Life's Notes

The Rebel Trap by Lance Erlick

Can she find a way to not get herself and those she cares about killed?

Publication Date: October 1, 2014

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

As a pawn in a bigger game, who and what can Annabelle trust, including whether her mission is the commander’s vendetta? Can she find a way to help Morgan and discover the link between the attempted assassination, the geek institute, and her corrupt police captain without leading Morgan into a trap, being exiled and separated from her family, or getting herself and those she cares about killed?

The Rebel Trap was written as a standalone story, but also follows Annabelle’s adventures from The Rebel Within.

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The gray steel door with the nameplate “Commander Samantha Hernandez” opened. The guard pushed me inside the sparsely decorated grayish-beige room I’d left only a short time ago. The door slammed behind me. The commander looked as if a thunderstorm had blown through. The ruby-red scar down her right cheek blazed.

I sucked air into my lungs; my chest tightened. My heart thumped harder. I held my face as still as stone, the product of keeping too many secrets in a communal family.

She paced across a worn spot on the tile floor. “Sit!”

I dropped into a wooden seat that made me feel as if I were back in high school, forced to sit in the corner of the Harmony Director’s office for skipping class.

“Forty-five boys escaped. Forty-five!” Commander Hernandez poked at her virtual screen. “In my 20 years running this facility, we’ve only had a few breakouts. Hell, we haven’t had half that number in the entire 20 years.”

My breath came in shallow bursts, then a deep sigh. Except for Morgan’s voice in my head, I could have enjoyed a moment of pride. My hasty escape plan had been the biggest in Mech Corps history, payback for what they did to my family. Except, it failed.

The commander clenched her fists. Blood rushed to her face. She looked as if her head would erupt like a volcano and spew blood all over her gray-beige office. Well, the room does need some color. My attempt at humor didn’t ease my jitters.

When she turned away, I wiped sweat from my forehead. I needed details of what had gone wrong. Yet, nothing eludes the commander’s attention. Those words stuck in my throat, choking off my questions.

“I hold myself responsible for their escape,” she said. “I focused so much on orchestrating your transition from official recruit to covert operative I took my eyes off security.” She slumped into her seat, eyes staring at the ceiling.

Then she lowered her head and studied me with such intensity I felt her reading my rebellious thoughts. After all, she ran the Mech Corps back when they took my birth parents. I didn’t hate the commander, but I did hate what the corps did to my family and still did to boys like Morgan.

“We’ve caught all but three of the boys,” she said with a sigh. “That’s not good enough. We’ve never failed to catch every last one.”

I took a deep breath and stared at a pink spot on her long, narrow scar that had faded to dull gray. “Do you need me to help search, Commander?” I needed information on Morgan, but asking would signal my interest. Too many secrets.

I should have realized she’d have mech-warriors between the compound and the border. My role had been to provide a diversion. All I did was distract the commander until the boys got out of the building. It wasn’t long enough.

With a jolt, she seemed to wake up. Her face took on its usual composure. She jumped to her feet. “No. I want you to review cam footage with me.”

Lance Erlick grew up in various parts of the United States and Europe. He took to stories as his anchor and was inspired by his father’s engineering work on cutting-edge aerospace projects to look to the future. He studied creative writing at Northwestern University and University of Iowa.

He writes science fiction, dystopian and young adult stories and likes to explore the future implications of social and technological trends. He’s the author of The Rebel Within, The Rebel Trap, and Rebels Divided, three books in the Rebel series. In those stories, he flips traditional exploitation to explore the effects of a world that discriminates against males and the consequences of following conscience for those coming of age.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Rebel Series Book Blast

As a pawn in a bigger game, who and what can Annabelle trust?

Publication Date: October 1, 2014

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction

Voices in 16-year-old Annabelle Scott’s head aren’t God or signs she’s going mad—yet. Despite being a Mech Warrior recruit, she rebels against her post-Second Civil War society by not only refusing to kill Morgan, a boy she’s attracted to, but also helping him to escape. After officially kicking her out of the program, Commander Samantha Hernandez gives Annabelle auditory implants and contact cams for an undercover assignment to investigate her corrupt police captain. Morgan hacks the implants to plead for her help in freeing his brother from a heavily guarded geek institute.

Unable to get either her commander or Morgan out of her head, Annabelle can’t confide in her adoptive mom, her beloved sister, or anyone else. While this rift tears at her bond to her sister, circumstance prevents her from searching for her birth mother or who tried to assassinate her adoptive mom.

As a pawn in a bigger game, who and what can Annabelle trust, including whether her mission is the commander’s vendetta? Can she find a way to help Morgan and discover the link between the attempted assassination, the geek institute, and her corrupt police captain without leading Morgan into a trap, being exiled and separated from her family, or getting herself and those she cares about killed?

The Rebel Trap was written as a standalone story, but also follows Annabelle’s adventures from The Rebel Within.

Publication Date: March 25, 2013

Sixteen-year-old Annabelle Scott lives under the iron rule of a female-dominated régime that forces males to fight to the death to train the military elite. When pressed into service as a mechanized warrior to capture escaped boys, Annabelle stays true to herself by helping some escape. Her defiance endangers everyone she loves and thrusts her to a place of impossible life and death decisions.

Publication Date: June 12, 2013

Geo Shaw is a young Outlands frontiersman and a sworn enemy of the female-dominated Federal Union. Nineteen-year-old Annabelle Scott is a Union Mechanized Warrior charged with killing Outland rebels. During a skirmish, she should kill Geo but instead lets him escape, which mystifies them both. In a political power play, Annabelle is given to the Outland Warlord as a bride. She has no other choice than to get Geo’s help—but now there’s a bounty on him and his father. Betrayed by their own people, Annabelle and Geo have to overcome mutual distrust to rely on each other in order to survive.

