NEW RELEASE: Heliodor by Shannon Wendtland

Happy springtime! We have a brand new steampunk adventure coming on March 22nd from Shannon Wendtland. So to celebrate, we thought we'd give you a little taste with an excerpt! 



AVAILABLE 3/22/16!!



The captain placed a kid-gloved hand over Malfric’s.  “Walk a bit with me while I fill you in.”

          Malfric got to his feet, leaving the barrel-stool behind and looped his left hand through the crook of the captain’s arm. As the captain led him towards the bow of the ship, Malfric tasted currant jam and warm biscuits on the salty sea air.  His favorite.  

          He stopped the captain before he could take another step.  “There’s no point in buttering me up, Finch.  Just give me the details.  If I agree, we can proceed straight to the repast you have set up in your quarters.  Otherwise, just hand me your purse and we’ll call it even.”

          Finch muttered beneath his breath.  “Your infernal nose ruins everything.  Fine then, have it your way.  A job has come up ― not our usual fare, but the bounty was too good to resist.  So I booked it.  But I need a voyeur to get it done.  Naturally, I thought of you.”

          Naturally.  “What’s the catch?”

          “No catch.”  Shifting floorboards belied the captain’s response.

          Malfric frowned.  “You wouldn’t have laid out my favorite tea if it were an easy job with no strings.  In fact, you wouldn’t have sent for me at all...any novice voyeur would have done.” 

          A snicker came from his right.  Ah, Quantex had followed them.

          The captain’s arm tensed beneath Malfric’s hand.  Though he said nothing, Malfric detected the shift and rustle of his silk coat as he turned to glare at his first mate.

          “There’s an artifact.  We were not the only ones hired to find it,” Finch said with a disgruntled sigh.  “The other crew has a day’s head start.” His voice softened to a conspiratorial whisper, “but we have an advantage they do not.”

          Oh?  “And what, pray tell, is that?”

          A sharp intake of breath, a faint whistle through his nose, and the captain answered.  “A body.”

 

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I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to curl up in the garden with this action-packed novella!

Bounce into a Good Book with our SPRING SALE!

Savings have bloomed during our Spring Sale!

If you've been waiting all winter to load up your Kindle, Nook, or tablet with beach reads and summer sizzlers, this is the sale for you!

We're giving you 25% off the following titles or more. Straight up. This sale is only available through our website. So, you won't find these deals at Amazon or BN.com.

Below is a list of Spring Sale discounted titles. Click on the hyperlink or visit the website for more information! Fill your e-basket with these fantastic stories.

Sci-Chai:
Subject 82-42
Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet
Rie Tales: A Collection of Stories

Avast, Ye Airships

Warriors of the Four Worlds

Drink My Soul, Please

Sword& Mocha (fantasy, urban fantasy):

The Light at the End of Judgment and Day

Thomas in Fairyland

The Golden Apple & Other Stories

Steamy Mocha Amour (romance, select your temperature):
Strange Bedfellows: His Phantom Caress
Forever Irish

C.A.K.E. Box Set
Reluctant Magic
The Concierge
Mocha Descent
Turbo Lift Love
Swimming Lessons
Rainy Day Frolics
Triple Mocha Twist
Mocha Memories
Cabin Fever

Dark Mocha (horror):
The Huntress
Haunted
Bloody Rain

Ashes and Coffee
Hotel Hell
Witch Way is Up?

Mocha Moments:

A Complete Woman

The Other Man

What's Payhip?

Mocha Memoirs Press wants to give you easy access and great, exclusive prices on, our books. To do that we, we use Payhip to handle our e-book transactions. With PayHip you can complete your purchases via Paypal, credit card, or debit card. The process is simple, safe, and secure.

The great news is your newly purchased downloaded e-book is ready to be placed on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, Android device and most other portable reading devices in seconds! And as an added bonus you claimed your loot at an exclusive price not found at other retailers. 

Not ready for PayHip? No problem. You can still purchase our books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online book retailers.

A New Year for New Adventures

Happy New Year from Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC. The last year, 2013, saw a lot of daring adventures and sizzling stories brimming with love, mystery, and horror. 

Through it all, we could not have done it without you. Our readers are the sugar cookie to our Mocha. Without it, the coffee just isn’t as sweet. So, to that end, we thank you!

Going forward, we have many things in store. Starting with next month’s Women in Horror anthology, The Grotesquerie. Our talented horror editor, Eden Royce, is already reading submissions for yet another hair-raising collection of deliciously frightening stories. If you missed last year’s In The Bloodstream, it’s still available in print and e-book versions.

Our romance writers are actively creating hot, erotic stories of love as we speak. We’re currently looking for witch stories, so if you are a writer, think about submitting something to us. See our submission guidelines for more information. We invite you to join us on our new adventures. This month we’re spotlighting all of our .99 titles. They're a sampling of our science fiction, horror, and romance. Naomi Jones'  Vampire Angels is actually three stories in one.

 

  

It’s Our Anniversary Month, but We’re Giving YOU gifts…

Happy Anniversary!

 

Mocha Memoirs Press was founded in July 2010. This is our birthday month!

We DO love our speculative fiction (horror, science fiction, and fantasy), and we want to share our love for all things fantastic with you!

So, as our gift to you, all science fiction, horror, fantasy and paranormal romance titles are on sale the month of July for $2.00.

That’s right. $2.00 USD. The sale starts Monday, July 8th EST, so get your e-reader ready to download these fantastic and fun flavors.

Check out fantastic flavors and try something new for less than the cost of a good cup of gourmet coffee.

The Devil is in the details.

I recently had a space age, sci-fi, hybrid dystopian story pop in my head. I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to all things sci-fi and was particularly excited that the plot was mulling away in my brain. I've been on a writing hiatus of sorts recently because life has been too damn busy. Not necessarily in a bad way but it has definitely put a cramp in my writing schedule. Therefore, the opportunity to do something new and creative had me jotting down notes excitedly.

Now here's a not so secret about me, I'm quite obsessive when it comes to story details. I think that's probably one of the leading factors in why I write such short stories. World building on a large scale has me obsessing in such minute details that it almost becomes a compulsion, more than an extension of my creation. It's all ridiculous of course because I'm building the world and thus it's just a figment of my imagination. Who cares if the effects of the second sun of the planet influences the crop formation of a desperately needed grain of the indigenous sentient beings of the planet that have been displaced by the new humanoid race? No one really.  Except me of course, and my methodical sociological prospective of things not important. What is particularly interesting is all of these facts never actually get included in the story. Their sole purpose is to make me and my obsessive nature happy. 

Yes, I know, totally cray cray. I just can't help myself, but this idea is SO good and I'm SO excited to get it written that I'm going to have to perform an exorcism and get that devil of details behind me....fingers crossed.

Celebrate African-American History Month with Us

We are celebrating African American History Month!

We are celebrating African American History month by going to future! We're spotlighting our signature science fiction titltes that contain an African American protagonist or is written by an African-American author. We invite you to try our well written and thrilling, speculative stories of survival, adventure, and science fiction.

Try these titles today at http://www.mochamemoirspress.com.

Why I love Steampunk

Valjeanne Jeffers is an editor and author. Below she discusses the definition of steampunk and why you should be reading it. If you want to try a steampunk title, Mocha Memoirs Press recommends, MOSES: THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIET TUBMAN by Balogun.
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(reblogged from The State of Black Science Fiction 2012)
I love fantasy. I know fantasy/SF is pretty popular these days, but I fell in love long before the genre became the “flyest kid at the school.” There’s just something wonderful about escaping into a world (whether through reading or writing) that’s so different from everyday mundane reality― a reality of responsibilities and bills― into a dimension where you still have the same crap to deal with. . . but now you can became a creature with preternatural strength. How cool is that? It gives you a decided edge over everyday reality, or at the very least makes it more interesting.

I wrote my first novel, Immortal, with these thoughts in mind. The beginning of Immortal was the story of a young woman, Karla, living on the planet Tundra. Karla has ordinary, everyday struggles. But she has a little―no a big―edge. Immortal weaves a tale of portals. Time travel. Werewolves. Daemons. By the time Immortal III is thrown into the mix, vampires have joined the plot. Tell me, what’s not to love? Fantasy also lends itself incredibly well to “what if?” scenarios. As in: what if there was no racism? What if there was no poverty? What if folks came together and decided to change the world. . .?

