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Saturday, October 31, 2020

Release Blitz: Author Acceleration

 

 

Non-fiction: writing, research & publishing guides/adult & continuing education

Date Published: November 1, 2020

Publisher: 100X Publishing


So, you want to write a book…but where do you begin? You have creativity, wisdom and stories to share, but how do they go from being ideas to being published?


In Author Acceleration, author and publisher Krista Dunk shares her knowledge and insights to help aspiring authors write books their readers will love. Many people have books inside them, books other people need to read, and carry them around for years, never releasing them. Whether they’ve started writing and gotten stuck or never dared to even try, there are common obstacles that can stop authors in their tracks. Krista addresses these author obstacles, giving readers practical solutions and new perspective to help them succeed. Author Acceleration also gives aspiring authors an excellent foundation of knowledge for how to develop the concept and content for their books, writing and skill building, publishing options, and book marketing ideas. If you’re ready to write, be sure you have this book in your author toolbelt!

 

Excerpt


For some people, being an author is a calling. For some, writing and storytelling is where their creativity lies. For others, they feel compelled to tell their story and impact people. Still for others, being an author is a hobby. Whether you write as a hobby, have a calling or hope to make writing your full-time work, all of those take dedication, know-how and help.

For those who like the idea of being able to self-publish as many books as they have in their hearts and minds, it’s very possible. You can do it with a little support and know-how. Like learning to ride a bike when you were six or to drive when you were 15, this author thing can be mastered and won’t be perplexing anymore!

As authors, we have a great opportunity. Our voice and message in written form can be far-reaching, going even beyond our lifetimes. We have a weighty responsibility. Our words will influence others, even those we may never meet. We have a unique creative outlet and expression. Authorship affords us a special way to release the gifts, messages, creativity and wisdom God has placed inside each of us. Being an author is an amazing thing.

After the many things I’ve done in my lifetime, I believe #AuthorLife is the best life. What will author life look like for you? I hope it is filled with joy and a confident satisfaction, knowing you’ve written many books your readers love and have made a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

 


About the Author

Krista Dunk is an author, speaker, real estate investor, the project director for 100X Publishing, and founder of the Author Acceleration Academy. A teacher at heart, Krista has written nine books so far. Her first book, Step Out and Take Your Place, published in 2011, helps people of God discover their God-given gifts and calling by taking a journey to seek Him. She has also published a workbook and journal to partner with her first book, a devotional, the first book in the Ninja Kitty children’s book series, books in The Abundance Plan book series, and most recently Author Acceleration, a book for authors and aspiring authors.

As a child and young adult who struggled with timidity, Krista now finds herself speaking and training in front of audiences large and small. She is passionate about helping people get a vision for how their life could look and to step out into it. Training, coaching and working with authors has been one of Krista’s greatest joys.

 Krista and Chris, her husband of 27+ years, live in Washington State with their two teenagers.


Learn more at: www.KristaDunk.com

 

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Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Blog Tour: Marybeth, Hollister and Jane

 


Woman’s Fiction, Cozy Mystery

Date Published: 9/28/20


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Some secrets draw people closer.........after they tear them apart.

Marybeth and Hollister moved to rural New York to escape—both the city life and a checkered past. Their lives were unassuming, until they bought a grandfather clock. They just wanted something to fill the space under their stairs, but they got much more than they bargained for. What secrets could the clock possibly hold?

Jane was sent to Callicoon to find the Eagle diamond, which was stolen from the Museum of Natural History in the ‘60s and never recovered. Convinced she won’t find what she’s looking for, she grudgingly takes the assignment. When she arrives, things aren’t what they seem and Jane finds more than she ever expected.

