For fans of Bladerunner and Brave New World comes a new twist… Perfection has arrived. Synthetic stem cells mean no more organ failure, no more pharmaceuticals. No cancer. The human race is stronger, smarter and prettier. Is it better? Cali Richards is a nanobiometric engineer who has been her younger brother’s guardian since their parents died. She’s lost too many people in her life to lose another. When the government declares the Halfskin Laws will shut down anyone with too many synthetics, she decides to hide him. But even brilliance can succumb to the pressure of suffering. And synthetics can’t cure insanity. Follow their twisting, slippery grip on reality as they strive to find happiness in a world that has everything it could possibly want. REVIEWS FOR HALFSKIN “This, quite frankly, is one of the best books I’ve read.” –John Gregory Hancock, Reviewer “WOW.” –Amanda Taylor, Reviewer “I was not expecting the twists…” – Reviewer “Hated finishing this book… many hours of enjoyment.” –Eleanor Wendlberger, Reviewer “Halfskin is one of the best science fiction stories I’ve read this year.” –ACFlory, Reviewer “Twisty turny, unexpectedness!!!!!! LOVED THE BOOK!” –Aisha-Kimberly Hashmi, Reviewer “One of the best stories i[sic] have read in a long time!” Brian, Reviewer “I was absolutely hooked from page 1!” – Reviewer AWARDS Underground Reviews 2015 Top Pick Award

For fans of Bladerunner and Brave New World comes a new twist… Perfection has arrived. Synthetic stem cells mean no more organ failure, no more pharmaceuticals. No cancer. The human race is stronger, smarter and prettier. Is it better? Cali Richards is a nanobiometric engineer who has been her younger brother’s guardian since their parents died. She’s lost too many people in her life to lose another. When the government declares the Halfskin Laws will shut down anyone with too many synthetics, she decides to hide him. But even brilliance can succumb to the pressure of suffering. And synthetics can’t cure insanity. Follow their twisting, slippery grip on reality as they strive to find happiness in a world that has everything it could possibly want. REVIEWS FOR HALFSKIN “This, quite frankly, is one of the best books I’ve read.” –John Gregory Hancock, Amazon Reviewer“WOW.” –Amanda Taylor, Amazon Reviewer“I was not expecting the twists…” –Amazon Reviewer“Hated finishing this book… many hours of enjoyment.” –Eleanor Wendlberger, Amazon Reviewer“Halfskin is one of the best science fiction stories I’ve read this year.” –ACFlory, Amazon Reviewer“Twisty turny, unexpectedness!!!!!! LOVED THE BOOK!” –Aisha-Kimberly Hashmi, Amazon Reviewer“One of the best stories i[sic] have read in a long time!” Brian, Amazon Reviewer“I was absolutely hooked from page 1!” –Amazon Reviewer AWARDS Underground Reviews 2015 Top Pick Award

Why can’t she Wrigley Dominykovas remember? She graduated college, had a career. Now she’s on a farm. She doesn’t remember how she got there or why she’s living with her mother. A doctor makes an unusual housecall to take a blood sample. She’ll remember what happened, he says, when she’s ready. She just can’t leave the property until she does. What happened? When she convinces a teenager to give her a ride to town, she discovers why her memories have been deleted. It isn’t what she expected.

We map the universe with five senses Interpret reality with our mind We rely on this body What a poor vessel it is Jamie wants to be a halfskin. Her life has become dull and pointless. If she had more biomites—synthetic stem cells that promise hope—she could take control of her life. But Jamie’s body is already 49.9% biomites. The rest is clay—her God-given organic cells. Any more biomites and she becomes a halfskin. And halfskins are shutdown. But there is a way. Black market biomites, called nixes, can’t be detected by the government’s halfskin hunter, M0ther. Jamie would have to sacrifice her clay to get the nixes, but they would make her halfskin without anyone knowing. Including M0ther. But first she has to find them. Nix Richards can help. He’s the first halfskin to escape M0ther and Jamie has something he wants. He’ll need her to help him find a fabricator. He’ll betray anyone to get it, even those closest to him. This psychological thriller will keep Nix and Jamie second-guessing every move while they elude M0ther and Marcus Anderson, the man that wants to rid the world of biomites. But in the end, they’ll all discover just how deep the betrayal goes. INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR WHAT GENRE DO YOU PREFER? Science fiction, dystopia, technothriller and, to some extent, young adult. I do have a series of novellas in the vampire genre. Yeah, I know. Doesn’t fit. That character, Drayton, came out of nowhere when I was at a community theatre production of Dracula. I figured that an immortal vampire would more likely become compassionate and wise as he grew older. The technothriller Halfskin is similar to vampires in that technology promises immortality and complete control of our bodies. But then what? WHY A SYNTHETIC STEM CELL? Organic life is too nilly-willy. We’re limited by our DNA. Give it to the scientists to perfect this vehicle that carries us around because it is a vehicle. If we no longer have organic bodies, if every one of our cells is replaced by something manmade all the way down to the neurons and synapses, then what are we? What if our world is just a computerized environment, ala The Matrix? Would we know the difference? Look, we’re printing organs today. I’m not, but someone is. Some genius has figured out how to push play and heart or liver or kidney comes down the chute. Halfskin takes the idea into the distant future and explores whether this leads to more happiness or just more of the same. Because more money, more problems. DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER JOB BESIDES AUTHOR? Day job, I’m a college horticulture teacher. Writing is a passion. No plans to change it. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Breathe. WHAT TALENT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE? Omnipresent supergalactic oneness. IF WE HAD A CUSTOM THAT ALLOWED US TO EAT OUR CHILDREN, WHAT KIND OF SAUCE WOULD YOU USE? Ketchup, the miracle condiment. ARE OUR ELECTRONIC DEVICES STEALING OUR SOUL? AND IF SO, DO YOU MAKE OFFERINGS TO YOUR TOASTER? I offer white bread and the toaster gives back crunchy, brown bread. Never doubt a true miracle.