For those of you who haven’t guessed it yet, I also like to mix genres. In fact, that’s the other thing I love so much about fantasy; it blends so easily with other genres, like horror and science fiction. But if fantasy is my first love, I’d have to say steampunk is my second.

From the outrageous clothing. . . bustles, corsets and knickers, to the outrageous machinery. . . airships, steam-trains, muskets. This is a genre I just can’t stay away from. Steampunk is a glorious mixture of other fantasy/SF genres. And the settings and plots reflect this― plots set in the post-civil war. Victorian England. Post-Apocalyptic America. Or a futuristic world, as in my steampunk story: The Switch. Steampunk, like any other fantasy subgenre is also anybody’s game when it comes to “what if?” plots, settings and costumes. Which of course is why I’m so head over heels in love with it.

What is Steampunk?

Valjeanne Jeffers is an editor and author. Below she discusses the definition of steampunk and why you should be reading it. If you want to try a steampunk title, Mocha Memoirs Press recommends, MOSES: THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIET TUBMAN by Balogun.
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What is Steampunk?

This is the definition of Steampunk, as defined by wikipedia: “Steampunk is a genre which came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s and incorporates elements of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror, and speculative fiction. It involves a setting where steam power is widely used—whether in an alternate history such as Victorian era Britain or “Wild West”-era United States, or in a post-apocalyptic time —that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art…”
So that’s the textbook definition of steampunk; sort of. It didn’t just come into being—it’s been around for a while. Think Adam Ant. Sherlock Holmes. And the movie Time After Time (based on H.G. Well’s The Time Machine).

But for some reason it’s wildly popular today, in fiction and in film. Why? I have my theories. One of which is that when something’s hot, opportunists tend to jump on board and squeeze that something like a lemon. But a less cynical reason (after all that’s not why I love the genre, or my fellow BSFS writers) is that steampunk is an island of fantasy— of escape— within our technological, very stressful 21th century. Just like every other type of speculative fiction. And a way of making one’s own personal statement.

Someone on a steampunk blog, described it as “poorly defined.” Really? Seriously? How about open to experimentation and imagination. Just like every other SF sub-genre. None of them is rigid. None are set in stone.

When it comes to steampunk, just like horror, SF, fantasy… there’s no wrong way to do it. The writer just needs to make sure he or she includes steampunk elements, make your rules, and write a story that will knock the reader out of their socks. I’d also humbly suggest asking yourself what does steampunk mean to you?
For me it symbolizes freedom. Groovy, funky freedom. Freedom from repression and/or an attempt to free oneself.

I’ll post a couple of excerpts and I’ll invite everyone to do the same. Along with a simple answer to this question: what does steampunk mean to you?

Immortal IV: Collision of Worlds“You called me ‘Karla.’ Why? That’s not my name. I’m Sonya. Where did you come from?”
His eyes searched her face. “I don’t know.”

Karla… The name was like a caress. It reminded him of a song—the words forgotten, but the melody etched upon his heart.

Joseph tore his eyes away from her and scanned the bedroom. To his right was a high bed with a canopy. A wardrobe sat beside it. Across from him, stood a vanity table and mirror. Filigreed lamps were arranged here and there about the room.

The furniture spoke to him of antiquity—of an older, bygone age. Yet above the vanity hung a triangular clock, full of visible cogs and dials and encased in metal. It was ticking loudly.

The Copper man looked behind him, at the tall mirror encased in a delicately carved frame.
“I think…I think I came from inside your mirror.”

Her eyes shot to the glass, and a curious mixture of fear and longing played over her face.

“From my mirror?” He nodded. “Ho-how did you do that?”

How indeed? “I’m not sure.”

The Switch II: ClockworkGoing below ground was more than leaving the upper city. It was like entering another world. Skylights were carved into the metal, for natural light, to keep under city dwellers from going blind.

