Free Ebook

I've come to the conclusion that not many people know what my latest novel, Black Earth: End of the Innocence, is all about. I know a lot of information can get lost online, so I figured I'd give a bit of info here and even make the book available for free in ebook format so some of you can get acquainted with it.

Black Earth, as best as I can describe it, is an edgy, Christian scifi/fantasy novel with some traces of horror thrown in. I plan on having the Black Earth series run about 4 or 5 novels and I'll maybe end up doing some short stories to tie in with it in the near future as well. I plan to release the second book in the series this coming September.

The first novel, End of the Innocence, takes place on the night of a high school graduation. The stars begin to fall from the sky and our hero, Nathan Pierce, makes it his mission (with help from his older sister, Daisy) to find his missing parents in Phoenix - a city which has been hit by one of these fallen stars. On the way there, he comes to realize that maybe these stars aren't really stars at all. In the meantime, others around the United States are dealing with the destruction these falling objects are causing and in the process, many lives will be lost and many lives will be changed.

For a limited time, I'm giving the ebook away for free on Smashwords. Just head over to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/14921, add the book to your cart, and enter in promo code QL33T when you check out and you'll receive it for free. It's a very limited time that I'm offering this - expires June 27th - so go and grab it while you can. When you do read the book, I would love to hear what you think. And if you want you can even post a review/blurb about it on Smashwords.

The following is the prologue to Black Earth: End of the Innocence, just a tidbit to whet your appetite for some great sci fi/fantasy. :)

Falling...                         Copyright © 2009 David N. Alderman

Her shimmering white hair flowed in waves behind her, as if the strands were banners that were moving with the rhythm of the dark wind. It was too much for one person to handle, immortal or human. The air felt dead around her, the chilly night whipping at her with intense prejudice, as if its single desire was for her to die, and die horribly at that. The feeling of hopelessness was now threatening to consume her whole being, and so she would allow it, if she could. But nothing would be able to consume her this night. Nothing seemed able to rescue her from this internal agony.

She peered over the edge of the skyscraper, taking in the busy city below. Vehicles of different shapes and sizes were milling around the grid of streets. They all looked like blurry, chunky dots in her tear-filled eyes. She wiped the liquid drops from the corners of her pupils as they transformed into crimson flower petals and were swept away with the wind to start the long trek down toward the hapless beings below. She cupped her fragile, trembling hands over her face and took a deep breath. The smell of roses filled her senses with a sudden beauty that made her heart smile slightly.

So, it has all come to this, she thought. This is the end. The end of this beautiful planet. The end of everyone’s life on it. Hopefully the end of my own life. She glanced down at her wrists, the red scars fresh in her skin, the incident mostly fresh in her mind. Trying to kill herself with the razors hadn’t worked. She rubbed her neck, which was still slightly sore from trying to hang herself. Even throwing herself in front of that semi hadn’t worked. She glanced down at her bare knee and scanned the bruise for a moment, not surprised that it was almost completely healed.

A violent gust of wind swept through, chilling the skin underneath her short, white dress. She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. I can’t do this! “I can’t do it!” She sobbed, falling to her knees there on the roof of the tallest building in Phoenix as flower petals swept across the space in front of her with manic intensity.

Her mind flashed back to clips of her evil mother, Evanescence, or the Great Witch, as she had heard some call her. She was a breed of evil that the world, this world anyway, had never seen. She had given birth to Pearl, but that was where the connection to the two ended, at least in Pearl’s mind. Pearl had been born at the ripe age of eighteen. Nobody else on Earth had been born at such an age, and she quickly reminded herself that this was indeed Earth. This wasn’t Heaven and it wasn’t Hell…yet, anyway. It was about to be hell on Earth, and she didn’t want to be here for that. She didn’t want to see the slaughter, the fire and brimstone, the end of the world. The end of this world.

The visions she had in her mind of the ways those on Earth were going to perish were gruesome and morbid, and had prompted her to try and end her life, unsuccessfully. She didn’t know if she could be killed by another, but even if she could, she didn’t want to put that guilt on anyone else. Neither did she want to die by her mother’s own enchanted hands. She knew the witch would torture her, listen to her own daughter squeal with erratic horror just before ripping her tender heart out.

This is why Pearl had to do what she was setting out to do. She had to escape this horrible planet. She wanted to be with her father. She wanted to go home.

She wiped the blur from her eyes and peered off the edge of the building again. The end was so near. What better time to meet her creator? Before the whole planet became swallowed in darkness, she could go be with the one who had actually formed her, despite what her mother tried to make her believe.

She stepped up to the edge, the wind threatening to knock her off balance. She certainly didn’t want to tumble down the side of the building. That would be painful. She wanted a quick, easy way out. A way out of my responsibilities? Perhaps. But staying here was not an option at the moment. Not with what she knew was about to occur on this poor planet. This poor, defenseless planet. They don’t stand a chance.

She heard a loud bell ring in the distance. She listened for a moment, keeping her balance on the ledge, until she was able to count eight chimes in all. She then closed her eyes and tipped her body forward.

For a long moment, she felt herself caught in a gust of air, as if she was flying. The feeling was spectacular, but then the tremendous pull of gravity yanked at her dress, at her skin, at her very soul, and beckoned her toward the streets below. As she fell, she smiled at the thought of being in Heaven tonight.

Her face swept through some of the rose petals she had cried earlier as their floral scent added a beautiful irony to her coming death. The sounds of the streets grew louder and louder. Someone shouted something about her falling through the air. Then the noise ceased altogether…

To be continued in Black Earth: End of the Innocence....