Beau Coup Publishing Sci Fi Book Tour
Age of the Aura: Phase 1: Champions of Power
Nothing was more powerful than an Aura. It was a coveted might of celestial creation and the
Blessed Galaxy had five of them. For millennia, the governing bodies harnessed the Auras while
ruling their respective reaches of space. They were almost untouchable. But now they face the
threat of a calamity from an unlikely source, which could shake the lives of all. Lowen Vars, a
devout man of science, decides to take on the burden of saving the Galaxy. But he soon realizes
the difficulty of playing the role of a hero while he begins the fateful saga of the Blessed Galaxy.
Excerpt
Lowen proceeded to the Assembly House while dragging Brill on his shoulder, thinking it to be
the best bet for safety. Maneuvering was difficult, though, fighting through an onrush of people
proved challenging and his weight was nearly doubled due to his grandfather’s tall frame
pressing in on him, but he could not quit.
“All right. Easy now,” Lowen said, plodding one foot at a time while trying to avoid the now
vast number of chairs that had been knocked over.
“I knew it! I felt it!” Brill yelled.
“Stay quiet, Grandfather. We can make it!” “Quiet? Yes, of course.”
Lowen felt this was a test for his newly promoted
self, carefully make it to safety or risk being struck and with Brill on his back both their lives
would be no more. There was no timing to the process due to the nature of the lightning as
Lowen realized. Pinpointing the moment of each strike was not possible for him to calculate on
the spot.
“Can you see anything, Grandfather?”
It appeared he had nodded off again.
“Damn.”
The scene was saddening for Lowen as he watched the crowds of people. All of them tried to
avoid the Aura’s dealings of death in their own unique ways but rational thinking was proving
too difficult. The shoving and trampling only added to the violence of the situation.
Brill’s day of recognition had now turned into something else entirely, with his speech becoming
forgotten altogether.
Lowen found an opportunity, though, and took the moment to pause and think, having made very
little progress toward the Assembly House. He accidentally looked to the skies but only saw it
flooded with bodies being shot to the atmosphere once struck by the Aura, enough of them for
him to believe the nightmare of his reality.
“Hey! Over here!”
One of Lowen’s fellow physicists was bellowing out to him from underneath the archway of one
of the city’s towers, joined by a few others. Gladly, Lowen made his way over to them, leaving
his path to the House for a location that was much farther than he had thought. His moment of
relief diminished once he heard an excruciating cry from a woman nearby. A bolt of lightning
from the Aura had just struck at the base of the planet’s oldest memorial. The Aura had broken
its own limit of reach as it destroyed the sculpture of the Imperium’s first Lord.
Lowen stood in dismay as he watched the monument fall forcefully to the ground. He removed
his sight once it hit, hearing it crush a dozen or so citizens upon impact.
A rush of people fled from the scene instantly, heading straight in the direction of both him and
Brill. Seeing this shot adrenaline into Lowen’s veins, and he
hastened his way to the archway, adamant on reaching it, but speed was a necessity which he
greatly lacked. He and Brill were then knocked onto the ground by the onslaught of people, and
there they lay, sprawled and separated.
Lowen’s back afflicted him from the harsh contact he made, with the pain swelling its way
outward from the center of his back but shortly subsiding. He managed to return to his feet and
shockingly saw Brill already up and away at a distance. Strangely, though, Brill was facing the
area of the stage and appeared to be walking back toward it.
“Grandfather! Over here!”
Brill did not even break course when he heard him calling. He instead held his hands out to the
sides of his body in a presentable fashion, as though he were waiting to receive a hug in return.
He also closed his eyes, walking away with a calm and steadied pace.
“Lowen, you must come now!” his colleague yelled from the archway, now with even less room
for protection.
“Grandfather! What are you doing?”
With the courtyard nearly vacant, Brill was nearing the stage once again and became the main
focus of those watching. Eyes still shut and hands held out, Brill blindly walked up the steps
onto the stage without missing a single step. Something else was guiding him.
“Grandfather!”
Brill at last responded by turning back to look from the stage. He gave Lowen an eerie smile and
furthered it by giving him a wink of the eye. Turning back around, Brill stretched out his hands
even more.
“It will be all right,” Brill said, advancing on the Aura. “I am ready.” “No!”
A bolt of lightning then struck Brill’s body and suddenly it was over for him in the split of a
second. Lowen collapsed to his knees while wailing and reached an arm out toward the sky as
Brill’s body shot out of the planet’s atmosphere.
Bio
Samuel is an American-born child of Nigerian immigrants with a unique upbringing. His
various influences in martial arts, movies, television, and literature over the years have helped
him develop his story, Age of the Aura. With his different perspective, Samuel's hope is to
bring an original science fiction tale to those that enjoy the genre. Samuel is also the creator of
Scribeville, which is a workshop-driven collaboration website for writers
www.ageoftheaura.com
www.twitter.com/SamuelOdunsiJr
www.facebook.com/SamuelOdunsiJr
www.goodreads.com/SamuelOdunsiJr
www.facebook.com/AgeoftheAura
www.scribeville.com
Terminal Romantic
by Aurora Zahni
Most rational people can agree to the fact that time and space are relative. The same could
be said about love and romance. Hilary Palmer isn’t like most rational people and lives by a
different set of rules than the rest of the world. Heller Park’s greatest waitress returns in an
entirely different type of adventure. Hilary has near limitless power as the universe’s last stand
against irregularities in space and time, but there's always a toll to pay for such control. She is
not allowed to fall in love. --Correction, she can fall in love, but the universe just won’t let it
stick. Now the Van Allen file has gone missing and the integrity of the space time continuum is
in jeopardy. Will her team of new friends and old loves be able to restore order before it’s too
late? Doomed love, duels to the death, an evil twin and pie. What more could you ask for?
Excerpt
“Hil, why are we here?” “Track, soon you’ll be gone. We may never see each other again. Or, if
we do, who’s to say next time you won’t fall in love with me. Right now, in this moment, we are
here. And my roommates are not.” She motioned to her room to make sure he understood. “Just
once, I want to hold you in my own bed. Just so I can always say I did. Is that selfish?” Track
said nothing. “Come to bed,” she half-demanded, half-pleaded. She entered her room and left
the door open for Track, removing her clothes as she approached her bed, knowing Track would
follow. She slipped under the covers and stared at the door until his eyes met hers. She moved
over to the edge of the bed to give him room to join her, leaning on her side. She felt his arms
wind around her, and her hair being pushed to the side so he could kiss her neck. He pressed
closer to her, and she could tell he was naked too. She turned to meet his kisses head on, and
they lost themselves. Hilary ran her hands down his back, and he grabbed her by the waist. She
was always amazed that no matter how many times his memory was erased, he could always find
his way around her body so confidently. He lay down on his back, and Hilary laid her chin on his
chest, staring at him for a moment. His eyes cried passion, fear, and dedication. That is what she
Aurora Zahni is a former rebel who’s trying to bring a little bit of Judy Blume and Sylvia Plath
to the Twilight Generation. Over the years she has given half-assed / full throttle contributions
to numerous zines and blogs, written a web movie and done significantly well in countless
competitive eating events. When she was in the 8th grade, she was on the local evening news.
A dead body was being lifted out of the water at a marina by the Meadowlands and you could
clearly see her standing in the background watching, looking a bit excited for the camera.
Looking back it may have been the highlight of her entire childhood.
nice excerpts
ReplyDelete