Sep
24
2014
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Rifters by M. Pax

Here’s a great new series you might want to read from M. Pax who wrote the classic sci-fi series Backworlds. The first book in the series, Rifters is free and the sequel, Initiate is only $1 right now. How can you go wrong?

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“A junction erupts between the worlds.

The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.

Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.

Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.”


My Review

What an imaginative ride! Rifters is a great start to a new series, continued in Initiate. It’s a bizarre mix of contemporary, western, paranormal and sci-fi with hints of steampunk, sort of. Certainly like nothing I’ve read. It’s a lot of fun with plenty of action and mystery. If you want something out of the ordinary then you’ll enjoy this.

It’s set in a sleepy Oregon town that is wonderfully brought to life and realistic, with plenty of odd but memorable characters. Just outside of town lurks a rift between worlds and time, through which emerges a nasty creature that delights in stealing people’s heads. A secret society exists in town to try to hold the inhabitants of the Rift at bay, and they have some curious technology to help them.


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M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Website / Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads;

You can also find M. Pax on LinkedIN, Pinterest, YouTube, and Wattpad

 

Feb
15
2014
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Worlds on Edge by M. Pax

Coming this March is the fifth installment in M. Pax’s thrilling science fiction series, The Backworlds. This is a great scifi series for anyone interested in the frontiers of the galaxy, or fans of Firefly. Check out the whole series.

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War is coming. A horde of merciless aliens poise just beyond the Edge. In a matter of weeks they will devour the worlds.

Racing ahead of the apocalypse, Craze returns to the Backworlds to warn them and plan a defense. Only he can’t go home. Banned from Pardeep Station, he must wage a more urgent battle. His moon is under siege, and his friends are dying.

Bad things come in threes, and the galaxy is no exception. An old enemy returns, attacking moons and defenseless globes, leaving a wake of destruction. Worse than that, they threaten to join forces with the alien horde.

Defeat seems inevitable. Craze may not be able to stop it. Yet home is worth the fight.


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MPAX

M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Website / Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads

You can also find M. Pax on LinkedIN, Pinterest, YouTube, and Wattpad

 

Mar
08
2013
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Boomtown Craze Launch Party

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A Grand New Age of Boom or Dust?

Boomtown Craze, Book 3 in the Backworlds series is here! This is a great scifi series for anyone interested in the frontiers of the galaxy, or fans of Firefly. (And don’t you love that cover?)

 

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe.

To secure his future, Craze must propel his world into a more prosperous era. Only days away from the grand opening of his new and improved tavern, he is confronted by a loony Backworlder intent on mucking up his plans. Gaunt and trembling, she claims her spaceship is possessed. She also has a connection to the underworld that shakes loose the dark past of one of Craze’s closest friends. It all threatens to end Craze’s prosperity before it begins.

Meanwhile off world, Captain Talos works desperately to outwit the mercenary Jixes and lure them away from his and Craze’s budding prospects. The mind-control weapon Talos uses against them is wearing thin, and his next move may be his last.

Will Craze and Talos’s efforts bring about a grand new age of boom or damn them to forever struggle in the dust?

Available in ebook at:

AmazonUS / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords
Other Outlets can be found at http://mpaxauthor.com

It will also be available in paperback from Amazon shortly.


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MPAX

M. Pax is a Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Website / Blog ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads

You can also find M. Pax on LinkedIN, Pinterest, YouTube, and Wattpad

Here’s a guest post from M. Pax when she visited my blog a little while ago.


Party! Prizes!

From March 4 to March 22, folks can enter to win the following:

1 set of signed Backworlds paperbacks, including The Backworlds, Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge, and Boomtown Craze. Will only ship to US residents.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
One of five free ebooks. All countries eligible. Enter the rafflecopter for a chance.
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tweets:

The new frontier #scifi Boom or dust? Boomtown Craze – Book 3 in the Bacworlds series #kindle #nook all ereaders http://mpaxauthor.com/boomtown-craze-launch-party/

Miss Firefly? #scifi Try the Backworlds. Boomtown Craze – Book 3 – Book 1 is #FREE #kindle #nook all ereaders http://mpaxauthor.com/boomtown-craze-launch-party/

Facebook:

Miss Firefly? Try the Backworlds. Book 1 is FREE for all ereaders. Life on the galactic frontier. Will it be boom or dust? Boomtown Craze, Book 3, is now out. WIN books. Paperbacks and ebooks up for giveaway http://mpaxauthor.com/boomtown-craze-launch-party/

Jan
22
2013
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Lovely blog award!

Lovely Blog Award Hello everyone. Whee, I’ve been tagged by the talented Lisa Orchard to receive this blog award! Thanks, Lisa. If you’re into mysteries, drop by Lisa’s site and check out her Super Spies books.

