Clayton, an author I met on my journey, has a blog tour running right now.
Let's check out the details, shall we?
Milijun:
The next phase of human evolution depends entirely on
her…
Laura is willing to do whatever it takes for her son. When aliens kidnap Jason,
it's going to take a lot more than a mother's love to get him back. After
infiltrating a military research base, Laura discovers a terrifying
secret: their plans to impregnate women with alien DNA.
Laura battles to save Jason, the mothers-to-be, and herself. But she quickly
realizes the aliens have their own mission for her, too. Soon she faces a
choice, take a chance at an impossible escape or accept the aliens'
vision of a new humanity.
Milijun is the first installment of an action-packed sci-fi
alien invasion story. If you like tales of first contact, secret military
operations, and the people caught in the middle, then you'll love Clayton
Graham's fast-paced sci-fi thrill ride.
Genre: Science Fiction
Purchase Links:
Universal reader link: https://books2read.com/u/4NGX58
Wow! Congratulations on your new blog tour!
So, what are readers saying about this book?
☆☆☆☆☆
"Captured my interest from the very beginning, and never once let go." - Jenna, Indie Book Reviewers
☆☆☆☆☆
"If you love the genre, read this gem." - Julius Zon, Self Publishing Review
☆☆☆☆☆
"This is a must-read for science fiction fans who appreciate a hard scientific foundation, in the tradition of Asimov, Niven, or Heilein." - Patrick Dent
☆☆☆☆☆
Nice!
Here is an excerpt from Taker of Lives.
Some semblance of
inner strength returned. They would have to see Mepunga tomorrow, of course,
and learn what happened to Bradley Robert or, more accurately, how he had ended
up with a hole drilled in his chest.
Careful not to
wake Jason, she made her way outside, in search of fresh air. Looking up at the
darkened sky she saw a pale moon rising and what could only be Venus shining
brightly. The air held a slight chill, and she shivered involuntarily.
Laura scanned the
sky, half expecting something to emerge from the star-pricked canopy and
descend upon her with mischief in its heart. What was it Jason had said? Sometimes
when it touched me I didn’t even feel it. She didn’t know what to believe
but whatever it was, Janice Mepunga was the next step.
They had found
the camera in a kitchen drawer, but it contained no record of Jason’s pictures.
Robert had obviously removed the stick. Or, of course, the alien had.
Surprisingly enough, observing Jason’s face at that moment of disappointment
served to remove her doubts concerning his version of events. She had totally
believed, if only for a few seconds, that an alien being had emerged from
Bradley Robert and examined her son.
Tomorrow they
would see Mepunga. And maybe get some answers.
***
At the Eucla defence base the only source of light in the room came
from a large wall screen that portrayed the death throes of choppa flight 209
from Cape Pasley to Cocklebiddy on the night of 17 January 2179. In the room
were Assistant Commissioner Ray Parlane of the West Australian Police, Major
General Sebastian Ord, Air Vice-Marshal Jean Pescos and Sergeant David Jameson
Cooke of the Australian Defence Force.
The whole flight cam episode had run for no more than three minutes, and
now the group were digesting, and struggling to understand, what they had just
seen.
Sebastian Ord
raised his brow at the use of the word. “Could it have been an accident, a
collision?”
Cooke snorted and
said, “No sir. The radar shows two objects peeling away from the main group.
Definitely intentional.”
“I agree,” Jean
Pescos ventured. “Definitely intentional. Analysis of the short flight path
they took indicates an optimum trajectory for intersection with the choppa.”
“You mean it
shows intelligence.” Ray Parlane looked incredulous. Short, with luxurious
eyebrows, he had obtained his rank by being down to earth and taking no
nonsense. This whole episode did not sit well on his shoulders.
“Perhaps even
more to the point, what the hell are the damn things?” Sebastian Ord asked.
Tall and wiry with piercing blue eyes, he wore his neatly pressed uniform like
a glove. He started the video again and they watched as bright moonlight
exposed a flock of large creatures moving through the night sky. The choppa had
hovered no more than two hundred metres away, and its lights had picked out two
of the objects breaking away to veer towards the camera. They looked large, too
large for any known species of bat. Strong white beams highlighted their
outstretched wings as they homed in on their target, revealing thin reticulated
arms as they grew closer. Large reflective
eyes dominated the screen for a moment and then focus was lost as the creatures
appeared to collide intentionally with the choppa’s canopy.
