Author Guest Post with Zanne Raby, Descent into Darkness

Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance.

Welcome to one of the April 13th stops on the blog tour for Descent into Darkness by Zanne Raby with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Obsessions

Have you ever read a book and then become completely immersed in the story? You know, like when you can’t turn the light off in bed because you just have to find out what happened? You’re sitting at work, anxiously awaiting quitting time so you can go back to the world between the covers. You know the feeling? Yeah, that happens to me. First time, I was seventeen and it over the was Christmas holidays. I stayed up till four am every day reading the entire boxed set of The Lord of the Rings. Three Days. Twelve hours of sleep. Over 1300 pages. And dark circles, you know, under my eyes. But wow, was it worth it. That’s obsession.

Years later, I still get carried away when I’m immersed in a novel. But now, it’s carried over into my writing. How can I sleep at night when my characters chatter in my mind? I’ve written two novels in the science fiction series “The Chronicles of Deneb”. When I was working on the first book, The Flight of the Mayflower, my protagonist Dr. Daniel Radu, kept me awake gabbing about spacecraft propulsion systems. Like light sails and ion propulsion drives. I suppose that’s to be expected from an astronautical engineer. Once the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower were rocketing across the galaxy, it was to astrophysicist and deputy captain Dr. Tara Kóbor, with midnight briefings on what it’d take to safely cross through a wormhole. I really hadn’t thought much about entry vectors and velocity before but they weren’t the only things on Tara’s mind either. She kind of had a thing going on with Daniel and they had to keep it hush-hush. Except I heard about the gossip every night.

Obsessions, right? I would lay awake wondering if the Mayflower Crew would find a new place to call home. If Tara would leave her big boring hubby and take a chance on Daniel. And then I began to work on Descent into Darkness, the second novel in the series and it got even worse. You see, they made it to their new home: the planet Deneb7. Only it wasn’t the virgin wilderness they thought. Nope, they landed smack dab in the middle of a planet filled with blood thirsty warriors. And Pallav Kóbor was one of the first men off the Mayflower, snagging himself a plum position on the payroll of the Wessel Army. Angry and out for revenge against Daniel, he needed someone to talk out his Machiavellian schemes for retribution and that was yours truly. He wasn’t the only one to bend my ear either in the early hours of the morning. Combat space ace Erica Vogel, pilot for the Mayflower, had some tough decisions to make. And I was only too happy to oblige.

Obsessions. They carry us off in another world, making everything sink into the shadows. At least for a little while. Writing, just like reading, is a great escape from the strange planet we live on. Try it out. Pick up a book and lose yourself between the covers. Trail along on adventures and escapades. Forget about the dishes in the sink, the clothes on the floor, that report that’s due tomorrow. They can wait. They’re not going anywhere. Some obsessions are dangerous but immersing ourselves in a good work of fiction is one obsession worth having.

About the Book

Descent into Darkness
The Chronicles of Deneb Book Two
by Zanne Raby

Punlished 1 November 2021

Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera
Page Count: 388
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Descent into Darkness: Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series. Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance. With a bloody conflict raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction. Descend with the crew into darkness, where the only survivors of a global war will be on the right side of the border.

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Excerpt

Nagib looked overhead at the sun and shook his head. “I’m starting to think that Brynn’s right, Charra. Maybe they’re not coming after all.” His wife threw her hands to her hips and swivelled to face her husband.

“We wait, husband. And you’d do better to wipe that dirt smudge from your tunic.”

With her chin pointing at him defiantly, Nagib knew he was beaten and lowered his head timidly. “She’s only nine Charra, and she’s so full of life. Can’t this wait a few more years?”

“What are you, stupid or something?” his wife fumed. “It’s for this very reason, wasn’t it, that we made the match in the first place. This daughter of yours has too much spirit, and I blame you for encouraging her. If we wait any longer, her behaviour will shame us and then no family will want this girl who doesn’t know her place in the world.”

Frowning partly in frustration and mostly in impotent anger at his wife, Nagib turned his back on Charra. My fault? As if this wife of mine knows her place, he fumed, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his billowing tunic. But still, he knew that Charra was a good woman, one who bore him strong children and had nursed him through the illness with no complaints. And she looked the other way when he stayed high in the hills with his flocks, long past the hot days of summer after the other shepherds had driven their animals back to the valleys and winter villages where the Geiten congregated during the short months of the Cooling. Truth be told, he knew Charra did not love him, nor did he care much for her. But theirs was a partnership built for survival and in that they had succeeded in their match. Only he held hope in his heart for more than this for his daughter, the sprite who touched his heart with her dear ways.

Around them, the circle of villagers started to rustle impatiently like the tall grasses in the wind, everyone wondering if sickness had carried away the young bridegroom and his mother, or if they had fallen prey to the bloodwolves that had recently learned to appreciate the taste of Geiten flesh. And mingling amongst the Geiten of Urkyn was a cluster of beings who from a distance could pass for foreigners from any one of the planets that made up the Interstellar Collective for Peace and Security.

About the Author

Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne’s family in uniform. Choosing to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors, Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning. After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

During a career spanning 38 years, some of the most memorable experiences involved command of 8 Mission Support Squadron as part of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, leading a study on support to the Canadian Arctic involving several trips to Northern Canada, including Canadian Forces Station Alert (the most northern settlement in the world), a three–year tour with NATO at Joint Force Command Brunssum, a deployment as the NATO Liaison Officer to United States Central Command, and finally a nomination as the Deputy Commander for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.

After hanging up the uniform and putting away the combat boots, Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house. With an office overlooking the picturesque shores of Georgian Bay, surrounded by maps and images of alien worlds, she is pursuing her life-long ambition to become an author. Enough of the reports and returns that littered her desk over her career, now she could turn her attention to unleashing the creativity that had taken a back seat to the analytical world of logistics. The time had come to shake the dust off and begin a new career. The winds of change had called.

Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the galaxy in search of a safe haven. But the planets the team discover provide anything but the sanctuary they sought. In her spare time, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening. And always, a good story to pass the time.

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Giveaway Alert!

Zanne Raby will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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