Yet it was always gloomy, and the steam used to power their machinery created a perpetual fog. All refuse was recycled through pipes attached to brick walls along the alleyways that carried the waste farther below. The smell clung to the under dwellers skin and clothing.

Yet for all this, the underground had it charms. Cobblestone lanes adorned by streetlights ran the length of the under city. Wooden shops and flats overlaid with brass lined the avenues. In the distance, a clock tower chimed.
The people were known for their outrageous gear. As part of their rebellion, they refused to dress like those who oppressed them.

As the fugitives reached the street, a steam-powered auto puttered along the stones, its motor clearly visible in front. On the left a couple strolled past, the man dressed in knickers and stockings; the woman in a form-fitting dress with a bustle and pill box hat.

To their right, an old man carrying a walking stick stood before a haberdashery. He had a salt-and-pepper, handlebar mustache; and wore a red jacket with tails, and pants with suspenders.

Behind them came the running steps of the constables.

The old man stepped in front of the fugitives, as if to block their path, and tapped the stones with his stick.
The stones slid back, revealing a steam-powered elevator; it rose to the street…

Copyright Valjeanne Jeffers 2012 all rights reserved.

Ten Lessons That Star Trek Can Teach You About Writing

Michael LaRocca is not only an extremely talented editor at Mocha Memoirs Press. He's also an extremely talented author. Check out his latest release, Lazarus: A Gary Drake Mystery. It's availabe in print and e-book formats. Get a copy today and see how Michael uses these 10 lessons himself.

Michael describes below how Star Trek can teach you a lot about writing.


1) Readers Matter
In the first STAR TREK film, Gene Roddenberry finally had the budget to create all the footage he wanted of ENTERPRISE just sitting there, looking real purty, and by gum he was gonna use it all. I personally don’t mind watching all those minutes, 22 or 187 or whatever it was, but most folks think that’s too much. If most of your readers say something needs to be changed or added or deleted, listen to them.

2) Characters Matter
 When the second pilot was filmed, it was already pre-ordained that William Shatner was the star. Since Spock was the only character from the first pilot to also appear in the second pilot, it was safe to assume Leonard Nimoy was a costar. Who else? Well, McCoy and the chemistry just kinda happened.

When I write, character comes first, and plot etc. unfold from there. Even if you start from some other place, character always matters. In the end, nothing happens unless it happens to somebody, and that somebody is who your reader cares about regardless of species.

When you write, have some sort of plan, and have some control, but be flexible. If your story’s telling you to go in a certain direction, listen to it. That might be your characters talking to you. (And yes, I know you made them all up. Don’t bother me with details.)

3) Turn Weaknesses into Strengths
 I can’t remember if I wrote about this in CONUNDRUM or ENIGMA, so be safe and read both. Why did ENTERPRISE have a transporter? Because it wasn’t in the TV show’s budget to film launch and landing sequences for shuttlecraft on various and sundry new planets every week. This forced the writers to invent the transporter, and that’s some seriously cool shit. STAR TREK wouldn’t be STAR TREK without it.

4) Fuck Grammar
Okay, not really. Speaking as your editor, please don’t fuck grammar. But you can break any rule you want if you have a good reason. Try to never break a rule from ignorance. But if you’ve got a reason, go for it. That’s how we as authors change the language.

Why did Shakespeare invent 10% of the words he used? Because if he’d invented 20% or 50% he’d have confused too many of his viewers.

Meanwhile, the “rule” about splitting infinitives is totally bogus. “To boldly go” is a perfectly good English phrase. In Latin, it isn’t possible to split an infinitive because “to go” (for example) is one word. You can’t write “to boldly go” in Latin because “to go” is only one word. Someone decided English grammar should follow Latin grammar — that sounds like some of Noah Webster’s shit — and was soundly shouted down for being too stupid to live. Feel free to boldly split infinitives like James Brown split tight pants. Then jump back and kiss yourself.

5) Wishful Thinking Is Allowed
In the STAR TREK future, everybody quotes long passages of Shakespeare from memory. If I say it like that, it might sound hard to believe, but in the context of the STAR TREK world, it fits. It’s allowed. Dammit, people should quote Shakespeare from memory, just like that cockatiel I taught when his humans were away. I never could teach him context, though.

