We Must Educate, Not Censure
Choices are important.
Learning how to made them is even more so.
Like many Americans, I was shocked and dismayed at the outcome of our recent election. I’ve been further saddened by the events which have followed in the days since: expressions of hate and intolerance, protests which turned violent, the President-Elect’s selection of outspoken white supremacists to his senior staff— and now, news that many of the hate and fake news group sites and social media accounts are being banned or deleted.
Wait. I should be happy about that last entry, right? No. And neither should you.
This is Helicopter Parenting 101. I see something I believe will be a bad influence, or dangerous, to my children so I try to erase it from their lives. Eliminate it from existence. Yet, all this does is serve to ease my own mind, like eating comfort foods when I’m upset. The problem doesn’t go away. It only hides in the shadows, growing larger and more powerful the longer I pretend it doesn’t exist.
Censuring these people and their caustic, hateful ideology, won’t eradicate them. In fact, it may serve to garner sympathy and cause them to become more resolute in their mission. This doesn’t help to solve the problem, it only exacerbates it.
Education— showing people why these viewpoints are divisive, destructive, and unhealthy for humanity as a whole is what is needed.
Let’s look at some numbers from this past election to illustrate my point.
These percentages come from Pew Research and, from the article…
This is by far the widest gap in support among college graduates and non-college graduates in exit polls dating back to 1980.
The sites and social media accounts which are being targeted are notorious for posing as news organizations while posting erroneous or completely false information. That practice is unquestionably bad and needs to be exposed for the damage it causes. I do not believe, however, that censure is the way to go about tackling this problem.
People can’t make good decisions if they aren’t presented with facts, but even further, they can’t make good decisions if they don’t have the ability to discern fact from fiction. If we don’t nurture and encourage active, informed decision-making in our children by not hiding what we perceive as bad in the world, how can we expect them to make good decisions when we’re not there to guide them anymore?
This problem is not just about hate speech, lies, and bigotry. It is about getting people to think for themselves and not being satisfied with having information spoon-fed to them. If we don’t educate why these ideologies are harmful or teach and encourage critical thinking, the hole we’re currently in will only get deeper.
MonsterCon and The Devil You Know
In honor of the Magic City MonsterCon (which I’m attending all weekend!) I’m doing the cover reveal for my newest writing project: The Devil You Know.
You can read the first four chapters of the book (what will comprise “Episode 1” in the final product) right now at Wattpad! Here’s a link: https://www.wattpad.com/user/TuckerAuthor
Two alien races vie for control of Earth amidst a human population decimated by a merciless plague, famine, and war.
Meanwhile, the denizens of Hell grow restless. The apocalypse they were supposed to instigate and revel in is happening without them…
Doing their best to create new lives in the aftermath of the chaos triggered by the aliens’ arrival, Abraham Black and Neri White come from backgrounds about as different as their last names would indicate. Yet, together, they may hold the key which allows humanity to remain the primary tenants of Earth. The question is: how much are they willing to give up to save the world? Their memories? Their lives? Their souls?
I’m describing this story as a Post-Apocalyptic, Epic, Suburban Fantasy… with Aliens. Yes, I think it’s going to be something unlike anything you’ve read before and I’m very excited about it. The story is more adult in nature than my previous works and it’s in the final stages of editing and rewrites and my goal is to have it available this winter, hopefully in time for the holidays.
So, without further ado, here is the cover:
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below and I hope to see some of you this weekend!
Dealing With the F-word
It’s that time again and I’m over on the Emblazoners blog talking about the F-word.
Failure!
Is there another F-word? 🙂
Pop over and have a read: http://emblazoners.com/dealing-with-the-f-word-failure/
In other news, The Devil You Know, my latest project that has taken far more time to complete than I’d hoped, has passed 115,000 words and I’m sincerely hoping the light at the end of the tunnel I see isn’t an oncoming train! The next few weeks are dedicated to getting this beast finished and out in the world.
To that end, I’m looking for a few beta readers. This is an adult read (language and violence) and, if you’re interested, please contact me for details. Thanks!
