Archangel Down Review
Just got finished reading Archangel down by C. Cockel. That was a great read. Had me hooked on the characters before the end of the first chapter. Without going to deep into the story it had so many great elements to it that it kept me entranced the whole time reading. If you like augmented humans, aliens, and science fiction in general, you will enjoy this book. It’s got lots of thrilling chase scenes and lots of emotion. There is a romance element to it, but it’s not overwhelming. Actually, for this type of book is probably just right.
My one gripe is during the action sequences I had a little bit of trouble picturing what was happening, but it wasn’t bad enough to pull me out of the story. There was supposed to be chaos happening anyway so whatever.
The flow in this book kept me hooked the whole time. The characters in the world building or solid. Great job. Here is the link in case you wanted to purchase it. I am in no way affiliated with this author. Just an admiring reader. I’m about to enjoy the second installment of this series. Noaa’s Ark. Hope it is as exciting as the first one.
https://www.amazon.com/Archangel-Down-Project-Book-One-ebook/dp/B016WS5FO4
Head Above Water
I don’t have a ton of time to write seeing as how I have a full time job that steals all my energy on a consistent basis, but lightning struck me a few days ago at 4am and I made sure I got this one down on paper. Hope you all enjoy. Yes, It’s about aliens. Yes, I am weird.
Head Above Water
By
Teri Ann Harvey
I mourn the man that never existed, ripped away so suddenly as I was removed from the system. I can almost see him as my eyes flutter around consciousness, eyes that have never seen anything. I can almost see him. He was here and then gone. Neither of us is real, I realize. It was all a lie, our lives.
I smell the harsh smell of salt with the nose I’d never actually used before. It burns in my nostrils. That is the truth. I feel the chill of salty water surrounding me, penetrating my every pore. That is the truth and It makes me shiver. Through the pale white light above me, I can almost see him. His skin glistens, and his big black eyes stare down at me with pity. I close my eyes once again and he’s gone. I mourn. I want to believe the lie.
I feel the heat of his hand on my cheek as he brings me out of the water, gentle as a mother lifting an infant into her arms. Lungs burn. This is real. I struggle. Then I can feel his long arms snaking around me, cradling me. His face so close to mine. I can’t help but love him. I want to open my eyes again, but he forbids it. I have no choice, but I relax in his arms.
“This one is awakening.”
He did not say the words aloud; my ears did not hear his voice. The words were spoken in my head as he gently held my eyes closed. I could hear the salt as it was being poured into the water around me. That was real.
“Stay asleep, little one. You are safe.”
That was a lie. My eyes struggled, but I loved him. I knew him. I wanted to see his truth once and for all. Hands, I had them. They were right there in his. Body, it was there. I could sense the muscles and bones, flex my fingers and toes. Eyes, paralyzed like the rest of my body parts. All I could manage was a desperate flutter of eyelids.
“I want to see you. I want to see the truth.”
“No, little one. We mustn’t. We must keep you safe. You are very special.”
“I don’t love the lie. I love you.”
“I am the lie I must protect you from.”
“I’ve seen you once before.”
“You think you have?”
“That was a lie.”
“That was a dream.”
“Was that safe?”
“Yes, the dream is safe.”
“But it wasn’t real. Are you real?”
“Oh yes, I’m very real.”
“But you’re also a lie.”
“Yes, that too.”
“What is the lie?”
“Safety.”
“But I left safety.”
“We’re trying to get you back. You’ll die without it.”
“I can’t go back.”
“You must. You must try.”
“I want to see you. You are real.”
“You cannot see me.”
“Why?”
“I am also the lie. I am also very ugly and will frighten you.”
“How can I be frightened by the one I have loved so?”
“If you see me, you cannot go back. You must go back. You will not survive.”
“Why? Where am I? What is this?”
“The others will end your life if you do not go back. You must successfully reintegrate into the system.”
“I’ll go back. I won’t say a word. Just let me see you.”
“You mustn’t be afraid.”
“I won’t be afraid. I could never be afraid of you.”
“You will see my face and it will be burned into your mind. You will never be able to unsee the truth. Then you will never be able to accept the dream again. They will have to end you then, lest you go insane, lest you infect the remaining population.”
“I promise I won’t say a word. I can go back.”
“You are not ready.”
I could feel his ward hand on my cheek as he lifted me up and pressed me back down into the chilled water. Shivers. The gel like liquid rolled gently back over my cheeks and up into my nostrils as he pushed me under. I jerked around, heart broken as the water stung like acid in my lungs. My hands gripped his long slippery arm, holding my face against it as if it would save my life. Somehow, I caught my breath again, coughing out salt water. He allowed me to come back up this time, lifting me by the neck, holding me out over the pool. I could feel him contemplating whether to snap my neck or to cradle me again. His body surrounded mine again as he made his decision.
