Thursday, June 16, 2016

Marionettes by Kerry Alan Denney


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kerry Alan Denney will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour-- more chances to enter!

Resuscitated after he drowns and dies in a flood, David Flint discovers he has returned from the other side with an uncanny ability: He can “jump” into people’s bodies and minds, and control their thoughts and actions.

David believes it's a gift, and wants to use it to help people. Then four members of a ruthless drug ring savagely attack his fiancée and leave her in a coma, and David tries to use his new power to destroy the whole ring. But the ringleader, a voodoo priest known as the Zombie Master, is a formidable man with a deadly secret: He has the same incredible ability as David.

When the two human marionette masters clash in a brutal bloody showdown, using the ring’s members as their puppets, David discovers he’s battling for much more than his life—he’s fighting to rid the world of an evil human abomination.

Marionettes illuminates the greatest achievements of the human spirit and the darkest corridors of our minds, and answers the age-old question: What are the consequences of absolute power?

Enjoy an excerpt:

My head was turned sideways, and I struggled to push myself into a sitting position only to find another sadistic little swordsman was trying to slice his way out of my gut.

“Let me adjust your bed. Take your time, sweetie,” the angel said. She used the bed’s controls to raise it so I could sit up.

The combination of the brutal swordsman in my gut, the vicious little bastards in my throat, and jackhammer-man in my head made me want out of this bad dream. That’s when things got mega-weird: I found myself inexplicably staring down at… me. My face was slack, my features drooping, and my open eyes looked empty and barely aware.

It scared the hell out of me, dream or not.

I saw the angel’s delicate hands gently adjust my shoulders and brush strands of my long dark hair out of my eyes from her perspective, as though her hands were mine.

I’m Cynthia, a nurse, I realized. I have two kids—Johnny and Leah—and a doting husband named Paul who is a wonderful father to our children. I want more than ever to help my patient, David Flint—the subject of much gossip among the second floor nursing staff—to be well and whole again.

“Little pieces, David,” Cynthia said, feeding ice chips from a spoon to the bedridden zombie who looked like me. I worried about the slack look on my face. “Let them melt in your mouth.”

Cynthia knew about Karin’s tragic death, and felt sorry for me at the same time that she felt hopeful for my continued recovery. This screwed with my mind, and because pity is something I can’t tolerate, I found myself jerked out of Cynthia’s perspective and back into my own.

I felt the cool, soothing comfort of the melting ice slide down my throat and wash away some of the little swordsmen. Take that, you bastards. But the pleasant sensation triggered a darker, nasty memory of brackish waters involuntarily swallowed recently.

My body shook with spasms as the memory rose to the surface of my mind and hit me like a sledgehammer blow crushing my skull. The surrounding dark waters engulfed me, and I panicked.

“Can’t… breathe,” I rasped, grabbing Cynthia’s arm. “Save me.”

“Oh honey, you’re remembering, aren’t you?” Cynthia took my hand and set the cup of ice chips on the rotating bedside table.

“Drowning,” I croaked, squeezing her hand. “Save me.”

“No, David, you’re not drowning. You’re in the hospital, safe and alive, and I’m right here with you.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I looked up into her kind eyes, and saw worry etch lines in her brow. I suddenly remembered the razor-sharp chunk of glass penetrating my gut as I submerged beneath dark waters, unable to stay afloat any longer. That was when I gave in to the merciless deluge, seeing Karin’s face before me as I drowned.


About the Author:
Colleagues and readers have dubbed Kerry Alan Denney The Reality Bender. The multiple award-winning author of the paranormal thrillers Dreamweavers (Juju Mojo Publications, August 2015) and Soulsnatcher (Juju Mojo Publications, April 2014), the post-apocalyptic sci-fi/ horror thriller Jagannath (Permuted Press, February 2015), and numerous short stories published online and in anthologies, Kerry blends elements of the supernatural, paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror in his work: speculative fiction at its wildest and craziest. With joy, malicious glee, and a touch of madness, he writes reality-bending thrillers, even when the voices don’t compel him to. His protagonists are his children, and he loves them as dearly as he despises his antagonists... even when he has to kill them.

On July 24, 2015, Jagannath became a #1 Amazon bestseller. On March 31, 2015, Soulsnatcher won 2nd Place as 2014 Book of the Year in The Drunken Druid’s International Book Award competition. Jagannath and Soulsnatcher each received a rave blurb from New York Times bestselling author James Rollins.

Kerry lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia with his golden retriever Holly Jolly, a veteran professional Therapy Dog, where he is currently writing his next supernatural thriller... and deciding who to kill in it.

Be on the lookout for Kerry’s new post-apocalyptic/ paranormal thriller A Mighty Rolling Thunder, coming December 3, 2016 from Burning Willow Press.

Kerry’s website: http://www.kerrydenney.com
Follow Kerry on his Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Kerry-Alan-Denney/e/B00K378HHS
Follow Kerry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KerryDenney
Kerry’s Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8187822.Kerry_Alan_Denney
Kerry’s Facebook Author/ Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/KerryAlanDenneyTheRealityBender
Join Kerry on Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/102464185794371169075/posts

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9 comments:

  1. Good Morning! Raining here in Michigan but hope your day is a sunny one. Thanks for this giveaway

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  2. Thanks so much to It's Raining Books for featuring me and my new supernatural thriller MARIONETTES today!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks for following the tour, Victoria. :)

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  4. What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

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    1. Hi Mai. My answer: A fond, lingering memory of time well spent getting to know my fictional characters and their fictional story.

      Having readers want to read my other works after they finish MARIONETTES is a bodacious bonus. Thanks to all who do!

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks Mary... I think, lol. The ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" comes to mind...
      :)

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So... inquiring minds want to know: what do you think?