The Splintered Universe, Book 3: “Metaverse” Audiobook

December 14, 2019February 5, 2024 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

In Metaverse, the third and last book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy, Detective Rhea Hawke travels back to Earth, hoping to convince an eccentric mystic to help her defend humanity from an impending Vos attack—only to find herself trapped in a deception that promises to change her and her two worlds forever.

Lilly’s Book World summarizes the audiobook:

Oh, Yes! An explosive ending indeed! This was such a great series, with such great world development and great characters, full of action and with an amazing narration! I am sorry it’s over! (but I still have the books!)

“Metaverse” concludes so many open points from the previous books. Some may say the blurb is evasive, but with so much going on, it’s great we have no spoilers in there. However, I can tell you that our main character Rhea is in for a treat! The same goes to her amazing companions.

Rhea develops even more; she manages to discover so much about her heritage and her role in this war that has enveloped the universe. Her story transcends planets and she becomes so much more than a simple presence. I like her and I admire her power. I’m sorry, I’m being cryptic here. But if you have read or listened to books 1 and 2, you are compelled to see how it all ends. And you already know how great the story is.

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

The narration is as amazing as in the other two books. Dawn Harvey has done an amazing job giving life to Rhea, making all this action real and palpable. At times, I was listening to her breathlessly. Everything was enhanced due to the narration!

I have little else to add, except that maybe one day I will see this series in our Romanian libraries, so that my fellow countrymen can enjoy Nina Munteanu’s writing. 5 stars!

This episode of the space trilogy is everything I wanted and more… Rhea and her helpers are running out of time to save the outer verse from war. There is so much happening in this book it keeps you listening far into the night—Book Addict

Dawn Harvey continues to bring a great performance to this series. Her narration is so well done. She’s got the perfect voice for Rhea Hawke. I love how she manages all the different alien voices. Truly, I don’t know how she pulled some of them off, and with such consistency across all three books. 5/5 stars—Dab of Darkness

The trilogy consists of Outer Diverse, Inner Diverse, and Metaverse. and is available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible.

Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press (Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” will be released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in 2020.

The Deserts of Upsilon-3 and the Problem with Blenoids

December 13, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

Upsilon-3

EXCERPT from Inner Diverse, Book 2 of The Splintered Universe Trilogy: In a desperate attempt to find the Ancient One—the key to the mysterious killings—Detective Rhea Hawke steals a Vos ship and the Vos leader, forcing the terrorist A’ler at gunpoint into taking her to Upsilon-3.

Upsilon-3 is a desert planet with a thin atmosphere, heavy gravity and highly fluctuating temperatures—uncomfortable for any species, save its indigenous small creatures and the blenoids who eat them. Upsilon-3 is one of the moons of Upsilon b, a ringed gas giant. The moon is about Earth-size, an arid wasteland that diurnally shifts between extreme temperatures. During the height of midday, it easily reaches 45ºC, an Azorian’s dream, and in the deep of night it is often below freezing, an Azorian’s nightmare. And speaking of mad blenoids, the planet is full of them…Rhea knows first hand:

Dunes of Epsilon 3

I’d been there before. I’d tracked and dispatched an Azorian assassin to the small ephemeral town there once—but at the cost of a blenoid attack. In his desperation, the Azorian had fled the ghost town into the arid wilderness, and if I hadn’t shot him, the blenoids would have torn him apart. If they hadn’t, he would have died a horrible death of severe hypothermia. As it turned out, my shot infuriated a pack of sleeping blenoids and I became the subject of their fury instead.

Ferocious and unpredictable, with dull brains and razor sharp teeth, blenoids were the galaxy’s most dangerous predators; but beneath their tough hide, blenoid meat was considered a galactic delicacy, so long as you stayed away from their organs. Their eating habits made them akin to the seagulls of Earth; they ate everything and anything, including their own and what came out of them. And they were prolific. Blenoids weren’t very large. They stood about a meter long and almost that high but with the anatomy and mad tenaciousness of a pit bull and the rough ochre hide of a rhino.

Adapted to the arid heat of the Upsilon desert, they resembled hyenas with extremely large ears and paws to increase surface area and promote heat loss. Five beady eyes, two on either side of their massive head and one centrally located, were adapted to the harsh bright sunlight of the Upsilon 3 dessert. Their massive powerful jaws contained three layers of razor-sharp teeth. Once they bit down on a prey, the jaw locked into a vice-like grip that either ground deeper or tore out deep muscle. Blenoid saliva contained a powerful narcotic and poison that dulled its victims and caused severe infection that spread swiftly. My grandmother was right; most blenoid attack victims died from shock. Those who’d survived, and there weren’t many, had only done so due to drastic measures like having a limb immediately severed to save the rest of their body. Blenoids attacked anything, no matter what its size and tore it to shreds. They were even known to rip one another apart in a frenzy of aroused anger or if they sensed any weakness. It was natural selection at its cruellest, I considered…

The Galactic meat-traders didn’t stay beyond the time it took to hunt and prepare the blenoid meat for galaxy-wide sale. Apart from the Gnostics who’d claimed one cluster of the ancient alien buildings as their temple of worship, no one lived here—except the Ancient One, that is. So, between the Venik slave traders, the blenoid meat traders, the Gnostic priests and the Nihilists, this backwater planet was actually getting crowded.

desert moon Upsilon-3 seen from above

As A’ler banks the ship to the arid planet, Rhea observes the vast expanse of open desert:

I gazed down at the waved pattern of cresent-shaped dunes, obviously formed by a constant wind. It was a harsh and miserable environment, I thought.

