Today is my Stop for the Blog Tour for Storm by Evan Angler. I’ll be featuring a deleted scene (i love reading scenes that didn’t make it to the final version of a book) and a giveaway. For the Tour schedule click on the banner above. :)
Title: Storm (Swipe #3)
Author: Evan Angler
Release Date: May 7th 2013
In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark allows citizen to shop, go to school, and even get medical care–without it, you are on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.
Logan Langly went in to get his Mark, but he backed out at the last minute. Ever since, he’s been on the run from government agents and on a quest to find his sister Lily, who disappeared when she went to get her Mark five years earlier. His journey leads him to befriend the Dust, a vast network of Markless individuals who dissent against the iron-grip rule of the government. Along the way to the capital to find Lily, the Dust receive some startling information from the Markless community, opening their eyes to the message of Christianity and warning that humanity is now entering the End of Days.
In “Storm,” Logan and his friends are the leaders of the Markless revolution. But while some Markless are fighting Chancellor Cylis’ army, the Dust is busy trying to find a cure for a horrible epidemic sweeping through the Marked. And it’s difficult for them to know who to trust, especially when they aren’t sure if Logan’s sister Lily, one of the commanders in Cylis’ army, is on their side or not. And all across the nation–and the world–the weather is become less stable, and a storm is brewing that bigger than any of them could have ever imagined….
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[Note from the Author]
Dear Reader,
Can you keep a secret?
For the launch of my latest banned book, STORM, I am doing something that I’ve never done before: I am releasing a series of deleted scenes. Scenes that are cannon, that did happen, and that simply didn’t fit on the page. What follows here is an exclusive first look at one of my very favorites–a scene in the secret prison Acheron, where Lily and the other IMPS pressure recently-captured Eddie into revealing vital information about his friends in the Dust.
So why am I doing this, you ask? Why am I publishing this deleted moment?
Perhaps it is just one more way to stick it to DOME. As if a third Swipe novel weren’t enough to ruffle their feathers, now I’m insisting on sprinkling it with bonus material too. Take that, Chancellor Cylis! How do you like me now?
But no. That’s not the only reason. That’s not all.
Because the truth is, it’s my hope that the scene you are about to read will inform the story of STORM, will complement it, will add to it and enhance it once all is said and done.
Because one way or another, a storm is coming. And it threatens everything we’ve ever fought for, all this time. And the more we know before it hits, the better.
Because right now, we Markless need all the help we can get.
Yours,
Evan Angler
[Deleted Acheron Scene]
In Acheron, the Situation Room could be reached only by staircase, spiraling and narrow and cut right into the bedrock of the great, big Beacon hill. It was designed as a bottleneck. There was no way to ambush the Acheron Situation Room.
Inside, a single oval table might have sat a dozen people, tops. Another fifteen could have squeezed in around that, along the room’s curved wall, if the situation called for it. But so far no situation ever had.
The room had been used rarely over the last ten years, by anyone.
And yet for Lily, it was all too familiar.
The entrance before her slid open, revealing the space beyond, its walls red, the color of war. Its table was red too, and in the light of the setting sun, even the air itself seemed to fill with a matching glow. Outside, the Atlantic Ocean stretched far beyond the horizon, its water like blinding fire, its reflection of the sky as sharp as dancing sparks from the sun itself.
It was the only room in Acheron with a view.
It was the only room in Acheron with any windows at all.
Lily hadn’t noticed.
“Good afternoon,” she said, joining the circle with Eddie following close behind. “This is Moderator Blackall, recent recruit. Let us begin.”
“This afternoon DOME’s Eyes & Ears Bureau flagged a Markscan at a small corner store on the outskirts of Sierra City. It was a Mark that belonged to a girl. A young girl. And some of you might recognize the name.
“Erin Arbitor.”
There was a general nodding around the table. Lily continued.
“Erin Arbitor has been on our watch list since October. She is the daughter of Charles Arbitor, the once-promising agent sent by DOME to clean up Daniel Peck’s Markless mess out west.”
The Champion sighed. “What a disappointment he turned out to be.”
“Quite,” Lily said. “But the real issue lies now with his daughter. Last month, she breached DOME’s information database with a sophisticated computer virus. Her target? A single memo, leading straight to information on Project Trumpet, and on the deployment of the task force before you today.”
Lily nodded, gathering her thoughts and pressing on. “We are pleased to report, Champion, that Trumpet is contained to this day. Six months, now, since the outbreak, and there has been not one known instance of further infection within our American state.
“However,” Lily said. “This Arbitor breach is…an ongoing concern. So, upon tracing Ms. Arbitor’s Mark, DOME immediately ordered a stealth drone plane to scour the area. Not long after, that drone locked onto a pre-Unity combustion vehicle. Ms. Arbitor was presumed to be inside.”