Guesting at the Emblazoners
I’ve got a short post over at the Emblazoner’s blog today about the question authors dread the most: What’s your book about?
Check it out here: http://emblazoners.com/whats-your-book-about/
And take a moment to peruse the site as well. TONS of awesome Middle Grade and lower Young Adult books there for the tween readers in your life!
All right, back to the grindstone. Books don’t write themselves you know! Though sometimes I wish they did 😉
A SciFi/Fantasy Extravaganza!
Hello, Readers! Welcome to the Fantasy and Science Fiction Super Sale! All books below are priced at $0.99 or FREE. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I haven’t read most of the books on this list. Authors assigned their own movie ratings.
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From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Fantasy In a land of magic users, one boy is born without magic. In a realm of angry dragons, one dragon befriends a human boy. Together, they follow their hearts in order to save their land. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: YA Fantasy Shanice has never felt like she belongs. Then she learns why: she is the last known princess from another world, their last chance to stop the one who is bent on destroying it. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Paranormal Romance Christina is a demon, but she doesn’t want to be. Only one person stands in the way of her transformation, and he will stop at nothing to keep her the way she is. |
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From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Time Travel Romance Cassie is going to heavenóif she can get amnesty from hell in the next twenty days. Her assignment is to change the eternal destination of a girl in Albuquerque to earn admittance into heaven. |
From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: DystopianArcene, Awoken and trapped in her own body as a perpetual fifteen-year-old, gets a lot more than she bargained for when she finally finds herself behind the walls of the blue castle. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction When the Hubble Telescope disappears, the FBI calls Jake Corby. Corby has promised his wife to cut down on the hero stuff, but when the ISS is targeted, his promise gets hard to keep. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Urban Fantasy What if the greatest weapon in the age-old war between good and evil was inside of you? Crystal Scott must use her newfound gifts against the tide of evil threatening all of themóor die trying. |
From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Contemporary Fantasy Winner of the state libraries’ Soon to be Famous Illinois Author Project! Three unlikely heroes board a doomed bus. Destination: the afterlife. Their mission: to save forever. But first they have to save themselves. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Supernatural Suspense St. Margaret’s was an almshouse until its previous occupants burned to death years before. When a bag of bones falls on twelve-year old Julia, she gets thrown into the spirit realm with house’s past residents. |
From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Fantasy Merge with a demon. Fight a traitor trying to destroy both their worlds. And above all donít kill the people trying to help. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal When a jagged cut shows up on Kylee’s arm, she enlists her neighbor to help her uncover the truth. But Price shows her much moreóhe shows her what it is to be alive. |
From $3.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Dystopian Get this bestselling dystopian fantasy series from YA author Elana Johnson in one convenient digital boxed set! Includes 3 volumes: Elemental Rush, Elemental Hunger, and Elemental Release. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Can YOU survive the fish-zombie apocalypse? The fate of your friends and family is in your hands, and when the stakes are high, YOU need to decide what youíll beóa survivor, or fish food. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Ghosts What would you do if you had a camera that could photograph ghosts? When Jenine discovers an abandoned Polaroid, she realises the dead arenít as peaceful as sheíd imagined… |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Spooky Fantasy Sam dreams he has a friend, but when he wakes, he always forgets him. One day he does not forget, one day he remembers, and on that day, the boy comes to stay… |
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From $2.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction High school dropout Darius Arthur Heisenberg is recruited to be an agent for the Keepers, whose mission is to maintain and protect the myriad threads of time. What could possibly go wrong? |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Dystopian In futuristic America, ratings are everything. When Treena gets the wrong number, she takes a dangerous mission to prove her true worth. But why is someone trying to kill her? |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Romance Aspenóa skydiving, rock-climbing, bear-cuddling, adrenaline junkie, finds herself in real danger when she unwittingly ensnares the heart of Obsidian, the dragon king. |
From $3.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Romance The bracelet around my wrist is a permanent reminder of my mission. The silver charm attached to the leather cord is stamped with my birth sign. Mission: Unite with my twin flame soulmate. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Fantasy Duty versus love is the one battle warrior Kae does not know how to fight. |
From $0.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Coming of Age Fantasy As the second son, Micah Brachon is happy to focus on his inventions and experiments. When one of those experiments is sabotaged, he learns about the deadly faction that seeks to rip apart their government. |
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From $2.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Romance When do dreams erupt into reality? After Hannah, vacationing in Arizona, meets handsome Josh from the Navajo reservation, she experiences vivid nightmares about the Navajo nationís past ó a riveting tale blending romance and paranormal mystery. |
From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction/Super Hero Power of a villain, heart of a hero. |
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From $0.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG Genre: Paranormal Romance On her sixteenth birthday Emily discovers she is a witch and accidentally causes complete mayhem as her first spells don’t exactly go to plan. A young adult paranormal romantic comedy. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Fantasy When nerdy Rich Witz unwittingly becomes a paladin in training, he is thrust into a world where flunking a test can change history, and a mysterious bully is playing for keeps with his life. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Tamara thought she was a normal girl in a normal world. Wrong. Her new reality is full of ghosts and demons and she’s a member of the Choir Invisible, a demon hunter. Join her. |
From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Apocalyptic/Dystopian No one knows why they have to evacuate at first. What they soon find out is it will take a lot of inventiveness with limited resources for the evacuees to survive the Weather Wars. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Science Fiction If your heart rate goes over 140 beats per minute, you die. In a quest for the truth about the Bug and its origin, Nik and his friends work to keep their heart rates low. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Science Fiction/Cyberpunk The world is broken. The powerful machines that once ruled over land and sky fought and died, leaving humanity in a primitive age of swords and monsters and only the Etherwalker can save them. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy Above ground an epidemic sweeps the planet. In order to survive, most of the population must slave away in the dark, unforgiving caverns of the Yyinum mines. These self-appointed guardians strive for survival on Minea. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction After the world was torn apart by the nightmares of myth and legend, a revenge-filled Caleb and a bewitched Eric find themselves on journeys to hunt down the Dragonlords. |
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From $7.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Urban Fantasy Nicole has been chosen to lead an anti-magic organization in a revolution which will destroy all Aretes, including herself. But if she doesn’t do it, a curse placed long ago will lead to everyone’s destruction. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Urban Fantasy The Goddess blesses Her people with 25 Telepathic Gifts. In addition to Telepathy, the Gifts include command over Air and Fire, Telekinesis and Teleportation. She never bestows more than 15 Gifts on a single person. |
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From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Paranormal Romance When an ancient mystery leads archaeologist Alexandra Larson to a millennia-old war between god-like beings, she must choose between the father she’s never met and the man she’s fated to love. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Science Fiction Romance Yanked from her life by the mysterious Revik, Allie discovers sheís the Bridge, meant to herald the evolution of humanityññor possibly its extinction. A psychic romance set in a gritty, alternate version of Earth. |
From $0.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Homebuyers Kim and Julian get more than they bargained for in the secluded Beacon Estate. Its previous owners have been declared dead, missing. Something, however, still lingers in the house. Something unnatural. |
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From $0.99 to FREE Movie Rating: R Genre: Paranormal Romance Meet the couple that started it all, Edward and Connie. Two bear shifters that found each other in 1955 and started the Rochon family legacy. Sweet, spicy, sexy, and shifty. |
From $4.99 to FREE Movie Rating: G Genre: Space Opera Everyone has a place where they always find serenity, a place that acts as their bond to peace. Aliea Academy was Space Cadet Q’s bond to peace. And now it was going to be destroyed. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: G Genre: Science Fiction The galaxy is in crisis, and Carrie Hatchett is the last person on Earth who should be fixing it. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Romance/Suspense Mystery, medical school, marriage – and murder! And if all that wasn’t enough, Sara’s also visiting other people’s dreams. Can Sara catch a killer, survive medical school and keep her marriage in one piece? |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal/Gothic Romance He’s haunted by his troubled past; she’s desperate for a fresh start. When their worlds collide, everything will change. |
