Tuesday, April 16, 2013

'Twinned Universes' by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan Blurb Blitz Tour

TWINNED UNIVERSES
By
Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

BLURB:

Paul Harrison always wanted to play Hamlet, but he never expected he’d live the role first.

In the aftermath of a family tragedy on 21st century Earth, Paul discovers he’s the clone of Sean Lyon, his great-great-grandfather and a famous TwenCen musician. Suspecting his mother’s death was no accident, Paul comes up with a plan to trick the answers out of the great-uncle who had him cloned. But in order to make his plan work, Paul needs help from Sean himself—and Sean’s time is running out in the TwenCen universe next door. Although Paul’s family lives on the spaceship that travels between the universes, he’s never been allowed on TwenCen Earth. Now, with the help of his friends, his disguise-creating holoprojectors, and a quantum quirk, Paul must make his way to Sean while evading other time travelers who fear he’ll change the history of the TwenCen universe. If Paul is to achieve justice, he must not only risk his own life, but the wormhole connecting the universes. “To be or not to be” was a simple question in comparison....

Read an excerpt:
Paul didn’t care what Dad thought; Great-Uncle Jack was the most promising suspect. He hated Mom, so he’d have no problem getting rid of her, especially if it made Paul more like Sean. How could Dad expect him to forget about the matter when it was his own fault? How could he expect Paul to do nothing? He’d be eighteen in a couple more months, old enough to handle responsibility. Maybe he would be useless with the genetic research, but there had to be something he could do. But what?

All I’m good at is acting, and that doesn’t matter out here. It’s no help being in space when Great-Uncle Jack is back on Earth. Paul broke down the cardboard boxes for composting. But maybe when I get back….

Hamlet had staged a reenactment of his father’s death to gauge his uncle’s guilt by his reaction. Perhaps Paul could do something similar. For a moment he pictured himself playing his own mother, accusing her uncle. The image made Paul smile, but he was too tall to play her convincingly. There was only one role he could manage, the most dangerous one.

If Paul proclaimed on returning to Earth that he was willing to become a Sean impersonator, Great-Uncle Jack would be so ecstatic he might let his guard slip. If he wanted Paul to write songs, he’d write one about his mother and play it for the world. Perhaps that would make Great-Uncle Jack confess. All Paul had to do was learn a role he could get trapped in.




About the Author


Sandra Ulbrich Almazan started reading at the age of three and only stops when absolutely required to. Although she hasn’t been writing quite that long, she did compose a very simple play in German during middle school. Her science fiction novella Move Over Ms. L. (an early version of Lyon’s Legacy) earned an Honorable Mention in the 2001 UPC Science Fiction Awards, and her short story “A Reptile at the Reunion” was published in the anthology Firestorm of Dragons. She is a founding member of BroadUniverse and a long-time member of the Online Writing Workshop for Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror. Her undergraduate degree is in molecular biology/English, and she has a Master of Technical and Scientific Communication degree. Her current day job is in the laboratory of an enzyme company; she’s also been a technical writer and a part-time copyeditor for a local newspaper. Some of her other accomplishments are losing on Jeopardy! and taking a stuffed orca to three continents. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband, Eugene; and son, Alex. In her rare moments of free time, she enjoys crocheting, listening to classic rock (particularly the Beatles), and watching improv comedy.

Sandra can be found online at her website, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Upcoming projects from Sandra include a standalone fantasy story called “The Fighting Roses of Sharon”; Twinned Universes, the second book in the science fiction Catalyst Chronicles series; and Scattered Seasons, the first book in the fantasy Season Lords series.


Sandra will award one randomly chosen commenter the choice of a $50 Amazon gift card or a gift pack of all of the following items related to Twinned Universes: two Shakespeare mugs, a Sears tower pendant, a book by Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space), and a signed copy of the first book in the series, Lyon's Legacy. Follow the tour for more chances to win!

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me, Andrea! I'll stop by around noon CDT and this evening to answer any questions.

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  2. Not the usual book that I would pick up, but something has me intrigued! I will have to keep following the tour :)

    andralynn7 AT gmail DOt com

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  3. Thanks for the great excerpt, it sounds like he has a great plan to solve the mystery

    fencingromein at hotmail dot com

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  4. Great excerpt, thank you.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

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  5. Hi Sandra,

    Your books are all of the syfy and fantasy genres. Is that right? Do you have plans to step out of your chosen writing field into something else? If so, what genre would that be?

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

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  6. Thank you for sharing an excerpt!

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  7. Sounds interesting

    bn100candg at hotmail dot com

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  8. Thanks for stopping by, everyone!

    Karen, yes, so far, all my stories are either SF or fantasy. I do have some ideas for a mystery story, but I have so many other projects to work on first that it'll be a long time before I get around to that one. At least that gives me more time to research the genre.

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  9. Sounds interesting! Thanks!
    -Amber
    goodblinknpark(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  10. I agree - it does intrigue.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  11. THIS SOUND LIKE THE CLONE GOING TO GET EVEN WITH ALL I LOVE TO BE ABLE TO READ

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  12. What a wonderful story this sounds like. Would love to win.
    Thanks ofor the giveaway

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