Dromos by G. Arden O'Feden

     Dromos by G. Arden O'Feden



   First off allow me to apologize for the delay in introducing myself. The explanation is simple; around new technology I turn into an adorable chimpanzee trying to figure out string theory. Let me tell you a little about myself and my short story.

    I'm originally from a town in Texas called Denton. I was attending the University of North Texas and about to become partners with a paranormal investigator when I took up writing instead. I still do paranormal research on the side with my best friend, but only to get ideas for new books. I'm no expert with the supernatural and most of the time all I do is watch what happens and carry everything.

    I'd like to say I do fantasy and science fiction more than horror, but the word I like to use to describe what I write about is long and confusing. Portals is a better word, I like to write about Portals, doors, and gateways. Writing about secret doors and accidental passages let's me put all three together; fantasy lets me build a world, sci-fi  lets me explore a new one, and horror gives me that eerie feeling that another world is watching me just beneath the surface. A world like Dromos.

   Originally the story was supposed to be about a world of human torture for the amusement of supernatural creatures, but I kept feeling that it was missing something. While torture is very real and relevant, most of us will never experience it so I added something that everyone experiences; work. Work happens in different ways but we all do it so I thought if I took my former world of torture and masked it with something everyone understood and accepted as normal it would resonate with readers. I haven't heard back from family members who read it so I hope I was right.

    Whatever happens I'm still the happiest kid at Six Flags because of Prizm. I can't thank everyone enough for an opportunity that very few get to have. I've felt nothing but welcome and encouragement from everyone and I hope I can return the favor.

New Release Day!

New this week from Prizm Books...

Alabaster
By: Nick Hirsch
16 pages / 3750 words
$1.99
Buy Link: http://www.prizmbooks.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_7&products_id=45
Blurb:
Alan turned to stone as a boy, and now he's started cracking. His father left when he was a kid, his mother is impossible to talk to, and he's always been bullied at school. One day he meets a boy on the bus named Luke, and things start to change. Will his feelings for Luke finally cure him, or will he simply fall to pieces?


Coming Next Week...

Bittersweet by Dallas Coleman

Heart Song by KL Richardsson

After a daring rescue, and the realization that Katjin and Mikael's empathic and physical bond isn't going to go away on its own, the two boys are exiled from the Clan Lands for training, accompanied by Katjin's sometimes-rival, sometimes-friendly cousin, Soren. As Lowlanders and Clanfolk alike both fear and revile the demonic Shahi, all three of the boys are surprised to learn that that's their destination: the mythic lands of the Shahi, located over mountains that few dare to cross.

In the Shahi lands nothing is what they thought it would be. While most Shahi are magic users, none eat babies or breathe fire as the stories always told. Katjin and Mikael's taskmaster, Tai, however, could be one of the monsters of old, the way he tries to manage the psychic bond between Katjin and Mikael. As the boys strain against Tai's iron rule, they realize just how out of control their combined powers are, and how much they'll have to work together to control them. Before they can, though, word comes to the Shahi land of the whereabouts of Soren and Katjin's kidnapped clan, and the three boys rush off to try to save them. Can the boys overcome all of their doubts, or will their relationship work against them?

Ready to pick up your copy?

I Kiss Girls by Gina Harris

Joanie’s got all of the problems of an almost seventeen year old girl. She’s trying to get her driver’s license, her mom and dad are pressuring her about going to prom, and she never can seem to make it to the bus on time.

Even worse, Joanie likes girls, not boys, and all of the girls in her hometown are pretty darned straight. Her best friend, Zane, can attest to that, considering that he never has trouble getting a girl, even if he’s not interested in the freshmen who swarm around him. When new girl Kate shows up, needing tutoring in math and chemistry, Joanie figures Zane will get the date, like he always does, and that makes life even more difficult.

Joanie’s in for a surprise, though, because Kate doesn’t fall for her good-looking best friend. In fact, Kate seems to like girls, too, and things get a little scary when Kate asks Joanie out on a date.

Somehow Joanie knows if she says yes to Kate, things will change forever. Can she manage to pass her driving test, get to prom, and come out to her parents the way Kate wants her to? Or will Joanie’s seventeenth birthday be the worst day in history?

Grab yourself a copy today

New Release: Dromos by G. Arden O'feden

Thousands of people go missing each year, and Everett Lacrowe discovers where they go when he falls into a world where the only purpose seems to be collecting others like himself. While most people in Dromos accept their surroundings and use a pointless routine to distract themselves, Everett will attempt to find out a way out.

by G. Arden O'feden
Pages: 11 / Words: 3500
Genre: Prizm Pinch, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Paranormal/Horror
Age Rating: Young Adult

Get your copy today!

Excerpt:

The last shop had a back entrance to the alley where the dumpster sat. With the last of the trash in my hands, I stepped through the door into a wall of rain, slipped on the pavement under my feet, and fell into an ocean. Before I had the chance to ponder why I was about to drown in a puddle, a current sent me into downward darkness. The force of the pull launched me into the light and onto a metal floor.