6) It’s Not About The Money
Okay, sometimes it was about the money. But in roughly two years of the original show and roughly ten years of Next Generation, it wasn’t about the money. In some of the films, including some of the stinkers, it wasn’t about the money.

I’ve always said that you should write what you’d like to read, then find readers who share your interests. Yep, that’s what Gene Roddenberry did. He believed in world peace, racial and gender integration, trying to shake off old prejudices to the best of our limited abilities, freedom of religion and non-religion, gay rights, cooperation rather than killing, the Prime Directive of non-interference in viable developing cultures, war as a last and not a first resort, and seeing just how much political and religious commentary he could slip past the censors, who weren’t as bright as the average STAR TREK viewer.

Did he really believe in the cashless society? If a “credit” or a “quatloo” walks like a dollar bill and quacks like a dollar bill… oh, wait, that’s not Roddenberry, that’s Terrell Owens. Never mind.

7) YOU Are The WriterRemember when I said to listen to your readers? That doesn’t mean you have to always agree with them. When Gene Roddenberry’s vision put him at odds with the majority, he went with his vision. We should all do that. Such judgment calls are what separate the great writers from the merely ordinary. And to pull all that off within the confines of a 1960s TV show is nothing short of extraordinary. You could do far worse than to follow his example.

8 ) Choose Your Battles
That’s what Roddenberry had to do every time he butted heads with TV executives. It’s what I do as an author when I disagree with my editor, and what I expect an author to do when I’m his or her editor. “I’ll say Starfleet pays its officers in credits if you let the white guy kiss the black girl.” Or whatever.

9) Too Many Sequels Can Sour Anything
I shouldn’t end on such a downer, should I? Too bad. But at least Paramount waited for Roddenberry to die before they destroyed what he created.

10) Posterity Matters
How long has it been since Captain Kirk first flexed those biceps and paused in funny places during his speechifying? It’s been over 40 or 45 years since Roddenberry started writing STAR TREK, and we’re still talking about it. That’s what we write for. I don’t want you to love my shit now and forget it tomorrow. A novel is not a damn blog or a tweet. Write something timeless. Something to piss off future generations the way it does your immediately family, something teachers can torture students with, something that just will not fucking die.

MOCHA MEMOIRS ESPRESSO SHOTS: If Only & Program Complete

We'd like to share with you two more titles that aren't exactly steamy, but they are from our Espresso Shots line.

These are very much like the Steamy Mocha Shots, but without the steam. In fact, these are bold blasts of a genre—science fiction, horror, or fantasy. These stories have all the hallmarks of those classic genres but add dashes of bold creativity. The other good news—espresso shots are only 6,000 words or less.We like to think of espresso shots as coffee (classic genres) with shots of espresso (bold eye-opening creativity).
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Miriam Ruff's horror/science fiction title, IF ONLY, is an espresso blast of both terror and suspense.

Blurb: A disfigured man develops a friendship over the Internet, but when the two finally meet, events take a surprising turn.

Purchase for less than a $1.00!

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Likewise, Miriam's science fiction titlte, PROGRAM COMPLETE, is a jolt of spine tingling suspense!

Blurb: Stationed on the remote Relay 4 asteroid communications station, Devon Fragoza faces a life and death struggle as a collision with a supply ship destroys his life support system. He has only one and a half hours to work with the computer, an artificial intelligence and Fragoza’s closest friend, to find a way to restore the system while at the same time facing the inevitability of his own mortality.

Purchase for less than a $1.00!Both titles are available through Drive Thru Fiction which is one of our current shopping cart distributor. The titles are also available at Amazon and BN.com.

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Why You Should Read a Mocha Memoirs Press title

by Nicole Givens Kurtz

You know how when you visit an airline, the stewards often remark about how they know you have a choice of airlines and they thank you—sometimes with enthusiasm, sometimes with apathy—for selecting them?

This isn’t that type of blog.

That doesn’t mean we don’t know you have a chose of electronic publishers—you do. We are also extremely grateful to you for purchasing our titles, and reading our great stories.

