Category Archives: 46 Ascending Books

This is what my new tour looks like!

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Tomorrow I kick-off a month-long blog tour for 46. Ascending. I’ve found a new blog company, Silver Dagger Tours, to put this tour together and they gave me the html sent out to their tour hosts. Here’s what it’s going to look like! What do you think …



One
of One
46.
Ascending Book 1
by
S.R. Cronin
Genre:
SciFi Fantasy, Adventure


Celebrate
the superhero in us all in this unique exploration of the connections
we forge.

Somadina,
a young Nigerian telepath, faces a crisis. Since being forced into a
frightening marriage, her sister, Nwanyi, has disappeared into thin
air. Not even Somadina’s gift can help locate her sibling. Terrified
and desperate, she reaches out to fellow telepath, Lola–a Texas
scientist–for assistance.


Lola,
however, has been steadfastly ignoring the disturbing phenomenon in
her mind for decades, and has no intention of embracing it now–much
less for a total stranger. But once it becomes apparent Nwanyi is a
pawn in a dangerous political game, the stakes rise for everyone, and
Lola is forced to reconsider.


Can
these powerful women overlook their differences and use their unique
gifts to stop a fanatic willing to kill anyone to alter his nation’s
future?


**Only
.99 cents!!**
Goodreads
* Amazon



Shape
of Secrets
46.
Ascending Book 2

You
can’t outrun the past in this mystery adventure where things are not
always as they appear


Zane,
a young man with the ability to change his appearance, is starting
his first job at Penthes Pharmaceuticals. However, it’s not what he
expects. Soon he is drawn into a world of corporate secrets and
dangerous knowledge.


The
deceptions are only beginning. A sales trip to the South Pacific
leaves Zane dealing with an unsolved murder, an unsavory boot camp
manager, and new friends with abilities as surprising as his
own.


Can
he use his unique talents to unravel the mysteries he’s been
presented with? More importantly, can he find out who framed his
friend for murder before it’s too late?


Goodreads
* Amazon

 



Twists
of Time
46.
Ascending Book 3

Uncover
the startling truth before time runs out in this complex search for
an ancient treasure.


Alex
is a former basketball player who has always been able to bend time.
These days he teaches physics and parents three quirky children
alongside his unusual wife.


When
the administration at his high school wants to reignite its history
with organized hate groups and return to an era of white supremacy,
Alex can no longer remain the quiet bystander. He must stand up and
fight for what he believes is right.


Further
complications arise when Stan, an old high school rival, needs Alex’s
code-cracking skills. Just when Alex has his hands full at school,
he’s drawn into a treasure hunt. Stan and a handful of ex-grad
students lost an obsidian box years ago containing instructions to
find an important discovery. As they reconstruct what happened the
night the artifact went missing, they need Alex’s help to find the
last two hidden relics containing the remaining clues to the
treasure.


As
both of Alex’s situations grow more dire, it becomes clear he must
tap into the abilities he left behind. Can he manipulate time for the
people and causes he cares about most?


Goodreads
* Amazon

 



Layers
of Light
46.
Ascending Book 4


Celebrate
those who light a candle in the darkness in this compelling and
eye-opening tale.

Teddie
is into country music, her old pick-up truck and getting through high
school with as little drama as possible. Yet somehow her best friend,
Michelle, talks her into spending a semester in Darjeeling, India.
The thrilling adventure turns treacherous when a seedy underworld
threatens her friends.


As
she fights to understand a depravity she never dreamed existed, a
stranger makes her an unexpected offer. He’ll train her to find the
missing girls, but she will have to trust in abilities she barely
believes exist and summon more courage than she thinks she has. And
there will be no going back.


Given
the choice between this and abandoning her friends to their
horrifying fate, the decision is simple. She must rise to the
challenge.


But
how can she make such a commitment when she doesn’t understand what
it is she can do?


**Get
it FREE Oct 31st – Nov 4th!!**
Goodreads
* Amazon


Flickers
of Fortune
46.
Ascending Book 5


Cling
to the edge of your seat in this high-finance, high-stakes
adventure.


What do we do with knowledge of the future?
Clairvoyant Ariel has been doing her best to ignore it, finding the
whole thing a nuisance. But when she comes across people using
similar abilities to get extremely rich, her interest is piqued.


Then
she discovers a second collection of gifted people. They care about
ensuring the survival of the human race, but that doesn’t stop them
from being dangerous and crazy, too. Soon Ariel becomes the object in
a game of tug of war between the two groups, as they fight to have
her–and her particular talents–on their side.


She
can’t possibly help them both. Aligning with either could be a
terrible idea. But how can she stay out of it when so much is at
stake?


Goodreads
* Amazon


One
of Two
46.
Ascending Book 6


Join
an extraordinary family on a heart-pounding adventure as they face
mortal danger.

Telepathy
creates as many problems as it solves, as everyone in the secret
organization x0 would admit. Those problems become much worse when
budding psychic Lola discovers another group of telepaths associated
with a powerful media empire. This group is willing to destroy anyone
capable of challenging them.


Soon,
Lola’s family and friends are in danger. Fortunately, they are
gifted with astonishing abilities of their own. Yet, none of them
know how to fight. It will take every power they posses, and the
allegiance of a helpful warrior, to bring down the arrogant adepts
who do the bidding of a man hell-bent on promoting destruction.


Can
the talented people Lola cares about learn to trust each other and
work together in order to save the world?

Goodreads
* Amazon




Sherrie
Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction
novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing
a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven
Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes
it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by
developing abilities they barely knew they had.

She’s
made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. She’s
lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a
waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a
hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a
husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just
fine, both despite how odd she is.


All
her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be
Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and
writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits
to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard,
just in case.


Website
* Website * Facebook
* Twitter * Amazon
* Goodreads

 

Follow
the tour HERE
for special content and a giveaway!

$25 Amazon

 

 

How does she really look?

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It turns out I really enjoy book covers. I like looking at them, I like thinking about them, and I love working with professional designers to make them.

I’ve had such fun as these six covers for my re-released collection-in-progress were created, that I hate to see the cover design part come to a conclusion. Aren’t they lovely?

What I’ve enjoyed most is seeing my main characters come to life.

When I first wrote One of One (called x0 at the time) I was obsessed with giving form to my mental picture of Lola, the main character. I wished I could draw well enough to show the world how she looked. I can’t, so I scoured Shutterstock for artists images that captured what I was seeing in my mind. These were some of my favorites.

When I decided to rename the books, I needed new covers. Current fashion is to show the characters, so it looked like I had to find someone who could show the world what Lola really looked like, and would do it at a price I could afford. I found a group called Deranged Doctor Design.

For each cover, DDD found Shutterstock models whose faces were “close enough” to my main characters, and then the faces were altered (if necessary) to make them more accurate. Then the head was stitched onto a body that worked well with the cover design and character. (This process, I presume, yielded the name of the company. I mean what kind of deranged doctor stitches heads onto new bodies?)

The first head DDD proposed for Lola wasn’t right.  She looked too young, but it was more than that. It just wasn’t Lola. I could tell.

The second head looked right as soon as I saw it. What I didn’t know was that the model was blonde, and a creative designer at DDD had already turned her yellow tresses just slightly darker, into a more coppery brown.

The only change I requested was to make her blue eyes brown, which the designer did with no problem.

When it came time to create the last cover, we needed Lola to make a second appearance, but not with an identical face. Unfortunately this particular model didn’t have many options to choose from.

Third from the right had been used. I liked the second one, but it lacked all trace of superhero steel. The first one had an interesting wistful tone, but not really right either. That left #4.

The first version of the cover came back with Lola looking like this. That’s right, the model is blond but the character isn’t.

I was good with her expression, but her blonde hair and blue eyes had to go.

No problem.

Here she is with her darker hair and yes she looks more like Lola. Eyes will be brown in the final version coming on Monday.

It’s funny how she is close to what I saw in my head all along. It’s even funnier that now when I picture Lola, this unnamed model with her altered hair and eyes is the image I have. I guess this is what she really looks like.

 

 

 

 

Watch what you ask for.

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Do you get what you want, or do you get what you need?

I had a spirited discussion about this once with a psychologist. I was praising the wisdom of the Rolling Stones; she was sharing her professional observations. We were at a party and it was lucky no nearby cynic entered the conversation arguing people don’t get either.

It is a conundrum, though, isn’t it. You ask for something you think you want, only to discover….

So, a couple of days ago I got this cover proposal for book 5 in my 46. Ascending collection. I loved it, as did others who saw it. This is Ariel, my precog, and Cillian, the Irish prophet who sees the probable end of the human race. They aren’t romantically involved and in fact their powers make even casual touch between them painful.

I asked the designer to put some space in between them, and while she was at it could she please make the ocean behind them more obvious. I like the ocean. It plays a role in the book. I wanted more ocean.

Back came this lovely cover. They aren’t touching, which is good. There is more ocean, but it came at the expense of those gorgeous rocks and thunderclouds and blue lights off to the left. Oh no. Those were the things I liked most about the first cover. I didn’t realize I’d have to lose them to get a little more sea.

That’s the way it works, isn’t it? You can get what you want, but you probably have to give up something else and it may be something you want more. Or something you need. Back to the old expression. Watch what you ask for.