Spotlight : The Plot to Save Socrates ( Sierra Waters Book 1) by multi award winning author Paul Levinson

A big hello and welcome to all readers! Today Literary Flairs is immensely excited to feature Dr. Paul Levinson, who is a multi award winning author of popular science fiction and non fiction novels and a well known reviewer in addition to being a renowned Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC. Dr. Levinson's acclaimed novel titled The Plot to Save Socrates is the first of a trilogy (a gripping time travel and historical fiction genre) of the mysterious and action packed Sierra Waters series. We'll learn more about Dr. Levinson and his multiple accomplishments in the fascinating world of storytelling and creative writing in today's special spotlight.

Connect with author Paul Levinson

Get to know author Levinson and his works in his profile at Wikipedia, Follow him on Twitter, Connect with him on Goodreads, his Facebook page, Have a look at his personal Author Webpage

About the author : Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC.  His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (winner of Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999), Borrowed Tides (2001), The Consciousness Plague (2002), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To Save Socrates (2006), Unburning Alexandria (2013), and Chronica (2014)  - the last three of which are also known as the Sierra Waters trilogy, and are historical fiction as well as science fiction. 

His accomplishments : His stories and novels have been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Edgar, Prometheus, and Audie Awards. His nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009; 2nd edition, 2012),  have been translated into twelve languages.  He appears on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News,  the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, NPR, and numerous TV and radio programs.  His 1972 LP, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2010.  He was President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001.  He reviews television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Top 10 Academic Twitterers" in 2009.

Watch author Levinson's engaging interview on Youtube : Behind the Plot to Save Socrates

Book Spotlight :The Plot to Save Socrates ( Sierra Waters Book 1)

Book : The Plot to Save Socrates

Author : Paul Levinson

Genre : Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction

Available worldwide at : US Amazon, UK Amazon and all other Amazon stores 

Reviews : Read reviews at Author's Blog : Scroll down to "What they're saying about the novel"

                

34 reviews so far and counting at Amazon Kindle stores, mostly 5 stars, read here

Achievements : The Plot to Save Socrates on 10 Perfect Summer Reads Authored by NYU Alumni

Book Summary

In the year 2042, Sierra, a young graduate student in Classics, is shown a new dialog of Socrates, recently discovered, in which a time traveler tries to argue that Socrates might escape death by travel to the future! Thomas, the elderly scholar who has shown her the document, disappears, and Sierra immediately begins to track down the provenance of the manuscript with the help of her classical scholar boyfriend, Max. 

The trail leads her to time machines in gentlemen's clubs in London and in New York, and into the past--and to a time traveler from the future, posing as Heron of Alexandria in 150 AD. Complications, mysteries, travels, and time loops proliferate as Sierra tries to discern who is planning to save the greatest philosopher in human history. Fascinating historical characters from Alcibiades to William Henry Appleton, the great nineteenth-century American publisher, to Hypatia and Socrates himself appear.

Chapter Excerpt

[Athens, 2042 AD]

She ripped the paper in half, then ripped the halves, then ripped what was left, again, into bits and pieces of history that could have been....

Sierra Waters had read once that, years ago, it was thought that men made love for the thrill, while women made love for the sense of connection it gave them. Sierra had always done everything for the thrill. She had no sense of connection, except to her work. Which should have made her an ideal person for this job.

Still ... an ideal person would have followed the plan. It was written on the only substance which could survive decades, maybe longer, without batteries, which required only the light of the sun to be read, or the moon on a good night, or a flickering flame when there was no moon. Paper. A marvelous invention. Thin and durable. And she had just torn it into pieces, opened her palm, and given it to the wind to disperse in irreparable directions.

Special Spotlight : The Hollow Man by author Paul Hollis

                                    Author Paul Hollis                                                  The Hollow Man

Today's special Spotlight is on an 'edge of the seat' bestselling thriller (based on true experiences) titled The Hollow Man by bestselling author Paul Hollis.

Author Links : Connect with author Paul Hollis

Author's Website : http://thehollowmanseries.com/

Author's Twitter handle: @HollowManSeries

Author's Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/TheHollowManSeries

Author's Goodreads Page : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7151833.Paul_Hollis

Achievements and awards received by author Paul Hollis : 

Awesome Indies Award of Excellence:  http://awesomeindies.net/2013/11/13/award-winning-literature-ai-seal-excellence-outstanding-independent-fiction-awarded-hollow-man-paul-hollis/

Ascribeme.com Award of Excellence:  http://www.ascribeme.com/index.php/authors-a-z/51-hollis-paul   (Books must have this seal (Ascribe Approved Medal)  to be listed on the site.)

__________________________________________________________

Book Spotlight - The Hollow Man

Ebook :  THE HOLLOW MAN ( a mystery and action-thriller)

Author :  Paul Hollis

Genre : Mystery,  Thriller, Action, Espionage

Amazon Kindle : http://www.amazon.com/Hollow-Man-Paul-Hollis-ebook/dp/B00KGPW0IO/

Amazon Paperback : http://www.amazon.com/The-Hollow-Man-Paul-Hollis/dp/1457520419/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 

Barnes & Noble : http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hollow-man-paul-hollis/1115563910?ean=9781457520419

Smashwords : https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/385698 

Reviews : 60+

 

Booktrailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8PIxPlaAPw 

Book Synopsis

A terrorist’s plot, the assassination of a prime minister, holds the key to an apocalyptic plan to destroy Europe’s economy. It’s impossible to stop, but one man doesn’t know enough to think the world can’t be saved. He’s no hero; not clever or capable, talented or tested. The Hollow Man is just trying to survive in an uncertain climate where terrorism is changing the rules of how we live. 

Reviews at Amazon

Reviews at Barnes and Noble 

Special Spotlight : The Quixotics (a fast paced action with romance) by author John Wayne Falbey

 Author John Wayne Falbey
                                                                                            The Quixotics (at Amazon)

Today's Special Spotlight is about an intriguing and fast paced action with romance titled The Quixotics. This novel is written by the multi talented, creative and adventurous author John Wayne Falbey with a host of professional achievements to his credit.

Author Links: Connect with author John Wayne Falbey 

Author's Website : http://www.sleepingdogs.biz/author.html

Author's Twitter handle:@jwfalbey

Author's Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/wayne.falbey

_________________________________________________________________________

Book Spotlight - The Quixotics

 

Ebook :  THE QUIXOTICS ( a fast paced romantic action)

Author :  John Wayne Falbey

Genre : Mystery,  Thriller, Suspense, Romance

Amazon Stores : http://www.amazon.com/Quixotics-John-Wayne-Falbey-ebook/dp/B009RSWROI

Reviews : multiple 5 stars

Achievements : Endorsed by Compulsion Reads

Book Synopsis 

 

Unlike today’s returning warriors, veterans of Vietnam were not welcomed home by many of their countrymen. After risking life and limb in an inhospitable country they often were cursed and spit on when they returned to the USA. Disgusted by this reception, some of these fighters turned their backs on their homeland. 

It’s 1970, and three of these young men buy a leaky old sailboat and set out on a leisurely cruise to drink and brawl their way among the islands of the Caribbean Sea. But they had two problems: they don’t know how to sail and they don’t have any money. So a shadowy government agency convinces them to smuggle guns to anti-Castro insurgents in Cuba.
After surviving a hurricane at sea, things go from bad to worse. They’re captured by Castro’s forces, imprisoned, and tortured. But these guys are former special ops soldiers, and manage to escape into the rugged mountains of eastern Cuba. There they meet up with the insurgents and two things happen. The body count rapidly escalates and an unlikely romance blossoms.  

Amazon Reviews 

_________________________________________________________________

Chapter Excerpt

 

Stevens and Flynn left the tumbledown building through the same window by which they had entered, and scrambled up the slope behind it. Staying out of sight, they circled along the edge of the jungle atop the rise. Once at the road, they darted across it and continued through the matted forest on the other side until they reached the cliffs above the sea. With great care, necessitated by the slipperiness of the rock walls, they descended the side of the cliff and lowered themselves into the sea at its foot.

The water was very cold. The shock of it felt good to them, however. It melted away the sweat and grime of the hot day, and brought a new, refreshing surge of energy to their tired bodies. At first, they literally gasped for breath until their bodies grew accustomed to the chill of the water.

The coastline at this point circled toward the town, forming a sort of cove. The two men angled away from the shore, swimming toward the open sea for a while. They used a modified breaststroke to avoid splashing and making noise that might attract unwanted attention from someone on shore. When they reached a point about one hundred yards from shore, they began swimming parallel to the shoreline. As they approached the first of the two docks, they slowed to a quiet dog paddle to avoid making any motions or sounds that might be seen or heard by the few early evening fishermen sitting languorously at its tip. They moved past without incident, and steadily stroked their way toward the second dock. Once again, they moved with extreme caution to avoid detection by the fishermen on this dock. At last they eased past, and swung toward shore, aiming for a point about one hundred fifty yards beyond the second dock. It was directly in front of the old fishing camp.

As they crawled stealthily from the dark water onto the narrow, rocky beach, Flynn hissed, “I never thought to ask you, are there sharks in these waters?”

Stevens grinned. “Only around the docks, and then only at night.”

“Jesus.” Flynn shook his head.

They darted swiftly over the beach, which glistened a dull white in the darkness of evening, and took refuge in the black shadows surrounding the old buildings of the fishing camp. After a few moments when they were certain that no one had detected their presence, the two men crawled into one of the two rotting buildings.

It was the one nearest the road, situated diagonally across from the two bars. The interior of the structure was littered with the debris piled up by past storms. As they crept through the structure, they took great care not to stumble over or disturb any of the debris that lay everywhere. All around them in the near total blackness they could hear the scurrying sounds of things moving. The same foolish thought was foremost in the minds of both men. They hoped there were no spiders around; but they knew with certainty that there must be hordes of arachnids swarming throughout the ruined building. Worse even than spiders was the almost certain presence of scorpions, the nasty-looking, poisonous cousins of the spider family that are native to the tropics.

The sounds of things crawling in the rotting, moldy piles of building parts and furniture, and the knowledge of what those things were, made the flesh crawl on both of the men. They each had to struggle very hard to fight off a sense of panic. Each man was aware of the incongruity between the revulsion caused by insects in men who often found it exhilarating to risk their lives in combat with something as ferocious and cunning as another human being.

The hours passed slowly, as they tensely waited in the building. They took advantage of the time to clean and dry their weapons with slightly damp rags they found in the ruins. As the evening eased slowly by, the two Americans took turns surveying the bars across the road from their vantage point. According to the old fisherman, soldiers from the base, denied permission to visit the bars in town by their new commandant, had devised a scheme. They took turns sneaking out a small side door in the wall that surrounded the base, at times when one of their friends had guard duty at that particular station. They would then descend the cliff to the narrow strip of beach below, and slip into town under cover of darkness.

Stevens, having napped briefly, relieved Flynn of surveillance duty and took up a position by the paneless window. From that point he could easily see the two bars. Flynn, settled into a reclining position against a nearby wall and whispered, “I hope you plan to go back a different way than the one we came in. I’m not in favor of swimming past those damn docks again at night.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Stevens said. As he finished speaking, two truckloads of soldiers from the base came roaring up the road through the darkness. The trucks rumbled by their hiding place and on through town.

“Wonder where they’re going?” Flynn said, “Kind of late for maneuvers.”

“Quiet!” Stevens ordered. Two soldiers had just emerged from the nearest bar, and were hurrying across the street toward them. One of the soldiers was still struggling to get into his jacket. It was apparent that they had seen the truckloads of their comrades pass by, and were worried that a mission had come up and their absences would be noticed.

Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness inside, and the two Americans quickly crossed the building. They slipped out the rear door and moved swiftly around the other building toward the beach. They lay quietly in the tall sea grass atop the small embankment that dropped to the rocky shore below.

In a few moments, the two soldiers passed in front of them. Like jungle cats, Stevens and Flynn sprang from the tall grass and hurtled through the night air, crashing down upon their prey.

The Cubans crumbled under the swift and savage assault. Before they could recover their senses or cry out, their assailants had thrust the barrels of their .45s under the soldiers’ chins. The chill of the bare metal spoke more clearly to them more than a thousand words could have. They made no sounds except for the soft moans of one soldier, whose ribs had been injured under the sudden, crushing force of Flynn’s bulk.

The captives were quickly yanked to their feet and marched into the solitude of the nearest building. Here, their soiled, sloppy uniforms were stripped from them, to be donned in turn by the captors. Once dressed, Stevens and Flynn turned to the hapless soldiers and bound their arms behind their backs with strips of cloth torn from their own discarded clothing.

Flynn picked out the one he thought to be the more uncooperative of the two captives. Squatting on the floor in front of the man, he smiled pleasantly and said, “Would you like to answer some questions for my friend?”

The prisoner spit in his face. The smile on Flynn’s face never changed. “We’ll, at least you understand English,” he said. Almost faster than the eye could see, his right hand shot toward the Cuban’s chest. The knife held firmly in it pricked the skin beneath the man’s left breast, slid neatly between his ribs and plunged into his heart. Flynn’s left hand, moving just as swiftly as the right, clamped over the victim’s mouth, effectively strangling any sounds. Flynn didn’t move, he let the dead man’s body fall away from the knife, rather than trouble himself to remove it. Next, he moved in front of the second captive. The poor man, bound and helpless in his ragged underwear, shook mightily with fear. His eyes were open as wide as they possibly could be. With a now sardonic smile, Flynn asked, “How about you? Want to answer those questions?”

“Si, Señor!” The prisoner readily agreed, his head jerking up and down vigorously.

Flynn nodded toward Stevens, “Your witness, counselor.”

  ________________________________________________________________