Saturday, February 18, 2012

Review: Tundra 37 by Aubrie Dionne, with Author Interview





Paperback, 288 pages
Expected publication: February 7th 2012 by Entangled Publishing, LLC
ISBN 13: 9781937044497
Source: Publisher, for the purposes of an honest review
Genre: Sci Fi
Series: A New Dawn, book #2
Best read in order: no, book 1 & 2 work as stand alones
Stars: 5
Flames: 1

Loved it! I loved the vivid imagery, I loved the various stories of the different characters lives, I loved the Seer’s memories of Old Earth, I enjoyed the dreams of alternate times and places that the lifers on board the Expedition experienced, and I liked the fact that I didn’t get lost in scientific technical jargon that can sometimes weigh down sci fi books. Over all Tundra 37 is a highly enjoyable book filled with memories of a time past, a spacecraft full of people struggling to survive on a frigid ice rock, and some intense sitting on the edge of your seat action.

Gemme is the Expedition’s Matchmaker. She verifies that the computer makes appropriate pairing choices for the Lifer’s whose future generation will one day inhabit Paradise 18. The day her name finally appears on the screen at her work station should have been a momentous occasion. It turns out she will never see Paradise 18. The ship has flown through a comet field and will be crash landing on an icy planet instead. Now her new job leads her out on the surface of Tundra 37 and part of the exploration team assigned with finding the greatly needed alternate energy source.

Miles, one of the Expeditions Lieutenants is tasked with the job of finding an alternate energy source so that the survivors of the crashed Expedition may live to see the future that their ancestors wanted for them. He soon discovers that much more is expected from him and this expedition into the frozen world of Tundra 37. It seems that some have put the interests of themselves before that of the Lifer’s that are in dire need of the mineral he has been sent to retrieve. Now he has to face the decision of doing what is best for the entirety of the ship or following the orders he has been given.

Mestasis and Abysme are the Seer’s (powerful telepathic like people who control the Expedition.) I enjoyed what they brought to the book. Readers get to experience their lives before they came to be the driving force of the Expedition. I also enjoyed seeing how the responsibility affected them, how they evolved and changed. I liked seeing their before and after characters. It was an interesting perspective to read.

There is so much more going on than matches made and crashes on barren planets. Fate, destiny, and the misplaced desires of others have their hands in everything it seems. Selfish wants changes so many factors with the lives of the Lifer’s. I enjoyed the fated destiny element within this book along with the mystery of the orb and the beacon.

I am looking forward to the third book in the series A Hero Rising. It is a prequel to the series and takes readers through the fall of Old Earth. Through the memories of the Seer’s of Tundra 37 the readers are introduced to James. James is the hero in book three. He is a man of extreme valor and he puts the well-being of the less fortunate above his own interests. I am also very curious about what happens to Earth. 



Interviewing the Diva Aubrie


Would you like to start off by telling us a little bit about yourself?
Sure, I’m a flutist by night, writer by day. I write in the mornings and early afternoons, then I teach flute and gig at night and on weekends. I started as just a flutist, making up stories to go with the music. Then, my students liked my stories so much they told me to start writing them down. Here I am today!

During your writing career have you done anything embarrassing or shocking in the pursuit in getting published?
Thankfully, nothing comes to mind…

What is one thing about you that your readers would find surprising or never guess about you?
I write about space ships all the time, but the thought of actually going into space scares the heebeegeebees out of me! You couldn’t pay me enough to put me on a spacecraft of any shape or size! I’m perfectly happy on planet Earth!

Can you tell us about your current work in progress, perhaps you could share a favorite fact or piece of fascinating information it?
I just finished the final book in the New Dawn series called Haven 6. This book ties in the other three in so many ways. There are the mysterious winged people from the eggs, the golden liquid, and descendants of Aries and Striker from Paradise 21. Many secrets are unfurled!

If you were to write yourself into one of your books or series which would it be, what role would you pick and why?
Well, it wouldn’t be in one of my space books, because of the reason I gave you above! I’d love to live in a medieval world with magic, knights, castles, and even dragons.

What has been your favorite scene to write and why?
I love all of the scenes where two characters fight over another one. For instance, in Tundra 37, Gemme and Luna both fight for Lieutenant Brentwood’s attention. Very juicy. A lot of comments come out on the fly and you see who each character really is inside.