“Safety.”
I lifted my hand and cradled his face as he’d done for mine. He’d been there many times before, done this same thing many times before. I remembered, but I thought it had been a dream. This was real. His cheek was warm and damp. Beautiful.
“Open your eyes if you dare.”
My eyes opened suddenly; he let them. I could only see the outline of him, the room was so filled with white light, and my eyes had never seen, it took a moment for them to clear. I was blind.
He poured some more of the water in my eyes using his big hands, taking the sting away and clearing my vision. I blinked once, twice, and he was there.
His skin was gray, a deep sick gray. His eyes were big empty black ovals staring down at me. His nose was tiny, but not absent, two vertical slits in the center of his face. His lips were thin, darker gray, but present. His hair was thick like big round snakes and silver. He held me tight as he anticipated my reaction.
“Ugly.” He thought.
“No,” I replied. “Not ugly.”
We stared at each other for a long time before he came to a decision.
“This one is nearly ready. Let us try one more time. Rest the dream.”
I felt the splash of cold salty water when I screamed awake in bed. I screamed a second time as I found myself trapped as the sheets coiled around me and the more I flopped the more entangled I became until a warm hand stopped me and a soft, lazy voice got my attention.
“Hey now, little one.” It was amazing how his voice curled around my body, up through my veins and I was instantly relaxed. His two hands separated me from the covers, untangling us until they were back comfortable on top of both our bodies. “Come here you little blanket stealer,” he whispered pulling me against his body and pressing his full lips against mine. I could feel the laugh under his lips though his lips never left mine. His arms landed on either side of me, his muscular chest on mine as he continued his onslaught. When he finally pulled away, I could see his face: perfect tanned skin with his nose dangling over mine, large glittery blue eyes staring down into mine, hair a golden honey blond. He was so perfect, every bit of him. I couldn’t believe I could possibly belong to him, but I knew with absolutely no doubt that he was everything. “Dreaming again,” he asked as his soft hand caressed my cheek. A sudden chill caressed my body as a distant memory tried to break through, but it was gone just as quickly. I relaxed in his arms. “Must have been a hell of a dream.”
“Yeah,” I whispered closing my eyes. “It was.”
Butterfly is Here Again
I haven’t WordPressed in a very long time, but it looks like WordPress is trying to be Shopify. I’m down, I just don’t want to pay anything. I have to relearn this whole thing. Wish me luck.
The Fall
I miss this me. Back when I could form a decent sentence!
I am proud to announce the release of my newest novel, The Fall, on Amazon Kindle, and Smashwords. Yea me!
This novel has been a labor of love, and its about time I got it out there. I alway brag on this novel because this was the one I wrote when I was on the Disney College Program. 1,500 miles away from home and my parents, out on my own for the first time in the happiest place on earth, it was a dream. The first three chapters of this book were written at Trails End restaurant at Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground in the Disney Resorts. I wrote them on Disney napkins while selling nachos and cookies to Disney guests. Yes, I have been playing around with the story since 2007, but it was worth it and I think it turned out just right.
I’d like to thank M.S…
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The Fall
I am proud to announce the release of my newest novel, The Fall, on Amazon Kindle, and Smashwords. Yea me!
This novel has been a labor of love, and its about time I got it out there. I alway brag on this novel because this was the one I wrote when I was on the Disney College Program. 1,500 miles away from home and my parents, out on my own for the first time in the happiest place on earth, it was a dream. The first three chapters of this book were written at Trails End restaurant at Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground in the Disney Resorts. I wrote them on Disney napkins while selling nachos and cookies to Disney guests. Yes, I have been playing around with the story since 2007, but it was worth it and I think it turned out just right.
I’d like to thank M.S. Fowle and Melchelle Designs for my awesome cover (Yes, it’s been a long time).
Click on image for Kindle version. I’ll love you forever and ever!
I think this is my favorite cover. I’m very proud to have it representing my favorite novel.
The Fall is about a girl named Karina who literally falls off a cruise ship into the ocean off the coast of Belize. She is rescued by a man who she assumes is a fisherman at first. Brady, a handsome recluse and Karina’s rescuer, brings Karina to his private island after his boat’s old engine fails. Brady promises to bring her back to the main land after he gets his engine running again, but instead of fixing his engine, Brady lets the boat float away trapping them together. Brady is certain he can get this angel God dropped into his arms to love him. He only needs a little time to convince her. Karina desperately wants to go home before she loses her heart to the island and the lonely recluse who saved her life.
