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EXCERPT: “What’s going on?” Michael asked. I thought it was Michael. No, maybe it was Travel. Everything spun, my head stretching and coming back as if I’d rocketed down an elevator shaft. Hands caught me under my arms. Whose hands? I didn’t know. My feet hit the floor, but my knees buckled, and as I was lifted again, I opened my eyes and caught a blur of the room—wood paneling, a pedestal holding a vase of red flowers, and an oriental carpet under my feet. What was wrong with me? My heartbeat thumped in my ears, the muscles in my legs refused to respond to my mental commands, and my skin hurt as tiny dots of pain erupted from my bones and spread to the surface of my limbs. “They need to be separated,” a male shouted. They? Who was they? His words were sharp and desperate, bordering on panic. The grip under my arms shifted to my waist and my upper body. Limp and trembling with each beat of my heart, I fell against the person holding me. It was Michael. I recognized his spicy cologne and the width of his shoulders against mine. “Michael, don’t you see what’s happening?” It was Travel. Now I recognized his voice, too, a voice marked with the same cast of anxiety in “Travel,” I tried to say. Or maybe I did say it. Had my lips even moved? A numbing heat whipped up my spine and spread through my shoulders and neck. My chin dropped to my chest, and the fuzzy red, white, and green colors I’d seen were replaced with the grey blur of my prison uniform. “Take her away—now!” Michael shouted, his words seeping deep into my ear where the sounds writhed and burned, the sensation spreading to my forehead. With each exhale, my hot breath pooled against my chest, stoking my lightheadedness. “Get her out of here,” Michael said again. “Hurry!” Her? Who? Me? VW2? Where was my daughter? Michael’s arms were empty, and my own still hung loosely at my sides and hit dumbly against my body when he shifted me closer to him. “That’s his niece. You just can’t…” Whose voice was that? It was a presidential voice with its commanding yet concerned tone. It had to be Dabner. I wasn’t his niece. I wasn’t anybody’s niece in this century. Who was he talking about?
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Shift
by M.A. George Genre: YA Sci-fi Release Date: June 1st 2018 Summary: Seventeen-year-old Perry Teasdale is a dreamer. She’s not the kind of dreamer who waltzes through fields of wildflowers, twirling her skirts in a starry-eyed daze; or the kind who aspires to be the biggest rock star the world has ever known (not that she’d complain, if that accidentally happened). She’s the kind of dreamer who can’t get a decent night’s rest, because her sleep is flooded with scenes from other worlds—ones that seem as real as life itself. Mind-blowing dreams may sound like loads of fun, but when they start to bleed into Perry’s waking hours—confusing the line between dream and reality, and keeping her in a sleep-deprived fog no amount of caffeine can cure—Perry’s not exactly thrilled. Try as she might to shake the dreams from her mind, they keep gaining speed, growing ever more vivid and intense…until that hazy boundary between real and imaginary fades away, and Perry is forced to consider the impossible: Her dreams seem real, because they are. When disaster strikes, sending Perry’s newfound normalcy into a tailspin, she takes the only logical path left: a whirlwind tour of the multiverse, scouring an ever-growing assortment of alternate realities for the missing piece—the missing person—to put her life together again. Along the way, Perry enlists the help of an ancient wise woman (who may be a tad homicidal); a nerdy-in-all-the-right-ways mathematician (who knows all of Perry’s secrets, even before introducing himself); and a sword (because you can never go wrong with a sword). At times hilarious—at times heartbreaking—Shift is sure to be, well, one of those two things. 
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
"'Tis hardly the time to turn meek, Your Ladyship."
The voice is muffled—panting from a knight's helmet—but the sneer is intact. Clearly he knows meek isn't in my vocabulary, and he disapproves.
I'd give him a piece of my mind, if I had any clue who he is...and if he hadn't just blocked a sword a few inches shy of connecting with my neck, burying the point of his battle ax in my assailant's chainmail armpit.
I swallow. "Thank you." Is that really the appropriate thing to say to someone using his armored foot to pry his weapon from a bleeding man's ribcage?
The knight tips a curt bow of his plumed helmet to me. "At your service, Lady Perry." Definitely a sneer there, although all I see through his visor is a pair of ice-blue eyes. Oddly familiar eyes.
He raises his ax, and Bleeding Man's head somersaults from his shoulders, followed promptly by the emptying of my stomach. I lean on my sword to keep from swaying.
Wait...I have a sword?
The knight spares me a smug glare, and then the ax swings again. The next opponent's mace thuds to the ground, along with the arm holding it.
My eyes flinch closed. This isn't real. It can't be.
Armless Man's scream says otherwise.
 Homecoming by Jennifer Allis Provost (Gallowglass) Publication date: July 17th 2018 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy  Who wields the power behind the Wild Court? 