 

 



Excerpt

    Brenda Loring was far too small for the overstuffed capacious couch. She appeared uncomfortably absorbed by the cushions, hardly consoled. At first glance, she looked swallowed by the plush off-white arms. It could be assumed that her body had found a semblance of solace, but the truth was, there really weren’t any sacred places to turn for comfort; the fluffed-up cotton squares were far too affectionate and they consumed her behind their good intentions, providing only a pretense of succor.
     Brenda sat up straight and reached for her glass; next was the cigarette. Comfort was better found in a nicotine binge and a scotch devoid of ice or water.
     Brock was still not sure if he should believe her, even though she’d been insisting for months. “I’m not hallucinating,” she kept repeating. “I know what the hell I’m talking about. It’s all going to hell.”
     His thoughts raced ahead as he watched her light the tip of her cigarette with a lit butt from an old dish with more ash than a crematory.
     Brenda was birdlike but hardly unattractive, just sticky and twiggy, unlike his wife, who was a full hug, an eye level kiss. Brenda took a deep drag and looked at him through smoke.
     “What a fuck,” she said. “Both of them. They are both fucks. I’m telling you, Devon has bought Glen off, paid him well to screw us over, though I don’t know why he would, disloyal asshole.” 
     He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s hard to believe, can’t wrap my head around it, that’s all.”
     Brenda leaned forward and crossed her tiny legs, shapely but thin. Her fingers seemed long as arms, her elbows stuck out like wayward bones.
     “Peter has lost control of his people. He’s too old to run the organization. That’s what I think. I have my spies, you know, people who hate Devon and will tell me the truth when I ask for it. You think he’s above screwing his brother?
     “Why let the organization go to shit now?”
     “Why not now? I heard Peter was sick; maybe that’s why he’s losing control. Maybe it’s serious. Maybe Devon doesn’t want anything going to Peter’s idiot wife if he should die. Imagine Delilah in charge of the LVAJ? Ha!”
     “I don’t think Delilah would want it. Advising Peter in business is not quite the same as running the entire organization. That’s a mammoth job.”
     “Ha!” Brenda took a sip of scotch. “I wouldn’t underestimate her, Brock. She has a degree in art, after all. You sound like a misogynist, just because she’s blonde and beautiful. She’s far from stupid.”
     “I didn’t say she was stupid.”
     “Didn’t say she wasn’t either.”
     “Look, you think we ought to go to Peter with this?” he asked, “he should know about our suspicions.”
     “No, I don’t think we should go to Peter.”
     Brock took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, you’re saying the Prince was a phony, but what if he wasn’t?”
     Brenda threw back her head and laughed loudly. He noticed that her hair didn’t move, so stiff it seemed to stand at attention. Her hair is obedient, he thought.
     “Oh, come on,” she said. “The whole thing was a scam. I’ll bet my ass that the Yellow Diamond is sitting behind some asshole’s velvet pull in Saudi Arabia and nowhere near that little turd that calls himself ‘Prince Vizueta.’ She drew out the syllables of the prince’s name and made a face. “Prince of bullshit.”
     Brock thought for a moment. “So, if the Yellow Diamond buy was a scam, what’s next?”
     Brenda did all three things at once. It was quite impressive. She laughed and took a drag off her cigarette as she put the scotch glass to her lips and drank.
     “I wish I knew.”
     Brock stood up and looked at his watch. He hadn’t called home. It was after ten p.m. in San Francisco. Jane would be angry. One should make a point of calling home when one is suspected of having an affair.
     “It’s getting late,” he said.
     He’d spent months on the phone with Brenda, ever since she first uncovered what she believed to be a conspiracy. He wasn’t quite so sure. He thought she was a bit hysterical over nothing. Besides, he was cautious. He liked absolute proof. But with their constant phone calls, he couldn’t blame his wife for suspecting him of infidelity. Once Brenda got to Philadelphia for the Yellow Diamond Buy, she called him several times a day so she could give him the scenario of treachery; so she could share her anxiety as she nervously sucked on her cigarette and drew him into her fears like the nightmare fairy.
     “Why don’t we wait for Devon’s next move, see where he’s going with this,” Brock said, putting Jane out of his thoughts, he’d deal with it in his own way. “No sense making a big deal out of something that could just be gossip,” he added. “Or paranoia.” He stared at her.
     “Well, it’s been months since this phony prince put out a bid on the Yellow Diamond and went back to his phony country with it.”
     “Right, and there hasn’t been anything since, no bids out on any precious stones at all.”