“So we have her,” the Champion confirmed. “She’s in our custody.”
Lily looked down at that fiery red table. “Negative, sir. It seems we’ve lost her again.”
The Champion was still.
Lily continued. “Thus far, we have no indication that she’s leaked anything to the press or public. For all the sympathy we’ve seen among the Marked over these Markless protests, and as unpopular as the IMP crackdowns have been, nothing yet points to a general knowledge of Trumpet. It is the opinion of this task force that the level of unrest we’ve seen among Marked thus far is not nearly at the level we’d expect were that not the case.”
The Champion frowned. “Any guesses as to why this Arbitor girl’s keeping quiet?”
“I don’t pretend to know her motives, Champion. And I don’t pretend to know her next move. That’s why I’ve invited Moderator Blackall to join us this afternoon. Blackall, do you have an opinion on this matter?”
Eddie cleared his throat uneasily. “You want me to, uh…you want me tell you what I think Erin’s goals are?”
“Erin’s and the Dust’s at large, yes.” Lily looked at him, seeming to warn with her piercing gaze: Cooperate.
“I…I don’t know,” Eddie said. “I’m not sure. I was captured before they formed a plan. Last I knew, Erin was just as much a threat to the Dust as you IMPS—” Eddie coughed and cleared his throat. He tapped his chest lightly with his fist. “As we IMPS were.” Eddie was quiet for a moment. His wording had been lost on no one. Around the room, the Task Force looked at him through narrow eyes.
Eddie began to sweat, and the beads glistened in the setting sunlight.
“Well,” Lily said slowly. “That situation changed. Our intelligence suggests that Erin began working with the Dust shortly after they abandoned you.”
“They didn’t abandon—” Eddie began. But he stopped himself short.
Lily looked down at her hands, folded on the table, and she continued. “Thereafter, Erin used her classified information to coordinate an assault on Acheron. She has since fled Beacon for Sierra. Further breached documents suggest she intends to see Dr. Rhyne, a scientist behind the Project. Are you familiar with—”
“No!” Eddie said. “I’m not! I’m not familiar with any of this! You’ve had me locked up down here for months—how could I possibly know any of this?”
“Who is she with,” a Coordinator asked forcefully from across the table. “What is your guess.”
Eddie shrugged. “My guess? Well. If Erin really is on the side of the Dust again, then I’ve gotta think Logan Langly is with her.”
Shifting glances and shuffling seats. Lily coughed into her hand.
“And…if this Project Trumpet of yours is as important as you’re making it sound…then it’s plausible Daniel Peck went along with them. He’s not one to sit out for the big events. Other than that,” Eddie shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Our three biggest targets,” a Coordinator said. “All in one place.”
“It’s possible,” Eddie said.
“And what about motives? Why wouldn’t Erin have broadcasted what she knows to the wider American State? Why keep Project Trumpet between her and the misers who abandoned you?”
Eddie put his hands up. “I’m guessing here,” he said. “But from what I know of her, Erin’s a smart girl. She’s a schemer. She’s deliberate. Probably more so than even you yet appreciate.” Eddie turned and looked out the window, to the view of the ocean. To freedom. And then he turned sharply away. “If Erin really was trying to start a State-wide riot, then I’m guessing she thought far enough ahead to know that a country full of people trying to avoid an epidemic is not a country that’s likely to flood out into crowded streets and take part in a big, contagious protest.”
The Coordinator across from Eddie smiled. “You’re no soldier,” he said. “You’re not even on our side. But you sure do know how to throw your friends under the bus.”
Lily smiled at Eddie as a tear fell silently from his face.
At the head of the table, the Champion nodded, and gestured to the room.
The grind of chairs as each of the IMPS stood up to leave. The patter of feet as the Task Force shuffled out.
“Thank you, Moderator. Trumpet Task Force dismissed.”
Prize: Print copies of the Swipe Series (Books 1-3)
US Only
Ends: May 25
*to enter click link below*
Evan lives without the Mark, evading DOME and writing in the shadows of Beacon.
Swipe is his first book. But if anyone asks, you know nothing about it, and you didn’t hear anything from him. Don’t make eye contact if you see him. Don’t call his name out loud. He’s in enough trouble already.
And so are you, if you’ve read his book.
Author Links
Carolyn has always liked to create. There were always gardens full of beautiful plants in her life, plenty of frilly, homemade dresses for her daughters—and don’t leave out the puppets. Ever since third grade, Carolyn also liked to write. She is the author of Promises, a teen historical fiction novel, and the author/illustrator of two children’s picture books. Carolyn lives in Utah with her husband and teenage daughter, where she runs her puppet-related business in between family time and writing time.
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