I like to introduce a science fiction series by my friend, Rosemary B. Althoff. She is in the process of finishing book three and hopes you’ll enjoy her series…
Here’s more about The Hot Marble:
LEWIS BRAHMINDURA is a brilliant young physicist, dark, handsome with large eyes that women love—and a proud atheist. A weapons manufacturer called the Shields is trying to recruit him with a huge salary increase.
Meanwhile, Lewis’s ten-year-old brother PATRICK sits on the back steps, feeling glum. Growing up is hard enough, but it’s worse if you think you are fat. A meteor-like flash captures Patrick’s attention. This is his chance to become a hero in a science-fiction adventure.
Lewis and Patrick’s little sister GRACIE invites herself to Patrick’s adventure. At eight years old, pretty, popular, and athletic, she is everything Patrick wishes he could be. She and her brother race to find the source of the flash. They find a hot, glowing marble—but it comes with an evil, hate-filled presence. Patrick takes the marble home; Gracie wants to be rid of it.
Later, Lewis is committed to watching the children over the weekend. He, Patrick, Gracie, and his best friend FRED JONTZ prepare a picnic outing, but secretly Patrick palms the fascinating marble. Their picnic is fun—until the Shields move in!
Patrick drops the marble right in front of the Shield leader. Lewis retrieves the marble, but the Shields pursue them with guns. In that instant, Lewis, Patrick, Gracie, and Fred are caught in an abrupt transition. Their world winks out like a television blinking off.
They land roughly on a different world—Lanthra. Stranded with his loved ones in a wild, wintry mountainous area, Lewis worries that they may die of exposure. Fortunately, friendly Bardian troops rescue them from a cold death, as well as from being captured—or worse—by enemy forces. The companions safely arrive at the Bardian city which houses the College of the Magi.
In their interview with the High Magus Daniel, the new arrivals learn with dismay that Lanthra has One Law, and that concerns Earth: “You can look, but don’t go there.” The One Law was broken by Lord Charon in his attempt to ally with the Shields for the conquest of the worlds, allowing Earth’s demons called “bezubs” to enter Lanthra. Daniel tells them, “You cannot go back home.”
Grief eases after a while. The children are adopted by a loving family. Lewis and Fred have housing and fascinating work at the laboratory of the magi which has the ability to view all the known universe.
At first sight, Daniel’s beautiful daughter, DEIRDRE, falls in love with Lewis. She trusts Radyah, Jesus, and Lewis’s unbelief softens when he gives his heart to her.
However, the more their intimacy grows, the more the bezubs from Earth get their claws into Fred. He wants Deirdre for himself.
Distancing himself from Lewis, Fred makes friends with some sketchy people. One friend, Barth Layhew, is a huge man with an outward bonhomie. But he is a brutal spy for Lord Charon and worships Saoma, a demon. On a tip from Fred, he kidnaps Lewis—and Patrick—and forces Lewis to help steal the laboratory’s technology. Now a desperate prisoner, Lewis mentally rails at God for letting the evil happen.
At a horrible Saoma shrine, Barth stops to kill his prisoners. Lewis pleads for Patrick’s life. Unexpectedly, something (or Someone) changes Barth’s mind and he spares their lives.
Back in Nutman, Daniel arrests Fred. In prison, utterly miserable and afraid, Fred pleads to let Gracie visit him. He begs for her forgiveness. Gracie wants to spit on him. Even so, an inner prompting releases her bitterness; she forgives him with a sense that this is a turning point of her story—perhaps everyone’s story.
Deathly ill, Patrick lies in the hospital in Barth’s vicious brother’s stronghold. Lewis will do anything, anything to rescue his loved ones from captivity and possible death. Stubborn, ignoring God, Lewis concocts a desperate plan that involves extreme self-sacrifice. Will he die trying? Or once again, could Someone help him?
The story continues in Book 2 of the Soul’s Warfare series: The Cave Chamber.
Since she was a small child making up stories about flying saucers and aliens, Rosemary B. Althoff has loved science fiction and fantasy stories. Her father worked in the space industry developing the Saturn V rocket, whetting her appetite for science. Later, Wendell Berry, a Kentucky author, taught her creative writing at the University of Kentucky and taught her to write from her heart. After missionary work in the Philippines, Rosemary worked for professional textbook publishers until she obtained an M.A. in Communication Research at Cleveland State University. Now, having retired from teaching writing and communication courses at various universities, Rosemary lives in New Orleans, LA, and writes novels, paints landscapes, and plays the piano. Her first novel, The Hot Marble, won 2nd place in the YA fiction division of the 2020 Living Water Awards.
