03 July 2020

*READ MY REVIEW & ENTER TO WIN!* GATES OF MARS by McFall & Hays


GATES OF MARS
The Halo Trilogy #1
by
CLARK HAYS AND KATHLEEN McFALL

Genre: Science Fiction / Detective (hard-boiled) 
Publisher:  Pumpjack Press on Facebook
Date of Publication: June 16, 2020
Number of Pages: 336 

  Scroll down for the giveaway!



IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE, HOW CAN A PERSON GO MISSING? 


The year is 2187. Crucial Larsen, a veteran of the brutal Consolidation Wars, is working as a labor cop on Earth. The planet is a toxic dump and billions of people are miserable, but so what? It’s none of his business. He’s finally living a good life, or good enough. But then Essential, his beloved kid sister, disappears on Mars. When Halo—the all-powerful artificial-intelligence overseeing Earth and Mars on behalf of the ruling Five Families—can’t (or won’t) locate his sister, Crucial races up-universe to find her. 

In the Choke, the frigid, airless expanse outside the luxury domes, Crucial uncovers a deadly secret from Essential’s past that threatens to shatter his apathetic existence … and both planets. Blending science fiction with the classic, hard-boiled detective story, Gates of Mars is a page-turning, futuristic thrill-ride featuring a gritty, irreverent anti-hero, Crucial Larsen. The first book of the Halo Trilogy, Gates of Mars is the eighth novel by award-winning authors, Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall.

PRAISE FOR GATES OF MARS: 

"An indelible introduction to an interplanetary saga and its sublime characters." 
Kirkus Reviews

"The authors' imaginations again run wild, this time a science fiction/detective series looking at what our lives may hold in the not too distant future if everything that can go wrong does go wrong. And they've done it with their trademark undercurrent of humor that lifts an otherwise dreary future into something resembling—do I dare say?—hope. Their best work to date. And the giraffes? You'll have to read Gates of Mars to find out. I'm already wishing they could write faster." —Renee Struthers, East Oregonian newspaper 

"With twists and turns true to some of the best noir detective pieces—but with an other-world setting and futuristic society—along with psychological insights and connections, Gates of Mars is a riveting, unexpected story, filled with intrigue and change. Sci-fi and detective story readers alike with find Gates of Mars one of a kind, worthy of avid pursuit." —Midwest Book Review

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Howdy, y’all!  I hope all’s well with ya’ll.  Yesterday, the Govnah of the Great Republic of Texas released an Executive Order that all Texans must wear “face coverings” at all times in public.  (Rest assured that my rebellious self has been wearing a mask since day one. So calm down!)  While I know this is probably wise in the scheme of things, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s a weird thing to be thrust upon the residents of The Lone Star State. We’re an independent, rebellious lot … well those of us who have true roots here are.  Transplants from other states … not so much.  So there’s lots of tension in the air.

And that’s one of the things that connected me to some of the themes in GATES OF MARS by Kathleen McFall & Clark Hays.

I know … I know … y’all are shocked that I’m not bogging y’all down with a bunch of my usual rambling.  Well, I’m just too dadblasted excited to give y’all a run-down on some sci-fi deliciousness.  So wipe that shocked look of y’all’s faces, and listen up!

It’s no surprise, surely by now, that I lurve me some sci-fi.  I mean … it’s what I write!  So when the confounded book siren … y’all know of whom I speak … posted up the call for reviewers in the blogger group, well, I signed up lickety split for this here book.




And I’m glad I did.

The authors of this book must have some sort of pre-knowledge, or something, because there’s a feel to this book that’s timely for our current events. Are they time travelers or fortune telling writerly folks with a magic deck of sci fi Tarot cards? I know not.
All I know is, they are darn good writers.

This story begins at 10:20 A.M. on August 31, in the Year of Our Lord 2187. (I have a sneaky hunch that McFall & Hays hopped into a time machine and visited this very date. Just sayin’)



Well, I lurve me some futuristic, sci fi, time traveling, post-apocalyptic stories in which AI is reigning supreme, so tumbled right on down the rabbit hole and landed smack dab into the middle of an inquest in which an all-knowing AI system robot thingie is interviewing the main character, a man named Crucial Larsen.

That name spoke volumes to me. It whispered to me that this dude was born to do something important … something, well, crucial.  And the hook dug right on into my jib and reeled me in.



NOPE!  I ain’t telling y’all any more spoilers or hints.  Y’all keep on trying to drag ‘em outa me.  You’re gonna have to score a copy of this book to find out all the deets y’all’s-selves.
However, there are some things I will tell y’all about GATES OF MARS.  *Le Gasp*

The feeling of this story is engrossing.  To me, it’s Terminator (think Skynet) + Blade Runner + AI + Altered Carbon + Matrix + The 5th Element + Dune (the books, not that wacko movie) + some others I’m too lazy to name.  

The world building in GATES OF MARS is immediate and tangible.  I was actually there while reading this book and suffered a bit of book hang-over when I finally put it down.  The shift from the story to reality was a mind trick. I think the authors may have done that on purpose, yo!

In fact, I was truly impressed with the crisp, intelligent prose in this book.  Some hard sci fi books are flat out boring and bog the reader down in too many unnecessary deets as an attempted mode to trick the reader into thinking the writer knows what he/she is talking about.  But that’s not a necessity when writing fiction.  And it’s also why I choose to write soft sci fi, myself, because who wants to purposely read something that’s going to bore them out of their minds?  (Now y’all might be surprised to hear me ask that question, seeing as how I’m working toward a PhD in History.  Hush up!  History is fascinating I tells ya!)




This book is the first installment in The Halo Trilogy, and I cannot wait to get my grabby hands on the next two books!  (If you wanna know what “Halo” is, well, you’re just gonna have to read the book! I promise, you’ll love it!)

McFall and Hays successfully spun science fiction elements into their prose in such a way that the reader experiences them instead of just reading about them.  That’s what makes GATES OF MARS deliciously engrossing.

And that’s why I’m granting
GATES OF MARS
By
Kathleen McFall + Clark Hays
5 Trillingly Sci Fi Brooms




Clark and Kathleen wrote their first book together in 1999 as a test for marriage. They passed. Gates of Mars is their eighth co-authored book.
Connect with Kathleen
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-------------------------------------
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One Winner: All four books in The Cowboy and the Vampire Collection 
June 29-July 8, 2020
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6/29/20
Excerpt
6/29/20
Review
6/29/20
BONUS Post
6/30/20
Review
6/30/20
Review
7/1/20
Author Interview
7/1/20
Review
7/2/20
Excerpt
7/2/20
Review
7/3/20
Review
7/3/20
Review


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1 comment:

  1. "Deliciously engrossing." I love that and can't wait to read this book. Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete