Very excited! My new novel, Thawing A.C. Nielsen, is now up and available for "pre-sale" (just $2.99 for Kindle or other ebook format, then price goes up before the holidays) on Kindle here:
http://amzn.to/2bULRD1
Selling like crazy- please go to that link and consider ordering the ebook or at least sharing the info with other book enthusiasts! It's already hitting top 100 various genre lists on Amazon!
Newly posted there-- a 5-star review from one of the top reviewing companies! Until it goes "live for sale" there won't be any customer reviews or samples-- that happens Oct. 18th. There will also be a paperback version up soon. Check it out and please spread the word. I need all the publicity help I can get since I am not giving away my book to a mainstream publishing house!
I am wondering if any of you would consider reviewing the book. It will be released on Amazon/Kindle on October 18th. I need reviews from regular folks posted to amazon on the release day, if possible. You get a FREE pdf, word.doc or .mobi (Kindle ebook file) copy and plenty of time between now and mid-October to read it. Let me know, friends!
After two wacky chapters filled with comedy, the plot moves forward-- has another 1980's pop icon come back to life and rejoined Mt T the guinea pig? Read on...
CHAPTER THIRTY
Tap-tap… tap-tap-tap.
“Who could that be,
Aria?” Kate whispered. “Who do you think that is knocking? It’s like barely
dawn or something.”
“Ugh, go answer it. I’m
too wasted.”
“All right. But you have
to cover the next annoying thing that pops up.”
“Whatever,” Aria
grunted, then rolled over.
Kate dragged herself out
of bed, threw on one of the plush hotel robes, and answered the door.
“Miss Pearson, I’m sorry
to bother you so early in the day,” said Anika Berglund, the a.m. shift hotel
manager. “The people at your company in Chicago want to talk to you. They keep
calling the desk, but when we try to reach you, your room phone is busy. That’s
why I finally came up.”
“Oh, maybe the phone got
knocked off, or my friend may have taken it off on purpose. Sorry about that.”
“Well, they asked me to
set up a video conference for you. If you can come down in fifteen minutes to
talk to them, I can have it ready to go. I’m sorry. They’ve been very
insistent.”
“Oh, that’s fine. I’m
sorry they’ve been troubling you. Americans, you know? What time do you think
it is in Chicago right now?”
“Maybe one in the
morning. It must be quite important for them to be up that late at your office,
don’t you think?”
“That’s for sure.
Thanks, I’ll be there soon.” Ms. Berglund nodded, then scurried down the
hallway to get the phone conference ready. Hell,
something is wrong. Why else would they be up in the middle of the night? Pod
meltdown? Ha—A.C. woke up? Better get dressed and try not to look hungover. Not
gonna be easy. Who’da thunk Iceland would have such rockin’ clubs?
“We’re ready to go, Miss Pearson. Here’s some coffee,
pastries, and a nice selection of soft Danish cheeses.”
“Thanks. Okay, ready when
you are.”
Ms. Berglund fiddled
with her laptop and within a minute had a connection to ExitStrategy up on the hotel’s
conference room screen.
“Hi, everyone!” Kate
said, waving, as the folks at ExitStrategy
squeezed together so Kate could hopefully see them all. “What’s going on
there? Isn’t it like the middle of the night? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, we’re fine, Kate.
Couldn’t be better,” Norm said.
“So what are you guys
doing? I have no clue what you are up to.”
“You can see we’re all
here in the cafeteria, right?” said Miles, who was executing the connection on
the Chicago end. “Here, I’ll pan around the room so you can see everyone.”
“Okay, I get it—a whole
bunch of you are there, but why are you—wait, Miles, what the hell? Pan back to
Chrissy, okay?”
“We thought you might
ask for that,” Miles said with a ginormous grin.
“What is that on your
lap, Chrissy?” Kate asked. “Who is that?”
“Oh, just a cat. He
likes me. Of course, most animals do. They dig my aura. He’s very happy on my
lap right now.”
“Chrissy, don’t mess
with me. Aria and I were up really late. We had a bunch of crazy Iceland party
drinks. That cat looks sort of like John Cougar. I don’t need any practical
jokes right now. Where did you get that cat?” The whole ExitStrategy crew
laughed—hearty belly laughs at Kate’s expense.
“Very funny, guys, but actually,
no, not funny at all. I’m sorry, Ms. Berglund, they’re making a long-distance
joke on me. This has all been a waste of your time.”
“Wait, Kate. Don’t be
such a crab,” Miles pleaded, still grinning from ear to ear. “It is John Cougar, Keith the security
guard’s cat. It really is. We revived him and he’s fine. Totally normal. And he
says he wants to be called John Mellencamp now—drop the frigging Cougar thing,
he insists.”
“Seriously? It sure as
heck looks like him—the markings and so on. Oh my God, for real?”
“Yup, Kate, he’s for
real,” Amman answered.
“But why so soon? I knew
you pulled him from the pod and put him in the womb tank, but he wouldn’t be
ready yet. We planned this so the final phase would happen when I got back.”
“You won’t believe what
happened,” Amman said. “The monitors beeped like crazy about four in the
afternoon. Nick Costas, the lab assistant, saw it—EEG activity. Just now and then.”
“Wait—but he had no
heartbeat, right? EEG without a heartbeat?” Kate was confused.
“John Cougar was
exhibiting what are called burst suppressions,” Amman explained. “Bursts of
heavy EEG activity followed by periods of almost total inactivity. It’s common when
entering or exiting comas, also quite common when the brain is trying to wake
itself back up from hypothermia, exactly the circumstance here. When Nick
started yelling and running through the building like a maniac, we all came to
see. I decided that little ol’ Mr. Cougar was sending us a message—‘Hey, dummies,
I’m a cat. I don’t like water. Get me the hell out of here, I’ve got mice to
catch.’ Or something along those lines, right? So we sped everything up. It
went so smoothly it was ridiculous. His heart started on the first try, and so
on. Amazing, huh?”
“Geez, Amman. Wow, guys.
This is so incredible. Now I know why you were trying to get ahold of me.
Sorry, I think Aria knocked our phone off the hook. Hey, can you give me a
close-up of the fuzz-face little guy?”
“Sure, here you go,” Miles
said, complying with Kate’s request. Mr. Cougar was looking and acting
perfectly feline, glued to Chrissy’s lap as if he intended to take up residence
there forever.
“He’s purring really
loud, Kate,” Chrissy said. “Very happy, though he hasn’t eaten anything. We
offered him some salmon, but he wasn’t interested. Keith is thrilled we brought
his cat back. He said he’ll be in an hour early with treats for the cat and for
us, too!”
“It’s no big deal he
hasn’t eaten,” Amman said. “He may not look stressed, but I’m sure he is. He’ll
eat when he’s ready. So what’s going on in Iceland?”
“I’ve been to the institute
twice now, including most of yesterday, before we went out to party the night.
The people are nice and very supportive. But here’s the bad news—they’ve
concluded that prion manifestations can grow exponentially during environmental
temperature changes. When temperatures flux the prions go crazy—totally not what I wanted to hear. They’re
saying our cryo procedure is probably a perfect storm for prions as we freeze
or as we thaw, not to mention Enzo’s ongoing temperature flux thing going on in
the pods. The institute director thinks we’re screwed. Well, he wouldn’t say
that. They’re too polite here. Kinda like Canadians.” Kate glanced up at Anika
and mouthed, “Sorry,” afraid she may have insulted her. Anika smiled back. No
harm, no foul, apparently. “So listen, I was going to talk to you all later
today about this issue. We totally have to stop the temp shifts that Enzo loved
so much. I never understood his ideas on that, anyway.”
“Okay, Kate, but what
temperature do you want to go with?” Norm asked. “We’ve been cycling through
three different temperatures all this time. Now we have to pick one? Is that
what you’re saying?”
“Yes. Let’s go to the
highest of the three,” Kate said as she nibbled on some pastry. “I really think
the higher we are, the better. Amman, were you able to run John Cougar through
the MRI—look for prions?”
“Yes, Kate. Nothing
there, actually. Great, huh? We can do it again but for now I just want to let
him be a cat for a few days, okay?”
“Sure. Keep me posted on
any developments, okay? Great job, everyone. Does Mike know yet?”
“We texted him around eleven
p.m. Haven’t heard back,” Deirdre said. “So you’ve been working and partying?”
“Oh yes, Deirdre. You
and Chrissy would like it here. After I got done at the institute, Aria and I
went to a museum. Lots of culture here—this was the phallological museum right
downtown. Then we went and danced and partied in club after club.”
“‘Phallological’ you
said? What is that? Something about logic, or maybe a math thing, or some kind
of philosophy?” Chrissy asked.
“No, Chrissy, philology is the study of written
languages within historic contexts,” Professor Miles lectured. “Iceland has an
amazing, yet underappreciated place in European intellectual history over many
centuries.”
“No, Miles—this was the phallological museum,” Kate said,
winking at Anika. “Look it up. You’re the Internet expert, right? Okay, I’m
going to sign off now. Exciting news, guys. Give that pretty kitty a big hug
for me, okay? But no catnip for the little dude, hear? Let’s keep him calm.
Love you all and see you very soon.” Kate was very tired yet quite happy.
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