“Barkhans,” A’ler offered, pointing to the dunes and breaking her taciturn silence. “That’s the West Ghouroud. No one’s ever crossed it and lived.” She eyed me with a dismissive look of disgust as much as to imply, especially a puny human like you.

I didn’t respond and let my gaze stray back to the dune sea. The dunes looked like the capped waves of a red ocean, the deep ochre of their shaded slipfaces contrasting with the harsh bright windward sides, still baking in the sun. The dunes looked small, but I guessed that some were at least three hundred meters high.

Sand dunes (Barkhans)

When they reach their destination—an enclave of strange buildings built by some ancient civilization—Rhea is hit with the harsh environment:

A’ler opened the hatch and a blast of furnace-hot air knocked me gasping and recoiling…Even at sunset, I could feel the stifling heat as we awkwardly disembarked. I inhaled a cloyingly sweet fragrance, reminiscent of cabbage, sewage and rotting flesh: blenoids, I concluded. And remembered; they stank… I followed her gaze and let mine take in the wide expanse of shifting red sands, dotted with islands of low creeping grey-green scrub. My gaze settled to the east.

View of Upsilon b and its ring bisecting the star Upsilon Andromedae

Upsilon Andromedae sat poised over the horizon. I could manage only a glance at the large bluish sphere of Upsilon b above the sun, its huge-diameter ring extending vertically down beyond the horizon and cutting a knife-sharp blade through the sun that cast a long shadow of the ring across the russet expanse. I stared, struck by the terrible beauty of this harsh landscape and just made out what looked like a dust storm on the horizon.

When both her Vos enemy and she are abandoned in the open desert, Rhea must use all her skills to survive the beating heat of the sun, wild blenoids, quicksand, sinkholes and killer plankton as they journey toward a far settlement, hoping for reprieve.

desert playa

We’d left the flats of the playa and were heading toward rougher terrain. By tomorrow we would enter the desert proper, the ghouroud, with its massive barkhans that I’d seen from A’ler’s ship. I could already see them looming in the distance. I heard their low stuttering roar as the wind sang through them. And dreaded the crossing. Not only would it be treacherous with more possible quicksand traps, but it would serve a tortuous climb for A’ler up the slipface of the barkhans then down the soft sand on the other side…

The desert became a frozen sea, red clouds of sand rising off huge cresting waves that boomed and creaked like an old boat pitching at sea. The wind whistled like a chorus of laughing witches, hurling red grit into our faces. Our pace slowed to a crawl as our wading steps in the hot yielding sand turned to stumbles and falls.

When they finally reach a settlement, they collide with sadistic meat-traders. There Rhea will learn the grim truth about blenoid physiology, ecology and behaviour—and herself.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible.

Love Among the Ruins…

December 12, 2019April 10, 2020 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

Swamp on Sekmet

EXCERPT from Inner Diverse, Book 2 of The Splintered Universe Trilogy: after a daring escape from Hades on the bog planet of Sekmet, Rhea finds herself stumbling through thick wet scrub, past gnarly drowned trees then plunging with gasps into surprisingly deep crevices filled with bog water. The glacial wind whips her hair and wails through her shivering body as rain pelts her. Her breaths stutter and gut burns with black longing for the wakesh root. She sobs in her breaths, struggling over islands of soggy hummocks that cave under her weight, plunging her into deep frigid murky pools and thrashes her way across deep bog water. As a convulsive tremor of withdrawal runs through her, Rhea despairs and begins to wonder if she will survive her escape. No one got off Sekmet, after all, so the saying goes. Then she remembers glimpsing Serge at the penal colony. Her lover. Her nemesis. Had it been a dream? Had he come to rescue her only to disappear?

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

A twig snapped behind me and I jumped, heightened senses inhaling musk and strawberries.

Serge!

“Rhea.”

Relief and panic competed inside me. Serge was the last person I wanted to catch me this way: filthy, junked-up, vulnerable…and longing for him. Suddenly tearful, I scrambled to my feet with a grunt of effort. I fled into a staggering run, tripping and stumbling over a tangle of roots in the muck. I didn’t dare look back.

“What?” I heard him quip. “No warm welcome like: ‘It’s so good to see you Serge, I missed you so much.’” Then after a pause of huffing breaths, he added in exasperation, “Rhea! Wait up!”

“Why are you following me?” I threw a withering look over my shoulder at him. He’d gone back to being a human, those ugly lumi pants recklessly low-riding his hips and revealing taut abdomen muscles and the alluring curve of his pelvis. I noticed with some satisfaction that he was having a hard time negotiating the underwater root tangle as well.