The Jack Frost you never knew… Sura is sixteen years old when she meets Mr. Frost. He’s a strange man. Very short, very fat. And he likes his room cold. Some say inhumanly cold. Mr. Frost’s love for Christmas is over-the-top and slightly psychotic. He’s made billions of dollars off the holiday and, according to Mr. Frost, a holiday he invented. Rumor is he’s an elven, but that’s silly. Elven aren’t real. And if they were, they wouldn’t be in South Carolina. Sura takes a job at Frost Plantation that’s strange and magical and, for the first time in her life, a place where she feels like she belongs. She’ll uncover the mystery of what really happens at Frost Plantation and who’s making all the toys. She’ll discover the biggest secret of all—Mr. Frost hates Christmas. Really, really hates it.

Life hasn’t been kind to Oliver Toye. As if juvenile diabetes isn’t enough, he’s forced to live with his tyrannical grandmother in a snow-bound house. He spends his days doing chores and the nights listening to the forest rumble. But when he discovers the first leather-bound journal, the family secrets begin to surface. The mystery of his great-grandfather’s voyage to the North Pole is revealed. That’s when the snowman appears. Magical and mysterious, the snowman will save Oliver more than once. But when the time comes for Oliver to discover the truth, will he have the courage? When Flury needs him, will he have the strength? When believing isn’t enough, will he save the snowman from melting away? Because sometimes even magic needs a little help. INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR Where did you come up with the idea of writing science fiction for holiday characters? My nephew mentioned the “secret Santa ninja elves” that visit his school during Christmas, and this spawned the idea of writing a semi-serious sci-fi version of Santa. How the ideas flesh out is a long process. I started keep track of how the story arc of my latest novel evolves, just to remember where it began. It’s all over the place. I love the challenge of bringing a story to light, letting the characters get in my head and telling me where to go. Flury: Journey of a Snowman is the third book in the Claus series. It was originally Frosty the Snowman, but Frosty is copyrighted. It didn’t matter, really. The character was better suited to be something other than Frosty. Flury is a bit more serious. . Are you getting any backlash for rewriting these Christmas legends? Not at all. In fact, a lot of readers have connected to all the unanswered questions surround them, especially Santa Claus. How does he go around the world in a night? Why is he fat? Why does he live on the North Pole? How do reindeer fly? How does he carry all those presents? All of them answered with the magic wand of science fiction… I mean, the science wand of science fiction. The stories still have the fantasy element, of course. Some leaps of imagination. And also the romance angle. Why? Because all stories have love. . What is your favorite character from the books that you have written? Socket Greeny is one of my favorites. That science fiction trilogy was my first story. I wrote it in first person and really connected with him. However, Jack Frost is in Claus (Legend of the Fat Man) and Jack (The Tale of Frost) and has become my all-time fave. He’s childish, irreverent and dangerous, but at the same time lovable. . What order should readers purchase the Claus books? Claus: Legend of the Fat Man is the best start. After that, any order works. They all can be read as standalone novels.

The Paladin Nation is rebuilding. Socket Greeny is leading them into a new era of compassion and understanding. But when Pike returns, Socket discovers nothing is what he expected, that his life has been planned from the beginning. He is faced with ultimate betrayal. In the end, he won't be asked to save the world. It'll be the entire universe. INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR When did you start writing? My first effort started with Socket Greeny. It was a story I started for my son because he hated to read. It didn’t work, but this character – Socket – took root. It was the first time I felt possessed by a character with a story to tell. It took me 5 years and countless rewrites to get it right. I waited by the mailbox after that, but the giant paycheck never arrived. If you can’t make money, why write fiction? I didn’t say you can’t make money. There are a lot of people out there with a good book, whether it’s romance, dystopia, science fiction or young adult. I’m just a minnow in a crowded pond. It took a good deal of networking and research to realize just how hard it is. Thanks to epublishing, I can get the book out. That frees me up to write what inspires me. Writing is the true love. There’s something deeply satisfying to have characters come to life in your mind and watch their stories unfold. It’s a deeper experience than reading someone else’s story. What do you want readers to get from your stories? I’ve always been inspired by fearless writing that asked poignant questions; questions like who am I and what is the universe? Things that made me look at life slightly different; books that exposed a layer of reality. Writing in the young adult genre appealed to me most because that’s the age I really craved those questions and answers. I want readers to see the world slightly different. What is your favorite character? I love a bad, bad antagonist that you can’t entirely hate; there’s some smidgeon of redemption you feel inside this demented, sorry character. Heath Ledger’s Joker. A despicable character that didn’t deserve an ounce of pity, but, for some reason, I didn’t hate him as much as I should have. It’s that character I find most intriguing. In The Socket Greeny Saga, the character Pike was my Joker.