The Chronicles of Deneb Series

by Zanne Raby

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GENRE: Science Fiction/Space Opera

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BLURB:

The Chronicles of Deneb is a science-fiction/ space opera series set in the near future. The year is 2080 CE. The world is dying. Get ready to travel into the future to a time when nothing is certain.   Where the science behind climate change was ignored, leading to drought and famine plaguing an already overpopulated globe. Massive waves of refugees stream across the planet, seeking sanctuary. Where terrorist groups have joined forces with biohackers to develop a deadly bio-engineered disease that marches across the continents like a conquering army, leaving millions dead in its murderous swathe.

Meanwhile, some of the best and brightest minds on the planet are feverishly at work – constructing gigantic Space Arks to shuttle hundreds of thousands of people to a colony on Mars.  And it seems like there’s more good news: world leaders announce that a vaccine is ready. It’s all good; it’s all returning to normal.

But the truth is very different. In THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER, the first novel in The Chronicles of Deneb, Dr. Daniel Radu – project manager for NASA’s Space Ark Mayflower – uncovers a global conspiracy of immense proportions. But Daniel cooks up a scheme of  his own.  Joined by a team of global experts, he and his colleagues brace themselves for a journey of a lifetime as they trek across the galaxy in a quest for survival.

Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series, DESCENT INTO DARKNESS. Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance. With a bloody conflict now raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction.

FIRES OF FURY is the third installment in The Chronicles of Deneb. Will the survivors of the Space Ark Mayflower find their way when cultures clash and the fires of fury threaten to consume their lives? Now masquerading as citizens of the Collective, the Mayflower crew has a new reason to fear. With the end of the Second Denebian War, Wesselan’s General Pallav Kóbor and his astrophysicist wife, Dr. Tara Kóbor, have high hopes that life will return to normal on Deneb7. Yet nothing can be further from the truth.In a diabolical plot to erase the scars left by the Second Denebian War, warlord turned Wessel Head of State Gomalan unleashes a fiendish scheme to heal his nation’s wounds, while his top soldier, General Ravenna, falls under the spell of a seductive Fyjer agent intent on crushing their ambitions. Dragged into a brutal reality of terror and intrigue, can the Kóbors and warbird ace Fynn Vogel remain unscathed, or will the flames consume them and all that is evil on Deneb-7?

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EXCERPT

A willowy brunette with shining brown eyes burst from the shadows, almost scaring Daniel out of his skin. “Tara,” he gasped, trying to quiet his heart. “What the hell? The president’s due here any second.” Dr. Tara Kóbor, the Nobel-prize winning astrophysicist who had discovered the find of the century – an Earth-like planet cuddled up in the Goldilocks zone of its star – was wearing a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon.

“You heard the news, right? I mean, the broadcasts are on fire. They’ve developed a vaccine! And whoever’s on the first shuttle flight is top priority. That means…”

He could hear heavy footsteps pounding on the hangar floor: time to play show and tell. Taking her by the shoulder, Daniel shepherded his friend to the bulkhead door. “It means you gotta get outta here. We’ll celebrate later,” he promised.

Just then, a bevy of bodyguards swooped in, all earpieces and dark glasses, and Daniel stood back as they robotically carried out their duties. No need really, NASA’s Chief of Security had seen to that. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel spotted Tara’s husband, Lt-Col Pallav Kóbor, dwarfing the president’s team as he walked them through the hangar. He could hear the click click click of the cameras as the president approached with his staff trailing behind like good little shadows.

Show time, he mumbled to himself, wiping the sweat from his palms on his cobalt-blue NASA tunic.

Some Amazing Insight From Zanne Raby On Developing Alien Planets

Hello and thank you Sybrina for inviting me on your blog. Today I’d like to talk a bit about developing the alien planets in my sci-fi space opera series, “The Chronicles of Deneb”. Although the series begins in 2080 CE on Earth, Dr. Daniel Radu and a crew of scientists and their families blast off into space on the Space Ark Mayflower to seek a planet of refuge. One of the crew members, Dr. Tara Kóbor, a renowned astrophysicist, found the ideal candidate for human life using a combination of the Transit Photometry and Radial Velocity methods to locate a rocky planet orbiting the star Deneb. About the same size as Earth, Deneb7 possesses gravity and an atmosphere almost identical to our planet. So off they go to Deneb7, unaware that the planet hosts an advanced humanoid civilization and totally unaware of the existence of a group of habitable planets bound together as the Interstellar Collective for Peace and Security (the “Collective”) a sort of galactic United Nations.

When our crew of humans arrives on Deneb7, they’re met with a nasty surprise. Not only is the planet inhabited, but the natives aren’t exactly welcoming them with open arms. I wanted to explore cultural differences between humans and humanoids who are very similar to our species. Akin to the colonization of the New World by Europeans, the arrival of the humans on Deneb leads to trouble. When Daniel and the others left Earth in 2080CE, they came from the United States of North America, a futuristic land of gender and racial tolerance. Now on Deneb7, they must deal with racism and gender inequality.

On Deneb7, the swirling sands were sculpted by the winds into high dunes and the meager sources of water have become the main focus of life. Water is the most important resource in the blistering hot desert and the peoples of Deneb are surrounded by sand, rocks, and wind. There are also a few major rivers that cross the planet, tall mountains with impenetrable forests and one artificial lake created by damming the River Panni. Into this environment,I planted three separate nations.Wesselan stretches from north to south in a broad arc across the blazingly hot planet, hugging the shores of the mighty River Panni which flows from the polar ice cap, bordering high mountains through valleys and across broad plains. Embracing technology and power, the Wessels are master builders, constructing magnificent edifices and space ports that take them to distant planets.

The people of Fyjerlan inhabit mainly the southern areas of Deneb7, cities having sprung up by the banks of the Wessla River and along irrigation canals cut deep in the inhospitable land. The northern regions of Fyjerlan aredominated by the rugged Promina Mountains and the great Empty Quarter where sands and rock scorpionshold dominion.

Squeezed between these two powerful nations are the Geiten, a semi-nomadic people deemed savage and barbarous by the Wessels. Fierce patriarchal tribal groups rule their parched land. To survive in this brutal environment, both cunning and strengthare required. Knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, and traditions dictate the way of life.

InThe Flight of the Mayflower (the first novel of the series), Lestos, the Elder of the Clan of Urkyn, explains the Geiten beliefs to the humans:

“It is different on your planet,” the old man started, his hands drawing a line in the dirt between them. Before Daniel could reply, Lestos continued and drew a large circle.“Here we have Deneb.” Scribbling more, he added shapes. “And in it, men and women live. From the eternal fires, the God Ru created man who is ruled by the flames of life. But women, they were formed from the tears of the Goddess Ur and so are ruled by the waters. Water, you understand, knows no bounds and without control it is lost. You can see this all around you in Deneb.”

The old man sniffed and looked into the overcast sky, his eyes glazing over. “Just as the Tears of Ur must be controlled for us to survive, so must women. And this responsibility falls on us Daniel, as men. A wise clan leader protects his females. The gods have given men wisdom and strength, and it is our duty to use these gifts wisely. We must keep our women safe, protect them and guide them…”

Totally misogynist! How difficult it is for the humans of the Space Ark Mayflower to adapt to life with the Geiten, for having sought refuge on the planet Deneb7, that is where the vast majority of the crew are settled. You can just imagine how the women of the crew feel knowing that the Geiten perceive them as inferior!

Yet I talked of the Collective earlier, and there are other planets that I introduce in the series. Cepheus9, orbiting twin suns, is a tropical paradise. An archipelago of many different islands linked by causeways and skylanes, the people of Ceph9 long ago destroyed the majority of the forests on their planet and so farm the ocean. They live close to the sea and although humanoid in shape, they retainthe ability to breathe underwater. Ceph9 is seat of the Collective’s Headquarters, and folks from all across the galaxy have made this beautiful planet their home.The traditions of these people come from their interactions with the sea. They worship Kor, the God of Life and Aruna, the God of the Sea. Theirs is a more inclusive way of life and Daniel and the others are much more at home on this beautiful planet than they ever were on Deneb7. Yet there is peril in paradise, and this will form the basis of the fourth novel in the series, which I envision being published in December 2023. Something to look forward to I hope!

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AUTHOR Bio and Links

Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne’s family in uniform.  Choosing to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors, Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning.  After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

During a career spanning 38 years, some of the most memorable experiences involved command of 8 Mission Support Squadron as part of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, leading a study on support to the Canadian Arctic involving several trips to Northern Canada, including Canadian Forces Station Alert (the most northern settlement in the world), a three-year tour with NATO at Joint Force Command Brunssum, a deployment as the NATO Liaison Officer to United States Central Command, and finally a nomination as the Deputy Commander for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.

After hanging up the uniform and putting away the combat boots, Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house.  With a cozy office overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay, she decided to pursue her life-long ambition:  to become an author.  Enough of the reports and returns that littered her desk over her career, now she could turn her attention to unleashing the creativity that had taken a back seat.  The time had come to shake the dust off begin a new career.  The winds of change had called.

Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi space opera series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the universe in search of a safe haven.  But trouble is in store for them when the planet they land on is anything but the sanctuary they sought.

When not behind the keyboard, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening.  And always, a good story to pass the time.

LINKS

PRESSKIT: https://bit.ly/3U4OenB

WEBSITE:  https://www.zanneraby.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/zanne.raby

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zanne-raby-2b4a9b1bb/

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/zanne_raby/

PURCHASE VIA: https://ridgecrestbooks.com/ AND https://amzn.to/3fiZy0m

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GIVEAWAY

Zanne Raby will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway