Good Afternoon Everyone!

It’s rounding up to be another busy week in our household. Always something going on. My husband ended up with a nasty burn from the tea kettle’s steam yesterday so that had its share a drama and tonight he has a meeting to attend. My stepson has his Sea Cadet’s meeting this evening as well, and he is still under house arrest from his grounding last week. He is into his second week and has one more to go. Oh, the sad life of a teenager who breaks the rules. I’m busy with appointments, the day to day house/family stuff, trying to sell my novel and getting the second one written, along with doing things for my Dad.

For years my mother made ceramics and last year she had me find a fox (it’s very large) for her to paint and then have on her front porch; unfortunately, she never had the chance to finish it before she passed. So, I agreed to paint the fox for my Dad. I finished it yesterday and will be able to take it to him when we visit in October. The things we do for the people we love. Somehow with my busy schedule and our busy family lives, I still find time to read. I make it a priority. It is my belief that reading makes me a better writer. Ah, yes, I made my way to today’s topic: the featured author. And Wednesday’s author is . . .

Wednesday’s Featured Author: Jake Bible

Jake Bible writes sci fi, military, adventure, monster books and has several series out. I have only read the Mega series so far, but his other series sound good too and I will most likely try them out in the future. As far as the Mega series goes, there is very little romance in it, so yes, this is a departure for me. As I have said in the past, I don’t always read romance. I do like variety and I do get bored with the same genre all the time.

A couple of years ago, I went looking for something fun and adventurous to read, something with sea monsters. Yes, I’m a monster junkie. I love Jaws, Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Lake Placid (the giant alligator), Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, and Arachnophobia (the list can go on and on) type movies. I grew up watching those old black and white monster movies on Saturday afternoons when it was raining or too cold to go out. I love them, and yes, I have read the novel forms of some of these movies. As I was saying, a couple of years ago I went on an Amazon kindle book hunt and found Jake Bible’s Mega series. I’m hooked on this series.

The Mega series stars a group of ex Navy SEALS and other ex military men and women who were hired by the mysterious man, Ballantine, to go on special missions on his ship Beowulf with the help of Ballantine’s team of scientists and techs he calls elves. Ballantine calls his team of elite soldiers Grendel.

Now for those of you who don’t know, Beowulf is an epic poem from around the 700 – 900s. There is no exact date here as the scholars don’t really know it. Most likely, it started as an oral story told around the fire and then eventual was written down. The original written version is in old English and has been translated numerous times over the centuries. How do you know this, you ask? I know this because while I was working on my Master’s degree I had to take an entire class dedicated to this story, translating the original old English text into modern English. So, I know this story well. Anyway, I digress. In a nutshell, Beowulf is the hero of the story and wins the battles. Grendel is Beowulf’s nemesis, but in the end Beowulf does defeat Grendel. However, he had to face the wrath of Grendel’s mother, but that’s another part of the story.

I found it very interesting that the character Ballantine names his ship Beowulf and his team Grendel. Hmm, does he believe his own team to be his opponent . . . I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own.

So far, there are five books in this series, Mega, Baja Blood, When Giants Collide, Behemoth Island, and Murder Island. I am currently reading the fifth book, Murder Island. This is a fun series to read; however, there are a few discrepancies and errors here and there. And yes, enough for me to mention it, but considering how much Jake Bible produces, these errors are expected. The more a writer produces, the more errors there will be. Most of us can overlook these errors and enjoy the story anyway. At least, I do and I believe that the errors in this series are minor enough that they don’t really upset the story. My favorite of this series is the first one, Mega. It sets the series up and introduces the characters Kinsey, Darren, Shane, Max, Commander Thorne, Ballantine and others. There is some good humor in this series, particularly between Shane and Max who are the comic relief. Many times, the humor is tongue in cheek and can be a bit of a parody of monster stories. My second favorite would be Behemoth Island, mostly because of the humor; however, I have yet to finish the fifth book so this is still up in the air.

There is lots of adventure, new technology, secrets, fighting, oh, and sharks, prehistoric, genetically modified, giant sharks, and other monsters in this series. It’s fun and there’s humor and it’s easy to read. So, if you are looking for something besides romance and want adventure with scary monsters and kick a** fight scenes, this is a read for you. Go check it out.

However, if you aren’t interested in monsters and want a good romance, go pick up a copy of my novel, Signs of Love and Deliverance. The link is below. Yes, I have to peddle my book. I need to sell more copies!

Don’t forget on Friday, I will be posting another excerpt from my novel, Signs of Love and Deliverance. So, come on back for a visit. Until then, have a great week and keep on reading!

Tracy