From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Fantasy Jaxius and his companion, Tolian, must save a northern barbarian, Bergar, from death when Bergarís soul is forced into Tolianís body. Jaxius must call on a power from his past life to save his friends. |
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From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Sci-fi and Fantasy A young shapeshifter must prove himself by passing a test in the wastelands. But before he can return home, he’ll uncover the secrets behind what really happened 300 years ago to bring about the apocalypse. |
From $3.99 to $0.99 Kindle * Nook * Kobo * iTunes Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Evil is stalking a beautiful woman in Hawaii. He is powerful, charming, and deadly. She fled him once after a brutal attack. Can she escape his powerful spells once more? |
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From $5.99 to $0.99 Kindle * Nook * Kobo * iTunes Genre: Fantasy Romance When Lillian finds herself facing off against vampires and other mythological impossibilities, help comes from an unlikely sourceóthe stone gargoyle who has been sleeping in her garden for the last twelve years. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Fantasy There is a story for every wave that washes upon the shoreline. Here are seven of them – stories of mermaids and ghosts and sea monsters and the sweetest apocalyptic love story I ever wrote. |
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From $2.99 to $0.99 Kindle * Nook * Kobo * iTunes Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Paranormal Romance Sheís neurotic, insecure and doesnít believe in spirits. At least not until moving into a Hollywood bungalow thatís ëinhabitedí by one. Can she survive his dangerous charms long enough to give up the ghost? |
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From $2.99 to FREE Movie Rating: R Genre: Comic FantasyCurious about the day Saint Christopher found out he’d been declared non-existent by the pope? What exactly is a cat in Hell’s chance? Answers to these and other questions are in this short story collection. |
From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: FantasyDex wants to be a knight… Dominic wants to prove himself… Reynard wants to win the fair maiden’s heart… But nothing is ever as simple as it seems. |
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From $5.97 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Science Fiction/Zombies Conspiracy theory meets zombie fiction. Journalist Hunter Morgan uncovers a sinister web that connects biological experiments at an Ebola treatment center with a pharmaceutical company, U.S. government officials, the CDC and the World Health Organization. |
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From $2.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Science Fiction Romance She’s fierce, intelligent, subtle as a brick and he’s only human. Can they find love and save the universe? Fun science fiction romance contains: aliens, blasters, culture clash, comedy, inter-species romance and a eunuch! |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Mythology The world is thrown into turmoil as the ancient gods of myth and legend return to wreck havoc on humanity. Only a select few stand in the way of utter chaos and devastation. |
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From $3.99 to FREE Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Epic Fantasy Sucked into a portal to another world, Allison awakens with powers she canít control and learns sheís fated to fulfill an ancient prophecy where one decision will determine which of two warring kingdoms will fall. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Kindle * Nook * Kobo * iTunes Genre: FantasyHe’s a powerful Genie, trapped in a magic lamp. She’s an ugly old witch. They’ll fight the dark forces… together. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Science Fiction/Time Travel and Space Opera What happens when Evaran, a space and time traveling being visting Earth, decides to interfere in the alien abduction of four humans? |
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From $4.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Science Fiction Time traveling was not on todayís agenda. Racing to intercept her thieving soon-to-be-ex, Evy Rivera is thrown back to ancient Spain with no rules, no guidance, and brand new, badass lightning bullwhips. |
From $3.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: PG13 Genre: Fantasy Sam Sharp is trapped in another world. He must learn to harness the worldís unique vibratory energy to defeat the villain called the Gray Man or he can never go home. |
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From $5.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Science Fiction Romance When New York City is destroyed by a nuclear bomb, step-brothers Franklin and Everon are determined to find and save their sister Cynthia, her husband and infant child. An exciting tale of love and sibling-hood. |
From $2.99 to $0.99 Movie Rating: R Genre: Weird Western Fantasy Ranger of Mayat is the first episode of PISTOLS AND PYRAMIDS, an ongoing weird western series best described as an ancient Egyptian spaghetti western with magic. And mummies. Lots of mummies. |
Our Great Escapes 