The Hart Of God, The End of Days by Lawrence R. Deering
Fiction, Thriller, Apocalyptic, Christian
Date Published: July 14, 2024
Publisher:
Manhattan Book Group
About the Book:
Successful, college educated men in their twenties and thirties are
admitted to psychiatric institutions claiming to be angels in a satanic
army. They know their rank, mission, and commanding officer. Many had no
prior religious background. Friends, Jonathan Hart, a reporter, and Charles
Atwater, a psychologist collaborate on studying these patients with Angelic
Psychotic Disorder. They discover that what they call the Dark Angel
movement has people placed in the highest levels of government. The book
examines the ease of which a charismatic leader promising peace could
persuade people to give up their individual rights. It questions the
strength of faith, what normal people are capable of when confronted with
enormous challenge, and the impact on individual relationships.
About the Author:
Lawrence R. Deering spent more than forty years as a healthcare executive.
His first novel Youth Group, was based on his experiences in the Southern
Baptist church. The Spider Web Charmer featured Michael and Michelle
Crawford, married private detectives with unique abilities chasing down a
serial killer.
He wrote The Brotherhood, The Hart of John, (the New Apocalypse,), and The
Hart of God, (the End of Days) all part of the Hart trilogy.
He is an avid audiophile and enjoys listening to his rock vinyl record
collection. He lives with his wife, Lisa, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
A bizarre and hilarious look at surviving societal collapse...
When Armageddon hits you can’t always pick your post-apocalyptic companions, That’s the dilemma facing major-league scout Riley Knight, who finds himself stranded with a collection of borderline crazies at a remote diner when a gigantic solar storm plunges the world into the dark ages.
Cut off from the rest of the electricity-deprived world, the group, whose grip on sanity is tenuous, and whose coping skills leave much to be desired, are forced to rely on each other with laughingly absurd results. As their situation rapidly deteriorates, the distant town of Jericho becomes their only hope for survival. Only the road to Jericho is fraught with peril that only the bravest of them may survive. Worse, Jericho may not be the safe haven they desperately seek. How will they survive this new bizarre and frightening world where everyone’s a nut in a place that’s getting nuttier by the day is anyone’s guess.
Praise for Surviving Crazy:
"A downright hilarious look at 'the end of civilization as we know it'... A funny book in the 'slap him in the head style of comedy' but this goes deeper." --- Readers Favorite 5 Stars!
"An exceptional and original novel that holds the reader's fully entertained attention from beginning to end. An impressive and deftly crafted novel populated with memorable characters and unexpected plot twists and turns" --- Midwest Book Review
"With a long, character-building fuse and a whip-smart pen behind the imagery-rich writing, this novel hums with tension and possibility from the start... Surviving Crazy is a head-scratching read that will make you laugh out loud and stay up late to see how it all plays out."--- Self-Publishing Review
"I thoroughly enjoyed this goofy, comic novel, and laughed out loud through much of it. The characters are wildly drawn, and the satire is sharp and pointed...The ending is surprising, ironic, and perfect." --- Readers' Favorite
"A colorful burst of comedy and satire." --- RedCity Review
"An ingenious, humorous novel...a thoroughly engrossing,rib-tickling-funny read that lovers of both SF and literary fiction won't wantto miss."...The Prairies Book Review
"Anentirely new perspective on end-time scenarios. Readers should hold onto theirhats in this fast-paced story. It is bursting with troublesome yet loveablecharacters who fill this tale with hyperbole, danger, and amazing camaraderie" --- US Review of Books
Read an Excerpt:
It was at that point in his near-death experience when Shephard said he saw the light appear in front of him, a bright embraceable warm radiance accompanied by a soothing voice calling him into it.
Shephard however wasn’t ready to comply just yet and began to resist. “I was yelling at the voice that I wasn’t going anywhere until it did something about that jackass Floyd Monroe. I mean I was livid. I wanted some action.”
The voice tried coaxing Shephard into the light by promising him that it only wanted to talk for a brief moment before it sent him back into his body. Then Shephard could take care of Floyd anyway he wanted. It sounded like a reasonable compromise and so Shephard headed off into the light.
What happened next according to Shephard was his face-to-face meeting with God, or who he presumed to be God. “He kind of looked like Mr. Feathers.”