     “But it doesn’t mean there won’t be,” she said. “I sense it in my bones that we’re being screwed with.”
     “Look, if someone out there really has the Yellow Diamond other than the Prince, wouldn’t they have contacted Peter and told him he was being made an ass of, that you can’t purchase what someone else owns?”
     “Why should they say anything? Anonymity is what matters to us, not friendship, you know that.”
     Brenda stood up tall but barely reached his chest. She went to a wall of windows and looked out from her thirty-second-floor Manhattan condominium. The night was dark, but the city shone against the sky. It seemed like a false movie set, almost too perfect to be real.
     She turned to face him. “Let’s confront Glen, find out what the hell is going on. If he knows we’re aware he’s a turncoat, he’ll tell us everything. When it comes right down to it, he’s a wimp and he’ll play both sides. Glen has no loyalty. “
     Brock raised his eyebrow. “And you think Glen is going to admit he has his own agenda?” he said. “Just like that?”
     “Where is it going to leave us if Devon takes over the American operation?”
     “Under Devon’s employ, that’s where.” He realized Brenda was being too emotional; one of them had to be rational.
     Brenda sat and puffed; taking deep drags and pushed the smoke out through her teeth.
     Brock paced a bit around the room. “So, according to you, Devon paid the commission out of his own pocket? To make it all look legit?”
     Brenda moved her head, barely a nod but he knew that’s what she’d intended.
     “Right. He has a plan,” she said. “I just don’t know what it is. I mean, a phony bid? A phony buy? I don’t get it.”
     Brock sat on the arm of a chair so thin it hurt his backside and he moved quickly onto the couch with false substance.
     “It has to have something to do with discrediting Peter, that’s what I would guess. What else could it be? Devon has finally gotten sick and tired of sharing his customers.”
     Brenda squashed her cigarette out. He was relived she didn’t relight. His throat felt raw from her smoke, and the nicotine stunk.
     “Devon has thought this whole thing up, a fake prince, a ludicrous bid ─ and he sent it all to Peter on a silver platter. I watched Glen go through the motions of recovering the Yellow Diamond; it was clear bullshit.” She looked back out at her seven-million-dollar view. “I never saw the diamond with my own eyes; I never watched any money exchange hands. He had me answering the phone and reporting back to Peter all day while he said he was doing business.”
     Brock wet his lips with his tongue. “Why would Devon approach Glen and not me, or not you, for that matter, if he’s plotting against Peter? I mean, why Glen?”
     Brenda rocked her body just a bit. She was flirting, which was always her way, her constant affectation around men. Brock smiled, but only to himself. He’d never wanted any other woman but Jane from the moment they’d met. It was absurd that she now thought he did, especially Brenda, whose scantily fleshed out body reminded him of an adolescent boy. He wanted to flip open his cell phone and call his wife, just to tell her that her father was a bastard and the only thing he wanted from Brenda was assurance. If all this were real, it changed everything.
     “Because you’re married to Jane and Peter was always more of a father to his daughter than he was. Jane would never let you betray Peter. And me?” Brenda winked at him. “My few one-night stands with Peter could be interpreted as loyalty, though God knows, I have none.”
     Brock stood up. He towered over her and nearly reached her eight-foot ceiling.
     “Listen, if what you’re saying is true, I want a takeover. I want no part of this war between Peter and Devon. Let them chew each other up. You and I together have enough contacts to go on our own.”
     He stared at her. He was surprised at his own words, but he meant it. If he had wanted to work with Devon, he would have stayed in England. Devon was a mean bastard. He was also greedy; his split had been an absurd five percent.
     “I was hoping you’d say that.” Brenda lit another cigarette without leaving his gaze.”
     “That would make us partners,” he said, “just you and me, I’m not opening this up to anyone else.”
     “I’m yours,” she said, sending him smoke rings. “Peter is getting too old for this and Devon is a creep; we can’t trust him. This idiot ploy of his is going to splinter the whole operation, so let’s take our contacts and run.”
     Brock slipped on his jacket. “Let me think this through,” he said. “I’ll be back in touch. Id this is real we’re bound to hear of another false buy very soon. If this is Devon’s plan, to discredit Peter, he won’t wait very long to send him more bullshit about a precious stone that’s surfaced.”
     “Maybe art this time, who knows? What about Jane, will you tell her?” she asked.
     “Of course, I tell her everything,” he said and paused at the door. “Not right away though, she might not like it.”


