Terra Nova
The Variant Conspiracy #3
By Christine
Hart
Editor & Publisher: Soul Mate
Publishing
Genre: NA Paranormal Sci-Fi Romance
The end of
humanity and an unrecognizable future Earth are now days away. After their
first glimpse of the Terra Nova virus, Irina and her variant friends know their
former employer’s plans are almost at hand. Their failed attempt to publicize
Ivan and Innoviro Industries’ horrific activities has left them utterly reliant
on their own wits and weapons.
After surviving
a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco and destroying a secret viral
testing facility, Irina’s crew has traveled by a variant portal to London. On
the other side of the world, they begin tracking when and where Terra Nova will
be unleashed on the world. They know stopping Terra Nova is only the beginning
of unraveling Ivan’s plans to reinvent the planet, but if they can’t stop this
virus, there will be no one left to save.
Faith returned
with four glowing green drinks in a cup holder tray. Clear plastic cups, lids,
and straws let the liquid inside glow through. It smacked of something that
would spawn ninja turtles. “These are the Incinerator’s own toxic spills.
They’re just vodka and sprite with a capful of that crap they put in glow
sticks. Did you know you can drink that shit?”
Jonah
reluctantly took a plastic cup. “Are you sure we should drink it?”
“It’s not going
to kill us. No more so than the alcohol.” Ilya picked up a cup and took a long
generous pull on his straw.
I took an
experimental sip. It tasted like vodka and sprite. There was a mildly synthetic
aftertaste, but nothing toxic. I took another, much larger sip. Aha – the
warmth I’d been craving since my shower. I might stand a chance of sleeping
tonight after all.
Jonah followed
my lead and took a slurp on his straw, pausing to let the liquid do its work.
He leered at me with a devilish grin and grabbed my hand, pulling me off to the
dance floor. His touch radiated energy into me, right through my skin waking up
every cell in my body.
He leaned down
and kissed me, running his hands through my hair. His powerful grip felt
restrained, as though his mind fought to control his body. The intensity
surpassed our first night together. After we had spent so long mocked by his
unstable mutation, first hurting me and then nearly killing him, we were both
finally stronger than ever.
“I can’t help
myself. I need to touch you. I don’t ever want to let you go. We’re going to
make up for some lost time tonight.” His lips brushed my ear as he spoke. His
fingers traced the line of my neck and it sent shivers down my spine. So much
for sleep!
In Irina’s Cards
is the story of 19-year-old Irina Proffer who discovers a world of fringe
genetic science and supernatural mystery. Following visions inspired by a
strange deck of tarot cards, Irina learns of an amazing variation in her
genetic code. She has the ability to see the past, present and future, in her
life and the lives around her.
Irina sets out
from her northern home for BC's coastal capital to get answers. She is drawn in
by a powerful first love and a compelling, yet dangerous mystery. Working at
Innoviro Industries and meeting other 'variants' brings Irina closer and closer
to the dark truth about her origins. She finds herself at the heart of two
overlapping love triangles as she scrambles to escape her employer's grip. At
the close of the novel, Irina realizes she has merely scratched the surface of
a frightening conspiracy on a global scale.
“You know what
they say about the people here in Victoria, right?” said Jonah, as he watched
me watch everyone else.
“No, I can’t say
that I do. More money than they know what to do with?”
“True, but not
as bad as Vancouver. Ever heard of the saying ‘newlyweds and nearly deads’ or
as my mom says, ‘God’s waiting room.’”
“Kind of a dark
way to look at things, isn’t it?”
“My mom’s a dark
lady, but hilarious. I hope you don’t mind, but I also invited Cole and his
sister. You’ll love this little restaurant. It’s got awesome food and live
music, but not too hipster-ish,” said Jonah.
Something
dropped in my chest. If Cole brought his sister, we were just a group of
friends going for dinner. I felt silly for having thought that we were going on
a date. We turned another corner and Jonah pulled the car over next to a brick
building with a 50’s style neon sign that read ‘Cymbals’ next to a caricature
of a drum set. I followed Jonah through the wrought iron gate and looked up at
the oak tree on the lawn next to the patio. Tiny fresh leaves and new buds
covered the gnarled old tree. It was also home to dozens and dozens of
sneakers, canvas shoes, skate shoes, oxfords – basically any kind of shoe with
laces to tie together.
The air felt
warm enough to linger, so I walked over to the tree and looked upward. I
smiled. I reached up to one of the lower branches and touched one of the shoes.
The yard and the tree melted away. I saw the face of a girl with faintly bluish
skin and platinum hair. She turned and I saw two leather-like wings flex and
relax. Her shirt had been cut to make room for her wings which stretched out
past the frayed edges of the fabric. She was standing in a sewer or catacomb.
Faces milled
around the winged girl. It wasn’t quite like a party, maybe more like a camp.
An older lady standing next to the winged girl reached down to the ground. She
pinched the concrete and plucked something, maybe a stone, off the surface. The
stone wriggled. It was a camouflaged beetle, exactly like the one I’d seen on
my first day in the city. She lifted the beetle to her mouth and I reeled back.
The yard outside
Cymbals surrounded me again in a blink. Jonah stared at me. I noticed my arm
had stayed raised beneath the shoes and withdrew it.
“Are you all
right?”
Irina and her
renegade variant friends are scrambling to pick up the trail of their former
employer, Ivan, and his globally catastrophic scheme. After strategically
sharing their story with the media, the group heads south from Vancouver to
Seattle hoping to recruit more experienced—and lethal—variants to their cause.
Their attention
develops a laser focus on an engineered disaster mere days ahead of them. Ivan
is using what staff and resources remain of Innoviro Industries to set off a
violent earthquake in San Francisco. While they fight to stop the earthquake,
Irina pushes the love of her life Jonah as far away as she can, trying to keep
his unstable genetic degradation in check.
Irina’s friends
think they’ve seen the worst that Innoviro could bring forth by the time they
reach a secret facility in the Mojave Desert. As they near the property, the
group uncovers a horror none of them had ever imagined.
I awoke standing
on an orange cliff under a purple sky. An unfamiliar canyon wound under the
horizon on either side. I looked down to see a river of metallic sludge oozing
along the canyon floor. Chunks of debris floated in the sludge. Steam
intermittently bubbled here and there. The sky darkened as I watched the river.
Lights streaked across the sky, red and white, blinking. Black pellets fell
from the lights, exploding in the distance as they hit the ground.
A figure walked
through the smoke left by an explosion on the cliff directly opposite from me.
While the smoke cleared, Ivan reached the edge of the cliff. His face distorted
with a ripple. He reached up with both arms, burying his hands in his hair. His
fingertips pulled on his scalp. Ivan’s expression melted. He peeled off his
face in a downward motion taking the rest of his body with it. In Ivan’s place
stood a red-eyed humanoid reptile with giant curling horns, identical to what
I’d seen reflected in the window of Ivan’s apartment.
The horned figure
let out a ferocious roar. The ground shook. The landscape shivered until the
canyon transformed into a green valley below dry sage-covered hills. Ivan
seemed himself again, smiling and tapping his wristwatch, strolling toward me.
I shuddered, shaking my head. The green grass floor trembled and a crack opened
horizontally between us. Trembling turned to shaking. The crack ripped into the
ground in both directions until a canyon separated us.
A hand brushed
my cheek. I whirled to find the source of the touch. I found myself lying in
bed back in the guest bedroom in Josh’s farm house. I shouted and sat up.
Located on BC’s
beautiful West Coast, I write from my suburban Burnaby home staring at North
Vancouver’s iconic Coast Mountains. I love writing about places and spaces with
rich history and visually fascinating elements as a backdrop for the surreal
and spectacular.
In addition to
my undergraduate degree in writing and literature, my background also includes
corporate communications and design. I am a current member of the Federation of BC
Writers and SF Canada.
When not
writing, I have a habit of breaking stuff and making stuff – in that order –
under the guise of my Etsy alter-ego Sleepless
Storyteller. I share my eclectic home and lifestyle with my husband,
baby daughter and preschool son.
Thanks so much for sharing Terra Nova and The Variant Conspiracy books!
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