Mr. Feathers was Plucky Rooster’s national mascot, a giant red rooster famous for his straw hat and bib overalls.
Riley’s look of disbelief was shared by Shephard. “I know. I was expecting God to look different too. Something along the lines of a bearded, silvery-haired guy in a white robe. Naturally, I began to think I was getting conned.”
About The Author:
Frank Crimi is a writer and the author of Surviving Crazy. His other books include Raining Frogs & Heart Attacks. Frank is married with two sons and two grandchildren.
Four years have passed since the lillipads fell and Etyom slipped into
darkness. The New Black Death has mutated again, spreading to near epidemic
proportions. What little order existed in Earth’s last city has
disintegrated into chaos.
Rippers roam the Vapid, robbing and leaving their victims butchered. The
Robusts have spilled out of their broken enclaves and hide in any dark
corner that will conceal them. Meanwhile, the elite Graciles, fallen from
their pristine towers in the sky, have all mysteriously disappeared.
Demitri is a prisoner in his own mind. His demon, Vedmak—now known as
the Vardøger—is manipulating Demitri’s body to execute a
secret plan far more disastrous than even the Gracile Leader dared.
Mila, her status among the fractured resistance elevated to that of
Paladyn—a protector of the people—leads the fight against
zealots intent on destroying what little remains of Etyom. It is a
responsibility she never wanted, a calling that prevents her from doing what
she truly desires.
Yet, Mila should be careful of what she longs. Caught between annihilation
and loyalties that refuse to die, she must reconcile a single immutable
truth: following your heart comes at a price.
Previous Book in the Series:
Sci fi, dystopian, apocalyptic
Date Published: May 22 2018
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
About the Book:
The world you know is dead. We did this to ourselves.
The epidemic struck at the end of the Third World War. Fighting over oil,
power, and religion, governments ignored the rise of an
antibacterial-resistant plague. In just five years, the Earth was
annihilated. Only one city survived—Etyom—a frozen hellhole in
northern Siberia, engulfed in endless conflict.
The year is 2251.
Two groups emerged from the ashes of the old world. Within the walled city
of Lower Etyom dwell the Robusts—descendants of the poor who were
immune to the New Black Death. Above them, in a metropolis of pristine
platforms called lillipads, live the Graciles—the progeny of the
superrich, bio-engineered to resist the plague.
Mila Solokoff is a Robust who trades information in a world where knowing
too much can get you killed. Caught in a deal gone bad, she's forced to take
a high-risk job for a clandestine organization hell-bent on
revolution.
Demitri Stasevich is a Gracile with a dark secret—a sickness that, if
discovered, will get him Ax'd. His only relief is an illegal narcotic
produced by the Robusts, and his only means of obtaining it is a journey to
the arctic hell far below New Etyom.
Thrust together in the midst of a sinister plot that threatens all life
above and below the cloud line, Mila and Demitri must master their demons
and make a choice—one that will either salvage what's left of the
human race or doom it to extinction …
Bronze Medal Winner — 2019
Independent Publisher Book Awards — Science Fiction
The young man in the brown jacket spins, arms raised high, a blood-curdling
scream issuing from his lips. A few awkward steps and he falls, sprawling
headlong across a pile of slush and rubble. A crimson fan spreads out under
his corpse, staining the snow red. Another death, another friend of the
cause, gone.
He was seventeen.
All around the pop-whizz of gunfire followed by deafening explosions from
detonating grenades reminds us all the Kahangan stronghold of Nazal will not
fall easily. I slide farther into the frozen mud of the ditch and scrunch
into a ball.
“Mos.” Where the hell is he? “Mos, you with
me?”
“I'm here, Mila.” The barrel chested Kahangan with midnight
skin crawls up next to me, careful to keep his bulk below the rise.
“Who’s hit?”
“Mauricio.”
“Is he dead?”
“He's not moving.”
“Sniper?” Mos jerks his head in the direction of the building
before us. Politsiya in faded Cyrillic letters adorns the ruined
facade.
“Knows what they're doing too.” I pull a small mirror from the
arm pouch on my leather jacket and slowly raise it to get a better
view.
In the reflection is the form of a person, prone on the roof of the
palace—if you can call it that.
A glint of light bounces off the glass.