  About the Author

I am an award-winning hybrid author of southern and women's Fiction, including Dancing Backward in Paradise, The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, Where the Wildflowers Grow, Pleasant Day, Marybeth, Hollister & Jane and Lies a River Deep. As my alter ego, Olivia Hardy Ray my books include Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, Annabel Horton and the Black Witch of Pau, and Pharaoh’s Star. The first novel I ever wrote, Dancing Backward In Paradise, won an Eric Hoffer Award for publishing excellence and an Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction, 2007. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater and Dancing Backward in Paradise received 5 Star ForeWord Clarion Reviews and The Story of Sassy Sweetwater has been named a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Awards. I have published in ESL Magazine, Christopher Street Magazine and I have also written early childhood curriculum for Weekly Reader and McGraw Hill.

 

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Monday, October 26, 2020

PROMO: Eris Rising

 



Memoir
Date Published: September 1
Publisher: Acorn Publishing

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Warrior’s aren't born, they are forged from the harsh experiences that shape them as they strive to defend what is sacred and true. And geniuses aren’t born either—or are they? Courtney Ramm would know, as she’s one of 229 offspring born from the controversial “Genius Sperm Bank”, a genetic experiment that existed in the 1980s and ‘90s. With a predisposition for “genius”, Courtney found herself driven toward success. Following her passion for dance, by the age of eight she was studying at the renowned School of American Ballet and soon thereafter, performing on New York’s greatest stages. At twenty-five years old, she acted upon a strong inner calling to start her own dance company—in Hawaii.

Moving across the globe from the concrete jungle of Manhattan to the tropical jungle in Hawaii, Courtney brought along her endless to-do lists and a strong determination to succeed. But one thing was missing from the picture-perfect life she had imagined: a perfect husband.

-

When she first locked eyes with Marcus at a spiritual gathering, she sensed something was off in the uncanny intensity of his stare. But she dove into a relationship anyway, not grasping the graveness and outright danger of the decision.

-

Eris Rising is a story of breaking deep karmic patterns, grappling with the calling of destiny, and changing long-held karma into mission. With the powerful feminine warrior spirit of Eris as inspiration, this memoir shows how it’s possible to move forward after life-altering “mistakes”, and recover the true “genius” within.



About the Author

Born and raised in the heart of New York City, Courtney Ramm has followed her passion for dance since childhood, which led to a career as a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She’s directed dance schools, performed, and taught all over the world, from Singapore to Thailand to Manhattan.
With her Master’s degree in Dance Education, Courtney has led wellness retreats in Hawaii, focusing on empowerment and transformation. Courtney is the founder and artistic director of RammDance, a non-profit dedicated to keeping the legacy of modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan alive. She blends her love of dance with holistic healing, and is a certified Pilates instructor, Yoga teacher, Ayurvedic consultant, Theta healer, Master Detox Chef, and Reiki practitioner.

Alongside her focused training and career in dance, writing has always been one of Courtney’s passions. She knew she would write a book—although she never imagined her memoir would take such a twisted turn.

Courtney is a full-time single mama to two toddlers. Eris Rising is her first book.


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Blog Tour: Sleeping with Shadows

 



Dark Paranormal Romance

Date Published: 9/22/20

Publisher: FyreSyde Publishing

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Once The King of Nightmares, Ashe lost everything when he was betrayed. Released from prison, he's got one goal: Stay Free. To make that happen he'll have to rescue the girl who stole his crown while saving the court he'd rather see burn. But he can't do it alone. He needs Callie.

Abused, neglected, and finally shunned by The Court of Light, Callie is done with court politics. It's just too damned bad Ashe doesn't care. He's arrogant, manipulative, and dangerous. Everything she's been taught to fear. It would be so easy to hate him, but the sadness in his gaze calls to her heart, and his touch awakens her own darkness. She has never wanted anyone more.

Callie is Ashe's darkest desire, but to earn his freedom and prevent the destruction of humanity, she must embrace the destiny that will keep them apart. But is the safety of the world worth losing the kind of love he's only dreamed of?


 


Excerpt

Ashe shoved away from the door, his eyes turning black with anger as he stalked closer.

Callie’s instincts screamed at her to run.

Ashe came to stand in front of the desk, teeth bared, his voice rang with power. “You have no idea what it feels like to be locked away. Time melting together until you pray to die. When every heartbeat is a taunt, every breath a curse.”

Ashe slammed his fist down on her desk, scattering paper and pens. Callie bolted from her seat, her back slammed into the wall as she tried to flee his anger. Ashe followed her. “Oh no, you’re not getting away yet.”

His arms snapped out, his palms slapping the wall on either side of her face, caging her.

Callie trembled.

“You should be thankful I need you sane, or I’d show you what it takes to make a person ‘psycho’. How do you think you would do? Do you think you’d fare better than The Bloodkyn Queen? Do you think you’d cope better than me?”

He pressed the side of his face against Callie’s and inhaled. Like a snake tasting the air, Ashe’s tongue darted out and captured a stray tear from her trembling cheek. “Mm. Delicious. All that fear, that shame.”

Callie screamed as she suddenly lost her balance and tumbled into Ashe’s arms. “Please.”

“I like that word. Say it again.” Ashe licked his lower lip, his black eyes hooded.

“Please, please,” Callie stuttered, her mouth dry.

“Say, ‘Please, Ashe forgive me for whining like a petulant child’ and mean it. Let me hear the regret in your voice.”

 Callie stammered the words out, hoping it would be enough to save her.  


About the Author

 Rachel Hailey was born and raised in the South. She's all about that nerd life and in between writing she's dedicated herself to raising the next generation of nerds.If she's not online or staring at a book she can usually be found at the local game store rolling dice, shuffling cards, or planning her next cosplay. 

Her childhood was most prominently shaped by the works of R.L. Stine, Stephen King, Anne Rice and the Brothers Grimm. 

 

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Friday, October 23, 2020

Blog Tour: The Last Rose of Summer

 


Medical Fiction

Date Published: June 25, 2020

Publisher: Archway Publishing


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While working independently as a pre-med student at Cleary University, the soon-to-be physician, Mary Austin, discovers a remarkable, non-toxic drug that could offer tremendous hope to cancer patients. Her work is headed for publication in a top medical journal until a drug company begins negotiations with her bosses from which she is mysteriously excluded.

Amid egregious sexual harassment, Mary's materials are blatantly sabotaged. As death threats follow and her work becomes impossible, she is accepted at Whitehead College of Medicine despite evidence that her bosses tampered with her application process. After becoming a pediatrics resident, she shares her story with her beloved mentor, Dr. Daniel Taylor, who allows her to temporarily leave her residency training to reproduce the work. Her joy turns to sorrow and then determination when she learns that Dr. Taylor is battling terminal pancreatic cancer. Even as a chain of events prompts the sabotage of Mary's drug stock and leaves her seemingly without any choice but to permanently leave academic medicine, the story of her drug is not over yet.

In this novel inspired by a true story, after a young cancer researcher discovers a breakthrough drug that could change chemotherapy, the drug industry suppresses the breakthrough and transforms her life and career forever.

 



Excerpt

The Camera Aversion of Scientists

 

If you want to see a lab empty out like the place is on fire, get a camera. Almost everybody who works in labs is camera shy. This can be a problem if you’re in that large majority and land in a prominent lab where the university (or even local media crews) might be around on a regular basis depending on what’s been discovered. These poor guys, who are just trying to do their jobs, want to film scientists doing science, but the problem is that almost all of the scientists want to run away.

 

One postdoc I remember even hid in the lab’s “hot room” to avoid a news crew. That’s the term for the room where all the radioactive materials are stored— very safely, really; there’s little to no risk to going in that room despite its off-putting appearance. The university’s radiation safety staff inspects those rooms regularly, and nobody’s allowed in there without knowing what they’re doing.

 

But the door has those giant radiation warning signs on it, and my colleague correctly guessed that the camera people sure as hell wouldn’t follow him there.

…That guy in the hot room stood around for almost an hour with nothing to do, until he was sure the crew was gone. Having successfully avoided appearing in the video, he went back to work and faced nothing but a bit of ribbing from the rest of us.

 

About the Author

Mary Austin is the pseudonym for a physician who, in order to publicize a suppressed discovery in cancer research, had to sacrifice first her academic career, then a career as a board-certified pediatrician, and then her personal safety. She would do it again.


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Thursday, October 22, 2020

PROMO: The Injection

 

 

Thriller (Medical thriller, Action thriller, suspense)

Date Published: Oct 20 2020

Publisher: 43Ten Press

 

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The only thing to save two old friends from death may also be what kills them.

Mr. Peters is a successful business owner. Other than dealing with a recent rash of break-ins, he lives a very satisfying life. That was until a childhood friend and brilliant scientist paid him a visit.

While the two friends had a troubled past, not speaking for ten years, the reunion was a happy one. That happiness quickly took a wrong turn as their lives are threatened.

Now held captive, the use of an experimental drug was the only option. A top-secret drug that enhanced a person’s will and physicality is the only thing giving them a fighting chance.

However, there are deadly side effects. Along with enhanced abilities comes a decrease in mental stability. Moreover, there is more to the kidnappings than first thought.

Will the two childhood friends maintain their sanity long enough to survive?


Excerpt from Chapter  2

 

The lab environment was huge. There were tables and equipment everywhere; it was a spotless room with a lot of testing and sample stations in different areas. Michael and Trey got off the elevator and walked over to two large tables at the back of the lab. Each of those tables had a maze set-up that spread the length of them. Next to the tables were cages. One cage held about twenty little white mice. Trey stood by the table looking at the mazes.

“I don’t get this new set-up,” Trey said.

He pointed to one table and commented on how that maze wasn’t really a maze, but just a straight line to the end. Then he looked at the maze on the other table and pointed out how there were a lot of branching paths going in all different directions.

“Yes, sir! That is exactly what you are looking at. The table with all the branching paths circles around the cheese. If you notice, there is no access to the cheese in that maze,” Michael explained.

Michael reached in and grabbed a mouse from the cage. He held it dangling it by his tail. With his other hand, he held a piece of cheese in front of the mouse, almost teasing it. The mouse reached out while swinging back and forth, trying to grab at the cheese. He then put the piece of cheese in the middle of the maze. He put the mouse at the beginning of the maze and let it go.

The mouse sniffed around for a moment. Once it got a whiff of the cheese, it ran into the maze. It kept running through all the branching paths of the maze and ended up running around the path that circled the cheese. The mouse could smell the cheese but had no path to get to it.

“So, the mouse knows the cheese is there, and he just keeps circling it. Seems like typical behavior,” Trey said.

“It is indeed typical behavior. That’s the control, the mouse acts as it is expected. This maze here with the straight line to the finish is the test,” Michael said, pointing to the table as if he was displaying a prized showcase.

“Okay, that’s a single hall to the cheese. But it’s still blocked—”

“Yes, the cheese is blocked off,” Michael interrupted.

Michael reached down and picked up the little wooden block that ended the straight line on the table. He handed it to Trey, and Trey examined it. He noticed that the block was slightly heavier than what these mice could physically move. Michael then walked back over to the cage of mice and grabbed a different mouse. He took a syringe from the table and injected the mouse.

“Well, mice have been known to gnaw off their own limbs to escape mousetraps,” Tracy said. “Is that the idea here?”

