The Moon Dwellers- Prologue Sneak Peek

I recently announced that my new YA dystopian novel, The Moon Dwellers, will be released on June 30^th.  I’ve been very busy working with my new marketing/PR partners, www.shareAread.com, as well as my cover artists, Winkipop Designs, to get everything ready.  Today I am excited to give my readers a sneak peek at the prologue for the book!  Enjoy!  My next post will be on June 15^th when I reveal the cover for the book.  Happy reading!

THE MOON DWELLERS

Prologue

Adele

7 months ago

Hands grope, men shout, boots slap the rock floor.

Clay dishes and pots are smashed to bits as the Enforcers sweep recklessly through our house. There are more bodies in the tiny stone box that I call home than ever before. The walls seem to be closing in.

My mother’s face is stricken with anger, her lips twisted, her eyebrows dark. Like a wild animal, her teeth snap and snarl. I’ve never seen her fight like this. I’ve never seen her fight at all.

It takes three bulging Enforcers to subdue her kicking legs, her thrashing arms. For just a moment I am scared of her and not the men. I hate myself for it.

I realize my sister is by my side, watching, like me. I can’t let her see this—can’t let this be her last memory of the ones who raised us. I usher her back into the small room that we share with my parents, and close the door, shutting her inside alone.

When I turn back to the room, my mother is already gone, taken. Undigested beans from our measly supper rise in my throat.

My father is next.

The Enforcers jeer at him, taunt him, spit on him. As he backs his shoulders against the cold, stark, stone wall, five men corner him. Smart. They don’t underestimate him.

He makes eye contact with me; his brown eyes are hard with concentration. Despite the inherent tension in the room, his face is relaxed, calm, the exact opposite of his eyes. Run, he mouths.

My feet are frozen to the floor. My knees lock, stiffen, disobey me and my father. I am ashamed. After all that my father has done for me, when it counts the most, I fail him.

One of the men lifts an arm and a gun. I hold my breath when I hear the shot, a dull thwap! that doesn’t sound like a normal gun. The man moves backwards slightly from the force, but his legs are planted firmly and he maintains his balance.

My father slumps to the floor. I feel my lips trembling, and my hand moves unbidden to my mouth. My frozen feet melt and I try to run to him, but a big body bars my way. I don’t think—just react. I kick him hard, like my father taught me. My heel catches the Enforcer under his chin and his head snaps back. Like most people, he underestimates me.

The next Enforcer doesn’t.

The Taser rips into my neck and tentacles of electricity slam my jaw shut. My teeth nearly snap off my tongue, which is flailing around in my mouth. They don’t take it easy on me just because I’m a kid, or a girl—not after what I did to the first guy. Still stunned by the Taser, I barely feel the thump of their hard boots as they kick me repeatedly in the ribs. My eyes are wet, and through my blurred vision I see the arcing nightstick.

Strangely, it feels like destiny, like it was always going to happen.

I hear my sister’s screams just before I black out.

***

Add The Moon Dwellers to your goodreads reading list using the following link!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13931214-the-moon-dwellers

The Moon Dwellers Launch!!

In my last blog I said I had a big announcement to make today, and now it is today, so here goes.  My new young-adult dystopian novel is going to be released on *ratatatatatatatatata* June 30^th!!!!  I’m so incredibly excited, that I would likely scare you with my level of excitement if you were in my near vicinity.  I think I’m driving my wife, Adele, completely nuts with it, but I guess she’s getting used to it at this point. 

But back to the book!  After becoming slightly (okay, maybe more than slightly) obsessed with the dystopian genre, mainly due to books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, and Delirium, I said to myself “Self, you should really write a dystopian novel.”  I agreed with myself and started writing, which is just what I do.  I don’t know how the ideas come, or where they come from, but stuff just pops into my head.  The Moon Dwellers was born!  My first disclaimer: It’s not about the Moon or outer space or anything like that.  The moon dwellers are a class of citizens in the dystopian world I’ve created—more specifically, the middle class.  Here’s the synopsis:

In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground, into the depths of the earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms.

After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, seventeen-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.

Against all odds, Adele must escape from the Pen and find her family, while being hunted by a deranged, killing machine named Rivet, who works for the President. She is helped by two other inmates, Tawni and Cole, each of whom have dark secrets that are better left undiscovered. Other than her friends, the only thing she has going for her is a wicked roundhouse kick and two fists that have been well-trained for combat by her father.

At the other end of the social spectrum is Tristan, the son of the President and a sun dweller. His mother is gone. He hates his father. Backed by only his servant and best friend, Roc, he leaves his lavish lifestyle in the Sun Realm, seeking to make something good out of his troubled life.