I snatch my hand down and pinch my eyes shut as a chunk of earth explodes
from the rim of the ditch, showering us with wet clods of cold mud. The
lingering crack of a rifle follows. He’s got a sarding scope and a
good, stable position. Guy definitely knows what he'sdoing.
“There's a way up to the roof on the back side,” Mos says.
“I can flank his position and approach from behind if you can keep his
attention.” He cocks his head. “That's probably stupid,
huh?”
“It's only stupid if it doesn't work.”
Mos, already shuffling away, motions to a few others hiding in another
ditch to follow.
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
“Wait for my call.” Mos grins, revealing large, square, white
teeth, then creeps away and seems to vanish into thin air.
The cold seeps through my clothing, stealing the fading warmth of the sun.
My scarred Kalashnikov rifle feels like a cold, lead weight. I exchanged my
bean-bag propelling weapon for a death-dealing one some time ago. I
don’t even remember when that happened. Like everything else in this
forsaken city, it just sort of did. Yeos forgive me. I loose my canteen from
my satchel and take a shaky swallow of the nearly frozen water.
A bark, much like a wild dog.
The signal. “Now!”
I drop the canteen, roll to the left, and rise to one knee. Three more of
my fighters appear and the air ignites with the sounds of war. Dust and
stone billow around the sniper's nest. Our suppressive fire has the desired
effect: he’s blinded by debris.
“Ceasefire!” I kneel again, the Kalashnikov pressed into my
shoulder, watching as the dust clears. “Stand ready.”
We wait in silence, a bitter wind snapping at our scarf-covered
faces.
Another flash of light from the roof.
“Get down!” I flop into the muck.
This time there is no report. No exploding clump of earth. A cry of terror
fills the air, followed by the sounds of a struggle. I chance a glance. Mos
is standing tall and proud on the roof.
“Hold your fire!” I yell.
My comrades lower their weapons. Mos reaches down and plucks up a skinny
Kahangan who drops a long-barreled rifle. The little man screams, flailing
madly against my friend's superior strength.
“Traitor.” Mos bellows loud enough to be heard, even from down
here. With a single heave, the large Kahangan hurls the sniper over the
edge. The man's hollow scream is cut short as he strikes the frozen ground
some ten stories below.
I force myself to peer down at his mangled corpse, twisted like a broken
doll in the ice and mud below. The Kalashnikov drops to hang from its canvas
strap across my chest. My people follow suit, relaxing their guard, their
eyes glazed over in a mixture of relief and stress. They’re all good
soldiers. Committed to the cause—peace in Etyom, the last city. The
Kahangan civil war has been going on for too long. Kapka—who somehow
managed to survive the RPG blast on the platform four years
ago—continues his campaign against the followers of Yeos with renewed
vigor, but has so far not managed to take this Musul faction. Instead, in
this desolate place, power-hungry warlords fight over resources while the
people suffer. Here, it’s not Kapka who reigns, but Nazal.
Little is known of the origins of this despot. Some say, like all warlords,
he simply rode to power on the broken backs of the Kahangan people. That
there was nothing he wasn’t willing to do and no one he wasn’t
willing to betray to claim the power he felt was owed to him. Others seem to
whisper of his evil deeds like he’s some sort of phantom—a
terrible consequence of our own divisiveness. Whatever the case, Nazal is a
plague. He’s no Kapka, but the piles of corpses he’s left in his
wake can no longer be overlooked. The resistance will stop him because
someone must.
About Stu Jones:
A veteran law enforcement officer, Stu Jones has worked as a beat cop, an
investigator, an instructor of firearms and police defensive tactics and as
a member and team leader of a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team.
About Gareth Worthington:
Gareth Worthington BSc PhD EMBA is a trained marine biologist and holds a
doctorate in comparative endocrinology. Gareth works in the pharmaceutical
industry helping to educate the world's doctors on new cancer
therapies.
Kevin shouldn’t be writing this. And you shouldn’t be reading
it. After all, reading is now a crime--and for good reason. After the Coma
Outbreak, everyone knows what happens to people who read. Their eyes slam
shut. And they never get out of their desks again.
