Harvest NBtM

Blurb:

Almost a century after Keres Triplets asteroid impact and subsequent nuclear exchange almost ended all human life on Earth, a strange artifact is discovered on one of the moons of Saturn. Who should be sent to the outer reaches of the solar system to initiate the first contact with an alien culture? Dr. Varsaad Volhard, an evolutionary-socio-historian, is chosen to help the world understand the alien civilization that left an artifact some thirty thousand years ago, before humans even learned to farm, at the time when other human species still walked the earth. While Vars prepares for the mission, her father, Dr. Matteo Volhard, discovers nanobots among the microplastics he studies. The bots are everywhere and seem to have been created to bond with human cyber implants. Why? Matteo is made to keep his discovery a secret...as well as his and his daughter's true origins. Both were donated to a Human DNA Vault as babies. Matteo was raised as a Seed before leaving with his young daughter to study ecology around the world. Who knows what? Who is in control? How does one communicate with non-human intelligence? People seem to die in gruesome ways as their cyberhumatics go haywire on Earth and on Luna and Mars colonies. Is Earth under attack or is it all just a cosmic misunderstanding? Vars needs to use all she knows to solve the mystery of the ancient civilization on Mimas, as her dad battles the alien nanobots at home.

Excerpt:
“Sentient life’s colonization of the Earth is fractal. Even within a single ecosystem, there are many species that possess intelligence and self-awareness. But only one species becomes dominant.”

Professor Volhard took a theatrical pause here. Everyone in the audience knew where she was going with this, but it never hurt to add drama to a presentation.

“Obviously I am talking about humans. We are not the only intelligent, self-aware species on our planet–but we got lucky. We were blessed with favorable initial conditions, and our dominance was almost guaranteed. Lack of luck tends to permanently retard progress. Dinosaurs’ loss is our win.”

There were a few chuckles from the audience, but no big laughs. Varsaad Volhard sighed inwardly and moved on. She never knew how the lay audience would react, but this was all part of doing the book-selling lecture circuit.

Vars was tall and skinny with short, unruly, dark red hair and glasses to match. She looked a bit like a stick insect in her black pants and black sweater. For the tour, she was trying to dress more interestingly than normal–per instructions from her publisher–and so had added the bright orange scarf that her publisher sent in the mail. The instructions that came with the scarf told her to wear matching orange shoes, but Vars didn’t own any orange shoes, so matching black was as good as it got.

She hadn’t failed to notice that the cover of her book–Luck & Lock on Life & Love: The Human History of Conquest of Resources on Earth, Luna, and Beyond–had the same color orange titles as the scarf. Her agent or someone in the office was obviously trying. Vars made a mental note to figure out who that was and thank them.

“Harvest” is what one would classify as “hard science fiction.” “Hard” doesn’t mean it is hard to read or understand, just that it has a lot of fun (and accurate) science in addition to a great story. The story starts with the discovery on a very old alien artifact buried in ice on one of the moons of Saturn. Scientists and the military have to quickly make an assessment: what do these aliens want? Are they dangerous? If so, how could humans protect themselves? But how can we tell when something wants us harm? Some of the biggest cultural mistakes on Earth came about from simple failure to communicate, to understand the alien other. When the other side is overwhelming in power and knowledge, making a diplomatic mistake can end human civilization. It’s a fun premise and a good story.

But many years before the alien artifact was found, the earth was hit by three asteroid shards: the Keres Triplets. The impacts and the following nuclear exchange devastated the planet. Africa and most of the Middle East were no longer habitable. The humanity came to the brink of extinction. To salvage diversity and genetic heritage, Human Seed Vaults were set up by the Human Genome Heritage Project. Individuals with particularly interesting genetic makeup were taken from their parents as infants and deposited into the Vaults, deep underground. There were several such genetic banks. And over time, there developed a mythology about the people who lived there—Seeds.

Earth was in ashes for decades. The nuclear winter swept ice and darkness from sea to shinning sea… But humans are nothing if not resilient creatures. It didn’t take long for Earth to recover, although what was lost was lost forever.

Matteo was brought into the Seed Bank in the far north of Norway as an infant. He met his seed sister, Phoebe, there. And while Phoebe, a brilliant biologist, was happy to spend her life below ground. Matteo wanted to see the world. One day, when he was patrolling the upper layers of the Vault, a child was dropped off. It was a strange drop. The child was a little girl. She was too old to be accepted into the Vault as a Fresh Seed. To save her, Matteo left the only life he knew (and the only woman he loved).

That story, a prequel to “Harvest,” is called “Fresh Seed.”

The story of “Harvest” picks up almost thirty years after Dr. Matteo Volhard adopted Varsaad (“fresh seed” in Afrikaans) and raised her as his daughter.

The world rebounded by then. People landed and built colonies on Luna and Mars and even on some of the moons of Jupiter. It was an amazingly fast recovery given the severity of the devastation. Miraculous, even.

Vars became a scientist like her father. Her field of study was evolutionary biology and anthropology. She studied human civilizations.

Then people started to die unexpectedly…

Their digital tattoos were melting and dissolving into their bodies, causing grievous harm. What was it? Why?

Vars was recruited to travel to one of the moons of Saturn to find out…

While her dad worked hard to save humanity back on Earth…

“Harvest” is a fully illustrated novel, sometimes dark, sometimes disturbing.

I have posted the first few chapters of “Harvest” on my blog: https://interfaces.com/blog/my-books/harvest/

“Harvest” is written for people who are interested in human origins and the births of civilizations. I wanted to answer the question of “why”—why did some peoples succeed and some didn’t? Why did some civilizations flourish for many centuries while others burned out in but a short flash in history? What is it that makes the difference? Does it simply comes down to luck?

I’m a scientist. I’m very interested in the development of life, consciousness, and civilization. Over the past several decades, we’ve learned a lot about human biology not only on the molecular level (DNA) but also the chemistry and physics of biology. We can see the range of possibilities for behavior and emotion programmed into us by our evolutionary development. We’ve also learned about other human species that didn’t survive to the present day but whose echoes we carry in our very genes—Heanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo denisovans, and the newly discovered Homo luzonesis. There are many more, of course, but it takes time and luck to find evidence.

Only the Homo sapiens are alive on our world today. And only a small percentage of those developed the capacity or desire to take over the world and impose their culture on the rest of the peoples. Why? Why did some Hominids made it and some didn’t? Why did some civilizations flourished and others fell? We can answer some of these questions with psychology, sociology, paleontology, anthropology, biology...

Luck seems to have played a huge role in human evolution and survival on our planet. Those who were lucky enough to live in fertile environments with species of plants and animals that were easy to domesticate won the life lottery, so to speak. The unlucky ones didn’t make it to the present day or ended up colonized…

We have some ideas about what it takes to survive and thrive on Earth. But what does it take to survive in the galaxy? Can we use the same principles and apply them on a larger scale? “Harvest” is a book that focuses on galaxy-wide civilizations and what it takes to become one.

“Harvest” book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfJnQhQkDCo

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Author Bio and Links:

Olga Werby, Ed.D., has a Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley with a focus on designing online learning experiences. She has a Master's degree from U.C. Berkeley in Education of Math, Science, and Technology. She has been creating computer-based projects since 1981 with organizations such as NASA (where she worked on the Pioneer Venus project), Addison-Wesley, and the Princeton Review. Olga has a B.A. degree in Mathematics and Astrophysics from Columbia University. She became an accidental science fiction indie writer about a decade ago, with her first book, "Suddenly Paris," which was based on then fairly novel idea of virtual universes. Her next story, "The FATOFF Conspiracy," was a horror story about fat, government bureaucracy, and body image. She writes about characters that rarely get represented in science fiction stories -- homeless kids, refugees, handicapped, autistic individuals -- the social underdogs of our world. Her stories are based in real science, which is admittedly stretched to the very limit of possible. She has published almost a dozen fiction books to date and has won many awards for her writings. Her short fiction has been featured in several issues of "Alien Dimensions Magazine," "600 second saga," "Graveyard Girls," "Kyanite Press' Fables and Fairy Tales," "The Carmen Online Theater Group's Chronicles of Terror," with many more stories freely available on her blog, Interfaces.com.

