Katherine Forrister sent an update for Curio Citizen
Hello! We officially have 1 week left in the contest! That’s right, 7 days! If you haven’t pre-ordered, please consider doing so. If you are planning on getting around to it, please do it now while it’s fresh in your head. :) Also, please continue to gather pre-orders from any of your friends and family who would love to help a fledgling author get published. Thank you again for all of your love and support!

We are still in 2nd place, but as always, the others are steadily gaining pre-orders and could catch up or run ahead of us at any time. I’m staying focused, though, so with your help, I think we have a great chance of finishing in the top 3!

As part of the 100 order mark, I promised you a sneak peek into the third book of the trilogy, Curio Criminal! Click here.

And here is today’s look into the world of Curio Citizen:

Planetary Tilt

We’ve already discussed the dense mineral that makes interstellar space travel possible--void--and the high gravity zones that are present, in part, due to this mineral within the bedrock of Paz. What we haven’t discussed is a strange phenomenon caused by the high gravity zones. 

Paz experiences periodic changes in the nutation of the planet. This causes extreme temperature increases or drops at various times throughout the year. These "tilts" can last from weeks to months, and while they are predictable in timing, the severity of temperature depends upon numerous meteorological factors in addition to the tilt itself. This can lead to unexpected consequences. 

The paz have made technological advances to control their immediate environments, but the fear remains that, should their climate control fail, people will suffer or die due to the dangers of these extreme temperatures. 

--

              “Father was just explaining to Carmen what causes the tilt,” Cálido said from his chair.
 
              Oyente nodded. “Yes,” he handed his daughter and son-in-law fresh glasses of juice and offered them seats around a wide table, “it appears to be something she’s never experienced before.”

               I took a bite of my tilt-stick, curious about the conversation, but not sure if I could handle any more condescension. The refreshment distracted me for a moment. It was ice cold and very tart. The paz certainly had a preference for strong flavors.

             “The planet wobbles,” Cálido piped up. A sidelong grin was on his face as he tilted one of his tilt-sticks to match. “The high gravity zones are so dense, they throw Paz off balance as it rotates.”

            “Not enough for us to feel it, of course,” Oyente assured me. “We’re not going to go flying off the planet.”

            “Oh, good,” I said mildly. “I was worried.”

            Inquieto suppressed a smile. Good, I thought, he had finally decided I was intelligent enough for sarcasm.

---

Thank you so much for your support! We can do this! Click here to pre-order Curio Citizen!

--Katherine

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    Katherine Forrister sent an update for Curio Citizen
    Hello to my amazing followers!

    We have reached over 100 pre-orders, a number I never dreamed we would attain. Curio Citizen is still in 2nd place, but 3rd and 4th continue to gather orders and are right on our tail. There are only 9 days left in the contest!

    Please, I ask each of you to seek out one person who might want to pre-order a copy and encourage them to do so. It would be so helpful! I am getting a lot of "likes" and "shares" on social media, but the actual pre-orders are slowing down. I know people are excited about Curio Citizen, but they might need a little nudge to get them to contribute monetarily.

    If you are following this and haven’t pre-ordered, I ask you to please consider doing it now. I am so excited to share Curio Citizen with all of you and see it on bookstore shelves, but it will not be published if I don’t stay in the top 3.

    Thank you so much for your help! Now, as promised, I will be posting sneak peeks into the second two books of the Curio Trilogy to give you a taste of where this sci-fi saga is going! Today, I have posted an excerpt from Curio Conspiracy.


    But first, I’ll start with a brief introduction of the primary villain of Curio Citizen:

    Dignidad Fortalacen is an ambitious politician. As our story begins, he sits on the High Council, the most powerful seat of government, which is based in the Capitol, but oversees the entire planet. He is the youngest person ever elected to the position of High Counselor, and although he is now middle-aged, he still has years separating him from his wizened peers.

    Fortalacen is a strict proponent of isolationism and sees Carmen as a threat to paz traditions and safety. He is arrogant, shrewd, and far more power-hungry than paz are bred to be. How far will he go to stop Carmen? Will he push the confines of his peaceful society in his quest for power?

    ,

                   
                        "’We are present today to discuss Curio 0924,’ a man with a smooth, deep voice said. His skin was slightly darker than most paz, though not enough to suggest a different race. He had deep-set eyes and a slightly sloped-back forehead, with a square jaw and a biting elegance. ’A designated species of Planet 0924, established on Paz as of Fifday, the thirty-sixth of Month Eight, Year 601 of Forward Peace. We have viewed the provided footage and annotated assessment analyses you have submitted, and—’

                       ’She is a human, Counselor Fortalacen,’ Inquieto boldly interrupted. ’A sublevel intelligent species to a degree that no curio has ever been assessed, neither at the Curio Life Museum of the Capitol, nor any smaller city museum on Paz. She has a name, and it is Carmen O’Dwyer. She comes from a planet called Earth, on which her species is the dominant species, much like our own species is on Paz.’

