Monday, December 4, 2017

Evolved by Archer Miller - Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway


Evolved
by Archer Miller

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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BLURB:

Humanity has spread to the far reaches of space with The Golden Door, a planetary colonization monopoly, selling off every desirable and not so desirable planet to desperate settlers.

Each new world comes with new challenges, and to meet that challenge the children are evolving.

When Pieter, and other gifted children like him, become the target of government research they must fight not only for their lives but the future of their kind.

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NOTE: The book is on sale for $0.99.

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EXCERPT

Pieter’s eyes opened, but it was an exercise in futility. There was nothing but darkness for him to see. He knew he was awake because of the lancing pain running down his back and across his chest; the cover on his head was stifling and smelled of sweat and blood. He was upright in some sort of chair but he was unable to move. The back of the chair was straight and hard, and he was bound to it with his arms pinned behind his back. He struggled to breathe. His chest was stretched as his shoulders pressed into the chair behind him. A cry of pain rose in his throat, but he clamped his mouth tight to hold it prisoner.

As he gasped for air and strained to ease the pain in his chest and back, a voice from beyond the pain alerted him to another presence.

“Suka is awake.”

“Good. I want this suka blyad to remember this.”

With no way of knowing or seeing its approach a hand struck his face, slamming the back of his head against the hard chair. He could stop the scream, but not the tears that rained from his eyes.

“Little boy want to play,” the voice taunted him.

Something hard crashed into his stomach, forcing the air from his lungs. He tried to breathe, but was unable. What do they want from me?

A second fist slammed into the side of his face, whipping his head to the right.

“Don’t kill him,” the first voice warned.

“I won’t. But he’ll wish I had.”

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I asked Archer how do you do your world building?  Here is his answer.

I begin any project like this with research. I like to keep my science fiction rooted in actual science as much as possible. My worlds happen to be actual worlds in space as opposed to alternate versions of Earth.
I started with a study on exoplanets. What's actually out there; like Kepler-16 which is actually mentioned in my book. The major location I made up is called Valhalla. It was named for a character who made the ultimate sacrifice. I created a world far out from galactic center and in the calm zone between the spiral arms. I wanted to make a place that had near Earth gravity, a similar length year and similar length day. Water is a must for life so Valhalla is water rich as well. It's the life forms that stir my imagination. I was determined to create animals that evolved to fill specific habitats.
There are avians who evolved with crystals instead of feathers. They have four wings similar to dragonflies. Another interesting creature are the ursines. They are similar to our bears but bigger. They are adapted for living and hunting on open grasslands. They have striped camouflage as well as long hair on their backs that mimic the look and motion of tall grass. I created a tree living cat that is adapted to arboreal life with adaptive coloration and an extra set of limbs.

The secret to creation is to study how it happened here and apply it there. Change to environment and you change the rules. A cold iron core gives a planet much higher gravity. Make your world colder, warmer, wetter, dryer and then let the creation begin.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Archer Miller emerged from the East Texas hill country and set his sights on finding the life of which few of his contemporaries dreamed. In 1974, he migrated to Boulder, Colorado to enroll at the Naropa Institute – now known as the Naropa University, a tiny Liberal Arts college founded by the renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar and lineage holder, the Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1940-1987). Rinpoche was enormously influential in spreading the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism to the West.

Archer earned a degree in herbs and creative writing. He was a four-year Letterman on the Varsity Competitive Meditation Team.

After graduating in 1978, he took a year off to hike the Jack Kerouac literary trail. He became a top freelance gun-for-hire with dozens of ad agencies across the south and southwest. As a way to deal with the proliferation of Disco, he took up Zen Archery.


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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Archer Miller will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thanks for hosting!

Nikolina said...

I really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!

JC Jones said...

Good to have you here today.

Victoria Alexander said...

Great post - thanks for sharing the excerpt!