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Monday, November 17, 2014

Telepathic Clans Book Blast

In the world of the Telepathic Clans, the descendants of the ancient race that once ruled Europe live in a shadow society...

Publication Date: April 22, 2012

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Urban Fantasy with a dash of romance. The Succubus Gift is a completely different take on the succubus myth. Brenna's life isn't the same after she discovers her unusual and mysterious heritage. In addition to being a telepath and having other paranormal Gifts, Brenna learns she has the Succubus Gift. She's always been a good girl and isn't comfortable seducing men, except one she really loves. That's just the beginning of her problems. Someone is stalking her. Then there's the tall, dangerous woman who shadows her and hints a Goddess has linked them. And what is she going to do with a handsome, charismatic, womanizing man she knows she should avoid?

Some days a girl just wants to pull the covers over her head and stay in bed -- with a willing young man of course.

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Publication Date: June 25, 2012

Book 2 of the Telepathic Clans Saga, the sequel to the multiple 5-star reviewed The Succubus Gift.

It's not easy being a succubus.

Brenna O'Donnell and Rebecca Healy continue their integration into the Clan. Learning more about their Gifts and always seeking someone who will love them. After a crash course in learning about her genetic heritage, Brenna O'Donnell has discovered what it really means to be a succubus and has learned to embrace her strange Gift. Her major concern is whether Collin will accept her for what she is. As she adjusts to telepathic society, others in the Clan have plans that will strip the last of her freedom.

The social season is around the corner, including events that Brenna never imagined in her wildest dreams. The succubi, representatives of the Goddess on earth, are at the center of an ancient worship. And if a girl is going to be the center of attention, then obviously she needs a new dress.

Between the romance and glistening balls of the Clan's social events, Brenna and Rebecca discover life is not secure. Telepaths from other Clans are kidnapping young girls and selling them into slavery.

A continuation of what one reviewer called an, "... utterly heart stopping onslaught of sex, violence and paranormal abilities ..."

Publication Date: September 29, 2013

Private investigator RB Kendrick makes her living nailing cheating spouses, digging up other dirt to help in a divorce, finding long-lost relatives, and occasionally sniffing out criminal activity and fraud.

When she takes a job to find a missing girl, she has no idea she is headed for the most dangerous case of her career. Usually, her ability to read minds gives her an edge. But when the people she’s hunting are also telepaths, that advantage is limited.

The search takes her into the dark underbelly of telepathic society, where anything, and anyone, is for sale. She discovers that telepathic women and girls are being trafficked as the ultimate sex slaves.

With people trying to kill her, she’s on the run, not knowing who she can trust. Will she find the missing girl, or become a victim herself?

A novel of paranormal suspense set in the world of the Telepathic Clans.

Publication Date: February 14, 2013

Book 3 of the Telepathic Clans Saga, Succubus Rising

The Goddess has plans for Brenna and Rebecca, and the Goddess has a wicked sense of humor.

Rebecca Healy is a true wilder, growing up with no contact or knowledge of other telepaths. Discovered by a Clan member on the streets of San Francisco, she felt like she’d hit the jackpot. Finally, she knew what she was, or at least she thought she did.

When Brenna O’Donnell, long-lost heir of the O’Donnell Clan, and the strongest telepath in history, is returned to her family, she and Rebecca form a tight bond. Brenna has it all, looks, money, power, and men falling all over her.

Rebecca isn’t jealous, but it would be nice to find someone who would really love her and stick around in the morning. She’s intrigued by a handsome South American general, but of course, he has his sights set on Brenna. Carlos de Vargas wants more than love. His Clan has its back to the wall, and they hope for an alliance with O’Donnell. An alliance that would lead to war.

The story began in The Succubus Gift and continued in Succubus Unleashed. In Succubus Rising, questions are answered and new mysteries are revealed.

Publication Date: November 8, 2014

Book 4 of The Telepathic Clans Saga

Corwin has led Clan O’Neill for one hundred and fifty years. Nearing the end of his long life, he names a twenty-three year old girl as his heir. Not only is Brenna a member of Clan O’Donnell, she’s also a succubus, and many people disagree with his choice. When Corwin dies, his son Hugh launches an open rebellion.

But Brenna is named heir not only to O'Neill, but also to Clan O'Byrne, where Clan Chief Fergus's oldest son Andrew joins with Hugh and Finnian O’Neill in their rebellion. Faced with war on two fronts, and rebels using terrorist tactics that capture the attention of the human press and authorities, Brenna must fight off assassination attempts while trying to consolidate her rule.

As if all that wasn't exciting enough, her friend Irina is the target of repeated kidnapping attempts by members of a Russian Clan. Hoping to protect Irina, O’Donnell mounts an operation against the Gorbachev Clan. But the situation in Russia is no more stable than in Ireland, and they discover Irina is at the heart of the Russian Clans' internal plots.

Confused yet? Be glad you aren't Brenna and Rebecca, as they—along with Rhiannon, Irina, and the Irish Clans—attempt to sort through the mess in Succubus Ascendant, the action-packed conclusion of The Telepathic Clans Saga.

I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among writers, artists and weird Hispanic and Native American myths and folklore. I've lived all over the U.S. and earned a living doing everything from making silver and turquoise jewelry, to construction to computers. I currently split my time between Baltimore and Albuquerque.

I made silver and turquoise jewelry for almost a decade, ended up in nursing school, then took a master's in business. Along the way I worked in construction, as a newspaper editor, and somehow found a career working with computers.

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