So, seven random things about me:

 

1. My favourite star is Sirius, that really bright star below and left of Orion. It’s official designation is Alpha Canis Majoris. I rarely go out at night without looking for it.

2. My favourite video game or computer game of all time is Defender by Williams. I mis-spent my youth mastering that game. :)

3. I am descended from Vikings, and a wealthy Jarl named Ing who lived in the Trondheim area of Norway.

4. The most magical place I have ever visited is the Great Wall of China. After arriving in the early morning, our small group of 10 had the whole place to ourselves (for a short while!)

5. I adore lightning storms, especially when huge sheets flicker across the sky. Alas, we get perhaps one a year here in San Diego.

6. I wear my wedding ring on my middle (longest) finger

7. One lifetime goal I am unlikely to ever achieve is to summit Everest. That mountain has always fascinated me since I was a child.

All right, enough of my secrets. :) I’m going to tag the following three authors to receive this award:

Vicky Limbert, author of the great read Lilith.

Heather Day Gilbert, author of an upcoming and fantastic-sounding novel about Vikings.

M. Pax, astronomer and author of the Backworlds and Hetty books.

 

Jan
20
2013
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Stars get in my Eyes, by M. Pax

Pine Mountain Observatory Today, I’m excited to feature a post by M. Pax, sci-fi and urban fantasy author, and keen astronomer. OK, over to her. :)

Pine Mountain Observatory is my favorite place on Earth. Thirty miles east of Bend, OR, it sits near the summit of a 6400-foot mountain which once was either an island or part of the shoreline of the Great Basin. That was a sea that once covered the Western US about 10,000 years ago.

Central Oregon is one of the last great bastions of dark skies in the United States. Even in town, I can see more stars than I ever saw living anywhere else. Honestly, until we moved to the west coast, I had no idea it was even possible to see the Milky Way – that great swath of light with all the stars.

It looks like a cloud, but it’s not. It’s billions and billions of stars, so many stars that their light forms a cloud to our eyes, and it’s one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way, called the Orion arm. It’s the arm of the galaxy that our solar system is in, along with pretty much every star we can see by eye.

Pine Mountain is surrounded by great nature, and UFO and strange light sightings are common on the road that leads out to the observatory. One night I had my own experience with them and I called it a UMO [unidentified moving object], because they didn’t fly. Every night since, I’ve looked for those lights, but haven’t been blessed with another encounter. What were they? I’m pretty sure the truth would bore me, so it’s probably better not to know. Mystery is often more fun.

Cattle mutilations have taken place in the valley at the base of the mountain, real X-Files stuff with strange lights. One of our fellow volunteers had been a forest ranger and witnessed one. I asked him countless questions. Strange and interesting.

Big Foot sightings abound in the forests around us. I haven’t seen him, although I joke with all the visitors that the rock formations at the top of the summit are yeti houses. Sometimes they believe me. All great fodder for my stories. It all feeds me with so much inspiration.

M Pax and Telescope

Better yet, I’ve come to know the beauty of moonrise and the desert, the utter peace of sitting alone under the stars on a mountaintop, and the jaw-dropping awe of meteors shooting overhead. I peer through the telescopes at worlds far away, at stunning and stellar sights, and I have to wonder whether someone is looking back at me.

What are those worlds like? What do they know about the universe? Their perspective is vastly different from ours. If we lived in a globular cluster or closer to the center of the galaxy, we might have no idea that other galaxies existed. How would that change who we are?

Some of that leaks into my stories – the wonder, the strange, the dust [Central Oregon is very dusty]. What’s out there? Mulder says the truth is. And I wonder, what is the truth?


M. Pax

M. Pax is author of the sci-fi series, The Backworlds, and the new adult urban fantasy Hetty Locklear series. A Browncoat and SG fan, she’s also slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. In the summers she docents as a star guide at Pine Mountain Observatory where the other astronomers now believe she has the most extensive collection of moon photos in existence. No fear, there will be more next summer. She lives in stunning Central Oregon with the Husband Unit and two lovely, spoiled cats.

Contact M. Pax via her Website, Facebook or Twitter as @mpax1

She is also a member of Untethered Realms, a group of  friendly, like-minded spec-fic writers.


Backworlds Try The Backworlds for free. (Available on all e-readers)

[Graeme’s Note: This is a great read! Reminiscent of Firefly, a great tale of the gritty frontiers of space.]

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendents to survive in a harsh universe.

After the war with the Foreworlders, Backworlders scatter across the planets left. Competition is fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to improve his fortunes by destroying his son.

Cut off from family and friends with little money and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads into an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make his father regret this day.

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