This blog post is for those who may be on the fence, getting terrible wedgies, because they can’t decide whether or not to try one of our titles.

Of course you should!

You, of course, don’t have to take our word for it. I liken trying a new author, book series, or musician to trying new foods. Sure, the meal may look questionable, and granted you may not understand all the ingredients or the name of it, but all of that is window dressing and labeling. What really counts is how it tastes.

So, I'm asking you on this July 4th, our nation's birthday to embrace your spirit of revolution, rebellion, and freedom to do what this country's forefathers did--take a chance. Try one of our titles today.

Without risk there can be no reward.

And there's no reward like discovering a new series, author, or publisher you absolutely enjoy. Happy Fourth!

An Interview with Garth Jenkins--An Interdimensional trucker

by Tom Olbert
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Interviewer:Good afternoon. We’ve been granted an interview with Garth Jenkins, formerly a trucker on the famous “Long Haul” project. Currently, a fugitive from the law. And, a very colorful figure in the ongoing controversy surrounding the “Long Haul” interdimensional trucking line and its corporate owners. Mr. Jenkins has consented to grant us a few
minutes out of his busy schedule. Mr. Jenkins, thank you for your time. Can you tell us a little about your current activities? Mr Jenkins?

Garth Jenkins:
Yeah, yeah, in a minute. As you can see, I’m a little busy here. It ‘aint easy diggin’ bullets out of an engine block, y’know.

Interviewer:Uh…yes, I see your truck’s taken quite a beating. This is obviously a dangerous vocation you’ve chosen for yourself, Mr. Jenkins. Of all the paths you could have chosen in life, why the long haul?


Garth Jenkins:Well, what can I say? I’m an ex-con who knows how to drive a rig, so my choices were a little thin, y’know? I learned how to handle myself in the gulf, so I put my talents to use where I could. Like I’ve told my ex-wife Beth about a thousand times: A man spends what he’s earned. No more, no less. Drake, where’s that other wrench?

Sally Drake:It’s where you left it, Jenkins: wedged in the skull of that six-foot cockroach that tried to eat our truck a universe or two back. Can’t you keep track of anything without my help?

Interviewer:That’s your trucking partner, Sally Drake, right? What do you say to the rumors that the two of you don’t get along very well?

Garth Jenkins:
Well, that’s B.S. Sal and me? Hand in glove. We were buddies in the gulf, and we’re thick as thieves now. Well, technically, we are thieves, but you get my drift. We’ve been through hell together more times than I can count. I can always count on ol’ Sal to come through for me when the chips are down. Now, mind ya, she can be a right royal pain sometimes…

Sally Drake:Especially when I bag a hot-lookin’ babe he’s got his beady little eyes on!

Garth Jenkins:
See what I mean about her being a pain? Well, she’s a damn good trucker, she knows her ordnance, and she can handle herself in a scrap. That’s all you can afford to care about on the long haul. Plus…much as I hate to admit it…she’s as good as they come. She keeps me honest.

Interviewer:What do you say to the rumors that you are the biological father of the child of North Dakota’s controversial governor Candace Williams?

Garth Jenkins:
I say, none a’ your damn’ bee’s wax, chum! I said I’d talk about the long haul. I didn’t say nuthin’ about discussing my personal life or Candi’s. Uh…the governor’s.

Interviewer:Uh, Okay. Let’s talk about the long haul. What would you say is the chief danger you face on a typical long haul run?

Garth Jenkins:
Chief danger? Well, take your pick. I’ve had to fight my way past monsters you wouldn’t believe. Things that swim in acid, breath poison and eat metal like it was cheese. I’ve had to drive through parallel ‘verses where the sun’s about to explode, where nuclear wars have happened, and where black holes are gobblin’ up the sky. I’ve ended up in time periods from dinosaur times to the battle of Gettysburg and even thefuture. I’ve seen wars between Earth and colonies on the moon. I’ve had to gun it out with aliens, black market truckers, company goons…

Interviewer:Yes, about your accusations against the company you once trucked for…Do you maintain that they’ve sent you to other universes to transport nuclear bombs for the purpose of destroying new universes as they form?