“What do you think?” he answered in a sarcastic tone.

“I don’t need your help!”

“That’s a matter of opinion. You’re hurt and you’re crying—”

“You’re the one making me cry.” I glared at him. I hadn’t noticed I was crying. “This is all your fault. I never cried before I met you.”

He barked out an exasperated laugh then added, “That’s because I woke up your senses. I made you alive.”

“You made me miserable!”

“Alive and miserable, then,” he conceded. “Let me help you.” He broke into a sprint, splashing in awkward steps.

“I told you, I don’t need help from a lying scoundrel,” I huffed and threw myself into a frenzied lopsided gallop to keep ahead of him. “I don’t need help from a God-damned Vos, Nihilist, anti-Nihilist, spy, thief—whatever you are!” I tripped and fell. Serge was bending over me, pulling me up, even as I struggled to get free. My chest heaved. Black bog juice dripped off my face. I turned to face him and caught his intoxicating smell: a cottonwood forest in spring cut by musk and a hint of strawberry. It overwhelmed my senses and made me dizzy with desire. I stared up into his face and longed to fling my arms around him and kiss him. I bit out, “I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

“Oh, you are, are you?” he retorted. “In case you didn’t notice, I saved your scrawny flat butt.” His face was close to mine, eyes blazing and breathing hard.

“Where were you the rest of the time? Sun tanning in the penthouse suite? Get off me!” I twitched my face from his and pushed away. I didn’t like how he’d described my butt.

“It took me over a month just to get in,” he huffed out, clinging to me and fighting off my struggles. “By then you were already running the place. I was stunned. I’m amazed at your talents, particularly in escaping. Frankly, Rhea, I didn’t expect you to be in any shape to do anything—”

“Well, thanks for the encouraging thoughts and incredible faith in my abilities,” I said tartly. “I had a little help from several friends and none of them was you.” I thrashed out furiously to get free. “I didn’t ask for your help back there. I could have managed, damn you!”

“You ungrateful little witch!” he growled, pinning my arms in a forceful embrace. He glared at me. “You’re too jagging proud to admit that you need my help.”

Lips snarling, I jerked out of his grasp but slipped in the wet sod with a shriek and took him down with me. We fell with a splat, black oily mud oozing over both of us. He scrambled on top of me, straddling my hips, and pinned my flailing arms with his hands.

For a hesitant moment I inhaled his heady aroma and felt myself tumbling dangerously into his tempest eyes. He held my gaze and I drew in a shuddering breath. So much passed between us in that gaze and for a moment we were staring at each other like the time when we’d first made love. It was an exquisite moment of infinite devotion, wonder and tenderness. And mutual surrender. And I felt as though I’d loved him and trusted him all my life—

Desperate, I shifted with a shrill grunt into a massive Venik, realizing too late that my clothes tore to shreds off of me. I struck out. Within a heartbeat, Serge matched my form, lumi-pants ripping off, and countered. I tried an Azorian. He matched. A Khonsus—he was already one! I finally returned to my human form and Serge followed suit, barking out a laugh and breathing hard like me. His dark eyes grew large. We were both naked.

“Good try,” he panted with a rough laugh. He glanced down my body before locking eyes with mine. “Just look at you…You’ve chopped off your beautiful hair. The drugs have wasted your skin, done something to your eyes…But you’re still so…”

I dreaded what he saw and met his thunderstorm gaze with my own vulnerable gaze. I knew I was a spectacle: wet and bedraggled hair plastered over my face in tangles of mud—yet I returned him a plaintive thirsty look…How I’d missed those eyes.

They blazed into mine. “…so beautiful,” he finished in a hoarse voice. Then he slammed his mouth against mine in a crushing embrace. Like a spring released I yielded and we kissed. I flung my arms around him, clasping his neck and pulling him close, feeling the hard heat of his response. I savoured his body stirring over mine as I rocked my hips up against him. His lips flamed over my face, defining every feature, and I trembled at the tantalizing rasp of his whiskers. His hands mauled my body with uncontrollable ardour. I was all his…except—

“No!” I slithered out from beneath him and kicked out. He barked out a yelp. I scrambled to my wavering feet, slipping, and stuttered out in a shaky voice, “I won’t let you take advantage of me.”

“Advantage!” he exclaimed and rubbed his thigh. “You want it too, damn it. You were kissing back.”

Inner Diverse is the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of Outer Diverse, Inner Diverse, and Metaverse through Audible.

GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY! GIVE AWAY!

Rhea likes to use proverbs as barbs and to unhinge her opponent when she gets nervous or feels trapped. Send me a good proverb for Rhea to use and I will send you a code to obtain a free Audiobook from Audible. Codes are limited, so it will be first come, first serve until we’re out. Send your proverb to Nina Munteanu at: nina.sfgirl[at]gmail.com.