What have you read and loved recently?
I couldn’t put down The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I had to know what happened in the end! (which I won’t spoil here in this interview!)

How do you spend your down time between edits, deadlines, writing and creating new and fascinating books? Do have a favorite pastime or hobby to fill you spare time with?
Between flute and writing I have enough to do! But I do love going to the movies, and watching certain movies (LOTR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars) over and over again.  I enjoy spending time with my year and a half old nephew and taking him to music and me class with my sister.

How did you celebrate the publishing of your first book?
But buying fifty copies and giving them all away to my friends and family!

I love author stalking. Do you have any 2012 convention plans? Where can fans stalk you?
No convention plans yet, but I’m on blogger:
Twitter: @authoraubrie
Goodreads:
Thank you so much for hosting me today! 



Tundra 37
A New Dawn, #2
Author: Aubrie Dionne
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Length: 288 pages
Release Date: February 2012
ePub ISBN: 978-1-937044-49-7
Print ISBN: 978-1-937044-51-0


Tundra 37 Book Trailer:

A New Dawn Novel, Book Two
Gemme is a hi-tech matchmaker who pairs the next generation of Lifers aboard the Expedition, a deep space transport vessel destined for Paradise 18. When the identity of her lifemate pops up on her screen, she’s shocked that he’s the achingly gorgeous and highly sought after Lieutenant Miles Brentwood—a man oblivious to her existence. Believing everyone will think she contrived the match, she erases it from the computer’s memory.
Just as comets pummel the ship and destroy the pairing system forever.
With the Expedition disabled, the colonists must crash land on the barren ice world of Tundra 37 where Gemme is reassigned to an exploratory mission, led by Lieutenant Brentwood. Only in the frozen tundra does she understand the shape of his heart and why the computer has entwined their destinies.


A Hero Rising
A New Dawn, #3
Author: Aubrie Dionne
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Length: novella
Release Date: February 2012
ePub ISBN: 978-1-937044-83-1

Prequel to A New Dawn - Book Three
After watching his love leave on a colony ship, James Wilfred must save those left behind from a planetary apocalypse. Their salvation lies in an unfinished ship tucked away in a secret government base, and only James can break in and pilot him and his people to freedom on a nearby space station.
Skye O’Connor’s boyfriend never returns after his gang attempts an assassination of the Governor, and the State Building is destroyed. Worse, crazed moonshiners addicted to the chemical Morpheus have stormed the city, and she must find a safe place for her and her boyfriend’s daughter. When a heroic man saves her, Skye asks to accompany him on his quest to find the last colony ship left on Earth.
As the city falls around them, James and Skye must work together to build a new future, all the while rediscovering their ability to love, before the apocalypse claims them both.


Paradise 21
New Dawn #1
Author: Aubrie Dionne
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: August 2011
ePub ISBN: 978-1-937044-02-2
Print ISBN: 978-1-937044-03-9



Amazon Paperback  Amazon Kindle


A New Dawn Book One

Aries has lived her entire life aboard mankind’s last hope, the New Dawn, a spaceship traveling toward a planet where humanity can begin anew—a planet that won’t be reached in Aries’ lifetime. As one of the last genetically desirable women in the universe, she must marry her designated genetic match and produce the next generation for this centuries-long voyage.

But Aries has other plans.

When her desperate escape from the New Dawn strands her on a desert planet, Aries discovers the rumors about pirates—humans who escaped Earth before its demise—are true. Handsome, genetically imperfect Striker possesses the freedom Aries envies, and the two connect on a level she never thought possible. But pursued by her match from above and hunted by the planet’s native inhabitants, Aries quickly learns her freedom will come at a hefty price.

The life of the man she loves.




About the Author:

Aubrie is an author and flutist in New England. Her stories have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, A Fly in Amber, and several print anthologies including Skulls and Crossbones by Minddancer Press, Rise of the Necromancers, by Pill Hill Press, Nightbird Singing in the Dead of Night by Nightbird Publishing, Dragontales and Mertales by Wyvern Publications, A Yuletide Wish by Nightwolf Publications, and Aurora Rising by Aurora Wolf Publications.  Her epic fantasy is published with Wyvern Publications, and several of her ebooks are published with Lyrical Press and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. When she’s not writing, she plays in orchestras and teaches flute at Plymouth State University and a community music school.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for reading all three of my books in the series! :)

    ReplyDelete