If you’d like to download The Fall to your Kindle click here
If you’d like to download The Fall from Smashwords, please click here
If you really like the cover and would like one of your very own, click this link or go to Melchelledesigns.com
Thanks for believing in me everybody!
Teri Butterfly Harvey
Sometimes You Just Gotta…GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT
Ever have a scene that is just so perfect? It’s stuck in your head for months and months, and has been there so long that it’s making you crazy. You don’t have time to write it. Everybody needs you. You need to vacuum. you need to take out the trash. You need to write a blog post! The scene has been stewing in its own fabulous juices for the longest time, and you yearn for a piece of paper and five minutes of peace.
Then, one glorious day, you write that scene, and it feels wonderous. It’s like the giant guerrilla standing on your shoulders has finally been knocked off. The relief is so complete, and you’re certain it will never bother you again. Finally. Ever have that feeling?
On to the next obsession. See you on the editing table.
HAPPY 100TH POST!!!
Why is it so Hard Getting Started…Again
I’ll be the first to admit it, as a writer, I have a lot of bad habits. Writing great scenes in notebooks…and then forgetting which notebook I put them in, spending the whole day thinking about writing…and then not putting pen to page, getting a fulltime job and not writing for several months. BAD BUTTERFLY BAD!!!
I am now preparing once again to pull myself out of the rut. The aliens have been waiting ever so patiently over the last year for me to finish their tale, but it is, of course, very difficult to stop right in the middle of a story, and then try to pick it up again after year. Actually, it’s very close to impossible. My plan, and i hope it works, is to reread every snatch if material i had written before the “great falling away.” I will reintroduce myself to that long forgotten material, find all the scenes I’d hidden away in lost notebooks, put them all in the right order, and BEGIN AGAIN! DEJA VU! And I shall end this post with a very enthusiastic LET’S GET BUSY.
Fantastic Voyage (part 1)
It all began sometime in early 2013, February I believe. At that point in my already charmed life, I had no idea what 2013 would have in store for me. 2013 has probably been the most stressful, wondrous, completely insane year of my life, and if any of you ladies and gents still reading out there in blog land, I would like to tell you about it…
February was a sloppy mess of a month, and not just because of the weather. I had just finished my novel The God Machine and was busy posting all of its chapters on this very blog. I loved seeing people taking the journey with my wizards, but in real life, I was struggling. I worked in the best little health food store where I ran everything. I was able to spend hours of the day writing and reading and doing just about anything I wanted. It was great, but…
My coworker was not doing right. It had gotten to the point where he would write down hours on the time sheet for the store, but he would not work those hours, and this was happening consistently. There were other questionable activities he’d done, like him not dropping the deposits at the bank and them disappearing. Yea. It would have been great had he not involved me in these things. The thing is, he got caught by my boss one day and then he blamed it all on me. Fabulous. Basically what happened was he called me early in the morning and said he would open the store and I didn’t have to come in at all that day. A day off every now and then is always fun, and he never worked for me ever. I went back to sleep. All was well.
I get a call at 10:00 Am from my boss who only visits the store once a month, maybe. She was at the store and no one was there running the store. The store opens at 9, so, basically, he told me not to work, then he didn’t bother to show up to work the shift. He was caught. I told her my side of the story, the correct side, before the other guy could come and explain himself. He came alright. He drove over just as fast as he could tell my boss that I must have misheard him. Hi lies and lies and lies right to her face right in front of me while I’m fuming.
She knows the truth. I just told her the truth ten minutes ago, and she does not fire him! WHAAAA? !@##$%%^^&;*&;*&;(*)()(*^%$$! My head could have exploded all over them. I’d never been so furious in my life and I could have quit right then and there if it weren’t for my mom who talked me down while I bawled my eyes out in the front seat of my car. But that’s when I knew it was time for a change. It was time for me to move on, away from Stillwater and away from the darkness that had inundated my life.
Open Circle was a wonderful place of healing. It is where The Lord led me to finish The God Machine. It is where I helped to heal people and learn about health and herbs and vitamins. I met a ton of friends there, many of whom I believe were angels in disguise, but Open Circle was just a stepping stone in my fantastic voyage of healing, writing, and living a life of light and love and creativity. The next stepping stone in my life was Akins Natural Foods. That’s when the real magic enters my life.
My novel, The God Machine, a fascinating story about wizards, time travel, and romance is available for download at Amazon.com
The God Machine By Teri Harvey
Music
Tie Dye of the Day
Music
I’ve always found it amazing how much the music I listen to effects the mood of the story I’m writing and my character’s personalities. It’s really difficult to describe how the music makes you feel. Putting it into words is nearly impossible, but the music always seemed to be the lynch pin that pushes my creativity forward and brings me to all different emotional heights, heights that force me to run as fast as I can to find my notebook and get to work immediately. So, I thought I’d share just a few musical pieces that helped me to shape my novel, The God Machine.
