Five Star Review!

Liza over at the Multi-Verses of Liza O wrote this review today:

There is nothing vague in David Englund’s writings. He provides great detail to create a believable situation as to how a small alien force could take over Earth.

Camouflaged Encounters is a brilliant sci-fi that engages the reader from beginning to end.
The author does a great job logically laying out in detail how it could happen—I mean seriously happen—then he combines it with fun portals to other worlds, where the human Clark makes friends with other alien friends. Unfortunately, most of them want nothing to do with the ancient and vicious species who has infested Earth.

How do you convince the entire human race that aliens who look like humans are taking over Earth by taking over high positions, creating wars and Ebola-like diseases to manipulate the entire world to attack USA. The press has been muzzled and people no longer trust each other.

Can Clark, his on-again girlfriend, an EPA agent, and a reporter save the world and reveal the aliens among us?
It’s a big task and I'm not going to tell you any more, only that I loved every page of this novel.
I give Camouflaged Encounters 5 stars.


http://multiuniversesoflizao.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-of-camouflaged-encounters-by.html

BOOK REVIEW

The NDSU SPECTRUM printed a review of CAMOUFLAGED ENCOUNTERS today  http://ndsuspectrum.com/ndsu-agribusiness-lecturer-pens-another-novel-in-science-fiction-series/

(If the page becomes unavailable, the complete review is posted on the page link to the right labeled reviews of CAMOUFLAGED ENCOUNTERS)

Clark

Sample Camouflaged Encounters

CHAPTER ONE

           

            “Is he going to die?”

            Clark looked up at the faces searching his eyes for an answer. “I don’t know. I just don’t know . . .”

*  *  *  *  *

                                                            Present-day Chicago, four hours earlier ~

            Man, this is the life! It’s not every day you get to sit in Wrigley Field and watch a game. Sure, I love traveling to new worlds and meeting new species. Heck, that’s about as exciting as life can get, but once in awhile it’s nice just to enjoy the creature comforts of home, especially an all-American baseball game. Yeah, the Cubs are having another lousy year, but they beat the Cards this afternoon and now tonight they’re pounding ‘em again. That’s all that matters today–

            That’s when it happened. Clark and the other fans were stunned to see the lights go out in the stadium. The iconic buildings across the street, with stands built on their roofs, went dark. The tall apartment buildings in the distance went dark. The entire city of Chicago went dark.

            Not here too. Not here! New York is a mess. Sure, at first when the lights went out there last week everyone acted all helpful and community-oriented. We heard stories of people taking in stranded travelers after the airports and trains shut down, and how restaurants and bars generously handed out free meals. But after four or five days, when temperatures rose, water and fresh food started getting scarce, then violence set in. Massive violence. Now the news channels can’t get enough of the widespread chaos. They keep showing the same images over and over of continuous fighting and blazing fires.

            Then over the weekend, when the power went out in Philly, violence kicked in right away. It was almost as if people were waiting for an excuse to cut loose. Now you can’t turn on the TV without seeing fires and fighting.

            Clark snapped back to the present and impatiently willed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. A moonless, cloudy sky darkened the night, but soon the stadium became relatively visible. He stood and surveyed his section. For a brief moment, no one moved. Several cheers rang out as intoxicated fans joked about not paying the electric bill. Many seemed to have a mild fascination with the interruption, especially knowing that the game was being televised nationally. Back home, this was likely becoming a national news story; the ballgame forced to pause. Then, a chilling hush fell over the crowd. Gradually, one cluster of fans after another rose to their feet. Soon, the entire crowd stood, talking in animated tones, furtively keeping watch, and searching for reassurance in a sea of uncertainty. Even at half-empty, the normally sold-out stadium held more than twenty thousand anxious fans. 

For more, click on the page, Sample from Camouflaged Encounters on the left side of the blog

CAMOUFLAGED ENCOUNTERS

Book Three, CAMOUFLAGED ENCOUNTERS is out!  https://amazon.com/dp/B00NUPAPT8

UNSEASONAL WAR Book Tour

There are two cool sites promoting the book for the last day of the tour:

http://reviewsbycacb.blogspot.com/2014/06/unseasonal-war-by-david-englund-goddess.html

http://sharinglinksandwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/06/unseasonal-war-blurb-blitz.html

Fargo Forum Article

There is a nice article about these novels over at the Fargo Forum today:

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/435004/group/variety/

(The link to this article no longer works on the Fargo Forum site but the article is available in full if you click on the page "Newspaper Articles" on the right side of this blog)

UNSEASONAL WAR Book Tour

UNSEASONAL WAR (Book II) is going on a book tour!  Today's stop is at the Wolves Den

http://our-wolves-den.com/unseasonal-war-david-englund-virtual-book-tour-giveaway/#more-636

High Plains Reader Article

Hi everyone!  There is a nice article about David and these stories in this week's High Plains Reader (Fargo weekly paper)

http://hpr1.com/feature/article/a_new_dimension_ndsu_lecturer_david_englund_on_story_writing/


~ Clark

Excerpt at Book Snatch

The folks over at the Book Snatch blog are displaying an excerpt from chapter seven of UNSEASONAL WAR.  If you would like another taste of my latest adventure, check it out here  http://booksnatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/saturday-snatch-unseasonal-war-by-david.html?m=1

     ~ Clark

Sample from Second Book

CHAPTER ONE

            The challenge is in choosing a room.  Does a room filled with weapons lead to a world unsafe for travel?  If the room contains vast treasure, does that foretell fellow explorers on the adjoining planet or unsavory thieves?  What about boxes filled with alien stuffed animals?  A hasty choice can turn out . . . unpleasant.  

Several rooms still possessed their protective shield covering the doorway, signifying the dominant species of the corresponding planet had not yet developed to solving the simple math problem inside.  Still, with hundreds, possibly thousands of rooms to the portal building, the choices seemed infinite. 

Strolling along the hallway, one room finally caught his attention.  It differed from the others in that it was empty.  No boxes, crates or shiny objects.  It was as if this species didn’t use the portal.  A clear line of sight through the portal opening provided a view of sunlight and green, thigh-high grass.  It seemed normal enough for a quick look-see. 

Stepping through the portal, Clark covered his eyes until they adjusted to the brightness. 

Huh.  Just one sun.  That’s familiar.

An open grass field surrounded him. He lifted his head and sniffed.  The smell of pine trees and blackberries drifted in the air.  Clark turned to look over his shoulder, momentarily forgetting that the portal was invisible from this side.  Yards away rested a dense wooded area, stretching as far along the horizon as the eye could see. 

Standing at the edge of the forest and vast grassland, Clark wondered at the beauty of the large green leafy canopy atop black-barked trees, mixed with the poison ivy-like vegetation that hid the wooded ground.  Peculiarly, all of the vegetation displayed teal-colored streaks or spots.  Even the pear-shaped fruit hanging from trees and white, heart-shaped flowers growing between the large leaves, were spotted with shades of teal.

He then turned and observed the light wind gusts blowing alternating “S” patterns in the tall grass.  As Clark walked, he held his arms out by his sides feeling the top of the grass stems.  Upon closer inspection, the thigh-high grass was also streaked with teal.  He surveyed the landscape, searching for signs of danger.  Seeing none Clark headed eastward, away from the woods.  It didn’t take long to become comfortable in his surroundings and that made him feel strangely . . . uncomfortable.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was on Earth.  There’s always differences, usually major ones, but here, other than the runaway tone of teal coloring, everything looks similar to home.  The color of the sky, plants, trees, the height of trees, gravity; everything looks and feels very familiar.  It even smells like home . . . kinda.