Garth Jenkins:
Damn straight. The whole world saw that video Sal and I shot. The company’s been gettin’ away with mass murder for God-knows how long. There’s whole worlds…whole civilizations that don’t exist no more because of those bastards in their high-rise office buildings with their fancy lawyers and high-level D.C. contacts. Some of us are gonna stop ‘em from pullin’ any more of their sh*t or die tryin’! Sal, will you find me that sander, please?

Sally Drake:
Find it yourself, Garth! I’m busy welding laser holes on the trailer, here.

Garth Jenkins:
I gotta do everything…

Interviewer:Mr. Jenkins…some consider you a criminal. A smuggler, a black marketeer. Others call you a hero, transporting badly needed supplies to people who desperately need them. Is there anything you’d like to say to clarify how you see your lifestyle in a moral sense?

Garth Jenkins:
Huh…well, I don’t quite know how to answer that. I’ll admit there was a time when I just wanted to turn my back on all of this sh*t the company deals in. I figured it was none of my business. It’s easy not to give a damn’ about people you don’t know, y’know? But, Sal reminded me why I got myself thrown in the brig back in the gulf to begin with. Now, there’s a story. I did what I thought was right. I saved an innocent young girl’s life and they threw me in jail for it. That’s what got me into the long haul to begin with. What it boils down to is…Sal asked me if I’d do it again. I said ‘Hell, yeah.’ I didn’t even have to think about it. Like my daddy always used to say: If there’s a rough road and an easy one to choose from, always bet the rough one leads to the pearly
gates.

Sally Drake:Garth, we got company. Smokey’s closin’ fast!

Garth Jenkins:
Damn, no rest for the wicked. Pack it up, Drake! I’m drivin’ this time! ‘Sorry to cut the interview short, pal, but we gotta fly before those state troopers get here.

Interviewer:Where are you off to this time?

Garth Jenkins:
We’re truckin’ grain seed to Africa illegal, and the company don’t like that. They like it a lot better when folks stay hungry and have to buy food from them. I guess we’re gonna have to take the smuggler’s route through ‘verse 117-A. Low gravity, blood-suckin’ mosquitoes the size of helicopters. ‘Hope we packed the bug spray. Let’s roll, Drake!

Interviewer:Any final words, Mr. Jenkins?

Garth Jenkins:
Just keep the sun out of your eyes and the pedal to the metal. Ten-four, good buddy!
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Want to read more about Garth Jenkins' adventures in trucking? Grab a copy of Long Haul today from Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC.

A Sneak Peek at Tom Olbert's LONG HAUL

http://mochamemoirspress.com/long-haul/

In the near future, physicists have stumbled on a way to channel dark energy, making it possible to instantaneously travel anywhere in the world by passing through parallel universes as they intersect with our continuum at given points in time and space. Daredevil truck drivers like the protagonist, Garth Jenkins and his trucking partner Sally Drake, earn hazardous duty pay by trucking cargo through perilous alternate universes often infested with deadly alien predators. Garth and Sally are offered a mysterious and possibly illegal contract to deliver some unknown cargo to unknown buyers in another universe. En route to the transdimensional drop-off point, their truck is hijacked by Keira Takahashi, a beautiful and radical young college student who claims they are carrying a nuclear device and are being used by evil alien forces intent on destroying another universe.

At first, Garth and Sally dismiss the young woman’s story as madness, until hostile aliens in undead human bodies make an attempt on her life. Finding themselves on the run and not knowing whom they can trust, Garth and Sally embark on a crooked road through dangerous alien universes and remote time periods. Finally escaping to Cal Tech University and confirming Keira’s story, Garth and Sally must decide whether to get themselves to safety or risk their lives to save a universe. They choose the latter. Arriving in the alien home universe, a barren landscape under a dim purple sun, Garth and Sally turn the tables on the evil company and their murderous alien clients. After a fierce battle, the alien dimension portal is destroyed and Garth and Sally narrowly escape.

Garth and Sally join up with an underground trucking network and devote themselves to fighting the evil corporation.