The Pit of Despair…

December 11, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

EXCERPT from Inner Diverse, Book 2 of The Splintered Universe: When Rhea is sent to Sekmet to live out her remaining life run by the scum of the criminal community—all addicted to the drugged food—she finds herself reviled as a puny human and an ex-enforcer—she’d put some of them there, after all. Knowing her days are numbered and finding herself without a safe place to bed-down, Rhea makes a desperate bid to survive. Taking a Rill’s advice, she agrees to be sponsored by the ruffian Bondar as a contestant in The Game—a game of survival involving strength, courage and wits to an audience, who bet on a winner. It is a simple contest with one winner and one loser: the simple task is to immobilize or kill the opponent and capture the “magical” wakesh root—a highly sought after elixir that can break her from the soporific addiction of the prison’s drugged food:

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

I stood in the centre of the five hectare blood-stained arena, facing the semi-circular bleachers where Bondar and Barbariccia and an audience of several dozen aliens sat, packed like blood hounds smelling death.

I inhaled the rank smell of unwashed bodies, sweat and old blood and privately wondered what I was doing here. Bondar seemed to think I was capable enough; he’d gleefully accepted me as his candidate and now looked smug, seated not far from Barbariccia, who ignored him and studied me with a look of amusement on his calm face… Suddenly aware of my soiled clothes, I grew self-conscious and nervously fidgeted as I waited for Barbariccia’s candidate to enter the arena.

Bondar abruptly stood up and held up my original jacket in one hand and my slacks in the other.

“I’m still looking for a buyer for these!” he announced happily in a multi-timbral chorus. “Great clothes of impeccable quality. Original Enforcer clothes.”

Which they weren’t, I thought scathingly. They were just ordinary flight clothes. Damn that Bondar! The bastard was selling my clothes right in front of me, his own candidate. It showed me what kind of team we were…and what he thought of my chances.

“Are they intelligent?” someone in the audience asked.

Bondar brought both my jacket and pants up to his reptilian face and buried his snout in them with a deep inhale. All he smelled was me, I thought, wincing inside. I felt my face tighten to a grimace as I watched him smear my clothes over his face: it seemed that essence of Rhea was a perfume for him because his doleful eyes flickered dreamily shut and his many mouths smiled lecherously. Several inmates cackled.

“You can’t tell by smelling it, creon!” someone scoffed.

“They’re far too small!” said another. “She’s just a puny little pip.”

My gaze involuntarily flickered down my own torso. I wasn’t that small, I thought petulantly. I was almost six feet tall.

Bondar bent down and lifted up my boots. “What about these? Real gravity boots. They instantly adjust according to the weight of the wearer to the gravitational pull of any planet you travelled to—”

“No one’s going anywhere, you buffoon!”

They started booing him and shouted for him to sit down.

I dropped my gaze to the dirty blood-stained floor as the jeers and slanders spread to me. I heard several pointed insults aimed at the human race. What was I doing here besides inviting abuse?

Mayling had sagely waited until just before I entered the arena, when it was too late to back out, to fully explain the game to me: “It’s a simple contest: just find and takes possession of the wakesh root, hidden in the obstacle course of the arena, before the opponent does—and keep it by immobilizing the other contestant. This is usually done by killing the opponent but youz don’t haves to…” I had repeated the part about usually killing the opponent and Mayling ignored me to continue: “Whatever youz do, don’t let yourself falls into the pit.”

“Pit?” I had repeated with a hard swallow.

“No one ever gets out. Usually youz just hears a lot of splashing then a lots of silence. Sometimes a sobeks wanders in and manages to eludes the peat saws and turbines, then youz also hear thrashing and lots of awful cries of terrors and pains as the sobek bites off a limb and—”

“I get it,” I cut in.

“There are two ways to plays the games,” Mayling went on. “Defeats your opponent first then looks for the root ats your leisure, or finds the root first and use its to defeats your opponent. Which way youz goes depends on your personal strengths. Considering your present status and your humans abilities, I suggests youz first finds the root, then takes a bite of the root immediately to gives yourselfs a decided advantage over your opponent.”

That only worked if I got it first. And that was unlikely, given the wave-sensitive eyesight of the Xhix, who’d just entered the arena through an adjacent door. Wonderful, I thought with growing despair. Xhix could see through objects.

Holding a mining shovel in one hand, the Xhix waved to the cheering crowd with his other. I dismally recalled the crowd’s jeers and catcalls when I’d entered the arena. It was obvious who they thought would win.

I was contemplating the misnomer of Mayling’s use of the term obstacle course, when Barbariccia stood and shouted, “Let the contest begin!”

I kept a sharp eye on the Xhix, who stood poised several meters from me. Maybe I could outsmart him. I might be more swift, if I let him lead me to the root. The Xhix seemed to realize what I was thinking. He faced me with a smirk and turned black, tapping his shovel with his paw. He wasn’t about to give away the whereabouts of the root.

The floor rumbled and, just a meter from where I stood, it abruptly separated, giving off a strong waft of sulfur. The gap in the floor groaned into a long chasm that continued to widen. Both the Xhix and I stepped back. This must be the infamous pit Mayling had referred to. I carefully leaned over to catch a glimpse of what lay below. I made out murky bog and peat, moving slowly across the gaping opening as the penal facility rolled along, churning up peat and mire some ten meters below—

Something hard and painful struck my head, throwing me off balance into the gap with a startled grunt. I briefly registered the Xhix’s victorious laugh as I pitched forward and blacked out.

I jerked awake, inhaling water. I’d plunged into black cold churning water and broke the surface with gasping breaths.

Marsh on Sekmet

Inner Diverse is the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible. Read the Splintered Universe reviews on Goodreads.

Sekmet, Mistress of Dread

December 10, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

Sekmet is the penal planet from which no one ever escapes. The planet is a giant bog-marsh and the prison itself is a massive 2-kilometre barge that travels the wetland planet and mines the peat. The very word evokes fear. Sekmet is the bogeyman. Early on, in Outer Diverse, Rhea’s colleague Bas warns her to be careful or she might end up on Sekmet for her transgressions; Rhea scoffs that only senseless killers go to that bog planet to die and rot. But soon Rhea will alter her cavalier defence. Things will change for her…

Sekhmet

Sekmet is named after the lioness-headed Egyptian warrior goddess (Sekhmet). Variously known as “the one who is powerful or mighty”, “One before whom evil trembles”, “mistress of dread”, and “Lady of Slaughter”, Sekhmet is often depicted in red, the colour of blood.

In Inner Diverse, Bas’s warning is realized; Rhea is hunted and captured then after a hasty “trial” she is sent to Sekmet. There, she, too, will meet the goddess’s wrath—and tremble.

As the AI ship takes Rhea down to the planet surface, she has a good view of the wetland planet:

I gazed out my porthole at the barren patchwork of the small wetland-dominated planet, whose surface resembled an early impressionist’s painting. Dominated by sombre russet and indigo tones, the raised bog was dotted by a hasty spray of cobalt lakes and pools.

Although it was mid-morning on the planet, the mostly grey sky was saturated in low cloud and it was drizzling outside. Spates of wind drove sheets of rain hailing sporadically against my porthole. It was a wet desolate place. But then again, “A drowning man is not troubled by rain—Persian Proverb, Rhea,” I said quietly to myself. The weather was the least of my concerns.

Swamp on Sekmet

As the ship descended, I could make out the individual pool system of the blanket bog with its inhospitable tapestry of dark and wet shapes. I dispassionately reviewed what I knew of the planet. Its cool wet climate and rich iron deposits promoted the development of muskeg, string bogs, darkly forested swamps and wildflower-filled fens. This was Sekmet, a less than Earth sized planet that orbited the KO star, HD177830 in the constellation Vulpecula. My new home. Where I was going to die.

As the ship turned, I made out the actual penal colony with its dozens of grey tapered stacks billowing out white smoke. The facility resembled a huge factory, floating on a glistening wet mosaic of multi-textured and coloured vegetation. The facility, appropriately named Hades by its inmates, was in fact a huge peat mine that migrated across the huge blanket bog, extracting peat for sale to maintain the colony.

The life span of inmates on Sekmet was usually less than a year and I wasn’t sure I was going to be all that tenacious. The Eosian Guardian who’d shoved me into this AI ship had offered his own prognosis with a sinister laugh: “You won’t last a jagging week, human. They despise Enforcers. They’ll eat you alive then excrete you as bog fertilizer!”

The ship had informed me earlier that Hades contained an inordinately high number of Rills as inmates. If any one alien race had the right to despise me, the Rill did. I’d single-handedly subverted their one and only attempt at obtaining freedom from a long life of oppression by the Legess. I decided that Sekmet was going to be my personalized purgatory.

“They will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes,” I recited the lines from Proverbs in a quiet breath.

When the AI ship lands on the huge barge platform, Rhea is instructed to get off.

Wetland on Sekmet

The exit hatch door opened and the AI droned, “This is your destination, Rhea Hawke. Please disembark.”

My chest clenched. I swallowed down my fear and stepped out onto the platform of Sekmet’s landing bay, catching the faint sulphurous smell of the bog. The doors of the ship abruptly closed behind me, making me involuntarily flinch. Annoyed at my reaction, I gathered my composure and swiftly assessed the empty platform, hearing only the hum of the ship’s engine. My gaze rested on the endless hummocks and large meandering ponds of tea-stained water outside.

As the ship made ready to leave, I felt my heart pounding with the sudden urge to bolt. I had a panicked notion to leap off the platform into the murky bog. Swim, wade, scrabble to eventual safety in the wilderness of Sekmet in those distant hills. The ship lifted off the ground in a turmoil of dust and thunder. My face twisted with indecision as I tensed, poised to flee—

A male Azorian burst in from the adjoining chamber and I braced for an attack. He pelted right past me then leapt into the murky water. I watched him thrash through the undulating bog, stumbling, submerging and trying to swim—his left arm was amputated at the elbow. I was about to follow when laser shots peppered the water around him for several heartbeats. I flinched. As suddenly as the shots began, they ended and the Azorian slowly sank until only his head remained above the water. I stood stiff, trembling hands over my mouth, and breathing hard. I stared at the head bobbing slowly in the water.

