Moon Life by Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Click on the tour to see the other stops on the tour. One of the authors, Hank Fabian, did a really fun TV interview recently. You can see it here.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. What are your favorite TV shows?

We are sustaining members of PBS and prefer their programs, especially Masterpiece Theater, Mystery and Nova.

What is your favorite meal?

Hank’s favorite meal is fish and chips. Marlene likes salmon so much she dreams of being reincarnated as a bear in a salmon stream.

If you were to write a series of novels what would it be about?

We plan to turn our current YA sci fi project into a sci fi adventure series based on hard science.

Is there a writer you idolize?

Hank and Marlene agree that Joseph Heller, author of “Catch 22” is one of our most admired writers. Hank also likes Herman Melville and Jonathon Swift. Marlene admires Shirley Jackson, George Orwell and Mark Twain.

How did you come up with the title for your book?

Following the principle of Occam’s Razor, we kept the title of our book simple and to the point. “Moon Life” is about life on a moon.

It is the year 2051 and the International Space Institute has just sent two rival astrobiologists to search for extraterrestrial life on Europa, the mysterious ice moon of Jupiter. What they encounter could not only revolutionize science, it might make one of them the most famous person on Earth. Or does the Universe have other plans?

Read an Excerpt

Charlie found himself drifting on a cosmic wind toward a mound of skulls that looked curiously familiar. His pain had vanished, but he felt disoriented. The skulls appeared to be gigantic but he couldn’t be sure if they were large or if he had become exceedingly small. A swift, turbulent wind carried him into one of the skulls, through the orbit of an eye then its optic canal.

A dazzling light appeared before him, gradually fading into an aerial view of Sleeping Woman Mountain. Now he discovered he was a mere speck riding between what he perceived to be two enormous insect eyes. He immediately thought of the Ngala totem and concluded these were the eyes of a dragonfly.

Rainforest shadows parted below him to reveal the ruins of his former camp filled with soldiers lounging casually near the bloodstone, the site of Gnesh’s murder. Their arrogance fueled Charlie’s rage.

On his command, thousands of wasps flew out of the forest and descended on the soldiers.

The men screamed as the insects stung them. They swatted at the horde, firing their weapons uselessly. Desperate to escape the swarm, they dived into the river where they met a pack of hungry crocodiles. The waters ran red with blood.

Now Charlie saw Prime Minister Jahuara’s distinctive helicopter appear, hovering above the carnage. Charlie directed his dragonfly into the cockpit. The insect buzzed up to the head of the prime minister sitting at the helicopter’s controls, repeatedly biting the tyrant’s eyes with its great mandibles. Jahuara tried to swat it away but the dragonfly was too quick. He shrieked in pain as blood flowed from his sockets.

Flying blind, he lost control and the helicopter plummeted into the trees. Charlie and the dragonfly escaped the craft in time to watch it explode in a mass of flames.

Charlie found himself drifting above the forest canopy. He turned his gaze toward the black sky shimmering with starlight. One by one, stars fell from the night like droplets of a celestial mist. The Pleiades constellation was the last to fall. Merope lingered for a moment, then disappeared into the darkness. A feeling of immense tranquility settled over him as he relished the embrace of this sacred void.

The world was back in balance. He closed his eyes…and succumbed to peace.

About the Authors:The family that writes together stays together, so siblings Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian co-authored a science fiction adventure that explores Jupiter’s moon Europa as two rival astrobiologists race to be the first to find extraterrestrial life. This discovery should ensure the winner fame and fortune, but the Universe has other plans.

Hank is the guy walking around with a long lens camera and binoculars, a tourist of the world fascinated by every creature that moves and every plant that grows. He teaches biology and helped devise a college genetics program. As a scientist he likes to work with facts, so there's a possibility that the creatures he’s created actually exist!

Marlene is the president of a nonprofit, The I Will Projects, dedicated to advancing educational venues that include a middle school aquaponics program in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club which received a NASA grant. She writes in multiple genres and also has published “Elderchild,” an Alzheimer’s narrative written in the first person. She shares Hank’s love of the natural world and is dazzled by the interconnectivity of all living things.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21747101.Marlene_Fabian_Stiles
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21747100.Hank_Fabian
Hank Fabian Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Life-Hank-Fabian-ebook/dp/B09BPMVX44

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