Where I awoke exists somewhere between the physical and the real, in the depths of a city nowhere near Earth --a factory is the easiest way I can describe it. The ceiling arched upward like a ribcage of iron girders, to a grey dome pulsating with waves of luminous water sealed off by a glass casing at the top. If this place had an exterior, I never saw it. For all I knew, I was looking at the exterior.

Desmond and Garrick Book 2 by Hayden Thorne

As the vain and self-absorbed poets continue their campaign of destruction via awful verse and catastrophic romantic advice in Dryden Abbey, tutor Garrick finds himself struggling in the classroom, with increasingly distracted and agitated pupils eroding all of his hard work and reducing him to using all things dead and decaying in order to keep Desmond and Lavinia’s minds on their lessons. As if that isn’t enough, his parents embark on a mad countryside ramble, their ultimate destination being Dryden Abbey and a face-to-face meeting with their son’s unholy employers.

Meanwhile, with Phillip Priestley’s unexpected appearance, Desmond’s world slowly unravels as infatuation, lust, confusion, and revulsion drive him into wilder mood swings and an overwhelming desire to play with his father’s antique executioner’s axe. Mr. Sherbourne’s coldly distant yet attractive presence in Dryden Abbey further complicates things, prompting Desmond to do something he never thought he’ll ever do: reach out to unlikely allies for help.

In the midst of the wild goings on around them, Garrick and Desmond will realize that the chasm that separates them as distinct species will not only teach them important lessons on understanding and acceptance, but also forge a stronger bond of friendship than they expected.

Available now!

"Josef Jaeger", a Prizm historical novel

I'm Jere' Fishback, author of "Josef Jaeger", a YA historical novel set in the early days of Nazi Germany. Here's the book's blurb:

"Josef Jaeger turns thirteen when Adolf Hitler is appointed Germany's new Chancellor. When his mother dies, Josef is sent to Munich to live with his uncle, Ernst Roehm, the openly-homosexual chief of the Nazi brown shirts. Josef thinks he's found a father-figure in his uncle and a mentor in his uncle's lover, streetwise Rudy, and when Roehm's political connections land Josef a role in a propaganda movie, Josef's sure he's found the life he's always wanted. But while living in Berlin during the film's production, Josef falls in love with a Jewish boy, David, and Josef begins questioning his uncle's beliefs.

"Complications arise when an old friend of his mother's tells Josef that his mother was secretly murdered by the SS due to her political beliefs, possibly on Roehm's order. Josef confides in his Hitler Youth leader, Max Klieg. Klieg admits he knows a few things, but he won't share them with Josef till the boy proves himself worthy of a confidence.

"Conflicting beliefs war within Josef until he must decide where his true loyalties lie, and what he really believes in."

Since its publication in 2006, "Josef Jaeger" has enjoyed critical acclaim. The book placed first in the Young Adult category in the 2010 Rainbow Excellence Awards competition sponsored by the Rainbow Romance Writers association. 

The American Library Association's Rainbow Project strives to ensure that books appealing to GLBTQ youths are present on shelves of school and public libraries throughout the United States. Each year a "recommended reading" list is compiled of books deemed appropriate for GLBTQ, YA readers, and Josef Jaeger has been nominated for inclusion in the 2011 list.

"Josef Jaeger" was also include don a recommended reading list for gay male teens by "The Trevor Project." This is a program aimed at decreasing the number of suicides among LGBTQ youth. 

The Speak Its Name review site recently issued a highly favorable review of Josef Jaeger: http://speakitsname.com/2010/01/26/review-josef-jaeger-by-jere-m-fishback/ The reviewer, Hayden Thorne, said:

"Josef Jaeger is a real treat, one of the more intelligently-written YA books I've had the pleasure to read. It's thought-provoking, wonderfully dense, and well-researched, touching on one of the darkest moments in world history. Kudos to Jere' Fishback for giving us a behind-the-scenes look into the rise of Hitler without sentimentalizing things or toppling into melodrama through his use of clean, concise language and Josef's matter-of-fact voice." 

J. M. Snyder, an author of GLBT fiction for both adult and YA readers, reviewed Josef Jaeger for the Rainbow Reviews website. Here's what she had to say:

"The accuracy of detail brings 1933 Germany alive for the reader, and the motley crew of characters adds human faces to the names we've read about in our history books. Those interested in historical fiction, particularly young adult stories or romances, will thoroughly enjoy this book as much as I did."

Snyder gave Josef Jaeger a 4-1/2 star rating on a scale of one to five stars, five stars being the highest possible rating.

You can read more about "Jopsef Jaeger" at my website: www.jeremfishback.com. 

I often hear from young gay men who've read "Josef Jaeger". It's gratifying to know how much the book means to so many young adults. One boy told me, "So many feelings Josef expressed in your book are feelings I've had since reaching adolescence. After I read your book, I felt like Josef was my personal friend. Thanks for this wonderful book."

Wow, what can I say?