http://www.interfaces.com/blog/

amazon.com/author/olgawerby

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4056895.Olga_Werby

https://www.facebook.com/OlgaWerby/

https://twitter.com/OlgaWerby

http://Pipsqueak.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDE3BNceupMYgvoaoAps2mg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgawerby/

Selected Book Links on Amazon:

“Harvest”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8HGKWN/

“Becoming Animals”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078P6BB6K/

“Suddenly, Paris”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014OM5158/

“The FATOFF Conspiracy”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014S0W4WO/

“Twin Time”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZM578L/

“Lizard Girl & Ghost: The Chronicles of DaDA Immortals”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FBR7Q1T/

“Coding Peter”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LFP45WC/

“Pigeon”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014TZ1TQA/

“Fresh Seed”: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FFDZNYB/

In Pursuit of Perfection VBT

Blurb:

The next man in Macy Rollins’s life must be perfect. She’s had enough impostors and isn’t willing to settle for anything less. All she has to do is get through the company contract negotiation season and she will get that promotion she has been working so hard for. Avery Malveaux – one of Philadelphia’s most eligible bachelors – has been hired to work with her as legal counsel for the company. From the moment they are forced to work together tensions are high and expectations are low. He questions her ability, she questions his intentions. After Macy is suspected in an accounting shortage, she accuses Avery of betraying her confidence. Has she once again been deceived by a man she thought she could trust? Can she clear her name and win her job back? And can there be any hope for Macy’s pursuit of perfection.

Excerpt:

Macy rubbed her forehead. Right now, wasn’t the time to fire Michelle and start interviewing for a new assistant. The world needed to stop spinning for just a few moments. Her job depended on finding that money. She picked up the phone and dialed accounting.

“Connie, I need your help,” she said. “Can you run monthly balances on my account, starting with January?”

“You want everything? That’s a lot.”

“Yeah. How soon can you get it to me?”

“Give me a day or two.”

“Connie, one more thing. I’m seeing a lot of new accounts. Several that I don’t recognize. I know we’re going after market share, but I didn’t expect this many. If I send you a list of the names, what information can you provide on them?”

“Well, I can tell you when the account was set up, by who, and purchasing activity. What else would you need?”

“That’s a good start. Thanks.”

Macy ended the call, but the nagging didn’t subside.

One of my most asked questions.

As a writer I’m often asked two questions. Where do I get my ideas and how long have I been writing? I try not to be too flippant, so I gave the question some serious consideration. The last time someone asked where I get my ideas, I decided I needed to have an answer to this question.

Ideas have never been an issue for me. I have more ideas than I have time to write them all. My oldest memory of creating make-believe is from grade school. My love of writing and drawing came together in a mural of portraits I taped to my bedroom wall. Each drawing came with a story that I made up. Believe me the stories were as different as the pictures I’d drawn. My sister and I didn’t just play with Barbie dolls, we made up grand adventures whenever we pulled them out of the box. I can find story ideas almost everywhere. I can hear a news story, read an article, overhear a conversation, listen to family histories and wonder, what if. I love to challenge the norm and rewrite an ending that I can control. Yes, I’m one of those writers, who has a note pad beside the bed and in my purse, so when a story pops into my head, I can jot down the details. I actually have an ideas book.

My story ideas, cross a wide range of genres too. But for now I’ve decided to stick with romance and women’s fictions. One of these days, I’m going to branch out and write some of those more bizarre stories floating around in my head.

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Author Bio and Links:

Men and women have always sought the promise that only love can offer. Jacki invites you into an intriguing world where romance abounds around every corner and down every street. You’ll be amazed at the crazy things we do and don’t do for the promise of love.

Jacki has been writing since her fourth grade teacher made her keep a journal for a grade. Now she does it to keep track of all the fascinating and heartbreaking moments that life throws our way. Poetry, personal essays, short stories and novels have all occupied space in her heart and her hard drive.

Jacki lives in the northeast where the winters are too cold and the summers are warm. But, she wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else, well maybe for a fabulous house on the sunny sands of Miami Beach in February. Her loveable husband and adorable floppy eared dog endure her long periods behind the computer creating happy-endings for her amazing hero and heroines. Romance makes the world go round and Jacki is enjoying the ride.

Website     |     Blog     |     Facebook

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The Carousel VBT

Blurb:

…Like the Wild Geese of Old Ireland, five boys grew to manhood despite hunger, war, and the mean streets of New York...

The War had left him blind to beauty…

Kieran Donnelly is a gifted artist who has sworn never to paint again. He saw and did too many things during the war to extinguish the ugliness that lies in his heart. But a chance to work with some of the most magnificent paintings brings him close to the world he still loves…and an extraordinary woman who sees his true heart.

Darkness couldn’t extinguish the light in her heart.

Blind from the age of four, Emily Lawrence yearns to experience the outside world. When she hires Kieran Donnelly to catalogue her father’s paintings, he offers her a glimpse at life outside her exquisite home…and a chance for a future.

Can Kieran and Emily emerge from the darkness to find happiness and love?

Excerpt:

Queenstown Harbor, Cork, Ireland, 1847

“Take your fill of it, lad. Remember it all.”

Ten-year-old Kieran Donnelly clutched the icy metal of the ship’s railing, his gaze locked on the wild, rocky coast as the Sally Malone moved slowly out of the harbor.

The long voyage to America had begun.

He heard Gran’s keening wail, filled with grief as she lamented the loss of their homeland. Da’s hand rested on her shoulder, his silent grief palpable. His brother’s spirit, full of anger and despair, reached out to him.

None of it touched his heart.

His eager gaze sought the mist-shrouded green hills, distant, dotted with tiny white cottages. Empty cottages, no sign of the ever-present gray turf smoke rising from their rich, dark thatched roofs.  The fields were black with the stinking slime of the blight, but hawthorn and gorse and wild strawberries still dotted the landscape with bright splotches of white, yellow, and scarlet.

The water bucked and spat white-capped waves, gray-green with angry sorrow under the cloud-smudged sky. A single bright ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, as if to bid the desperate refugees a fond farewell. A patch of sky, so pure a blue it made his throat ache, brought a rush of tears to Kieran’s eyes.

Oh, to capture the image that would forever be in his mind on paper before the ship sailed! The colors, the hues, the light and shadow. The crowds of skeletal people scurrying about, weeping as they waved good-bye, the lone fiddler playing them away with a desolate lament of parting and grief.

One day. He struggled against the harsh sob that clawed at his throat. One day I’ll paint this scene and the whole world will know the sorrow that gripped Ireland in its cruel fist.

I’ll call it The Parting.

 A Heroine to Be Proud Of

Hello, and thanks so much for having me as your guest today! I’m thrilled to be able to share The Carousel with your readers!

As a romance novelists, I’ve created many a fictional hero and heroine. And I’ve been lucky enough to have real ones in my own family. The Carousel, Book 7 of my Wild Geese Series, is dedicated to the memory of my paternal grandmother. She was a heroine any girl would be proud of.

Her name was Emma Laflamme, and she died when she was 88 years old. She raised a family of nine children in a tiny farmhouse on the wind-swept Gaspé Peninsula in the province of Quebec, Canada.

She was also blind from the age of 40.

It must have been difficult for her to look after her children and take care of the house on her own. I only had two children, and well I remember the merry dance they led me at times!

Yet it never seemed to bother her. I remember watching with utter fascination as she kneaded a loaf of bread (made from scratch, no less!), and marveling at how easily she did it. It was even more fun to devour the wonderful results. To this day, whenever I smell bread baking, I think of her.