About the Author:
Patrick Hueller is the author of several award-winning books for young
readers, sometimes under the pen name “Paul Hoblin.” Foul, a
horror book, was a YALSA Quick Pick and was described by Booklist as
“unbearably tense.” The Beast was a School Library Journal
selection. Archenemy made the ALA’s Rainbow Book List. Wolf High and
The Wish were on SLJ’s list for “Accessible Reads for Struggling
Reluctant Readers.” He is also the author of the middle grade series
Stu Stories, which Geoff Herbach (author of Stupid Fast and Hooper) said
“hit[s] on pretty much every topic I cared about when I was a kid
(love, Jedis, severed legs, etc.). His most recent book is Kirsten
Howard’s Biggest Fan, a YA book published by INtense Publications that
National Book Award finalist Charles Baxter called “beautifully
written, with a concert-hall perfect pitch for speech and idiom and ways of
feeling.”
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. GB Hope will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
About the Book:
In Liverpool, England, 18-year-old student and Freerunner, Bodie, survives an assassination attempt and flees for his life. His only thought is to secure the safety of girlfriend, Lily, and reach his journalist cousin, Anthony.
Bodie has stumbled into a diabolical plot from the world's governments to end terrorism, famine and global warming in one swift swoop. So begins a race for survival, joined by a variety of other characters, moving from one set piece to the next, as the world that everyone knows is about to change forever.
Genres:
YA, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Apocalyptic, Conspiracy Theory Read an Excerpt:
The weather in Liverpool was absolutely wonderful: wall to wall sunshine, and a refreshing breeze. Feeling the unwanted start of a suntan, Bodie walked onto a supermarket car-park, moving towards the entrance doors, while trying to look as nonchalant as possible. He watched shoppers coming and going with their trolleys. He saw one lady loading the boot of her Audi A3, and veered off towards her. The instant that he saw the keys in the ignition, he was in to the driver’s seat and driving the car away, leaving the woman screaming and running futilely after him. Bodie drove out of the car-park, but the tail-gate was still up and it smashed into the height restriction barrier with a massive crash and a shattering of glass.
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. D L Richardson will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
The Apocalypse Games is a state of the art virtual game, yet when it traps over 100 players inside, there’s reason to worry – their simulation pods are designed to last 3 days and the artificial intelligence is taking over.
When rescue finally arrives, the players are transported to an offsite facility to recover from cyber sickness. Not all the players survived and not all is what it seems. What is CyberNexis hiding out in the desert?
The disaster known as The Event has plunged the world into icy darkness. Humans can’t survive but a group of mutants can. All signs lead back to the simulation pods. What were they really designed for?
Join these characters on an emotional and fast-paced journey to explore what it really means to survive.
Read an Excerpt from Book Two
"Player twenty-one is about to enter the game."
Orange atoms flashed in front of Jack Minnow's eyes and he felt the lurch of his stomach as if plummeting from a great height, and he thought to himself, I didn't choose a game.
These atoms flashed, sparking as if alive with energy, until finally the show was over and the display vanished. Jack noticed his surroundings had shifted from the bright colors of the pod to the dull grays of a hospital room. Rows of beds were situated along two walls and a desk sat at the far end of the room. About twenty beds. No windows in the room. No flowers either, or fruit baskets or visitors for that matter. But the bitter smell of disinfectant and lost hope was abundant.
Other than the overhead vent humming and his sneakers squeaking on the floor, the room gave off no noise. Patients lay in the beds, as still as corpses with tubes sticking out of their arms and mouths. Alive but sedated, giving him a glimpse of what his body looked like from outside of the virtual reality simulation pod.
Impressions didn't count for anything in this world. Bodies being used for medical or science projects wouldn't be out of character. They might not be human. Androids. Whatever. Pandora wasn't offering up any clue as to why he stood in a hospital ward holding a patient chart.
Meet the Author:
D L Richardson writes speculative fiction. She is currently a self-published author of three YA novels "The Bird with the Broken Wing", "Resident Spy", and "One Little Spell". She is also the creator of the apocalyptic/sci-fi series "Welcome to the Apocalypse", and the novella series inspired by Tales from the Crypt, "The Shivers Novellas".
A former singer and musician, she credits this stage experience for her ease of public speaking, conducting writing workshops, and appearing on panels. Her books don't feature the usual tropes and this has earned her many loyal readers.
When she's not writing she enjoys playing music, watching Netflix, reading, gardening, and walking the dog.