 Fairies And Frosting by Christina Bauer (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum #2.5) Published by: Monster House Books Publication date: May 28th 2019 Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult  Elle (never call her Cinderella) is trying to throw a surprise birthday party for her bestie, Bryar Rose. Trouble is, some unfriendly fae are working hard to ruin everything. Good thing she has a certain handsome Le Charme wizard on speed dial...   Christina Bauer knows how to tell stories about kick-ass women. In her best selling Angelbound series, the heroine is a part-demon girl who loves to fight in Purgatory’s Arena and falls in love with a part-angel prince. This young adult best seller has driven more than 500,000 ebook downloads and 9,000 reviews on Goodreads and retailers. The first three books in the series are now available as audiobooks on Audible and iTunes. Bauer has also told the story of the Women’s March on Washington by leading PR efforts for the Massachusetts Chapter. Her pre-event press release—the only one sent out on a major wire service—resulted in more than 19,000 global impressions and redistribution by over 350 different media entities including the Associated Press. Christina graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School with BA’s in English along with Television, Radio, and Film Production. She lives in Newton, MA with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby. Stalk Christina On Social Media – She Loves It! Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Web site  
by John R. Sankovich Genre: YA Release Date: April 20th 2018 Summary: The supernaturally-gifted Followers will kill anyone unwilling to use their powers to find their leader. The self-righteous Trinity, led by a man named Ulysses, won’t stop until all supernaturally-gifted people are dead. Sixteen year old telekinetic Rebecca Stevens is stuck in the middle of their war. When her mother dies in a Follower attack and her father mysteriously disappears, Rebecca is left with only the guilt that, had she known how to safely use her swelling telekinetic ability, she might have saved them. Staying hidden is impossible once her brother, who hides his power, pledges his loyalty to Trinity. With both sides knowing of her power, she must navigate the battlefield between the two groups. As Ulysses’ power expands, The Follower’s numbers grow, and violent clashes threaten to tear apart the city. Rebecca’s only hope to stop them both is to master her ability before it’s too late to save anyone.
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EXCERPT
Rebecca Stevens stared at the crate twenty yards away; the breeze blew her hair across her eyes. The weight of the railroad spike hovering nearby rested on her mind. The sensation of a foreign object inside her head quickened her pulse like always. At her command the spike spun. Her skill had improved over the past months, during her very limited practice time, but one thing remained constant; if she didn’t manage her emotions she lost any sort of accuracy. Perfect concentration was required, and she hardly ever achieved that.
With her energy focused, sweat ran down her back and neck. A stiff wind chilled her cheek and rattled the nearby trees. A twig snapped and she glanced toward the sound. A dog stood in the clearing, its brown eyes studying her. At least he wouldn’t give away her secret.
A tingle intensified in her fingertips to the point of triggering an adrenaline rush, and she flung the spike toward the target. With a whoosh, the spike nailed the target a bit to the left. The wood box splintered, the crack of the wood echoed, and birds scattered from the nearby trees and the dog barked once before his escape. The spike drove into the ground, out of sight, behind a puff of dirt, as the force propelled it deep. Someone shouted in the distance, and she bolted toward the cover of the trees. She hid in the shadows of the trees like a criminal. Her body shook from the telekinetic exertion and with someone hearing the sound, they would come investigate. She needed to get out of here.
Her hands quivered and she knelt on the hard soil to calm her twitchy nerves. She hated the weakness in her stomach after every use of her power, but her instincts nagged her to practice. The control would get easier. It had to.
She dug into her backpack slung over a tree branch, and pulled out her cell phone. She had two text messages from her dad, both telling her to get home for dinner. She replied she was at the library and hurried through the forest as the sun set behind her. Her dad, they mayor of Peakside, would never understand what she was doing. He had been under constant pressure to do something about the growing voice of the public about people with powers. Her father kept to himself, but she knew he felt the burden. She hoped he would do the right thing; whatever that was. Maybe someday she would trust someone with her secret, but so far she couldn’t. The world wouldn’t allow her to.
At the edge of the woods, she scanned the adjacent street. Night crept in as the sun fell behind the horizon. Shadows reached forward like prying fingers as gloom surrounded her. A familiar loneliness fell upon her. A few porch lights dotted the neighborhood. In the distance, a dog howled. She hiked up her backpack and ran. Darkness scared her; she didn’t know why, but every time she was alone in the dark her nerves twisted into knots.
A pair of young men sat in a dark car near the forest. Smoke billowed up from the driver’s side when one of them opened his door. Did she see a flicker of fire on his arm? She looked away.
“Hey, girlie, you seen my dog?†the man called out. His voice had a raspy sound to it like he suffered from smokers’ cough. “It’s a small puppy.â€
Rebecca glanced back at him, but didn’t offer an answer. In the pocket of her sweatshirt, she clenched her fists; a faint energy pulsed in her arms.
“You too good to answer me?†the man yelled.
The car door slammed and the engine revved. They were after her. Fear shot through her veins, and she didn’t have time to give it a second thought. With them already in the car, she didn’t want to risk her life to stop them. She didn’t even know if she could stop them if she tried. She knew she could move small objects like her laptop and the railroad spike, but the heaviest thing she had moved with her mind was the washing machine, but a car, she couldn’t fathom doing that while she escaped.
Rebecca bolted toward the corner and hooked around. She hoped to put some distance between them. Her sneakers slapped against the pavement, still three blocks away from her house. Tired from her telekinetic training session, her body revolted--cramps hit her legs and she almost collapsed. She couldn’t outrun them, so she frantically searched the neighborhood for a place to hide. The first fence she came to, she scrambled over, and landed next to a tree. Her throat burned. Her chest heaved.
About the Author
Even as a young child I was always conjuring up stories and filling them with colorful characters, sharing them with anyone and everyone who would listen. Since then, I’ve progressed quite a bit to formulating longer and more complex stories and sharing them with much larger audiences.
When I'm not writing, I'm an avid Carolina Panther fan, video game player, and a Walking Dead aficionado.
I wouldn't be able to do this with the support of my family, wife, two daughters, and son. Along with our zoo at home with 3 dogs, 3 frogs, a turtle, leopard gecko, sugar glider, a cat, and numerous fish. You might be surprised that with all these possible distractions, I still manage to write on a daily basis.
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