GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Excerpt: The Master of Dreams (The Dreamscape Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Resnick + giveaway | I Smell Sheep

Monday, April 15, 2019

Excerpt: The Master of Dreams (The Dreamscape Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Resnick + giveaway

The Master of Dreams (The Dreamscape Trilogy Book 1)
by Mike Resnick
April 16, 2019
304 pages
Publisher: DAW
Opening a new fantasy trilogy from Hugo award winner Resnick, this novel offers an adventure through space and time as Eddie Raven tries to outrun the dark forces pursuing him.

Eddie Raven isn't quite sure what's happening to him--and he's in a race to find out before it kills him.

His adventures begin with a shooting in a very strange shop in Manhattan--but soon he finds himself the owner of a very familiar bar in Casablanca. By the time he adjusts to that reality, he's suddenly become one of several undersized people helping a young woman search for a wizard. And after confronting the wizard, he somehow finds himself in Camelot.

But as he rushes to solve the mystery of his many appearances, a larger threat looms. Because someone or something is stalking him through time and space with deadly intent....


Excerpt:
Suddenly a small man clad in a black robe with black ponytail, arching eyebrows, and exotic tattoos all over his arms and neck emerged from behind a curtain.

“Welcome,” he said to Lisa with an accent that neither she nor Raven could place. “And how may I be of service to you?”

“Your sign says that you read fortunes,” replied Lisa.

“So I do,” said the man. “And since our hands will be touching each other, it is only fair that we know each other’s names. I am Mako.”

“And I am—”

“Lisa,” he said with a smile. “I know.”

“What now?” asked Lisa, wondering how he knew her name— but that just made him all the more exotic and mysterious. “Do we sit at a table, or—?”

“Whatever makes you comfortable,” replied Mako. “I can do it right here if you like.”

“How much is this going to cost?” asked Raven.

“For someone as beautiful as Lisa, ten dollars.”

“You must read a lot of fortunes to pay for this place,” said Raven.

“Sometimes all it takes is the correct hand,” answered Mako as another customer entered the store.

Raven turned to look at the newcomer. He was a large bald man, much closer to seven feet than six, and it was clear that his burly physique came from muscles, not fat. He wore a light colored trench coat, and for all Raven knew he was naked beneath it, because except for sandals his legs were bare at least from the bottom of the coat to his knees, and his hands and wrists were the same. His eyes were the deepest black. Raven decided that he looked right at home in a shop that was selling the supernatural.

“Have we met?” asked Raven.

“Why should you think so?” asked the man.

Raven shrugged. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling that I’ve seen you before.”

The customer half smiled and half grimaced, and Raven turned his attention back to Lisa and Mako.

“You are twenty-three years old,” said Mako, staring at her open palm. “You were born in February. You like Sondheim musicals. You adore Agatha Christie’s mystery novels. You—” Suddenly he froze.

“What is it?” asked Lisa.

“You will die in seconds!” he whispered. He stared at her. “But why?” He turned to Raven. “It’s got to be you! Why did you come here? You know better!”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Raven. “Or it is that you’ll charge ten dollars to read her palm and ninety bucks to save her from a nonexistent—”

Before he could finish the sentence a gunman entered the shop and started blazing away. Lisa fell to the floor with two bullets buried in her chest. Mako followed an instant later with a bullet to his head.

The gunman frowned, turned, aimed at Raven, and pulled the trigger again, but the tall customer dove between them and took the bullet meant for Raven.

Raven could hear nearby sirens and people screaming. He spun around, looking for the shooter, but the man had fled into the gathering crowd. He stood where he was, numbly surveying the scene, then knelt down to see if any life remained in Lisa.

And as he did so, before he could determine if she was still breathing, he heard a voice that seemed to emanate from the empty air surrounding him. Run, Eddie Raven! You knew better than to come here! Nothing can save you if you don’t flee!

And, almost without thinking, Raven opened the door and ran.

About the Author:
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Mike Resnick has won awards in the USA, Spain, France, Japan, Croatia, Poland and China. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction, and is 4th on the all-time list when novels are added. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio and can be found online at mikeresnick.com.



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print copy of The Master of Dreams

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