With the ship departed, chaotic sounds drifted in from inside the colony. Faint echoes of shrill outcries, mad laughter and raucous groans filtered in with the light breeze. It sent a chill through me—

“The stupids ones stills thinks theys cans escapes thats ways,” a nasal voice said behind me.

Startled, I spun around. When I saw the female Rill waddle toward me, huge arm—weapon—stretched out, I instinctively went for my MEC and caught air. My MEC was, of course, no longer holstered on my hip. That damned gesture and ominous paw got me every time, I thought and let the tension drain from my posture. I grimaced and murmured to myself, “Speak of the devil.”

At the entrance from the platform inside the penal barge, Rhea passes the looming statues of Anubis—ancient Egyptian jackal god (who took part in judging a person’s guilt) and the lion-headed Sekhmet. High between the massive statues, a makeshift sign has been erected that hangs above the open doorway. Words inscribed in a messy but clear scrawl read: I am the way into eternal grief; abandon every hope, all you who enter.

*****

Inner Diverse is the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of any of the three audiobooks through Audible. Read the Splintered Universe reviews on Goodreads.

Who Is Rhea Hawke?

December 9, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

We look a little more closely at what makes Rhea Hawke the Galactic Guardian Enforcer she is:

Date and place of birth	Twenty-three years ago, 192 SGT, in Vancouver, Canada; daughter of Laura Wood and Colonel Mark Hawke. The story goes that Hawke was shot down in the Vos invasion of Earth when Laura was six months pregnant with Rhea—just as the Eosians came to rescue Earth from annihilation.
Physical attributes	Face dominated by strong features for a woman: a long, almost aquiline nose and full mouth framed by well-defined cheek bones and a firm jaw. Face framed by dark, long, wavy hair, which Rhea tends to tie back when she’s working. She stands at 6-feet—tall for a human female but short for the Galaxy among very tall aliens. Nevertheless, she carries a long confident stride.
Idiosyncrasy	A tendency to bluster and bluff with biting sarcasm when under attack. She often recites a wise proverb when she’s nervous. Rhea hides her kindness and compassion—even from herself—with an arrogant, overly-confident and alienating composure.
Job	Galactic Guardian Enforcer. Rhea joined when she was fifteen. She served as an Enforcer-in-training for two years then became a full Galactic Enforcer at seventeen—over much protest from the rest of the Eosian Precinct.
Weapon of choice	MEC (Mechanical-Electro-Concussion) pistol, a solid hand gun of her own design. In a single sweep, the wave-weapon can maim, render unconscious or kill according to someone’s DNA.
Clothing of choice	Black Enforcer clothes and her Great Coat, made of intelligent material that protects, alerts, and enhances her abilities in her work.
First injury as an Enforcer	A long wound on her lower left buttock from the slash of a dool blade; she’d received it in a skirmish with Venik slave traders who had ambushed her on EpsEri 2. It was before she learned how to handle her Great Coat.
Most loved	1) Her tappin, Jasper, a cat-like stray she feeds and sleeps with when she’s home. 2) Benny, her AI ship, who has a sense of humour and excellent taste in music; 3) Serge, the mysterious seductive art collector (before her discovery)
Most hated	1) The Vos, who invaded the galaxy and killed her father. 2) The Eosians, who saved Earth from annihilation by the Vos. It’s complicated. Rhea calls them baldies (given they are completely hairless). 3) Serge (after her discovery)
Most ironic	Rhea signed on with the Galactic Guardians, Rhea as the only human amid only Eosians—who she hates.
Favourite drink/drug	Rhea likes to drink soyka, a coffee-like soy-based stimulant. She is addicted to soyka gum and relies on it when she is nervous. Despite telling Laura Dob of Galaxy News that her favourite drinking place is the Muddy Pit in the Hive, Rhea very seldom goes there.
Dark secret	Rhea has several, but the best ones she isn’t even aware of.

Here is some backstory to the present:

Splintered Universe ~Timeline~ Book I: Outer Diverse

Detail	When	Date
Azaes makes contact with Earth	215 years ago	0 SGT
Genevieve Dubois crash lands on Eos and returns to Earth with first alien contact	200 years ago	15 SGT
Azaes murdered, Genevieve escapes into countryside and gives birth to Diana	199 years ago	16 SGT
Diana Wood born (daughter of Azaes and Genevieve Dubois, 51) and lives in seclusion	199 years ago	16 SGT
Laura Wood (Hawke) born (daughter of Diana Wood, 110, and an unknown mate [Vos shape-shifter, Ka])	110 years ago	105 SGT
Spiritual leaders share dream of Borrias; Eosians end their isolation to form Galactic Guardians and research the galaxy, terraforming	100 years ago	115 SGT
Vos destroy Bor, begin siege of Earth	30 years ago	185 SGT
Eosians take on the Vos, colonize Earth (eventually defeat the Vos in five years)	29 years ago	186 SGT
Rhea Hawke born (daughter of Laura, 87, and Ennos, [Vos] ageless)	23 years ago	192 SGT
Rhea (at age 5) melts U’clid	18 years ago	197 SGT
Rhea joins Galactic Guardians at age 15	8 years ago	207 SGT
	present	215 SGT