When a war breaks out within the Tri-Realms, Tristan is thrust into the middle of a conflict that seems to mysteriously follow Adele as she seeks to find her family and uncover her parents’ true past.

I really hope you like it!!  I’ve poured my heart and soul (and time) into this book over the last 4 months to make it the best it can possibly be.  Here are a few comments from my beta readers:

-“I’m excited for the next book and this one isn’t even out yet!” -Alexandria

-“HOLY CRAP!  I literally JUST finished and I’m kind of on that crazy after-you-finish-an-epic-book high!” –Kerri

-“OH MY GOD!!!  What a lovely story David!  I am in LOVE with it!” -Nicole

-“Awesome job.  Can’t wait till the book is going to come out.  Let me know when so I can demand all my friends to read it.”  -Kay

-“I was heartbroken and cried my eyes out, but that’s one of the things I love.  If an author can make me feel that much emotion through their characters then in my book that makes them so much better.”  -Kay again

-“The action was absolutely amazing, and it kept me on my toes the entire time!  Overall it was kinda sorta FREAKING AWESOME!” –Kerri again

-“I love this book!  I am already dying to know what happens next!” –Christina

-“Wonderful story!” –Laurie

So that’s it, that’s my announcement. Now what am I asking of all my loyal fans?  A chance to become a bestseller, even if only for a week.  If you are at all interested in or planning on buying a copy of The Moon Dwellers, I ask that you download it within a week of the launch on June 30^th.  That way my book can move up the bestseller lists and hopefully get noticed by a much wider audience.  The Moon Dwellers will only be available in ebook format, on Kindle and Smashwords (as well as most other ebook distributors).  So add it to your To-Be-Read list on Goodreads using the link below.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13931214-the-moon-dwellers

I have one other big piece of news to add!  I've recently formed a partnership with Nicole Passante and her team at http://www.sharearead.com/ !! They'll be helping me manage the launch and ongoing promotions for my new book.  I'm so excited to add shareAread to my team as they are such amazing advocates for self-published authors. As part of The Moon Dwellers launch, throughout June I will have three separate reveals for the book as follows:

8 June- A sneak peek at the Prologue

15 June- Book cover reveal!

22 June- A sneak peek at the First Chapter

Thank you so much for all the support and feedback you’ve given me over the last year and I can’t wait to see your reviews and comments for The Moon Dwellers! Happy reading!!

Farewell Australia

The last few weeks have clearly managed to grow wings and fly away from me, because I have no clue where they’ve gone.  Suddenly, I’m on the verge of saying goodbye to my old life in the corporate world and hello to my new world as a fulltime writer.  I’m 99% excited and 1% nervous, or wait…am I 99% nervous and 1% excited?  I’m not sure, but that’s the beauty of it (yes, I stole that line from Armageddon and sort of mangled it too).  In any case, my wife, Adele and I are scrambling to check off every little thing on our ginormous To Do List so we can feel prepared for the adventure ahead of us.

So what would you do if you were leaving Australia to take a two year jaunt around the world?  Yep, us too: We cuddled a koala!  Oh, and befriended a few kangaroos.  That’s right, we thrust off our proud status as locals of Sydney (Manly Beach to be more specific), and became tourists, spending a day at The Koala Park in the greater Sydney area.  You might ask what the heck I’ve been doing in the three years since coming to Australia.  My answer: I have no clue!  I hang my head in shame that I haven’t cuddled a kangaroo or hugged a koala until now, but you know what they say, better late than never.  So first was the koala (yes, they are every bit as soft as they look):

Then the kangaroos followed, although I think their end of the friendship was solely based on the endless supply of food we offered them:

All in all, I quite enjoyed being a tourist, which is good I suppose, considering Adele and I will be spending the next two years as tourists in many places we’ve never been before.  We’re sad to leave our friends and Adele’s family behind, but excited (or is it nervous) to start our new life and adventure.  Our last day in Australia is June 5^th (HOLY SHNIKES!), did I mention the days have flown away?

June will be my most exciting month as a writer, and not only because it will be my honest-to-goodness fulltime job, but because I have another exciting announcement!  But not for this blog haha!  I feel like Ryan Seacrest on American Idol saying “the Idol who will be leaving us tonight….will be revealed after the break.”  So tune in to my next blog post on June 1^st, when I’ll tell you all about my BIG NEWS!

In closing, farewell Australia; in your great country I have lived, found love, and followed my dreams.  I will always remember you and all of the friends I have made while under your care.  I hope to see you again soon.  As always, happy reading!!