NBTM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Descent into Darkness (The Chronicles of Deneb #2) by Zanne Raby

Welcome to my stop on the NBTM virtual book tour for Descent into Darkness by Zanne Raby. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a great guest post about The Time Machine by HG Wells. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

--

Title: Descent into Darkness

Series: The Chronicles of Deneb #2

Author: Zanne Raby

Publication Date: November 1st 2021

Print Length: 388 pages

Genre: Space Opera Science Fiction

~

Descent into Darkness: Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series. 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 raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction. Descend with the crew into darkness, where the only survivors of a global war will be on the right side of the border.

Goodreads * Amazon *

Barnes & Noble * Kobo * Smashwords

---

EXCERPT:

“But sabotage? Pallav, we’ve only arrived on Deneb, and there’s a wealth of knowledge that you and I are missing. Sometimes I wonder if Gomalan gave you this assignment because we’re both dispensable – humans, undesirables.” Pulling away from her husband, Tara glanced out the crystallite windows to stare vacantly at the alien landscape. The morning rays of the star Deneb dazzled and danced in bursts of brilliance on the glass-walled buildings while off in the distance, the sluggish waters of the River Panni snaked slowly through the capital city. And far below their aerie perch, she could see Wessels zip along the perfectly straight autowalks on their way to work. It seemed like any other morning, but today a new danger had wormed its way into the lives of the Kóbor family.

“Now why would you think that?” Pallav’s brows furrowed in confusion. “This is a golden opportunity. Gomalan trusts me, and I get results. It’s as simple as that. And Tara? It’s like I told you - the only people who despise us humans are the Geiten. Just think of that bastard Redlan and how he treated the others.” Tara lowered her head in shame, remembering how her crew mates were eking out an existence in Geitenia while she and her family were housed in luxury in Styria. How the Geiten of Aessen had abused her and Fynn’s wife Erica, and how the young pilot had been brutally attacked – it filled her with revulsion. “The whole thing’s still so raw,” she started. “My time in Urkyn…you know, it was horrific.” Tara shivered as she thought of Daniel and the love she had left behind before looking once more at the bustling capital city that sprawled as far as the eye could see. “Thank God Wesselan’s a world apart.”

Pallav shook his head. “But it’s not. The Geiten have been living here for centuries - intermarrying, working, studying. But always maintaining their distinct identity and trying to impose their ways here. If my hunch is right, then the attacks on Wesselan are being coordinated by an underground Geiten faction that somehow managed to infiltrate our military installations. Maybe even the government. I don’t know how deep this goes. We all need to be cautious Tara.”

Glancing at the archaic wrist watch that Pallav still insisted on wearing, he clasped a hand on Tara’s shoulder. “I’ve got to get going. But everything you need to know’s on the list inside the medicine cabinet.” On tiptoes, Tara stretched up to throw her arms around Pallav’s neck, and as their lips touched, worry thread its way into her thoughts, unable as she was to close her mind to the dangerous storm through which her husband must travel.

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne Raby'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 an office overlooking the picturesque shores of Georgian Bay, surrounded by maps and images of alien worlds, she is pursuing 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 to the analytical world of logistics. The time had come to shake the dust off and begin a new career. The winds of change had called.

Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the galaxy in search of a safe haven. But the planets the team discover provide anything but the sanctuary they sought. In her spare time, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening. And always, a good story to pass the time.

Website * Amazon * Facebook *

Goodreads * Instagram * LinkedIn

---

GUEST POST:

The Time Machine by HG Wells

So you like science fiction? Or maybe you know someone who’s a big sci-fi fan. Well, what’s one sci-fi novel that’s got to be on your list? Well, it seems to me that if you enjoy something, you should be curious and dig to uncover its origins. That holds true for almost everything, from the simple arithmetic Grace Hopper learned as a child before she earned a PhD in mathematics in 1934, to Agatha Christie learning her first A B C’s before she wrote some of the best loved detectives stories of all times.

You have got to start where it all began. For those who hold a deep appreciation of science fiction, acknowledging the roots of this genre allows writers to build upon the framework set down by the earliest authors. These pioneers dove into unknown waters, merging the science of the day within a fictional structure to craft believable and enjoyable literature.

Let’s travel back in time to the late nineteenth century where a young author was curious enough to embrace technology and science. May I introduce to you H.G. Wells, writer of The Time Machine. Now this novel has been adapted several times for the silver screen and most of us are familiar with it from watching it at the cinema, but it’s the slender novel that I recommend as essential reading for all sci-fi fans.

The Time Machine is a classic work of speculative science fiction and the grandfather of all time travel novels. Wells artfully blends science, philosophy, and sociology into a rip roaring adventure where the protagonist makes a dizzying journey through time in a home-made time machine and lands in the year 802,107 CE. There he enters into a world which he initially viewed as a utopia, peopled by the Eloi: frail, graceful humans with the mental acuity of pre-schoolers. Indolent and uninquisitive, they live communally and carefree. Here Wells’s time traveller applies the scientific method to hypothesize that these genderless creatures prove that humanity has triumphed over nature. He couldn’t have been more wrong, for another race of hominin also lurks in every dark corner: the Morlocks, subterranean dwellers who provide for the Eloi, just like farmers do to their cattle. And that’s about what the Eloi are to the Morlock. It is a dark tale, both imaginative and terrifying and one that casts a shroud over the future of humanity.

Written in the Victorian Era, The Time Machine dissects the social structures of the day. The child-like Eloi, representing the rich capitalists, live in comfort and beauty and the Morlocks, the working class, who abide and toil in the darkest, most foul subterranean caverns. Today we see a similar dichotomy between the prosperous nations and those states struggling with poverty. Never has this been more apparent than during the COVID pandemic where this inequality spelled death for many impoverished countries. Wells forces us to ask ourselves the question: do we who live in luxury and safety view the downtrodden as fellow humans or Morlocks?

One of the first dystopian novels, The Time Machine also deals with the impermanence of life itself. After escaping from the Morlocks, the time traveller continues to race through time until the dying sun flashes over a desolate, barren planet. He reflects that not only will humanity crumble into the dust of time, but Earth itself will cease to exist. Wells is reminding the reader of how fragile our existence is, something that humanity needs to be mindful of today, when climate emergencies are the result of global heating.

Wells’s novel also provides a timely commentary on the dual nature of technology. The traveller opens his audience’s eyes to science and technology as being a double edged sword that can be wielded for good or can cause great danger. Although the book uses fire and the time machine itself in this role, this is utterly relatable in modern times. We see the damage that has been caused to our planet by the burning of fossil fuels, by transportation, mass consumerism, and human arrogance. The Time Machine cautions us on an over-reliance on technology without respect and balance.

So much packed in such a slender novel! Not only is The Time Machine a thrilling science-fiction adventure, but it provides modern readers with many messages that resonate in contemporary times. It’s a must read for science-fiction fans, so pick up the book, suspend disbelief and enter into the realm of the distant future with H.G. Wells.

---

GIVEAWAY:

Zanne Raby will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway