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The Festival on Lyris Five #atozchallenge

The A to Z April Blogging Challenge 2013   is nearing its end. Are you as exhausted as I feel? I’m co-hosting it on Amlokiblogs, so drop me a comment there if you have something to say about the challenge itself. On this blog, I’ve been featuring mostly indie-published book excerpts for all of April. I love reading, and supporting author-friends, and this is a good way to do both.

The Festival on Lyris Five

Today, for T, I give you an illustrated scifi novella: The Festival on Lyris Five by Nick Daws. The story by UK author Nick Daws is beautifully complemented by Louise Tolentino’s wry illustrations.

Elevator Pitch:Down-on-his-luck pilot Rick Barrett and his beautiful mind-reading companion Julie are heading for the semi-mythical Festival on Lyris Five. But will they find the riches they expect there, or something else entirely?

Excerpt: ‘Hu-man…I would like words with you, hu-man.’

The voice had a pronounced Thrang’I accent. I turned from glum contemplation of my fifth – or maybe sixth – Norton’s Mindwarp of the night to confront its owner. Even in my befuddled state, through the purplish fug of the Martian Arms, I could tell he was displeased. He waved an arm in my face, and I watched in fascination as muscles like boa constrictors rippled under his green skin.
‘I was just on my way out – perhaps we could leave this till tomorrow?’
Two more arms flailed threateningly. ‘Hu-man…I want words with you now.’
‘Oh, very well.’ I smiled engagingly. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

 It’s difficult to read expression on a face that looks like a rotting cauliflower, but I assumed from the fact that I had been forced into a chair and had ten photosynthetic fingers tightening around my throat that my offer had been declined.

Buy the book on Amazon US and UK.

I ‘m not a scifi person, but I read the occasional novel.  Are you a scifi fan? Would you buy this book?

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

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