                      Fortalacen listened to this explanation in a silence as smooth as his butter-knife voice. When he spoke, he revealed its subtle edge.

                      ’Whatever your perceptions, Citizen Reúnen, this council will decide whether or not the curio is worthy of being designated as a sublevel intelligent species or not,’ he said. ’Or are you confused about why you are here today?’

                      Inquieto placed his hands on the back of the chair behind me.

                      ’I am here today,’ he said slowly, ’to submit a petition for Carmen O’Dwyer’s citizenship.’
                
                      I blinked in surprise and looked up at him. Then I frowned at Counselor Fortalacen, who was laughing. He was joined by a few others; the rest looked stunned and rather dubious."


    Click here to see our hero and villain in action in an excerpt from Curio Conspiracy!

    And click here to pre-order Curio Citizen :)

    Thanks so much!

    --Katherine
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      Katherine Forrister liked an update for Mission 51

      Torkiyan missions to Cerulea (the planet Earth) have often ended in tragedy. Travel across the galaxy and a succesful landing must be difficult! The most recent evidence of these tragedies includes the remnants of the spaceship and the dead alien we found in Roswell in 1947, which experts believe was part of Torkiyan Mission 50.

      This original illustration by artist Chris Pyke is in the Mission 51 chapter called Roswell Revisited. You’ll have to read the book to get the rest of the story! :-)

      Mission 51 remains in 1st Place in the Nerdist Sci-Fi Contest on Inkshares. Like Mission 51, the book in 2nd place also has to do with issues of immigration. This seems to be an important subject for our times.

      Mission 51 is a mature Inkshares project. Perhaps that is why it started strong in the contest and has remained in 1st Place for the entire duration of the contest so far. But there is no guarantee whatsoever it will remain in 1st Place at the end. There are other strong authors/stories that can easily displace Mission 51 now in the closing days of the contest. Several of these books are very close to doing so. Only the top three will win a coveted publishing contract on Inkshares.

      You can be an integral part of bringing Mission 51 to Amazon, to bookstore shelves across the country and maybe even around the world! You would do it by placing a pre-order. Contestants are ranked by the number of individual people who place a pre-order. If you have been thinking about doing so, it is essential to do it now!

      If you think you have pre-ordered but did not receive a confirmation email from Inkshares, it probably did not go through. Be sure you have that confirmation email. If you didn’t, please try again or contact me!

      Please help me win a publshing contract for Mission 51 by pre-ordering your ebook or signed copy now. Thank you all so very much for your support!

      Peace!

      Ferd 👽


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        Katherine Forrister sent an update for Curio Citizen

        Hi everybody!

        Curio Citizen is still in 2nd! You are all fantastic people! I really appreciate all of your support. With 10 days left in the contest, we are no doubt going to face a fierce surge of competition for the top 3 spots, and I’m not going to lie--a girl can only know so many people. I could really use your help to widen the circle of supporters for my novel. If you could please find one person to sit down in front of a computer and pre-order a copy, I would be forever grateful! We are so close to being published, I would hate to have all of our hard work not be enough at the last minute! Thank you so much for helping!

        Here is today’s look into the world of Curio Citizen:

        High Gravity Zones:

        Paz is pocketed with areas of increased gravity known as "high gravity zones". These zones have a thickened planetary crust and are packed with the super dense metal known as void. These zones are uninhabitable and consist only of mining facilities, as no one can withstand the immense gravity without the aid of specialized, mechanized suits. Even then, the time the paz or human body can survive there under such intense pressure is short.

        ,


                            "Spoken words were accompanied by three-dimensional diagrams, which leapt out of the screen to hover in the living room. I stood up, curious, and circled a sphere that rotated on an indicated axis. Paz.

                            A white, pinpoint circle sat in a frame of blue in the lower portion of the northern hemisphere, labeled as the Capitol. Otherwise, the planet’s diagram was colored on a gradient spectrum from bright red to deep blue. Many red small, irregular splotches seemed to be the focus of the illustration.

                            The sphere continued to rotate, but its rotation stopped being smooth and steady. Instead, it began to wobble, not much, but enough to alter the shadows and light that played around the sphere’s poles, presumably cast by an imaginary sun outside the realm of the display. The dot of the Capitol moved in a subtle southern shift. Words popped up on the diagram, but they did little to explain the topic that streamed from the woman’s lips as incoherent babble.

                            High Gravity Zones.

                           ’Huh,’ I uttered, scanning the globe, pocketed with red splotches.
                  
                           The diagram was smoothly swept away, and the room was empty of projections. I heard a few understandable words about wind intensity and the time the sun would set that night. I fervently wished it would hurry up. Maybe then it would cool down."


        ---


        Thank you so much for trying to get one other person’s pre-order. I would love for you all to have the ability to read Curio Citizen, and if we don’t finish in the top 3, that can’t happen! Please continue to help. Thank you again for everything you have done already. Have the best of days, everyone!

        --Katherine
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