#RRBC #4WillsPub Through the Nethergate tour – Charles W Jones

Author Charles W Jones is hosting Day 6 of my Through the Nethergate tour. Thanks you, Charles. You can read the post here: https://charleswjonesauthor.com/welcome-to-day-5-of-the-through-the-nethergate-blog-tour-robertaeaton17-4willspub-rrbc/

Giveaways

GIVEAWAY:  (3 winners) (1) e-book copy of “NIGHTMARELAND”, (1) e-book copy of “THROUGH THE NETHERGATE”, and (1) $25 Amazon gift card. (leave a comment to enter on Charles’ blog)

About Charles W. Jones

I  grew up in a small town of five hundred people in Wyoming that everyone always pronounces wrong or spells incorrectly, Shoshoni (show show knee); I swear it’s a real place. My first novel, Dreamwalker: The Second Plain, is LGBTQ+ as are HOME and Daughter of Illusion. My other books include the Circus Tarot Trilogy (it’s Clowns and Tarot, what’s not to love), Hunger, Hydrangeas on the Lanai and Darkness is Coming. And last, but not least, I have two anthology collections, An Unnamed Acquaintance and Liaisons Macabre. Oh, yeah, I currently live with my husband of twenty-one years in Colorado with our three cats, ten crested geckos, and one saltwater fish tank.

You can find out more about Charles’ books here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C8T5SSH

The Road to Saratin

The world had already begun to change, in ways Carl had no idea were possible, when the voices began speaking to him on the night of his sixth birthday. When Carl’s mom contacted Dr. Emerson Sharod at the Freedom Institute, she had no idea that the time she cherished with her son would end.

Twenty-two years later, the voices urge Carl to leave the Freedom Institute after a man is slain under suspicious circumstances. He doesn’t question them and naively crosses the threshold into the city of Montford, where he knows no one. A few help him, risking their safety, so he can escape the walled city and begin his trek to find his mom in Saratin.

The world outside the walls is stranger than the city with unknown dangers at every step, though not everyone is a foe. Along the way, he meets many who help him and share stories about what caused the changes in the world. When he reaches Base 40, he comes face to face with Astrid, who rescued him from freaks on the first day of his travels. He is worried that she will tell the baser leader, Corporal Phelps, that he’s the escapee from the Freedom Institute, but she does not.

After an uncomfortable meal with Corporal Phelps, Carl shares his story with Astrid. She agrees to take him to Saratin. Reaching the tent city outside the walls of Saratin, they search for refuge and are taken in by Kenneth who is partially responsible for the chaos in the world. The safe place is quickly infiltrated by Corporal Phelps, and they are taken back to Base 40 where Carl witnesses the Corporal torturing Astrid. In a moment of anguish, Carl remembers something he was told and puts together a plan to save Astrid and himself, and, unknowingly, the world.

A 5-star Amazon review of The Road to Saratin

Dystopian fiction is not my normal genre, but this book made a refreshing read as it was so different.

The story follows Carl, a man haunted by myriad voices in his head since the age of six. We join him twenty-two years later in the Freedom Institute. He knows little of the devastation that overtook the world not long after his incarceration, or of the freaks and mutants that roam outside the three remaining cities. His world has become limited to the doctor who “treats” him and the daily tasks he performs, but everything changes when a colleague dies and suspicion falls on Carl.

In an intricate storyline, the voices urge him to leave his institutionalised life. They guide him along a path of twists and turns, away from the city of Montford. He aims to find his long-lost mom in another of the surviving cities, Saratin. His many encounters and adventures make for an intriguing, if sometimes disturbing, read. The ending is surreal but satisfying.

This book is a real page-turner and stretched my imagination. It surprised me what can be achieved within this post-apocalyptic style of writing.