Plague by H. W. “Buzz” Bernard

In only a matter of days, 9/11 and the destruction of the Twin Towers will be rivaled by a lone-wolf terrorist attack on America. Atlanta is targeted as Ground Zero for the most horrifying plague in modern times.

Holy cow!  I am getting seriously sleep deprived.  Thank goodness I didn’t have to be anywhere the other morning, because I was up until five-thirty a.m. reading this book.  It was mesmerizing and horrifying, and I couldn’t put it down.  I need to read a bad book.  Something I can put down or fall asleep over.

I was raised Lutheran and converted to Catholic while I was married.  After I read Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, I slept with both a Catholic Missal and a Lutheran Prayer Book for about six weeks.  After reading Plague, I want to go out and buy a gas mask and never leave home without it.  In fact, I’d like to give gas masks to my family for Christmas this year.  What if?…  Mr. Bernard has obviously done his homework in terms of the science of bio-warfare.  But, he’s also a great writer.  His characters are well-drawn and real.  His dialog flows nicely and is not stilted like Robin Cook’s.  (The man tells a good story, but he should read his dialog aloud.)  Mr. Bernard even manages to avoid comma splices for the most part—one of my pet peeves that most other people probably don’t notice.  And he keeps you on the end of your seat, biting your nails, turning the page, and holding your breath.  Oh yeah, you’ll hold your breath long after the book ends.

Length:  250 Pages

Price:  Paperback $14.95

E-Book:  $9.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Plague-H-W-Buzz-Bernard/dp/1611941768/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349370404&sr=1-1&keywords=Plague+%2B+H.+W.+%22Buzz%22+Bernard

Dax Rigby, War Correspondent by John B. Rosenman

As WWIII rages on Earth, War Correspondent Dax Rigby travels to the savage planet Arcadia to investigate and report on the Western Alliance’s mission there. Soon, he fights not only to save two intelligent alien species from extinction, but also to rescue a dying human outpost threatened by a mysterious disease.

Facing assassination attempts, seduction from a passionate pilot, and his own mysterious powers of resurrection, Dax struggles to maintain his loyalties and complete his mission. The fate of two worlds hangs in the balance. Will he find a way to redefine both his identity and his destiny in time?

This is a page-burner.  The action starts the minute Dax’s boots hit dirt on the planet Arcadia, and it doesn’t stop.  Almost everyone is a suspect, and it’s difficult to tell reality from hallucination at times.  The only people he can trust are the priest and the amorous pilot.  Or can he trust them?  You’ll have to read the book to find out.  And you won’t know for sure until the very last pages. 

I recently attended the Hugo Awards.  (See my other blog.  http://rochelleweber.blogspot.com/2012/09/chicon-7-world-science-fiction.html) It really is a shame Science Fiction Writers of America is still in the dark ages in terms of membership requirements.  They’re eliminating some real talent with their two-thousand-dollar sale to a “qualified” publisher requirement.  I know some great writers in the e-book world who should be nominated for Hugos.  John B. Rosenman is among them with this book.

Length:  250

Price:  $5.95

Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=96&category_id=7&keyword=Dax+Rigby%2C+War+Correspondent&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.