Inanna Phantom by Hawk MacKinney - Book Tour - Book Trailer - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hello, lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Hawk MacKinney and his new book, “Inanna Phantom”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Hawk and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Inanna Phantom

by Hawk MacKinney

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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BLURB:

The threat of rift invasions seem long passed. Plentiful harvests abound. The Murian first-contact Terato Outpost has grown into the sprawling Terato-Murian Terminus Terato with a hub of relay portals reaching across the vast uncharted galactic expanses and connecting with its eon-extinct Lantaraan prehistory.

An exploratory Terato-Murian Jupiterr outpost is established on the gas giant seventh planet, and its quantum and gravitational energies are used to power outpost portals for an archeological survey of the fourth planet, Eorthe.

The Lantaraan database aboard Terato’s ancient Downday moon shows that one or more planets of the Solaris planets have apparently been lost. Expanded archeological records on other Lantaraan orbital bodies in the Solaris system show the fourth planet from the star—Eorthe—to be a sterile wasteland. Except it is not. Eorthe’s civilization is not to the level of the Murian Empire, but it is far advanced to those of a pastoral Terato. Terato and Eorthe form the confederated United Terran League under the nominal figurehead leader of League High Judikarr Eklam a’Qoc.

Jupiterr outpost expands into a major League stronghold, Jupiterr Base, when civil unrest erupts in the League, the unexpected return of rift intrusions threatens, and the Murian Emperor Klarvko Celo is assassinated.

As they prepare for confrontations with an unknown ancient enemy, the internal tensions on Myr and Eorthe push Murians and Teratoans to dangerous discords.

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EXCERPT TWO:

The following morning Eklam had a Terminus skimmer shuttle standing by, as he told David. “I want you to see the mining complexes with the new designs in operation.”

As the skimmer sped away, it was the last time David saw Charlotte alive. It was a last time and a first time for more than either of them could imagine. The marauders struck swift and brutal.

       

Eklam and David returned late as evening daylit paled into eventide twilit. As the skimmer shuttle slowed; eased to stop and powered down to a faint-hum idle, David said, “Very impressive.”

       

Eklam barely heard him, as he stepped out of the skimmer and in that moment sensed something amiss. His premonition was quickly shattered by a child’s brittle scream in the deadly stillness.

Stavris burst from the tumble of boulders up the hill where he'd hidden, “Fæder!”

       

The fear in Stavris’ voice told Eklam something was bad wrong. Eklam’s short summer tunic whipped his thighs, the small replica of the Judikarr’s crux ansata thumping his chest, as he ran toward his terrified son. Stavris slammed into his father’s arms clutching tight as tears streamed down his face. A frantic Eklam held his son close and whispered, “What’s the matter?”

       

With short choked breaths and arms tight around Eklam’s neck, Stavris pointed toward the house, “Blood all over—”

       

Eklam flung a look beyond the outer wall, and flinched at the crumpled wreckage of the scarred servmo and the fused jagged blast scars and gouges of debris along the entryway. More blast scars on the lopsided double doors of the main entrance with one door crumpled askew. Nozzles of the bug-scrim emitters on two side windows were twisted, the curls of smoke backlit in the afternoon sunlit. Marleen hated bugs in the house. She never left the bug-scrim deactivated. He took in the blood-splashed scene so different from what he and David had left earlier that morning.

       

“My god,” a fearful David gasped, as he rushed toward a horror getting worse everywhere they looked.

       

Stavris buried his face in the crook of Eklam’s shoulder and neck, “I don't want to go in there.” He pulled tighter into Eklam. “Aunt Charlotte's got blood all over her. She’s not moving and she won’t answer when I call her name.”

       

Eklam held Stavris tight, trying to reassure him even when he wasn’t sure of anything himself. His eyes fastened toward the sprawling rooms facing the canyons, not wanting to think of what the blood spatters on the front doorways and along the foyer could mean.

       

Eklam met a stunned gaunt unseeing David staggering out of the house and stopping at the crumpled entrance. A gray shroud on David’s face, “They blew Charlotte apart. Pieces are everywhere.” Blood-smeared hands propped against the doorframe, steading himself against what he couldn’t make real. Vessels in his neck throbbed, his heartbeat hammered thumps in his ears. “She doesn't have a face.” As he tried to distance himself from the unspeakable, he wheezed more words from a strangling throat, “I can’t find Jeffry.”

       

Stavris pointed up the hill toward Jeffry stumbling around boulders toward them. “Me’n Jeffry hid in the rocks.”

       

How?” Eklam grasping for any kind of meaning into the unacceptable, “Why in the name of Terato’s two suns would anyone do something like this?” His fear choked at him, “Marleen?” Afraid to ask, “The boys?” Not wanting Stavris to see more of the slaughter, Eklam said, “Stay here with Uncle David.”

       

Eklam ran across the slab-stone patio and around the fountain with its pink-tinged splashes. He called out, “Marleen? Ek? Korve?” A harsh crack deepened his voice as he called each name again and again and got no response. When he got to an inside doorway, he stopped. The grisly scene of bloody smeared clots splotched across the walls, ceilings and floors hit him full force. Sprawled in front of him was what was left of Charlotte Martin. Beyond Charlotte were three barely recognizable bodies of the house staff. He searched the rooms and the verandas. There was no sign of Marleen or his other two boys.

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BOOK TRAILER:

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GUEST POST:

The Allure of a Strong Female Character:

To paraphrase cartoon lothario Pepè Le Pew, “…there is very little difference between men & women, but--vive la difference!” Animal kingdoms are rife with la difference, from the downside-up role of seahorses, transitioning Osteichthyes to assorted segmented annelids.

Lead characters, supporting characters, major characters, shadow characters, dead characters…we corrupt the adjectives in a word-game that belittles the whole viewpoint…male-female becomes meaningless and sterile. No character stands alone. I love my female characters. The more feminine and the more alluring makes for more powerful.

My early years through the teens were spent around the strong capable feminine that could handle anything that coalmine fires and nitroglycerin explosions brought. There weren’t loud types of any gender, but especially the females. There was no loud to get attention, flinging emotional abuse, accomplishing nothing but chaos. Rather, women exhibited strength and accomplishment all the while exhibiting the softness of femininity. I was reared to appreciate that.

I prefer writing from a feminine point of view – but not just the one point of view. That so limits the tale being told. Whether heroine, rogue, stalwart, dependable, steel determination, comfortable with self & ego, such a woman can engender unconditional love with a sweet and relentless power to lift a wrecked car off a loved one. The Old Norse chooser of the slain Valkyrja is such a waste.

The smart, creative, feminine, confident, supportive, independent lady is an awesome cuddly warm creature that presents a sensuous breathtaking enticement or refuge for any testosterone creature/gentleman/lover, no matter the setting.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Hawk has authored several works of fiction including a historical romance Moccasin Trace which was nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. His Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series and his Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have received national and international attention.

With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. His professional writing includes articles on chordate neuroembryology, and aerospace research on muscle metabolic behavior in multi-orbital environments.

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CONNECT WITH HAWK:

Website:

http://hawkmackinney.net

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011826991252

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/HawkMacKinney

BookBub Author Page:

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/hawk-mackinney

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/698008.Hawk_MacKinney

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/2JP1rB2

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3620DQR

Amazon Paperback:

https://amzn.to/2Jk4Dm5

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inanna-phantom-hawk-mackinney/1133914447?ean=2940160902616

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inanna-phantom-hawk-mackinney/1133914447?ean=9781732918252

The Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Inanna-Phantom-Hawk-Mackinney/9781732918252

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Inanna-Phantom/Hawk-Mackinney/9781732918252

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.