“And don’t forget
the radar showed them descending from at least ten thousand metres,” Cooke
added. “Air is thin up there.”
The group grew
silent as Parlane switched on the light and turned off the wall screen. “So,
what happens now?” he asked nobody in particular.
“One. Expert
opinion on identification,” Ord replied, counting off on his fingers. “Two.
Find out if anyone else saw them that night.” He looked at everyone in turn
before raising a third finger. “Three.
Try to find them.”
“Then what, after
we find them?” Jean Pescos asked.
Parlane was swift
to answer. “We must eradicate. Can’t have them bringing down air traffic.”
Ord couldn’t help
smiling. “Let’s give the scientists a say. If they’re a rare or unheard of
species it could be a different anecdote.”
The room became
quiet again and Cooke stretched uncomfortably in his chair. He wasn’t
convinced. Other than Vanelli, there were no bodies at the crash site. And the
aerial attackers didn’t look like anything he had seen before; alien almost.
Though nobody, of course, had the balls to say so.
***
The road ribbon system took them directly to the
front of the Caiguna police station, seaward of the Eyre Highway along dusty,
unkempt side streets. Mother and son dismounted as one
and strode resolutely up the path and through darkened glass doors. They found
themselves in a featureless foyer where a single three-metre plant was placed
strategically in the middle of a brown synthetic marble floor. A long black
desk stood at the far end but there was no sign of any other exit door or, for
that matter, any other person. The walls were sky blue, the ceiling white, and
the effect austere.
To the right of
the desk, a mechanism hummed and a well-disguised door opened within the blue
wall to reveal a brightly lit office beyond.
“Come through.
Come through,” Janice Mepunga called.
Jason seized his
mother’s hand and looked at her questioningly. There was a strange fear in his
ashen face, and his eyes mirrored the foreboding that Laura felt within her own
heart.
“It’ll be fine,”
Laura said quietly and gently guided him through into the inner office.
Janice instantly
took the wind out of Laura’s sails by saying, “Look. I’m sorry about yesterday.
An emergency came up. I had to leave. Sorry about leaving you with Robert, too
– it was unavoidable. He tried to kill me. I knew Jason was around.” Her smile
grew broader. “I knew you would find him.”
Shaking her head,
Laura said sharply, “Maybe you did, but in what condition? It was absolutely
unforgivable what you did.” She threw a challenging look at the policewoman.
“And Robert wasn’t dead when I found him.”
Janice’s face
hardened and Jason noticed she slowly worked her hand down to her pistol. “It
was unavoidable,” the policewoman repeated.
Janice shook her
head. “My partner went to Perth this morning. It’s normally pretty quiet around
here, you understand, and there’s plenty of air backup from Kalgoorlie.” She
cast a meaningful glance at her visitors before adding, “Should we require it.”
“What about a
statement?” Laura asked. “Don’t you want one?”
“I certainly do,”
Janice said, pointing to a terminal in the corner of her office. “Be my guest.”
She was all sweetness and roses again, in control of the situation.
While his mother
typed, Jason waited his turn. He was nervous, upset about Bradley Robert and
about the loss of his photographs. His eyes hardly left Janice Mepunga, unsure
in his own heart whether the alien creature was harboured inside her or whether
it had moved to fresher pastures. On the drive to the station his mother had told
him of Robert’s dying words, and he had felt sick. He desperately wanted to
know the truth but was afraid of another confrontation. And worst of all, there
was no proof of anything.
“How did the
ranger threaten you?” Jason asked, abruptly causing his mother to pause her
statement mid-sentence.
Mepunga glanced
up, her face like stone. “He just did, and that’s enough these days.” She
gestured to Jason to sit down on the chair across the desk. “Let’s compile your
statement together while your mother finishes hers.” She initiated a recorder
and leaned back in her chair.
Jason shot a
fleeting look at his mother and received a warning glance in return, accompanied
by a small shake of the head.
“How did you get
to Robert’s house?” Janice asked.
“I was on the
computer in the camp tourist centre,” Jason replied. “He knocked me out and I
awoke in a bedroom.”
Despite the
recorder, Janice typed as she said, “And then what happened?”
“He made me
something to eat, just eggs and toast. Then he made me shower and took me into
the basement.”
“No,” Jason said.
“There was nobody else.”
Janice raised her
eyebrows. “Did you try to escape?”
