Guest Author Post: Zanne Raby

 Today we have a guest author. I have asked him to speak with us about a topic dear to my heart: Your Writing Tribe

Thank you Jerry for inviting me to be a guest author and thanks to all the readers who’ve taken the time to have a little virtual chat with me today. Today I’m going to talk about the importance of the writer’s tribe. I want to say up front that I’d very grateful to my tribe for their supportive role in the three novels of my series “The Chronicles of Deneb”.

We all know how it feels to be alone. It’s so much more difficult trying to make sense of things when there is no one to bounce ideas off and discuss solutions. Writing a novel is a solitary activity. It begins when an idea forms in the writer’s mind and that idea swirls about in the author’s brain, picking up characters, taking plot detours and adding little stops along the way, until a story is ready be born. Somewhere, by herself or himself, using hours stolen from days that are never long enough, the author transforms the clouds of thoughts into black and white marks, be they on paper or on the computer screen. Writing a novel is a process akin to building a castle, the author builds a foundation before adding the curtain walls and towers and the keep. But everyone else has been kept out – the drawbridge has not yet been lowered. The writer is still sitting within their castle, adding bits and pieces until lush tapestries decorate the walls and there’s a roaring fire in the great hall.

The public still is not invited inside, for the novel is not yet ready. Crafted by one, reviewed with the same eyes now too tired to see the little inconsistencies – for the written word can play tricks on the author, like naughty sprites – the manuscript, like a newborn baby, is passed into loving hands. Instead of counting fingers and toes, the writer’s tribe is supportive of the long hours devoted by the author into bringing their creation to life.

Every author needs a team behind him or her. People who will spur the writer along when inertia kicks in. Those who can be counted upon to provide constructive criticism to encourage the author grow, to help make the characters come to life, and to point out those tiny things that take a story from good to awesome. I belong to a writers’ group that meets a few times a month and the pointers I get have opened my eyes to new avenues and ideas. I work with beta readers who are honest in their feedback and bring fresh perspectives to the motivation and behaviour of the characters in my novels. There are editors and proofreaders that polish the manuscript. And of course, the team behind the author also includes the important aspect of formatting the text and an illustrator to design an eye-catching cover.

I bet you’ve heard of the quote “It takes a village to raise a child”. Well, in my opinion, it takes a writer’s tribe to create an awesome novel. 

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The Chronicles of Deneb Series

by Zanne Raby

 

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GENRE: Science Fiction/Space Opera

 

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BLURB:

 

The Chronicles of Deneb is a science-fiction/ space opera series set in the near future. The year is 2080 CE. The world is dying. Get ready to travel into the future to a time when nothing is certain.   Where the science behind climate change was ignored, leading to drought and famine plaguing an already overpopulated globe. Massive waves of refugees stream across the planet, seeking sanctuary. Where terrorist groups have joined forces with biohackers to develop a deadly bio-engineered disease that marches across the continents like a conquering army, leaving millions dead in its murderous swathe.

 

Meanwhile, some of the best and brightest minds on the planet are feverishly at work - constructing gigantic Space Arks to shuttle hundreds of thousands of people to a colony on Mars.  And it seems like there’s more good news: world leaders announce that a vaccine is ready. It’s all good; it’s all returning to normal.

 

But the truth is very different. In THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER, the first novel in The Chronicles of Deneb, Dr. Daniel Radu – project manager for NASA’s Space Ark Mayflower – uncovers a global conspiracy of immense proportions. But Daniel cooks up a scheme of  his own.  Joined by a team of global experts, he and his colleagues brace themselves for a journey of a lifetime as they trek across the galaxy in a quest for survival.

 

Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series, DESCENT INTO DARKNESS. Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance. With a bloody conflict now raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction.

 

FIRES OF FURY is the third installment in The Chronicles of Deneb. Will the survivors of the Space Ark Mayflower find their way when cultures clash and the fires of fury threaten to consume their lives? Now masquerading as citizens of the Collective, the Mayflower crew has a new reason to fear. With the end of the Second Denebian War, Wesselan’s General Pallav Kóbor and his astrophysicist wife, Dr. Tara Kóbor, have high hopes that life will return to normal on Deneb7. Yet nothing can be further from the truth.In a diabolical plot to erase the scars left by the Second Denebian War, warlord turned Wessel Head of State Gomalan unleashes a fiendish scheme to heal his nation’s wounds, while his top soldier, General Ravenna, falls under the spell of a seductive Fyjer agent intent on crushing their ambitions. Dragged into a brutal reality of terror and intrigue, can the Kóbors and warbird ace Fynn Vogel remain unscathed, or will the flames consume them and all that is evil on Deneb-7?