                                     FOR MORE, CLICK ON PAGE "SAMPLE FROM UNSEASONAL WAR" ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF THE BLOG

UNSEASONAL WAR

                Book Two is out!  Read more about my adventures visiting new worlds and meeting new species.  This story is a stand-alone, no need to read the first book.  David has worked very hard to improve the quality of writing over the first book to, you know, make me look good.  Go over to Amazon to read the first 2 chapters for free.  Go ahead, check it out!  http://amazon.com/dp/B00F4MHDWM

~ Clark

Invisible Frustrations

                Okay, this time it was invisibility.  A planet FULL of invisible people or whatevers.  I’ve often thought that I have the natural ability to be invisible.  I can make a whole room full of people ignore me (remember, I’m an accountant).  But this is a new one when everyone else is invisible.  There were trees and rocks and grass and plenty of nature all around.  Everything else seemed to be visible, just not the species watching me. 

I know what you’re thinking.  How do I know anyone was there if I couldn’t see them?  Well, you know how sometimes you get the feeling that you’re being watched?  Well, I had the feeling that I was being watched by hundreds.  And they weren’t exactly sneaky about it either.

                The smell was pretty strong, a combination of mild onion and . . . sausage?  There’s no way that odor was produced by their nature, no way.  Besides, it faded and got stronger as if people were walking by.  Yes, walking, not crawling or slithering by, walking.  There was certainly a large group of them.  As if I were so ignorant that I couldn’t tell the difference.

                When you get that many people or things together, there’s going to be some noise.  Oh, they were quiet alright, just not as quiet as they thought.  It gets a mind wondering.  Do they have two heads?  Three?  Two legs?  Are they big creatures walking softly to muffle their noises or small entities walking heavily?  Uggh!  Why couldn’t they just visit with me?    They wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was there.  

                So I did the most annoying, disturbing thing I could think of to make them watch.  That’s right, I did the chicken dance.  A full five minutes of it too.  One thing is for certain, whoever they are, they’ll never have any desire to visit Earth and observe the rest of us.

                What would you do if a whole roomful of people were ignoring you?

                ~ Clark

Shranzi ~ Kickball on Steroids

Okay, so today it was a goofy bunch of aliens.  But man, were they fun.  Without a care in the world, all they wanted to do was play games.  They certainly weren’t shaken to come face to face with an alien visitor.  I have to admit, they take their games seriously.  I’m not just talking about coming up with clever and strategic games, but also plain having fun.  I got so caught up in the game I completely forgot to learn anything about them.

The game we played is called Shranzi.  The playing field consists of air currents above a lake.  Somehow, wind tunnels are created in the shape of a football field.  If any balls or players go out of bounds, they fall into the lake.  The wind effect of the field is crazy, like trying to run in a 5 foot deep swimming pool.   

The area of the field is about 120 yards long, broken up into eight sections roughly 15 yards long and maybe sixty yards wide.  When the game starts, each team places members into four rows (sections) of six for a total of 24 players evenly spread out on their side of the field. 

Players can only advance a row forward if they can kick a ball beyond two rows of opponents.  There is no passing to teammates but players can move around within their section to disguise who will actually kick a ball.  All six balls are in play at once, adding to the intensity of the game.  As players move up the field, there are fewer left back to defend. 

The balls are inflated like our kick balls or dodge balls.  If any of them go out of bounds play pauses until all six are back in action.  A score involves kicking a ball into the opponent’s tunnel (5 yards wide) that sucks the ball into and up a tube that pushes the ball back into mid field.  The first team to 127 wins.

As amazing of a game as it was, they said that it wasn’t even their best game.  They were tired of Gloretont, bvemont, and latpoj so we played this one for a change of pace.  Again, I didn’t learn much about them but it’s nice to know that I’m welcome back.

~ Clark

Starfish Questions

I met an interesting species today.  Think orange three-legged starfish crossed with overgrown worms and you’d have a picture that’s close to how they looked.  These aliens were each the size of a raccoon with the curiosity of a five-year old child.  I barely learned a thing about them.  I spent almost the entire three hours answering their questions.   I’m not complaining though.  They were super friendly and I actually learned quite a bit just from their questions.  It’s nice too to know that I’m welcome back without the fear of being somebody’s lunch.

Their questions started out simple enough.   As you might imagine, they wanted to know what these things on our face are for, what possible purpose could ears and noses serve.  How do our bodies transfer energy to each other, to the collective whole of our species?  They were baffled as to how we manage to allow things to seep into our skin with such small pores.  Then there was the one about why don’t we fly. 

Then the questions delved into our relations with each other on Earth and how our societies are organized.  I have to say though; they were much more interested in how we travel through the stars, what alliances we have with other planets and how we trade (products and energy) with other species.  Needless to say, they were disappointed to find out that these things only happen in our fiction.

Eventually, the questions ventured into a more philosophical nature such as do we know how life throughout the universe is connected to everything else.  What is the purpose to it all?  What role do we each play in the overall scheme of the universe and do we still fulfill that purpose if we don’t know what our role is meant to be?  How does trivpet (translation = karma?) transfer from our treatment of inanimate objects to how we treat each other?   

There were a lot more questions that followed those, but you get the idea.  Again, it was an interesting, albeit exhausting day.  As always though, it was well worth the trip.

~ Clark  

Swenns Again

                This week I decided to visit some friends of mine.  I’m sure you remember the Swenns, or as I call them, the Marshmallow people.  I still found it difficult to carry on a conversation in my head with telepathic people.  I feel like I have to shout in my head to be heard.  It gives me a headache after a while, and probably is no picnic for them either. 

                I learned a few new things about them today.  They have such control over their telekinetic powers that they even float in the air when they’re sleeping.  How cool is that?  There isn’t much of a need for a kitchen table when you can float everything you need in midair right in front of you or for a sofa when you don’t use it.  It wasn’t quite as easy for me as it is for them.  I felt like I was on the moon fumbling around trying to reach for things right in front of my face.   

                You know me; I’m always full of questions.  Unfortunately, they weren’t comfortable answering quite a few of them.  Interestingly enough, they answered my question on religion.  As best as I can explain it, they aren’t religious in the sense that we are on Earth but they are extremely spiritual, if that makes sense.  They don’t have any one deity or a group either.  I was informed that they worship (acknowledge?) the entire universe, or maybe it was everything that is.  I had trouble grasping their exact meaning.

                They also have some sports that they play.  Theses would be the equivalent of games like kickball and old Maid (evidently, no Texas Hold’em).  The games they play pretty much include everyone, so there aren’t any high-priced athletes or prima donnas.  Sadly, no fantasy football either.

My question about holidays was answered too.  They have them, but, as with everything else theirs are a little different.  The Swenns celebrate important dates to their species as opposed to specific people or religious dates.  For example, the day the first of their species was created and the day world peace was achieved are celebrated (in a fashion).  Don’t ask me what part of the year these days fall on or what a year is to them.  I was thoroughly lost by this point. 

I’ll let you know what else I learn on future trips.

               

                ~ Clark

Award!

This blog recently won its first award!  Thank you so much to CaptainSciFi for the Kreativ Blogger Award!  Now I have the privilege of awarding it to another blogger.  I would like to present the award to http://www.claudetteannepearson.com/  for her poetry (GiGGLE-ITIS is one of my favorites).

According to the rules, I now need to provide seven facts about myself.  So here are seven of my favorite things:

Favorite Alien: The Tinkerer.  He’s my buddy.

Favorite Season: Fall on the Swenn’s planet.  Nothing beats the colors in Trabalm trees.

Favorite Status: Alive.

Favorite Beer: Frask Light Ale on Tr’zez’s world (I certainly hope that was beer).

Favorite Gender: Human Women.

Favorite Look: The new Straluk Spring line is attractive (if you don’t mind tentacles).

Favorite Football Team: The Vikings (of Earth’s Minnesota).

~ Clark