With a shake of
his head, Jason said, “He was always in my face, and twice my size.”
“Even in the
shower?”
Jason averted his
eyes. “More or less.”
“He was naked
when I found him,” Laura interjected. “In the basement.”
The policewoman
looked hard at Jason. “Did he touch you? Molest you in any way?”
Jason bit his
lip. “No, he didn’t.”
Laura stood up.
“I’ve finished. It’s fairly short but to the point.”
Janice walked
over and glanced down at the screen. “Not exactly flattering behaviour on my
part,” she said, pursing her lips. “My statement will give my story.”
Laura shrugged. “I’d still like to see—”
Jason interrupted
her. “Can we go now, Mum? I need some air.”
Laura saw he
looked pale and distressed. “I’m sorry,” she said to Janice. “Is that all for
now?”
“Sure. We have
your vehicle tag. Stick around the district though.” She printed both
statements and laid them on the desk. “Just sign these for now.”
After they had
signed Laura turned to leave but paused at the door. “What happened to the
body?”
“It’s been taken
care of,” Janice replied. “Thanks for coming in.” It was the final dismissal.
Laura and Jason left without further discourse. They moved through the stark
foyer and once outside paused to breathe the fresh southern air, which was
rapidly warming as the sun rose higher in the sky.
“No alien for the
lady,” Laura said. “Thank God you didn’t say anything about that.”
“Not
to her,” Jason said, looking at his mother fearfully. “I think it’s still with
her.”
***
Suddenly, the
winged alien was outside her, standing two metres away, observing with its head
on one side. She sensed an instantaneous chill invade her body as the creature
emerged but, once free of it, Janice felt warmer and strangely fearless. No words or other communication passed but
Janice felt its mind boring into hers, trying to understand her emotions. At
least she thought she did. She didn’t really want to see it anymore, was not
interested in it at all, and wished it was light-years away.
“I’m sorry,
Daniel,” she said to the motionless body of her partner. “I’m so sorry. I
really could not help it.”
A tangle of
meaningless images ran through her mind, and she turned to face her symbiotic
disciple from another world. Something passed between them, intangible and
outside her scope of logical thought. She asked the question anyway.
“What do you want
from me? What do you want from us?”
Whoa! So terrifying!
Readers, you'll have to check out this book! Also, you can add it to your Goodreads shelf!
Here's the trailer.
Enter
for a chance to win an amazing $20 Amazon gift card and access to
exclusive content. One winner will be randomly selected through Rafflecopter. Click the tour link below
to enter.
Blog Tour Link
Awesome! Thanks so much, Clayton!
Let's also give kudos to Clayton's sponsor:
Grab a copy of this book! And don't forget to participate in the wonderful giveaway!
Thank you, Clayton, for letting us know all about your sci-fi novel! It sounds fascinating! :)
As a youngster growing up in the cobbled
streets of Stockport, UK, Clayton Graham read a lot of Science Fiction. He
loved the ‘old school’ masters such as HG Wells, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov and
John Wyndham. As he left those formative years behind, he penned short stories
when he could find a rare quiet moment amidst life’s usual distractions.
He settled in Victoria, Australia, in 1982. A
retired aerospace engineer who worked in structural design and research,
Clayton has always had an interest in Science Fiction and where it places
humankind within a universe we are only just starting to understand.
Clayton loves animals, including well behaved pets,
and all the natural world, and is a member of Australian Geographic.
Combining future science with the paranormal is his
passion. Milijun is his first novel. Second novel, Saving Paludis, was
published early 2018. They are light years from each other, but share the future
adventures of mankind in an expansive universe as a common theme.
He settled in Victoria, Australia, in 1982. A retired aerospace engineer who worked in structural design and research, Clayton has always had an interest in Science Fiction and where it places humankind within a universe we are only just starting to understand.
Clayton loves animals, including well behaved pets, and all the natural world, and is a member of Australian Geographic.
Combining future science with the paranormal is his passion. Milijun is his first novel. Second novel, Saving Paludis, was published early 2018. They are light years from each other, but share the future adventures of mankind in an expansive universe as a common theme.
Author Links:
Website/Blog: http://claytongraham.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claytongrahamauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CGrahamSciFi
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Clayton-Graham/e/B01A6J728C
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14834804.Clayton_Graham
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+ClaytonGraham
Clayton's Books:
