NBtM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Chandelier (Phantoms #2) by Michael Leon

Welcome to my stop on the NBtM virtual book tour for Chandelier by Michael Leon. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a fantastic guest post from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the book tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: Chandelier

Series: Phantoms #2

Author: Michael Leon

Publication Date: Early 2022

Print Length: 365 pages

Genre: Science Fiction Fantasy Romance

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CHANDELIER is the genre-bending sci-fi/fantasy-romance novel follow up of Michael Leon’s 2019 fantasy-romance book, PHANTOMS.

 

A century has passed since the fabled Phantom ruled the Garnier Opera House. Technology has advanced, and AI has evolved beyond human knowledge. They reside in a virtual Earth, free from the ravages of an environmentally damaged Earth where humans and post-humans live under AI’s qualified governance.

 

CHANDELIER follows one AI sentient’s journey, Benny, whose loyalty for a famous opera singer, Madame D’Arenberg, sets him on a dangerous course, entangling him in The Phantom of the Opera’s deadly web.

Goodreads

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EXCERPT:

The twilight between tired revellers and early morning risers had become Erik’s refuge, a place where the pains of past and present could coalesce in his ritual of the macabre. He’d dreamt of his tormentors again, beasts controlled by masters who understood their canine's savagery as intimately as a mother knew her child and recurring nightly, taunting his mind.

Chilly breezes flowed down from the Lepontine Alps, carving patterns across Lake Como, so he drew his coat closer, protecting all but his face, but he wouldn't feel an arctic breeze there. He touched his pale cheeks, not to warm them for they were permanently cold, an immovable party mask. Instead, he felt the rough texture of the implanted skin, grafted to his face. Habitually, he reached into his coat pocket for a medicated ointment that soothed and camouflaged his face in equal measure.

A single boat predictably made its way toward the Bellagio port, the first for the day, in wait for the steady procession of commuters and tourists that would navigate the Lombardy region, Italy's foothills to the Swiss alps. The light from the slow-moving boat cast a darker than usual spotlight on the famous U-shaped lake, lit by its twin light, a crescent moon. It took Erik back to a dark past when he ruled the Garnier from the recesses of its famous lake chamber. His rule was cut short through carelessness, a mistake he would not repeat. He’d return to the jewel of the opera crown and rule that grand world again, but this time he'd lead it from the stage rather than Garnier’s hidden lake.

Were similar dark secrets contained in the black depths of Lake Como? The thought made him grimace, drawing pain. He held his mouth and cheeks, soothing the scar lines camouflaged beneath a thick beard. The scars, like his name, Erik, were all that remained of his past life, contingencies needed to protect him from those who’d seek to destroy him.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Leon is an explorer, writer and author of the new novel, Sentient. Professionally trained in international trade, Michael has spent the last decade reading and writing SFF novels about new worlds to be explored in the future. His latest work, Sentient, imagines Earth in the year 2120. His next novel, Chandelier, will be released in 2022. Michael has travelled extensively around Europe, walking the paths of his characters, from the famous European opera houses in Phantoms to the mountain tops of Switzerland in Emissary.

Website * Amazon * Blog *

Goodreads * Twitter

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GUEST POST:

World Build (Part One - 2121AD)
by Michael Leon

This week we look at the world of one of the characters from Chandelier. The storyline crosses two centuries, the 21st and 22nd. First, there is the world of Erik, the modern-day Phantom of the Opera (2021AD) and Benny's world, one hundred years in the future. Benny is a humanoid who finds himself drawn into the Phantom's realm as he tries to help the famous Diva, Madame D'Arenberg, whose life was fatefully entangled with the Phantom's a century earlier.

Today we examine Benny and the Diva's 22nd-century civilization, a future world I developed in a previous novel, Sentient.

Earth 2121AD

A century on and Earth's population has peaked at nine billion. The human species has been relegated to minority status as post-humans become the dominant race on Earth. A century of rampant, unchecked climate and technological change and subsequent catastrophic global pandemics has laid claim to the very young, accelerating post-human development. Humans are primarily assigned to repairing the environmental damage they perpetrated on Earth. Nearly all newborn are designated for post-human surgery as their only chance of long term survival. Post-humans possess superior technological and robotic enhancements affording them a 200-year life span. They are the dominant race on Earth and their key aim is to develop interplanetary and interstellar exploration and habitation.

In 2021, Artificial Intelligence has achieved singularity and was willingly handed governance over a troubled Earth. While they govern Earth, most AI sentients reside in a virtual Earth known as the sensorium. Still, a small number are assigned to android hosts on Earth, known as humanoids, human-looking, with sentient capabilities undetectable so that they can go about their assigned programs on Earth to better human/post-human/AI relations. Their intelligence is limited to particular skills, and most are purposely programmed to be unaware of their heritage and believe they are humans.

Benny is a humanoid, his specialist capability, music. He has worked the bars and nightclubs of Paris Super City for all of his programmed life until a post-human walks in on one of his performances. He's offered a job to develop music for the Diva's final performance at the Garnier, the opera house she ruled as the world's best opera singer a century earlier. Benny believes he has found his true calling as he assists the Diva. However, as events unfold, Benny is increasingly drawn into worlds he could never have imagined. Another humanoid, Flynn, shows him the true extent of his powers, exploring other dimensions and time itself, where he observes the Diva's life when she was the toast of France before falling under the spell of the Phantom of the Opera.

I enjoyed blurring the past with the future in this genre-bending tale, a challenging process, for as the current tech revolution was unimaginable to our forefathers, the next hundred years will be equally unbelievable, appearing more like a world filled with magic.

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GIVEAWAY:

Michael Leon will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions assumes all responsibility over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway