The Reader (Rifters #3) is here!

With the rift closed for the season and no more monsters to fight, Daelin Long gets bored as librarian in the podunk town of Settler, Oregon. A job interview and her brother’s arrival present a tempting opportunity to escape, until her brother and her best friend, a ghost, disappear.

While Daelin searches for them, more mysteries pile up: dead people coming back to life, portraits of the town founders replaced with strange white trees, and people on the other side of the rift returning. It’s impossible. The portal that allows monsters from other universes to come to Earth is sealed until next summer.

The Rifters, a secret group protecting our world, believe the troubles are nothing more than the tantrums of an offended ghost. Daelin disagrees. If she’s right, the evil hell-bent on destroying Earth has new technology making the rift more deadly.

Before the monster summons the next apocalypse, Daelin must find it and destroy it.

Book 3 in the Rifters series.

Need to catch up? You can read books 1 & 2 in the Rifters series for free by becoming an M. Pax Reader. ENTER MY DIMENSION

Buy links:

Amazon / AmazonUK / AUS / CA / DE / FR / ES / IT / NL / JP / BR / MX / IN

Bookcessories / iBook / Nook / GooglePlay / Kobo / Smashwords / inktera / Scribd

The Reader Tweets & FB

People & ghosts are not what they seem. Is it a monster? The Reader http://goo.gl/6e77ZI #fantasy #scifi

A ghost with a bad temper & fake people. This town is strange. The Reader http://goo.gl/6e77ZI #fantasy #scifi

There's something wrong in the woods. Monsters or ghosts? The Reader http://goo.gl/6e77ZI #fantasy #scifi

Author Bio: M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide and has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.

Review for The Initiate

Blurb:

A junction erupts between the worlds in Settler, Oregon, a rift from which horrors attack our world. The Rifters defend us.

To trust unquestioningly is the first lesson Daelin Long must learn as the newest Initiate of the Rifters. Her first day is a disaster. She stands on a deserted street in a town smaller than a city district, courting killer rocks from another world with her ancestor from the Revolutionary War. Normal no longer exists.

While she struggles, Earl Blacke grapples with atoning for his past ill deeds, running far and fast from Settler, Oregon. The Shaman of the Desert promises him redemption, and an old mine puts the possibility of a gold strike in his grasp. His luck has changed for the better, but he can’t have both.

You're never a hero until you are.

 

My review:

The small Oregon town of Settler is more than just a pretty view. This is where a rift between worlds opens and lets the monsters travel through. Only a small, brave band called the Rifters protect Earth from it. Daelin Long is the newest Initiate. After everything that's happened to her in NYC and the disappearance of her sister, she doesn't trust anyone. But that is exactly what she must do to rise in the ranks. Earl Blacke remains a mystery to Daelin, and she believes he holds the answers she needs. Yet Earl struggles with his past sins while their enemies in the rift plot far worse things for Earth.

This is the second book in the Rifters series, and it's even better than the first. We still have our small western town and quirky townsfolk. They have no idea what's looming over their heads, and it just makes it that much more entertaining. I love that Settler is in the midst of its annual festival, Swit Days, when this story takes place. Settler's personality rings as loudly as all the other characters in the book.

I'm still a big Daelin fan. She's unlike your typical heroine, and paired along side the Rifters, they make the Scooby gang look dry and suburbian. Daelin is challenged even further in this book, not just with her sister's disappearance, but her own inner demons as she tries to learn to trust again. Earl's journey to come to terms with his past is a fun, bumpy ride. One of my new favorites that we're introduced to is Silas. A brilliant and fascinating mind on that man.

One of the aspects that stands out in this book is the enemy currently threatening Settler's population. And threatening seems like too mild of a word for it! I'll never look at red stones the same way again.

This is my favorite book by M. Pax so far. I'm hungry for more!

 

Buy THE INITIATE here: 

Amazon * B&N * iTunes * Googleplay

Find Mary Pax here!

Release of Secret Keepers and The Initiate

Book 3 in The Afterlife series is here!

Blurb:

Secret Keepers:

In Second Death, Indigo and her team of sleuths escape the clutches of underground evil.

In Ghostly Gallows, Indigo and the gang managed to dodge the falling ruins and free those spirits trapped by the evil spell that bound them to Gallowsgate Prison.

Now in Secret Keepers, even though Indigo speaks to ghosties, there is so much about the afterlife she doesn’t understand. Such as…how can spirits be sick? They’re dead, for goodness sake! But once again Indigo is forced to go where she made it a point to never go: the hospital. There, the mystery of the sick and missing spirits explodes into a frenzied battle for souls where dawn may bring life or final death.

Indigo Eady:

Much to her chagrin, Indigo Eady is a celebrity among spirits. She’s the girl who can see and speak with them. She has a proven track record in helping spirits find their murderers, so it’s no surprise when she’s drafted onto the Missing Paranormal Committee. Who better to help them than the experienced teenage ghost whisperer- investigator and her friends?

Amazon * Goodreads * B&N * Googleplay

Find Gwen Gardner here!

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Book 2 of The Rifters!

Blurb:

A junction erupts between the worlds in Settler, Oregon, a rift from which horrors attack our world. The Rifters defend us.

To trust unquestioningly is the first lesson Daelin Long must learn as the newest Initiate of the Rifters. Her first day is a disaster. She stands on a deserted street in a town smaller than a city district, courting killer rocks from another world with her ancestor from the Revolutionary War. Normal no longer exists.

While she struggles, Earl Blacke grapples with atoning for his past ill deeds, running far and fast from Settler, Oregon. The Shaman of the Desert promises him redemption, and an old mine puts the possibility of a gold strike in his grasp. His luck has changed for the better, but he can’t have both.

You're never a hero until you are.

Amazon * B&N * iTunes * Googleplay

Find Mary Pax here!

The Rifters - A Summer Trip to Settler, Oregon

To celebrate the release of Mary Pax's newest series, The Rifters, she's having a grand giveaway. Post a short tale about your summer trip to Settler, Oregon any time between now and October 31st, 2014, email her the link, and be entered to win one of two $25 Amazon or B&N giftcards, a signed book, or the digital versions of the first two books in the series. Click HERE for all the details.

This picture from Mary's gallery inspired my story:

There was nowhere better in the world to dig for fossils than Settler, and thankfully most paleontologists didn't know it. I've seen a few amateur diggers over the years, but they certainly couldn't understand what priceless finds they might be making.

I did. I made my career off them.

Every year in early autumn, I'd come to Gold Lake and pitch my tent. Not once have I left empty-handed.

This year I had to attend an important convention during my usual dig time, so now I was hammering away under the mid-summer sun. Eagerly yet carefully. I found a set of raptor - at least I was pretty sure they were raptor - footprints that would win me enough fame to oust the director of my department. I chuckled at the thought of getting rid of the old coot.

Five prints already uncovered and the next ones in the path were open to the air. I swiped my brows and took a long drink of water before I moved to the sixth one.

Funny. The rock was a different color here.

No, wait. That's mud.

The tracks are fresh.

The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.

Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.

Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.

Ebook: Amazon / Amazon UK / AmazonDE / AmazonAU / AmazonCA / B&N / Smashwords / Googleplay / iTunes /

Versent Books / inktera

The Rifters release and an excerpt

Blurb:
The Gold Rush trickles to a fool’s quest and a string of stagecoach heists. In 1888, Earl Blacke decides to make a new start and become a better man. He escapes into the mountains, heading north. In the wilds of Oregon, a rift inside an ancient volcano opens and sends him into the future, into the present day. It also shaves forty years off his age, forty years to live over again and atone for what he’s done.

Starting over is hard to do. In current day New York, Daelin Long’s dream job at a publishing house goes the way of the dinosaurs her sister chases. With no money and nowhere else to go, Daelin accepts the librarian position in her sister’s dinky town in the middle of Oregon. Nestled inside ancient volcanic peaks, the town of Settler holds onto many secrets. Residents roam the streets with weirdly fashioned devices, and odd lights pulse in the night skies. People whisper of a phantom outlaw and start dying, murdered and missing their heads. On top of it all, Daelin’s sister is missing, and Daelin doesn’t know who to trust.

Earl knows more than he’s saying. He shares a notorious history with the phantom, one he’ll see remains buried. Keeping Daelin’s sister’s secrets is his only chance at redemption, and the only way to keep this world safe.

The Rifters is available at an introductory price. The second book in the series, The Initiate, will be available October 20, 2014. It’s up for preorder for a special price at iTunes, Amazon, and B&N. Check HERE for links. Giveaways and events are ongoing through October 31, 2014. Check HERE for details.

Links: Amazon / AmazonUK / B&N / Smashwords /Googleplay / iTunes / Other Outlets 

Excerpt:
A woman in a long flowered dress hurried forward carrying a paintbrush. “Hello, hello.” She waved. “Excuse the mess. I’m renovating... again.” She laughed with little snorts, stumbling in a little circle, defying her years. She couldn’t be younger than forty. “Inside joke, man, sorry. What groovieness can I help you find? I know where everything is.” She gestured at the piles of castoff merchandise strewn about.

If not for the goose bumps on her goose bumps, Daelin would have left. “A winter coat? Earl Blacke mentioned you might have some.”

“Oh man! What a tragedy about him, huh?” She wore her amber hair in two braids, tied with twine and decorated with plastic flowers.

Tragedy? What had happened to Earl? Daelin clutched at her knotting stomach. “What do you mean?”

“There was a murder last night. Umm, wow. Didn’t you hear?” She set the paintbrush down on a plate that had been used for the purpose before. Bracelets covered her arms, clinking with her simple movements.

“In Settler?” Violent crime wasn’t what Daelin expected to hear. She didn’t know what she had expected, but not murder.

The thrift store woman leaned in closer, whispering in a conspiratorial tone. “Yeah, they’re saying Earl Blacke killed Susan Leeds. Took her head plum off, man. Only thing is...,” she glanced at the shadows then wet her lips, “her head is missing.” The soft scent of melon accompanied her words.

Earl had murdered somebody? Daelin gulped, getting a lungful of paint fumes. Right, the paint. The fumes had to be messing with her mind. “Are you serious?”

About the author: M. Pax is author of the space adventure series The Backworlds, plus other novels and short stories. Fantasy, science fiction, and the weird beckons to her, and she blames Oregon, a source of endless inspiration. She docents at Pine Mountain Observatory in the summers as a star guide, has a cat with a crush on Mr. Spock, and is slightly obsessed with Jane Austen. Learn more at mpaxauthor.com.

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In other Untethered Realms news:

Gwen Gardner released the cover to her newest YA paranormal thriller: Second Death. It's absolutely gorgeous!

Angela Brown's alter-ego Rayven Godchild released her latest erotic tale about falling in love, Secret Lilies.

Don't forget that you can have an ebook of your choice from any of the talented UR authors when you preorder our anthology, Twisted Earths.