 

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An Exert:

 

A willowy brunette with shining brown eyes burst from the shadows, almost scaring Daniel out of his skin. “Tara,” he gasped, trying to quiet his heart. “What the hell? The president’s due here any second.” Dr. Tara Kóbor, the Nobel-prize winning astrophysicist who had discovered the find of the century – an Earth-like planet cuddled up in the Goldilocks zone of its star – was wearing a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon.

 

“You heard the news, right? I mean, the broadcasts are on fire. They’ve developed a vaccine! And whoever’s on the first shuttle flight is top priority. That means…”

 

He could hear heavy footsteps pounding on the hangar floor: time to play show and tell. Taking her by the shoulder, Daniel shepherded his friend to the bulkhead door. “It means you gotta get outta here. We’ll celebrate later,” he promised.

 

Just then, a bevy of bodyguards swooped in, all earpieces and dark glasses, and Daniel stood back as they robotically carried out their duties. No need really, NASA’s Chief of Security had seen to that. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel spotted Tara’s husband, Lt-Col Pallav Kóbor, dwarfing the president’s team as he walked them through the hangar. He could hear the click click click of the cameras as the president approached with his staff trailing behind like good little shadows.

 

Show time, he mumbled to himself, wiping the sweat from his palms on his cobalt-blue NASA tunic.

 

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

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

 

RAFFLECOPTER: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4445

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne’s family in uniform.  Choosing to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors, Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning.  After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

 

During a career spanning 38 years, some of the most memorable experiences involved command of 8 Mission Support Squadron as part of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, leading a study on support to the Canadian Arctic involving several trips to Northern Canada, including Canadian Forces Station Alert (the most northern settlement in the world), a three-year tour with NATO at Joint Force Command Brunssum, a deployment as the NATO Liaison Officer to United States Central Command, and finally a nomination as the Deputy Commander for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.

 

After hanging up the uniform and putting away the combat boots, Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house.  With a cozy office overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay, she decided to pursue her life-long ambition:  to become an author.  Enough of the reports and returns that littered her desk over her career, now she could turn her attention to unleashing the creativity that had taken a back seat.  The time had come to shake the dust off begin a new career.  The winds of change had called.

 

Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi space opera series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the universe in search of a safe haven.  But trouble is in store for them when the planet they land on is anything but the sanctuary they sought.

 

When not behind the keyboard, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening.  And always, a good story to pass the time.

LINKS

PRESSKIT: https://bit.ly/3U4OenB

WEBSITE:  https://www.zanneraby.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/zanne.raby

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zanne-raby-2b4a9b1bb/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/zanne_raby/

PURCHASE VIA: https://ridgecrestbooks.com/ AND https://amzn.to/3fiZy0m

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

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

 

RAFFLECOPTER: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4445

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THANK YOU 

Thank you for reading Jerry's Circumlocution where I promote independent authors, toss out a few reviews, wax eloquent occasionally on writing, or shamelessly self promote. 

Speaking of which, if you haven't picked up one of our featured author's works please do so. If so, and looking for more to read, please consider one of mine! And on behalf of all Indie authors including the one highlighted here, we live off of good reviews. Please consider dropping one to help them (and me) out! 

Freckles: The Dark Wizard  Middle Grade Fantasy

Simon is bullied. He also just discovered he is the only kid in school who can conjure a dragon.

InPassage

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Pitch knows three things. This is not his America, someone is trying to hunt him, and he is very good with a gun.

Or keep an eye out for these other titles!

A book is like a child. The author gives it birth. Then it is raised by the author and a team of teachers, coaches, and family (we call these people editors, beta readers, and publishers). all of this is to prepare the book for its journey into the world where it hopefully will meet you, the reader. I have the privilege of being my books' parent, but you are whom it is truly meant. Thank you.