Inner Diverse is the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Love At First Sight…

December 8, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

EXCERPT from Inner Diverse, Book 2 of The Splintered Universe Trilogy; Galactic Guardian Detective Rhea Hawke is travelling in her AI ship Benny in search of the “assassin” Serge to return him to the precinct for questioning:

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

…I slouched in my pilot’s chair, cosy in Serge’s old crewneck sweater, the one he’d worn—and taken off—when I’d last seen him. I hugged myself and tucked my nose into my elbow, breathing in the delicious fragrance of old wool and Serge’s faint but intoxicating scent—

Benny signalled me: “Scimitar class ship ahead, Rhea. I believe it’s Serge.”

I jerked up, feeling an irrational thrill surge through me. I let a predator’s smile slide across my face as I sat back and pulled out a wad of soyka gum, threw it casually in my mouth, and chewed lazily with an open mouth. “Well, let’s catch ourselves a little prey, Benny.” I blew out a bubble, popped it, then carved out a ferocious smile. “I’m hungry.”

I seized the controls and banked hard toward the stolen ship. “Lock on the scimitar, Benny. On my mark…Now!” I watched the ship shudder in the violent concussion wave.

“The scimitar is disabled, Rhea. We are being hailed.”

The holo-com lit up with Serge’s distraught face and I felt my own heat. He looked stunning in a grey crewneck sweater and black trousers. The sweater was identical to the one he’d worn when I’d last seen him—the one I was now wearing. As soon as he saw me, Serge’s face relaxed and he gave me a rakish smile. I noticed his fleeting glance down at what I was wearing and felt an awkward moment of recognition pass between us as our eyes locked. My face blazed with embarrassment.

“I should have guessed it was you, Rhea,” he said casually. “That your way of saying hello?”

“It is with you,” I bit back, casually chewing and throwing the gum around with my tongue, despite the warmth surging up my face. “We’ve disabled your ship and intend to dock and take you aboard. Don’t give me any trouble, Serge, and I won’t have to kill you.”….

*****

…I kneeled down and gruffly pulled at the restraints to check their strength then rose and paused. I locked eyes with his, lips smirking, and played the gum in my mouth with my tongue. “Feels familiar, doesn’t it? Only in reverse.”

Serge took in a long breath, eyes roaming my body, then met my gaze head-on. “Go ahead.” His fragrance of musk and strawberries flared. “I know you want to kiss me.”

I jerked back, face flushing with anger. “You’re so full of shit, Serge. So hubristic about your powers of seduction―”

“Not hubristic, Rhea. I just know,” he said calmly, inching toward me even as I recoiled. “Haven’t you ever wondered about love at first sight?”

“Hormones,” I said flatly and blew out a bubble.

“Karma,” he returned.

I abruptly popped the bubble with my tongue and sucked my gum back into my mouth.

“You were wearing my sweater,” he said.

“I was cold.”

Inner Diverse is the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible.

Read the Splintered Universe reviews on Goodreads.

The Splintered Universe, Book 2: “Inner Diverse” Audiobook

December 7, 2019February 5, 2024 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

In Inner Diverse, the second book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy, Detective Rhea Hawke continues her quest for truth and justice in a world that is not what it seems. Rhea’s search takes her to the far reaches of the known universe from the Weeping Mountains of Horus to the blistering deserts of Upsilon 3. Amidst the turmoil of an imminent extra-galactic war, Rhea holds the key even as those she trusts betray her. No one is what they seem…

Lilly’s Book World summarizes the audiobook:

A great follow up to Book 1 of this series; we see Rhea more and more involved in the politics of the world. Again, I liked how much she developed from Book 1 and her search for the truth leads her to unexpected discoveries.

What I mostly enjoyed about “Inner Diverse” was seeing our main character face the true personalities of the people she thought she could trust. Her reactions were very believable and her character is shaped by them in more ways than one. The plot intensifies and the war is even more complex than what we thought initially. Faced with protecting humans from extinction, is Rhea capable of using her abilities to the fullest?

The narration was exceptional. We have incredible voice acting and even if this was expected, since Book 1 was narrated by the same person, I loved discovering Dawn Harvey’s new voices. She managed to bring sound and life into a story that was already great. She transformed it into an amazing audiobook.

To quickly summarize, I loved Book 2 even more than Book 1. “Inner Diverse” is exactly as the title says – a deeper and deeper immersion into a universe so complicated and complex. The ending left me yearning for Book 3, so excuse me while I do some more reading, or listening!