One of my most tender memories of my grandmother was the way she greeted us when we’d arrive each summer. She would smile and run her toil-worn hands over each of our faces, “seeing” in her own way how we’d changed since the previous year.

I can’t remember ever seeing her stumble, although I know she must have. She never shuffled, but stepped proudly across a room. I even remember coming into the living room, where I was ensconced in the big, comfy chair with a book, and handing me a glass of chocolate milk. How did she know where I was, or who I was? I wondered. I believed it was a sort of magic that only my grandmother possessed.

My heroine, Emily Lawrence, is also blind, and has been since she was four. I based her on my grandmother in many ways.

I hope she’s proud of both Emily and me.

Thank you for having me as your guest today, and for sharing The Carousel and my grandmother with me.

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Author Bio and Links:

I believe I was destined to be interested in history. One of my distant ancestors, Thomas Aubert, reportedly sailed up the St. Lawrence River to discover Canada some 26 years before Jacques Cartier’s 1534 voyage. Another relative was a 17thCentury “King’s Girl,” one of a group of young unmarried girls sent to New France (now the province of  Quebec) as brides for the habitants (settlers) there.

My passion for reading made me long to write books like the ones I enjoyed, and I tried penning sequels to my favorite Nancy Drew mysteries. Later, fancying myself a female version of Andrew Lloyd Weber, I drafted a musical set in Paris during WWII.

A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.

I’m the author of The Claddagh Series, historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and adventure.

I’m a member of the Romance Writers of America and Hearts Through History Romance Writers. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, I still live there with my own Celtic hero. I have two adult children.

Website: http://authorcynthiaowens.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCynthiaOwens

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cynwrites1

https://www.amazon.com/Carousel-Wild-Geese-Book-ebook/dp/B07TXGS4QM

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-carousel-cynthia-owens/1132308194?ean=2940161461914

Google +:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/+CynthiaOwens/posts

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Cynthia-Owens/e/B003DQ1V2E

Total Blueprint for World Domination Illustrated VBT

Blurb:

Total Blueprint for World Domination is a motivational non-fiction book for young adults. Design your dream world and make it happen! Bursting with full-color superheroes, boosted with online learning, the new edition of Total Blueprint for World Domination - illustrated takes you from this very second to your greatest dreams. So, are you ready?

Excerpt:

The Big Why

When you write, you put pieces of yourself out into the world. It can be so freeing. It can be so scary. You are vulnerable and exposed, you are showing people who you are, and opening yourself up to judgement. And that is always a risk. Here’s me in 2015, an intermittent blogger, figuring it out:

“Today’s post theme is – why do I blog? I guess the short answer is; I don’t. Ha. Don’t get me wrong – I want to, I know it’s fun, I know it’s smart, but I guess I haven’t quite figured out my reason to blog. The awesome thing about the internet is that everyone has a voice, everyone has the opportunity to explain and connect, and that makes me hesitate – am I here to share what I know? Vent? Explore? Or treat it as a kick-start to change gears from my “day-job” writing to my “play-job” writing? I know the answer to this one: a writer writes. I don’t have to know why. Sometimes feeling your way is as valuable as having a plan. So, write on!”

So much has happened since then! Not only with blogging, but also with understanding who I am and the kind of sharing I’m okay to do. Being diagnosed as autistic was a huge turning point. Part of accepting and understanding what the diagnosis meant, was deciding what that meant about me. Would it change me? Would it change the way other people see me? Would it change the way I see myself? I had a choice: keep it to myself and keep things the same, or choose to “come out”, tell everyone, and own it. Guess which one I went with? I gave a TEDx Talk, a full-on one, a go there one, a spill-my-guts one. People called me brave, and it’s still hard not to flinch at that. I revealed for the first time publicly that I’m takiwātanga – autistic, but it never felt brave. It felt like telling the truth.

When we write, when we blog, when we put thoughts out into the world; we change things. We tell people who we are, and what is okay in the world. Because normal is whatever we decide. And yes, I’m Jolene. I’m known for talking fast, being ultra-enthusiastic, and writing books that get people excited about their life. I’m also fit-out with all kinds of exciting diagnoses (Autism! Major Depressive Disorder! Generalized Anxiety! Overall Awesomeness!) It seems counterintuitive, that someone known for optimism and positivity can be just as well-versed in the darkness, but I like to think they go together. Contrast makes light more precious, the work to achieve it more embedded. And doing this work with yourself, being okay with the light and the dark, this is what frees you. Not from caring what other people think, but from knowing that all that matters? Is what you think.

And I promise, once the first few reviews come in, the first comments, the feedback, you let your breath out: it’s going to be okay. Because this is when you realize that you were using everyone elses reactions as a mirror, but it never mattered what anyone else thought. You decide who you are, and what is okay to share. You can put pieces of you out into the world, and wait for the outside to tell you who you are. Or you can make the choice for yourself. Speak your truth, and let that truth determine our new world. The world where we belong exactly as we are – each with our own strengths and challenges, and our own dreams to head towards.

Jolene Stockman

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Author Bio and Links:

Jolene Stockman is a multi-award winning author, speaker, and business owner. She is also tangata whaitakiwātanga; an autistic person. Since her adult diagnosis, she has gone public with her experience - its challenges and superpowers as a TEDx Talk. Her books let you uncover your superpowers to design (and dominate!) your dream world.

Website    |    Blog    |    Twitter    |    Instagram    |    Facebook

LinkedIn    |    Goodreads    |    Amazon Author Page

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Will Rise From Ashes NBtM

Blurb:

Young widow AJ Sinclair has persevered through much heartache. Has she met her match when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, leaving her separated from her youngest son and her brother? Tens of thousands are dead or missing in a swath of massive destruction. She and her nine-year-old autistic son, Will, embark on a risky road trip from Maine to the epicenter to find her family. She can't lose another loved one.

Along the way, they meet Reid Gregory, who travels his own road to perdition looking for his sister. Drawn together by AJ's fear of driving and Reid's military and local expertise, their journey to Colorado is fraught with the chaotic aftermath of the eruption. AJ's anxiety and faith in humanity are put to the test as she heals her past, accepts her family's present, and embraces uncertainty as Will and Reid show her a world she had almost forgotten.

Excerpt:

A gray column of ash exploded on the screen. The plume darkened the sky.

“Mom, come look!” Will said, without turning from the TV.

She fidgeted with the mail on the kitchen counter. Then said a bad word. The metal trash lid clanged open, and she grumbled. He tapped a finger on his thigh as he listened to the newscaster.

A few minutes passed. “Mom…”

“One minute,” she called. He turned. She dragged the basket of dirty laundry from their vacation to Yellowstone down the basement steps. Thump, thump, thump.

“But it’s the volcano! On TV!” His pulse flickered. This was important. She needed to see.

“Hang on a sec, Will.”

The clock read 9:03 p.m. Eastern Time, but it still felt like Mountain Time and he wasn’t sleepy. He counted to one second. He knew she didn’t mean that. Her “a sec” or “a minute” could be way longer.

She returned from the basement and opened the window over the kitchen sink. The metallic, vibrating hum of the foghorn sounded in the distance. He rose and added a tally mark to the chart on his clipboard. Soon, he’d need to make his snow charts, too. But it was only August.

“Where are they?” Mom said.

She came through the doorway to the living room with her mug in one hand. It smelled like burnt stinky milk. He covered his nose.

“Mom, watch out!” She almost stepped on his eight red volcano cut-outs lined in a row in front of the TV. His heart kerthumped. He straightened one, so the bottom edge realigned with the rest. There, better.

“So, honey, what is it? Find an interesting documentary to watch?” she finally asked, drawing her gaze to the TV as she stumbled. “Will, the tape and scissors. I need you to pick them up, okay?” She yawned. “We need to go to bed soon.” She leaned over the coffee table and clicked her laptop shut with another curse. “I can’t even track their flight. Where are they?” she repeated to herself.

Her brown eyes were shiny, holding that sad look she got when she thought about Dad. Some expressions confused him, but Mom was easier to understand than others. She was sad a lot these days. Was she sad about his little brother Finn not returning home yet? He approached her and hugged her around the waist. He nudged the top of his head against her ribcage. “It’s okay, Mom. Finn and Uncle Brandon will be here. Maybe their flights were delayed again?”

She exhaled. Coffee breath. His stomach squeezed. Delays. Yuck, he didn’t like delays either.

She said in a whisper, a raspy grating sound, “They should’ve landed by now…the traffic north to Maine from Boston isn’t awful this time of day. Finn’s going to be so wired.”

But he’s not a robot, Will wanted to say, but he knew it was just one of Mom’s weird phrases. The commercials ended. He grabbed her hand. “Look, Mom. Yellowstone! Maybe Finn and Uncle Brandon saw it erupt since we were all just there! How lucky of them to see that, huh?” He pointed to the LIVE symbol in the bottom right corner.

Her mug slipped and fell in a crash, spilling all over his volcanoes.

 My 10 favorite highlights of Yellowstone National Park

I’m a daydreamer and traveler, hiking buff and lover of nature. The backdrop (or inciting incident) in Will Rise from Ashes is the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. So, today, I thought I’d share some of the most awe-inspiring places within this gigantic geothermal wonder of a park that I’ve been fortunate to visit twice (once as a child, and once a few years ago with my own kids). Bring your hiking shoes and camera, and be ready to be wowed at this first National Park of the USA…

Let’s count them down from 10…

10. Mammoth Hot Springs – these calcium carbonate terraces are interesting to see and you’re guaranteed to see some elk!

9. Visitor Education Centers – Learn cool facts about the science behind the geothermal wonders of the park. Impressive! We were equipped with a Junior Ranger guide, an infrared thermometer, and fun stuff to work on and our kids got Junior Ranger badges!

8. Yellowstone Lake – visit the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 feet elevation in North America.

7. Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley – both sweeping, lush valleys are rich in scenery and wildlife.

6. Yellowstone Falls – found in the “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone,” and at over 300 feet high, Lower Yellowstone Falls is twice as tall as Niagara Falls.

5. Bears, wolves, elk, and wildlife, oh my! – bring the binoculars, keep an ear and eye out, and Yellowstone will gift you with sightings from bird to mammal.

4. Bison jams (no, not jellies) – getting up close and personal with these beautiful creatures is easy. And yes, by jam I mean traffic jam…once one or several or a herd are sighted, the cars stop, and out pop the cameras. We had one walk in the middle of the road right past our car! Just don’t get too close and respect nature from a distance. Bison are not cows. They can hurt you.

3. Grand Prismatic Spring – the largest (and a gloriously colorful) hot spring in the United States (approximately 370 feet wide and 120 feet deep) is also worth a visit! See it walking on a boardwalk, up close and personal (be careful), or on the new trail that gives a bird’s eye view from above.

2. Old Faithful Geyser – yup, it’s as faithful as you think and draws many tourists to its routine eruptions every 90 minutes or so. It shoots nearly 130 feet into the air. Get there early for a good seat and be prepared to be wowed!

1. Morning Glory Pool – this deep, polychromatic hot spring can be reached at the end of the Upper Geyser Basin (3 mile-round trip) walk. Very much worth it as you meander past dozens and dozens of geysers and hot springs. My favorite bubbly wonder in the park!

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Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the tour.

Author Bio and Links:

Jean’s background is in science and she draws from her interests in history, nature, and her family for inspiration. She writes historical and contemporary romances and women’s fiction. She also writes articles for family-oriented travel magazines. When she’s not writing or chasing children, she enjoys tending to her flower gardens, hiking, and doing just about anything in the outdoors.

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