The Chronicles of Deneb series
by
Zanne Raby
Science Fiction / Space Opera
Book One: The Flight of the Mayflower (March 3, 2021)
Book Two: Descent into Darkness (November 23, 2021)
Book Three: Fires of Fury (November 3, 2022)
Publisher: Library and Archives Canada
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SYNOPSIS:
The Chronicles of Deneb is a science-fiction/ space opera series set in the near future. The year is 2080 CE. The world is dying. Get ready to travel into the future to a time when nothing is certain. Where the science behind climate change was ignored, leading to drought and famine plaguing an already overpopulated globe. Massive waves of refugees stream across the planet, seeking sanctuary. Where terrorist groups have joined forces with biohackers to develop a deadly bio-engineered disease that marches across the continents like a conquering army, leaving millions dead in its murderous swathe.
Meanwhile, some of the best and brightest minds on the planet are feverishly at work - constructing gigantic Space Arks to shuttle hundreds of thousands of people to a colony on Mars. And it seems like there’s more good news: world leaders announce that a vaccine is ready. It’s all good; it’s all returning to normal.
But the truth is very different.
In THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER, the first novel in The Chronicles of Deneb, Dr. Daniel Radu – project manager for NASA’s Space Ark Mayflower – uncovers a global conspiracy of immense proportions. But Daniel cooks up a scheme of his own. Joined by a team of global experts, he and his colleagues brace themselves for a journey of a lifetime as they trek across the galaxy in a quest for survival.
Mayhem follows the Mayflower in the second book of The Chronicles of Deneb series, DESCENT INTO DARKNESS. Journey along with the crew of the Space Ark Mayflower as they adapt to their new home on the planet Deneb. But along with their struggle to integrate into an alien culture, a new battle sweeps across the planet with the arrival of the human-transmitted Chimera bactovirus, bringing war and fanning the flames of racial intolerance. With a bloody conflict now raging across the planet, the crew of the Mayflower is split between the two factions and embroiled in the chaos and destruction.
FIRES OF FURY is the
third installment in The Chronicles of Deneb. Will the survivors of the Space Ark Mayflower find their way when cultures clash and the fires of fury threaten to consume their lives? Now masquerading as citizens of the Collective, the Mayflower crew has a new reason to fear. With the end of the Second Denebian War, Wesselan’s General Pallav Kóbor and his astrophysicist wife, Dr. Tara Kóbor, have high hopes that life will return to normal on Deneb7. Yet nothing can be further from the truth. In a diabolical plot to erase the scars left by the Second Denebian War, warlord turned Wessel Head of State Gomalan unleashes a fiendish scheme to heal his nation’s wounds, while his top soldier, General Ravenna, falls under the spell of a seductive Fyjer agent intent on crushing their ambitions. Dragged into a brutal reality of terror and intrigue, can the Kóbors and warbird ace Fynn Vogel remain unscathed, or will the flames consume them and all that is evil on Deneb-7?
READ AN EXCERPT:
A willowy brunette with shining brown eyes burst from the
shadows, almost scaring Daniel out of his skin. “Tara,” he gasped, trying to quiet his heart. “What the hell? The president’s due here any second.” Dr. Tara Kóbor, the Nobel-prize winning astrophysicist who had discovered the find of the century – an Earth-like planet cuddled up in the Goldilocks zone of its star – was wearing a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon.
“You heard the news, right? I mean, the broadcasts are on fire. They’ve developed a vaccine! And whoever’s on the first shuttle flight is top priority. That means…”
He could hear heavy footsteps pounding on the hangar floor: time to play show and tell. Taking her by the shoulder, Daniel shepherded his friend to the bulkhead door. “It means you gotta get outta here. We’ll celebrate later,” he promised.
Just then, a bevy of bodyguards swooped in, all earpieces and dark glasses, and Daniel stood back as they robotically carried out their duties. No need really, NASA’s Chief of Security had seen to that. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel spotted Tara’s husband, Lt-Col Pallav Kóbor, dwarfing the president’s team as he walked them through the hangar. He could hear the click click click of the cameras as the president approached with his staff trailing behind like good little shadows.
Show time, he mumbled to himself, wiping the sweat from his palms on his cobalt-blue NASA tunic.
MY REVIEW:
THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER
BOOK ONE
5 stars!
The fantastic debut of a brilliant new space opera
series!
As a part of this virtual book tour, I was given the
opportunity to read the first book in The Chronicles of Deneb, and I can’t
wait to get my hands on the next one in the series; the story is absolutely
riveting! The Flight of the Mayflower takes its crew and passengers from
life on Earth to what they see as the planet of their salvation: Deneb.
That these characters are able to make the journey at all is
a wonder of coordination. It was an amazing feat of secrecy that Daniel and his
counterparts were able to pull it off without anyone at all getting wind of it.
They told no one, and I loved that.
The story is rife with moral dilemmas of all kinds. Earth
society has disintegrated to the point where the leaders of the remaining
nations are about to double-cross their constituents to save themselves. The
project managers creating the space arks decide to take the vessels for
themselves, saving only their families and coworkers who have been quarantined
with them while the work has progressed. They must decide to keep what they
know a secret from their loved ones, leave extended family and friends outside
the quarantine zone behind, and literally kidnap their coworkers and families
to save their lives. It was a terrifying twist that not everyone in the
quarantine zone had 100% obeyed the quarantine, creating a ticking time bomb on
the ship of if or when the virus would make itself known.
In the isolation of the long journey, there are the
inevitable stresses of having a small group of people thrown together in a
confined space. Emotions are artificially heightened, competition between partners is ratcheted up, and relationships are
affected. The characters quickly came to feel like real people to me, and under
such extraordinary circumstances, real people succumb to temptations they might
not normally even consider. I felt so sorry for Daniel and Poppy and their
family, yet his choices regarding Tara during the journey were made out of weakness and
ill-considered.
But a fascinating element of the plot is the reaction of the
indigenous population of Deneb to the newcomers. Three tribes or countries are bound
together by treaty, and they all react differently to the appearance of the
humans. I liked that the Denebians were a technologically-advanced society.
They had experience with receiving space explorers and first contact. But some
exciting political intrigue is set in motion, startling prejudices, and
high-level negotiations ensue.
Categorized as science fiction, it is not hardcore and
tech-forward; it is a space opera, where technology takes a backseat to the story. However, there is still plenty of techie talk to keep things interesting. I
recommend THE FLIGHT OF THE MAYFLOWER to sci-fi readers who enjoy their stories
with a more character-driven plot.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Since the days of the Napoleonic War, there has always been a member of Zanne Raby’s family in uniform. Choosing to follow in the footsteps of her ancestors, Zanne joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, and was selected to attend the Royal Military College of Canada – the first year that women were accepted into that prestigious academy of learning. After graduation, she studied to become a Transportation and Movements Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During a career spanning 38 years, some of the most memorable experiences involved command of 8 Mission Support Squadron as part of Joint Task Force Afghanistan, leading a study on support to the Canadian Arctic involving several trips to Northern Canada, including Canadian Forces Station Alert (the most northern settlement in the world), a three-year tour with NATO at Joint Force Command Brunssum, a deployment as the NATO Liaison Officer to United States Central Command, and finally a nomination as the Deputy Commander for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.
After hanging up the uniform and putting away the combat boots, Zanne bought a small acreage in Central Ontario and designed her own house. With a cozy office overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay, she decided to pursue her life-long ambition: to become an author. Enough of the reports and returns that littered her desk over her career, now she could turn her attention to unleashing the creativity that had taken a back seat. The time had come to shake the dust off begin a new career. The winds of change had called.
Zanne is currently crafting The Chronicles of Deneb, a sci-fi space opera series that will take the reader from a dystopian earth on a voyage across the universe in search of a safe haven. But trouble is in store for them when the planet they land on is anything but the sanctuary they sought.
When not behind the keyboard, Zanne enjoys travel, photography, hiking, and gardening. And always, a good story to pass the time.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
Zanne Raby will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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