There’s so much I have enjoyed about this series so far. Rhea is a fascinating character from the start and she continues to grow throughout the tale. There’s her AI ship, Benny, her sentient great coat, her special made gun, and her own hidden shapeshifting abilities. Then there’s a cast of interesting characters, good guys and bad guys. I love that I don’t know how things will turn out; the plot keeps me guessing—Dab of Darkness

A great amount of action to keep me interested the whole time—Book Addict

Impossible Love…

December 6, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

EXCERPT from Chapter One of Outer Diverse. Armed with information on the recent Schiss massacre, Galactic Guardian detective Rhea Hawke travels to the planet Horus (47 Uma a) in the 47 Ursae Majoris system to confront the sage Ka—a hawk-like being and gatekeeper of the Schiss Order—to convince him to permit her to travel to Paradise City on Horus’s moon Uma 1: she needs to warn Rashomon, one of the remaining Schiss priests, of an attempt to assassinate him.

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

Thinking of Serge’s possible mission if he was who I thought he was, I decided to pursue my quest more forcefully. “Rashomon might be in grave danger now … from an assassin.”

“Indeed,” Ka said too casually for my taste. He continued to walk placidly down the archway.

“I must warn him. Prepare him.”

“Really?” he returned in a voice of challenge. “One assassin to take care of another?” I felt his tone slightly mocking as he aimed a pointed glance from my sidearm, holstered in plain view, to my heating face. “You honestly think that you can make a difference?”

I decided to tell him the truth. “I think the assassin is already on Uma 1. I might be able to help. I … know him.” I swallowed convulsively, hand in my pocket and feeling for the info-pod Bas had given me. “He’s a shapeshifter and I can recognize them no matter what shape they take on.”

Ka frowned and nodded as if to himself. “You are presumptuous, Rhea Hawke. You speak half-truths. You are a paradox,” he said. “So out of tune, a jumble of discord. Yet, surprisingly open for one so closed. You’re very cynical for one so young. But also incredibly naïve for one so cynical.”

I felt my jaw clench with discomfort at his self-conflicting prognosis of me. How could anyone be naïve and cynical at the same time? I hated being analyzed or judged. But I remained calm. I had to convince this old philosopher to give me a permit to travel to Uma 1 do I could warn Rashomon…and find Serge.

I decided to go with another one of my Plan B’s: a gamble based on psychology—not my strong suit: “I know that one reason Rashamon remains in isolation is because he fears shape-shifters.” I’d finally captured Ka’s undivided attention. I dove in. “I can provide Rashomon with unequivocal proof.” I pulled out my MEC. “This device can detect shapeshifters. I could let him use it on his staff and visitors.”

“A weapon?” Ka glared from my weapon of destruction to me.

“A tool,” I cut in. “As a tool. I can set it to detect. Only detect. There would be absolutely no danger.”

Ka went silent for some moments. I decided that was a good thing. He hadn’t dismissed my offer outright. Then he finally spoke in a musical voice, “I sense that you are a seeker of the truth; yet you willingly harbor much that is untrue.”

My brows furrowed, and I felt the side of my mouth twitch up in puzzlement. That wasn’t a “yes”, I decided.

Outer Diverse is the first book of The Splintered Universe Trilogy:

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Get the complete Splintered Universe Trilogy. Available in ALL THREE FORMATS: print, ebook, and audiobook. You can listen to a sample recording of all three audiobooks through Audible. Read Splintered Universe reviews on Goodreads.

Rhea’s Proverbs

December 5, 2019November 29, 2022 / thealiennextdoor / Leave a comment

As part of her liberal use of sarcasm, detective Rhea Hawke often plucks a choice phrase from her well-stocked collection of Earth proverbs when she confronts a challenging adversary or situation. Look for these in Outer Diverse:

“Talking without thinking is like shooting without aiming … Old Chinese proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it—old Chinese proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

“The Jewish have a proverb,” I growled in his ear, hearing him whimper as my grip tightened. “Don’t open a shop unless you know how to smile.”—Rhea Hawke

“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected: old Swedish proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

“A hunting dog will eventually lose its life on the mountain—old Chinese proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

“First rule of engagement: never underestimate your enemy, especially if she’s a human—Rhea’s proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

There’s another Chinese proverb that says: Don’t chase a dog into a blind alley—it might snap at you.”—Rhea Hawke

“When you go up to the mountain often, you will eventually encounter the tiger—Chinese proverb.”—Rhea Hawke

Rhea Hawke (Vali Gurgu)

When Galactic Guardian Rhea Hawke investigates the genocide of an entire spiritual sect, she collides not only with dark intrigue but with her own tarnished past. Her quest for justice catapults Rhea into the heart of a universal struggle across alien landscapes of cruel beauty and toward an unbearable truth she’s hidden from herself since she murdered an innocent man.

Nina Munteanu Writing Coach

Books

The Splintered Universe, Book 3: “Metaverse” Audiobook

The Deserts of Upsilon-3 and the Problem with Blenoids

Love Among the Ruins…

The Pit of Despair…

Sekmet, Mistress of Dread

Who Is Rhea Hawke?

Splintered Universe ~Timeline~ Book I: Outer Diverse

Love At First Sight…

The Splintered Universe, Book 2: “Inner Diverse” Audiobook

Impossible Love…

Rhea’s Proverbs