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Reliance by Paul McMurrough

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Reliance by Paul McMurrough

An eruption on the Sun leaves the Earth powerless, but is it a temporary inconvenience or the start of a spiral into anarchy?
Belfast Professor Martin Monroe knows the answers, but once branded a conspiracy nut, he struggles to get anyone to listen to his warnings of the impending disaster. His only friend, Simon Wilson, still coming to terms with the loss of his wife, is the only person who will listen.
Fighting against bureaucracy and her own lack of confidence, Government Communications officer Lisa Keenan struggles to get the word out. Despite the protests of her colleagues, she enlists the help of the professor.
With a wife and new-born child to think of, Prison supervisor, Derek Henderson, must weigh duty against family, and live with the consequences of an impossible decision.
Will the world’s total reliance on technology, and the electricity that powers it, lead to the irreversible disintegration of society on a global scale?

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Trapped in Peace by Sterling Stonewood

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Neil Johnstone’s soul is heading for eternal torture in Hell when he dies thanks to some dark magic in his employment contract.
For the past twenty years he has worked as an office administrator in Bleak & Fargon, a demonic multinational company that hunts and traps people, and their souls, by signing them up to their sole product called Peace. Peace renders the unlucky recipient practically invisible to the world, wholly insignificant, and forgotten by anyone who ever knew them.
Neil hates his job. His employers make him a tempting offer, a way out of his misery. Either he remains trapped in Peace or he can be freed provided he does the unimaginable and swaps his place in Hell with his own mother.
He’s thinking about it. Neil has some serious mother issues, but can he really do what it takes to save his own damned soul?
He seems to think so.

Targeted Age Group:: 18+

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The core idea of the book was influenced by a few factors. In the 1980s there was a speculative TV show called The Twilight Zone. As a teenager I was inspired by the memorable, creative and extreme what-if scenarios. I didn't think back then about writing my own speculative fiction story, that didn't happen until I began this novel a few years ago and discovered that The Twilight Zone's influence had stood the test of time.
For years I worked in various administrative roles in several companies and was saddened at times observing how mindless negative behaviours or actions would conveniently be jotted off to 'just business'. Trapped in Peace at its core is a good vs evil story based in a multinational company and my work experience lended credibility to the setting, and the 'just-business' cop-out attitude, well, that stuck to my psyche just like the Zone. Lastly, the overarching influence and continuing guiding light for this project was a spiritual element, specifically the theme of forgiveness, one that on my own personal spiritual path I have found both intriguing and, admittedly, at times a struggle to apply on a practical level. I've read plenty of non-fiction on the subject but wanted to explore through fiction just how damaging it can be to hold on to anger, fear, resentment and unforgiveness.

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Birth Right: Galak’s Rising by Christina Goebel

By Fiction Hideaway Curator

Birth Right: Galak’s Rising by Christina Goebel

“A brilliant start to the series . . .” Prairies Book Review

“Sci-fi and fantasy readers seeking a story that bridges several subgenres and fills its pages with impossible challenges and hope against all odds will find Birth Right: Galak’s Rising an excellent story that stands well on its own, but sets the stage for more stories in the series. It’s a vivid, memorable tale of choices, consequences, and their lasting impact on the future of humanity that will linger in the mind long after the final struggle’s outcome.” D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

What do you do when the world’s greatest power has no conscience?

Two, not of blood, but joined in blood,
may conquer only as a selfless act of love.
–from The Prophecy of the Dancers of Silence

The illustrated dystopian science fiction epic fantasy Birth Right Trilogy depicts the first battles of a brutal war between humans, cyborgs, robots, and genetically enhanced beings. In the first book, Birth Right: Galak’s Rising, you are introduced to the Valki and Galak.

At the onset of a technological war that could destroy their race and the technology that made them superior, the genetically enhanced Valki traveled more than a century into the future.

In this new civilization, Galak, a cruel cyborg obsessed with creating his own race of superior beings, induces the remaining human feudal and native tribes to war against one another. To limit the Valki population, births are restricted to one per woman, unless they are twins. Galak demands that Valki teen twins compete for a Birthright, the right to have children—or be sterilized.

The courage of two young Valki women to resist Galak’s law pits princes, kings, and mighty warriors against a merciless and powerful foe.

To save humanity, the girls, named only 99 and 100, and their allies must resist an opponent who has the field and technological advantages. Only those willing to sacrifice everything can defeat their enemies.

The Birth Right Trilogy explores the ethical implications of technology with adventure, romance, humor, and terror.

Kent Burles created the nineteen illustrations for Galak’s Rising.


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