New Release: Chimera by NJ Tanger

Universe Eventual: Chimera  by NJ Tanger

Book Author(s):

N.J. Tanger (pseudonym for: Nathan Beauchamp, Joshua Russell, and Rachel Tanger)

Book Genre:

Young Adult

Science Fiction

Dystopian / First Contact / Space Exploration

Serial / Book Series

Release Format:

E-Book

Print Book

Release Date:

April 25^th, 2015

About the book:

The Stephen’s Point colony is dying. Desperate, the colony must restore the ancient colony ship Chimera for a dangerous return journey to Earth.

To sixteen-year-old Theo Puck, the Mandate to crew the Chimera seems like a game—one he isn’t invited to play. A brutal murder changes everything: left with no choice, Theo has to complete the Selection training and make it aboard the Chimera or face terrible consequences.

Selena Samuelson wants to do what she does best—fly. Piloting her father’s ore trawler is the only life she’s known before a horrifying accident strands her aboard the Hydra, the station responsible for rebuilding the Chimera. Forced into the Mandate testing against her will, Selena encounters an unexpected ally, forever changing the way she sees the Chimera and herself.

Forced to make dark choices in order to survive, Theo and Selena’s fates intertwine. But behind the scenes, someone else sets into motion events that could destroy everything they’re fighting to protect. 

About the Authors

Nathan Beauchamp

 

Personal Bio

Nathan started writing stories at nine-years-old and never stopped. From his first grisly tales about carnivorous catfish, mole detectives, and cyborg housecats, his interests have always emphasized the strange. Nathan works in finance so that he can support his habit of putting words together in the hope that someone will read them. His hobbies include reading, photography, arguing for sport, and pondering the eventual heat death of the universe. He has published many short stories and holds an MFA in creative writing from Western State. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two young boys.

Professional Bio

Nathan M. Beauchamp writes speculative fiction ranging from hard science fiction to magical realism and horror. His short fiction has appeared in Spark, Pantheon Magazine, the Exigencies Anthology, and numerous other fine magazines and anthologies. He holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Western State University and lives in Chicago with his wife and two young boys.

Joshua Russell

Personal Bio

Joshua started making movies when he was eight years old, an addiction he’s never kicked. His lust for adventure and foolhardy risk have led him on and off of movie sets, through uncharted mountain ranges, to foreign worlds where people speak in strange tongues, and to the seminal co-creation of two human beings. For positive cash flow, Joshua teaches screenwriting at DePaul University. For negative cash flow, he makes independent films, including the upcoming Absolution. The Universe Eventual book series is Joshua’s first foray into fiction writing, and he’s profoundly happy to be surrounded by writers who are smarter and even better looking than he is.

Professional Bio

Joshua has spent most of his life as a filmmaker. He has worked as the writer, director or producer for several highly-awarded short and feature films including: OMG, NOSTALGIC, DOG JACK, FANCYPANTS, F-LOAD OF SCOTCH TAPE, the upcoming feature ABSOLUTION and documentary 147 PIANOS. He has taught screenwriting for almost a decade at Columbia College and DePaul University. The Universe Eventual book series is his first foray into fiction writing.

Rachael Tanger

Personal Bio

Rachael Tanger has been writing stories since she first learned to hold a pencil. She grew up on a farm in the Midwest but has since lived in large cities, some internationally. She values experiences and is addicted to travel. She has worked in marketing in various capacties, most recently as a freelance consultant for small business. Rachael currently lives in Chicago with her husband and son. This is her first novel.

Professional Bio

Rachael Tanger is from the Midwest and currently resides in Chicago. She was an English major and attended Purdue University. In the last fifteen years she has worked in advertising in varying capacities, most recently as a freelance consultant in SEO and marketing for small businesses as well as non-profits and religious organizations. Her experience in the multi-faceted world of modern marketing covers everything from website and graphic design to search engine optimization and print campaign rollouts. Rachael has lived in several major US cities, as well as London, England. Along with her husband, she has traveled three continents, homeschooled, and blazed new trails. Rachael is dedicated to the crossroads of art and technology and values the flexibility of owning her own creative-focused business.

Check out these links for more Universe Eventual info:
Universe Eventual Webpage
Buy Chimera on Amazon
Goodreads
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Excerpt from Chimera

Theo had seen Stephen’s scratchings before at the various shrines that dotted the mountain ranges. The Order considered them prophesies, left behind by the original navigator of the Chimera. Many of them looked just like the drawings in Stephen’s journal, the book the Order referred to as The Emergent Intellect. Neither the journal nor the drawings meant much to Theo, but he’d never admitted his doubts to anyone, least of all his mother. She believed in Stephen and his prophesies. Almost everyone did. If genuine, a new discovery of scratchings would make the value of the hacked Selection list seem trivial by comparison. 

“Theo? You should come out now. I just wanted you to see—” 

“And now I see,” Theo snapped. He twisted his shoulders, inching himself down and forward, scraping with his fingertips. If he could get through the opening and down into the cavern … 

A tiny current of air rose from below. Theo gagged. The air smelled bad. Like rot. What was down there? 

“What are you doing?” Meghan’s voice was faint; his body filled the hole like a cork, muffling her. “You can’t fit!” 

“I can make it,” Theo shouted. “Put your back against my feet so I have something to push on.” 

A second later, Meghan’s sturdy back pressed into his feet. Theo shoved forward, clenching his teeth as rocks dug into his abdomen and hips. The downward slope that had seemed so manageable before became unbearable, his head pounding from the blood flooding it. The walls tightened around him, closer, squeezing, crushing. Frantic, Theo pushed harder. Reaching with his arms, he felt along the lower portion of the opening, searching for leverage. Below him, the light from his fallen handscreen dimmed and then went black. 

The rock was moving in, constricting, pushing the air out of his lungs. Devastating terror threatened to overwhelm him. “Help! You have to get me out!” Theo’s panicked voice echoed into the depths, taunting him. 

“Stuck?” Meghan asked, voice coming hollow and tiny. He felt her shift against his feet, the cool air of the upper cavern cold on his ankles where his pants legs had rolled up. Then Meghan’s hands circled his feet and yanked. Theo slid two inches, legs catching against the rough rock, one of his shoulder blades catching.

“Stop, I can’t move!” 

Theo’s chest deflated again, breath coming short—his lungs wouldn’t expand. He was suffocating. He would die. His mind filled with images of his homeroom at school, his house, his sister Liddy, his father and mother. Crystalline awareness flooded him, a calm, almost benign understanding. This was how people like him died: in the stupidest way possible, stuck in a tiny hole in a giant mountain, trying to impress a girl. 

A pair of hands tightened around his dangling wrists and without a shred of tenderness, jerked him through, down into the cavern below.

  

Check out these links for more Universe Eventual info:
Universe Eventual Webpage
Buy Chimera on Amazon
Goodreads
UE Facebook