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 25th,
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
UE Facebook
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
