Month: March 2019

Blog Tour: Life and Other Dreams

Today I help end the blog tour for Life and Other Dreams by sharing my review for this Sci-Fi novel.  Yes, I read something Sci-fi!

Book Description:

Rick lives here on Earth now, with Cath. His life is boring, writing adverts for cat food and exotic holidays. When he’s asleep, he dreams vividly.

In his dreams, he lives as Dan, spending his time with his wife Vanessa. They live six-hundred years in the future, half a galaxy away. They’re explorers, searching for valuable minerals on Ecias, an alien paradise.Dan has no dreams about Rick’s life, he lives on Ecias, loves his life and Vanessa. 

When the two worlds overlap, Rick starts to question what is real. Events in his waking and sleeping lives are mirrored, similar people inhabit both and coincidences mount up. Then disaster strikes in each world at the same time. In his dreams, Dan is accused of a crime he didn’t commit. Meanwhile, after one coincidence too many, Cath thinks that Rick’s dreams are hiding an affair and leaves him.

Is Rick going crazy, or can he be living in two places, in two times, at once? If not, then which one of them is the reality? Will one life carry on when the other is on hold?

Richard Dee’s fast-paced, edgy science fiction -cum- psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!

Author: Richard Dee
Published: February 15, 2019
257 Pages

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: March 9-17, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars

Jessica’s Review:

I took a chance on Life and Other Dreams when I volunteered to read it for the blog tour as it is not my usual genre.  I am very selective with the sci-fi that I read, but taking a chance paid off!  I really enjoyed this sci-fi/thriller novel by Richard Dee. 

What intrigued me was how the two worlds were connected and I was curious as to which world is actually real.  I really enjoyed the thriller aspect to the novel. For me surprisingly, I did not lose interest in either world’s stories.  Both worlds felt real and you could picture everything as you read.  I did not like Rick’s wife Cath at all; I felt she jumped to her conclusion too quickly. It was as if she did not trust him at all.

Be prepared when you read Life: It is not a complete story.  There is going to be a second book, which I need now, but Dee is still writing it. My reaction when I finished Life was hilarious.  My husband asked what was wrong.  My answer was “The story isn’t over, there’s going to be another book! “  Bravo, Mr. Dee for writing a sci-fi book that was for me and left me needing more!

Life and Other Dreams is recommended.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

About the Author:

Richard Dee is a native of Brixham in Devon. He left Devon when he was in his teens and settled in Kent. Leaving school at 16 he briefly worked in a supermarket, then went to sea and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986. 
Coming ashore to be with his growing family, he used his sea-going knowledge in several jobs, working as a Marine Insurance Surveyor and as Dockmaster at Tilbury, before becoming a Port Control Officer in Sheerness and then at the Thames Barrier in Woolwich.

In 1994 he was head-hunted and offered a job as a Thames Estuary Pilot. In 1999 he transferred to the Thames River Pilots, where he regularly took vessels of all sizes through the Thames Barrier and upriver as far as HMS Belfast and through Tower Bridge. In all, he piloted over 3,500 vessels in a 22-year career with the Port of London Authority.

Richard is married with three adult children and three grandchildren.

His first science-fiction novel Freefall was published in 2013, followed by Ribbonworld in 2015. September 2016 saw the publication of his Steampunk adventure The Rocks of Aserol and of Flash Fiction, a collection of Short Stories. Myra, the prequel to Freefall was published in 2017, along with Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café, a murder mystery set in space and the start of a series featuring Andorra Pett, an amateur detective. Sequels to Ribbonworld and The Rocks of Aserol have been published, together with a second Andorra Pett story, Andorra Pett on Mars. He also contributed a story to the 1066 Turned Upside Down collection. Richard is currently working on prequels, sequels, and new projects. 

Contact Richard:
You can find out more about me on my website at richarddeescifi.co.uk. Head over there to see what I get up to, click the FREE STUFF tab or the PORTFOLIO tab to get all the details about my work and pick up a free novel or short story.

I’m on Facebook at RichardDeeAuthor  and Twitter at Richard Dee Sci-Fi

The Signalman: A Ghost Story by Charles Dickens

Author: Charles Dickens
76 Pages

Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating:  5 stars

Book Description:

“The Signal-Man” is a horror story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the Mugby Junction collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. The railway signal-man of the title tells the narrator of an apparition that has been haunting him. Each spectral appearance precedes a tragic event on the railway on which the signalman works. The signalman’s work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains. When there is danger, his fellow signalmen alert him by telegraph and alarms. Three times, he receives phantom warnings of danger when his bell rings in a fashion that only he can hear. Each warning is followed by the appearance of the spectre, and then by a terrible accident.

Kim’s Review

Ivan took me to London and of course I had to visit several bookstores while there. We went to Hatchards, the oldest bookstore in London. Founded in 1797, and with several floors filled with books, I geeked out. It was pretty funny to watch Ivan, he might have geeked out a little more than I did. I’m used to bookstores so my passion is little more subtle but he was gaping with his mouth hanging open! He could not get over the multiple floors and he just stared up the spiral staircase with eyes filled with wonder!

All that said, I bought a cute little booklet edition of The Signalman by Charles Dickens. I had already seen his burial place in Westminster, so it just felt right! The Signalman is a simple, straightforward read. It’s creepy without being scary. In the same style as A Christmas Carol, Dickens conjured up a spectre that chills the reader and imagined railway accidents that convey true tragedy (my gosh, who the heck is writing this review???? lol). I really liked it! The story was spooky and the characters engaging. It took me all of half an hour to read it so pretty much anyone can read it. I actually think this is a good classic to give to younger readers. It won’t overload their brains and they’ll find a ghost story appealing. An excellent little story!!

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

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Whirligig


Author: Paul Fleischman
Published: November 9, 1999
Audiobook

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: March 4-5, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars

Book Description:

When sixteen-year-old Brent Bishop inadvertently causes the death of a young woman, he is sent on an unusual journey of repentance, building wind toys across the land.

In his most ambitious novel to date, Newbery winner Paul Fleischman traces Brent’s healing pilgrimage from Washington State to California, Florida, and Maine, and describes the many lives set into new motion by the ingenious creations Brent leaves behind.

Paul Fleischman is the master of multi-voiced books for younger readers. In Whirligig he has created a novel about hidden connections that is itself a wonder of spinning hearts and grand surprises.

Jessica’s Review:

I must admit I had never heard of a whirligig until I had listened to this novel. I had seen these toys, but did not know that they were called whirligigs. Whirligig starts with Brent being a selfish and self-centered teenage boy and we see a terrible mistake he makes. Whirligig deals with the punishment he is given and we see his growth and maturity rise as the novel progresses. All of our choices and decisions affect many people, some we may not even know, and Whirligig shows this.

I listened to the Scholastic audio version which is meant to be listened to as you read the book, which I did not have. We have our narrators for the novel and also a commentator who talks about the book so the young reader will understand what is happening.

This is a good novel that would be appropriate for younger readers to help them realize that there are consequences (both positive and negative) to everything we do. Brent’s journey is one I will remember.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

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