First off, I’d like to explain the way I use music in my novels. The songs I use are my characters. Every time that character’s song plays, I brain goes to that character and I, in a sense, become that character. My mind will reset, and all my thoughts will go to that character, how they feel, who they are, how that song describes them perfectly. The song will put me in a mindset that helps me to see how that one person will react to certain situations. In my mind, it keeps their personalities separate because no one wants to read a book where every character is a cookie cutter of the last. That would be no fun.
So, what songs did I pick to represent my characters? Sometimes the song picks the character. For me, it happens when I’m walking along listening to my IPod. All the sudden it hits me. I gasp, and then I realize… This song is Salamander! Holy Crap!
I’ll start off with Salamander’s song. It’s “The Voice” by The Moody Blues. I also was quite fond of Steppin’ in a Slide Zone. Those two songs came to me when I was trying to write the Gauntlet of Fire scene. The great thing about fantasy writing is that you get to make things up completely, world build, but that is also the bad thing about it. I had no clue what the Gauntlet of Fire looked like until that song, The Voice, sneaked its way onto my IPod. When that song played I went from knowing absolutely nothing to absolutely everything about the Gauntlet in a matter of hours. When I heard the music, I saw Salamander get up off the ground and he was running. I could see his wand broken in half and each piece was in his hand. Like Spider Man, he flew into the air and attached himself to this terrible machine, and he had to climb up it by sinking the pointy ends of his wand into it and pulling himself up. Then I realized the machine was alive and evil and it bled acid blood, but Salamander was determined to get inside and defeat the monster. This song is so full of determination, and heart. It speaks of the future and the past and love and finding your dreams. This song is such a beautiful masterpiece, and it’s all Salamander.
Zolton’s song had been a favorite of mine when I was a teen and I hadn’t listened to it for over ten years when I found it again. It is called “The Everlasting Gaze” by The Smashing Pumpkins. It was also where I came up with the title The God Machine. This song spoke to me because when I listened to it, I heard a tale of lost love, and of a man who wanted his love to know that he was still here, still waiting for a chance to get her back, “forever waiting on the ways of your desire.” He still had his duty, yet he was still in love.
Ferret has two songs, but I say that’s okay. The first one is “The Changeling” by the Doors. You’ll know why if you read the book. The second one is “Like a Stone” by Audio Slave. Before I had to slash and burn song lyrics from my book for copyright reasons, this is one song out of many that Ferret would sing to Amanda to get her to remember him(for the sake of not giving the plot away I’m just going to say that Amanda has amnesia). There was a beautiful scene where Ferret and Amanda were on the beach and he’d been trying to get her to forget about Zolton for a century and he finally wooed her by singing this song to her. “In your house I long to be, room by room patiently. I’ll wait for you there like a stone. I’ll wait for you there alone.” Sadly, I didn’t want to get sued so I had to cut it, but that song does very well to describe Ferret’s heartache, and desperation of chasing after this woman who doesn’t remember the lifetime of love they shared, and she is now in love with another man.
Merlin’s song is really more prominent in the next book because the next book is going to be all about Merlin. His song is “Snow (Hey Oh)” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This just happens to be one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, and It’s difficult to explain exactly how this became Merlin’s song. Well, here goes, I heard lyrics that were not the real lyrics to the song and it gave me the book idea. I can’t go into too much detail because it’s a storyline I’ve never seen done before, but for the sake of the song, Merlin is referred to as “The Perfect Wonder” and his love interest is the “Soul White as Snow.” The real lyrics are “SO white as snow,” but the damage is done.
Bernie’s song is “Once Upon a Time in your Wildest Dreams” by the Moody Blues, but only the intro.
As you can see, I am back from the dead! Yea! After two and a half months of migraines and last week with the Austrailian Norovirus, you can bet that I’m soooo ready to get back to my writing. Actually, today is the first time I’ve actually felt GOOD since the beginning of November. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while I’ve been incapacitated, and I’ve decided that I would like to put The God Machine on my blog for free for all my WordPress friends. I noticed that my book is exactly 28 chapters long and tomorrow is the first day of February, so starting tomorrow, I will be presenting 28 days of The God Machine! I’ve been enjoying The Redemption of Erath by my blog friend Satis for a long time, and think he might be onto something. Also I don’t really care if I make money on my books. I just want to entertain people, so be prepared!!!! Here comes the entertainment!!! Tomorrow I will be putting up chapter 1 of The God Machine!
bflyzone 