Trey watched as Michael dangled the mouse in the air. He then took another piece of cheese and held it in front of the mouse. The mouse seemed to get excited trying to get at the cheese. The mouse viciously grabbed at the cheese, trying to bite it while dangling. It even bit Michael a few times.

“Damn, that mouse seems a lot more aggressive than before,” Trey said

“Take a look at this…Oh, just so you know, this is the thirty-seventh time we have done this today,” Michael said.

Michael took the weighted block from Trey and placed it back in its spot at the end of the maze. He then took the piece of cheese and put it behind the block. Trey examined the maze, which was just a straight line to the weighted block with the piece of cheese hiding behind it. Michael walked to the front of the maze and placed the mouse at the starting point.

The mouse immediately ran toward the maze’s finish at a speed beyond that of the fastest mice they’d seen in the lab. The mouse ran to the end of the maze and slammed head-first into the weighted block. The block moved, just a fraction of an inch. The mouse then viciously clawed and bit at the block.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that before. That mouse seems to be really determined, to the point where it completely ignored the pain from slamming into the block at that speed,” Trey said.

The mouse then ran in the opposite direction, back towards the beginning of the maze. It turned and sprinted back to the block at an even faster speed than before, slamming its head on the block once again.

“The mouse isn’t ignoring the pain. The brain stopped registering it,” Michael said.

The mouse repeated this act several times, moving the block just a fraction each time. After a few minutes of this display, the block had moved just enough for the mouse to slide through the opening. The mouse did so and ate the cheese.

“My research stated that this would happen, but I didn’t think we could achieve it this soon,” Trey said.

“Well, the last set of changes you proposed to the formula seem to put us at the almost there state. As you can see by the speed of the mouse, the brain is able to tell the body’s muscles to perform at levels above normal. The mouse’s skin seems to go into a protective mode and harden, just a tad, to brace for impact,” Michael explained.

Michael reached into the maze and removed the weighted block. The mouse continued to eat the cheese.

“So, we have created a near invincible mouse,” said Trey.

“No, the mouse is still completely vulnerable, but it will be the toughest mouse you have ever seen…for a short period of time.”

“How long?”

“Well, it’s hard to say with other specimens, but with the mice we have, and the dosage we have been giving them, it lasts about five minutes. The other problems we have had are still there with prolonged use, so we have been using a new mouse each time,” Michael said. “There is one problem…”

Trey looked at the maze and noticed the mouse was lying limp on the floor beside the cheese. The lab tech walked over and picked up the mouse as if it was dead, and put it in a second cage filled with a different set of mice.

“Did the mouse die?” Trey asked.

“No, it didn’t die. All the benefits of the formula are fueled by a goal, which in this case is getting to the piece of cheese. Once the goal is accomplished, the hypothalamus realizes it has delegated functions beyond the body’s safe capabilities. Tries to normalize the brain functions in a hurry. Thus, the mouse passes out,” Michael explains.

“Hmm…new problem,” Trey said.

“Yep, new problem. The passing out seems to have no effects on the mouse. Just looks like it’s a way of the brain returning to normal in a hurry. But it’s something you must be mindful of. Nothing we can do about it now.”

Trey looked over at the mouse cage to see the once-limp mouse running on the pinwheel like nothing had happened.

“That was fast. The mouse is back to normal again.”

“Yeah, they seem to be resilient… but it’s a mouse, and it is a very small dose that they receive.”

“I don’t remember sleeping that long,” Trey said.

“You slept for two days, Tracy. We almost took you to the hospital,” said Michael.

“Okay, yeah, you are right, it was a long time. Was some good sleep,” Trey said. “But this is a different formula. Improvements have been made, as you said.”

“Yes, that’s true. But even though you passed out, that never happened with the mice until the new improvements.”

“Something to think about,” Trey said.

“Something to think about indeed,” Michael echoed.


About the Author

DL Jones is a Writer, IT Professional and Tech Enthusiast.

DL Jones was born in Brooklyn NY, grew up in Newport News VA and has spent the last 8 years in Charlotte NC. He has served time in the US Army and works as an IT Professional. His first love has always been tech, well computers and the web specifically, which has led to a lot of writing.


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