple of Inscriptions, no less!”

Sarac turned and ran in the other direction as the Sister grabbed Alena by the ear.
“Thought you would have some fun out here, did you?” the teacher sneered as she pulled Alena back down the trail toward the Temple of Fire.

“No, I healed him! You must believe me!” Alena cried in protest.

Sarac watched in dismay from the protection of a thicket of bushes, wondering if he would ever see Alena again.

Want to know what happens next? Order the book for your Kindle!

Waterman: a Turn-of-the-Century Toughs omnibus of historical fantasy and retrofuture science fiction

Waterman: a Turn-of-the-Century Toughs omnibus of historical fantasy and retrofuture science fiction [Kindle Edition]
by Dusk Peterson

Meredith is from the Eastern Shore of the Bay. Carr is from the Western Shore. . . .

"Fair play" is the motto of the Third House at Narrows School, but that motto takes on a different meaning when a lonely member of the Third House is secretly wooed by a young man from a rival House.

This 100,000-word omnibus contains all the current stories in Waterman, a historical fantasy series and retrofuture series inspired by the Chesapeake Bay oyster wars, boarding school rivalries in the 1910s, and 1960s visions of things to come.

About the Author
Dusk Peterson is a long-time resident of Maryland. The author's research for this story drew upon turn-of-the-century books, maps, and images; modern accounts by Chesapeake islanders and watermen; and visits to bay islands, port towns, and museums. Peterson is the author of Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, a cycle of historical fantasy novels that includes the Waterman series.

I'll be getting on the stick tomorrow!

Haven't been posting here in a regular fashion - will start doing so WEDNESDAY. Will be posting every Monday, Wednesday and Fri.

The Methuselan Circuit, by Christopher L Anderson

Well, halleluhah, I think I've just found an indi book!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Amazon/Kindle sure doesn't make it easy for those of us who want to promote indie authors. They're buried so far down in the lists that it's a miracle to find them!


Alexander has never been in space, zooted around in zero-G, scored a goal in Z-Crosse or fired a legionary battle rifle. He’s never thought of standing guard on the bridge of the famous U.S.S. Iowa, which everyone says is haunted. Even though his parents are Citizens, life on post war Terra isn’t easy: few of the anti-grav units work anymore, the food synthesizer broke years ago and there are no spare parts, and labor-robots were outlawed in the last wars. Alexander lives the life of a nineteenth century farmer on 23rd century Earth, doing chores from dawn to dusk with school squeezed in between—at night he gazes at the stars, looking forward to the day when his father lets him go on his interstellar freighter runs. Everything changes on Service Day, when an officer from the Fleet visits school and hands him an appointment to the Space Academy. Thrilled, Alexander puts on a space suit and leaves the farm behind, but his excitement is tempered when he discovers that he’s the key to a galaxy-wide intrigue that involved his father—his father the farmer and freighter captain, or could he be something else?

For more on Alexander's adventures go to www.dragons-and-dreadnauts.com or the author's blog at www.christopherlanderson.wordpress.com

Shattered Earth, by Cliff Ball

Available on Kindle

Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness. The advanced humans, and a group of aliens, the Ragnor, involve Earth in an interstellar war. Thousands of years later, the humans of Earth decide to do something about this. Interstellar politics will never be the same again once Earth is done with their revenge. These Terrans involve themselves throughout human history. Some play as King Arthur and Merlin. Another is a scientist, whose name is Galileo, and he gets into all sorts of trouble for challenging official orthodoxy about the sun, the Earth, and which one is revolving around the other. Then, we have Amelia Earhart, who has a very valid reason for disappearing.

When an alien spaceship gets shot down over Roswell in 1947, President Truman orders the creation of Area 51, Project Blue Book and Sign, and has the United States embark on a plan that will culminate 60 years in the future. Nothing will ever be the same again when the United States gets involved in interstellar politics. But, the whole plan backfires when Earth ends up the worse for wear over it. Other species find out what Earth did, since no one else was bold enough to even try, so they want to help bring down the Ragnor once and for all. The new President of the United States imagines a galactic federation or a republic, but, none of the other species wants anything to do with it. With the help of the Terran who is known to
Earth as Amelia Earhart, they plot to destroy the Ragnor once and for all. Will Earth learn never to interfere in interstellar politics or will the humans finally succeed in getting all the aliens in the universe to leave them alone?

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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Science Fiction Showcase is not a review site. I share the book cover and the book description. My ultimate goal, when authors find out about this blog, is for them to share sample excerpts from their book - anything up to a chapter.So, authors, if you want your ebook to be showcased here, email me at Nocturne_CVS@Yahoo.comI would like to help promote Indie Authors, so contact me!