Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: The Chronicles of Deneb Series by Zanne Raby

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for The Chronicles of Deneb series by Zanne Raby. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the series and the author also answers which character was the most interesting to write in a fantastic guest post. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Series: The Chronicles of Deneb

Author: Zanne Raby

Publisher: Ridgecrest Books

Genre: Science Fiction Space Opera

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

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

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

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

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

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EXCERPT:

A willowy brunette with shining brown eyes burst from the shadows, almost scaring Daniel out of his skin. “Tara,” he gasped, trying to quiet his heart. “What the hell? The president’s due here any second.” Dr. Tara Kóbor, the Nobel-prize winning astrophysicist who had discovered the find of the century – an Earth-like planet cuddled up in the Goldilocks zone of its star – was wearing a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon. “You heard the news, right? I mean, the broadcasts are on fire. They’ve developed a vaccine! And whoever’s on the first shuttle flight is top priority. That means…”

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

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

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

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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.

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

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GUEST POST:

- Which of your characters was the most interesting to write about and why?

Now I have to start out by saying that there are (so far) three novels that make up the sci-fi space opera series “The Chronicles of Deneb”, and I would say that the most interesting character varies between the novels.

In The Flight of the Mayflower, the first novel in the series, I’d say that would be Dr. Daniel Radu. Daniel’s the project manager for NASA’s Space Ark Mayflower and in 2080 CE, he’s the one who discovers the conspiracy that propels him and his crew on a three year journey across our galaxy. Although Daniel’s a genius – he did design a starship for deep space travel after all – at home he’s just an ordinary guy who likes barbecues and beaches and his family. And when things go wrong, he lets his emotions get the better of him. Now some will say that an engineer working on one of the most important projects in human history probably would be more rational, and to be truthful, if I were marooned on a desert island, I’d want Daniel with me – the guy can build pretty much anything – but he can let his ego get in the way as well. It was interesting to write Daniel because of his very layered character.

Now skipping forward and talking about Descent into Darkness, I would have to go with my fighter pilot turned warbird ace, Fynn Vogel. Fynn’s a lot of fun, young, energetic, and a daredevil in the air. He sharpened his combat skills during the earlier Refugee Wars and was chosen, along with his wife Erica Rosendahl, to pilot the Space Ark on its journey. Fynn’s a warrior but when it comes to who wears the pants, it’s Erica all the way. He might be able to blast an enemy warbird out of the ionosphere with one eye closed, but there’s no way he can stand up to the force of nature that Erica is. You could say she’s got him wrapped around her apron strings, except that Erica’s not the kind of woman who’s at home in the kitchen since she’s every bit as good a pilot as her husband. Fynn’s happy to play second fiddle on firm ground, but the split second he hops into his warbird, he’s got only one thing on his brain – he’s out for blood and total annihilation of the enemy. Describing his airborne exploits was a true joy for me, since I’m an Air Force veteran. I believe the dichotomy of Fynn the sweet husband to Vogel the ruthless warbird ace made his character one of the most interesting to write about.

In the third novel, Fires of Fury, it all shifts. Both Daniel and Fynn are human but General Ravenna, the leader of the Wessel Army, is an alien. She’s a woman at the top, one who had to be better at her craft than the guys, while keeping her emotions in check. A bit of a wild child as a young woman, all that changed when she suffered a combat injury as a junior officer. While that caused her to leave her uninhibited side behind, this metamorphosis into a no-nonsense, serious woman garnered her respect and earned her promotion after promotion. What makes Ravenna interesting is how tough she appears to anyone on the outside, when she actually does have a heart under that hard exterior. She’s brilliant, funny, strong and at the same time has an innocent side that she herself doesn’t recognize. She comes up against some pretty difficult odds in Fires of Fury, and like the true warrior she is, Ravenna triumphs. What made Ravenna the most interesting character for me in this novel was her ability to stand up to challenges, to out think her adversaries and to come out on top without making any sacrifices. She’s one smart alien woman!

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GIVEAWAY:

Zanne Raby will be awarding a $25 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 over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway