Title: THE LIGHT: HOUSTON TEXAS
Author: Joe M. Solomon
Pub. Date: June 11, 2019
Publisher: NES Publishing
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Pages: 538
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo
March Madness has begun and college basketball playoffs are heating up, not that Robert Walker—a graduate student from Texas—particularly cares. He has decided to skip classes for the day, sleep in, and get some rest. Unfortunately, a brief spat on the phone with his fiancée makes that impossible. Hoping to take his mind off of it, he scans through TV channels in search of entertainment and instead finds one news report after another that warns of violence erupting in the streets.
People are randomly and savagely attacking one another all along the East Coast from Maine to Florida. Some speculate it may be related to strange lights that have appeared in the sky above the outbreaks. Before any solid conclusions can be drawn, however, the brutality spreads, sweeping across the country until it hits Houston, then proceeds on to the West Coast. Robert, a handful of classmates, and a few others manage to survive the first wave and find themselves in the midst of civilization’s blackest hour, surrounded by pandemonium, bloodshed, and masses of people who have been stripped of their humanity. Hours later, as those strange lights continue to dominate the sky, the vicious horde undergoes a new transformation.
There is no escaping the horror. Unable to reach his fiancée by phone, Robert sets out to find her, joined by a small ensemble of fellow survivors. The thirty-five miles they must cover are fraught with danger, and their terror grows with each step they take as they witness the genesis of a new Earth. Can they find a way to stop it? Will they even survive it?
Excerpt:
Puffy house shoes. “Ma,” Robert said, then raised the phone to his ear. “Ma, what’s going on?” Static swelled over the line. “Hello? Ma? Ma!”
“I’m here, Bobby,” Ms. Walker said, barely audible above the static. The alarm and urgency infusing her voice frightened him more than everything that had happened thus far.
“We have to get outta here!” Alex shouted.
“Quiet!” he shouted back at her. Then, in a calm voice, he said to his mother, “Talk to me.”
“My father called from Chapel Hill—”
Static.
“—that people had gone mad, killing each—”
Static.
“He said it was happening all along the East Coast. The news didn’t know what—”
Static.
“The president was attacked by two of his own Secret Ser—”
Static.
“He—”
Static.
“—beating him and—”
Static.
“—if he’s alive or dead.”
“We have to go,” Big Walt said and hurried to the window to survey the area. “I think we can make it if we go now. Right now!”
Robert raised a hand and motioned for Big Walt to stop speaking for a minute.
Alex moved to stand in front of the door and curled both hands into fists. Kicking off her house shoes, she bounced like a boxer waiting for her moment to knock out an opponent.
Static.
“—ad,” she said softly. “Robert.” Her voice rose a bit.
“What happened, Ma?” Robert asked as he placed an index finger in his other ear.
Big Walt unlocked the window and raised it to its full height. He looked toward the sky. “Humph.”
“Ma, I can’t hear—” He broke off. “Wait. Big Walt, what are you doing?”
“I have to live, my friend,” Walt said. “Good luck.” He pushed the screen outward with both hands, letting it fall into the flowerbed four feet beneath the window. In one fluid motion, Big Walt dove outside.
Alex glanced over one shoulder. “Where’s Big Walt?” She dashed over to the window with Robert on her heels.
Big Walt ran toward the parking lot where a female student had rammed her car into the automatic gate. With tight fists, two male students beat on the semiconscious woman. Her tired sobs and weak battle against the duo proved fruitless.
Bellowing a war cry, Big Walt struck both students with his fists and knocked them backward. They looked like the crooks in the old Batman TV show when they tumbled almost exaggeratedly over the curb.
About Joe: (No author Photo)
Joe Solomon earned both master’s and doctoral degrees from Rice University and is a writer, a director, an independent filmmaker, and a composer. His first novel—a supernatural thriller entitled The Darkness: Giger, Texas—reached #2 on Amazon’s Best Seller list and is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook. His next novel—The Light: Houston, Texas—will release June 11, 2019. He has also completed a collection of short stories that arose from the macabre and will release next year.
An award-winning screenwriter, Joe has completed seventeen screenplays and nine stage plays. He has also been very active in the independent film industry, directing four short films, one feature film (post production), and six music videos. His screenplays have won Best Screenplay at the Mediterranean Film Festival (Cannes, France), been Official Selections at the Beverly Hills Film Festival, been a Finalist in the American Movie Awards, won the Final Draft Screenwriters Award, won the Screenwriting Showcase Award, reached the Second Round in The Sundance Feature Film Program, and been a Finalist in the Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition. His music videos have won Best Music Video at the Honolulu Film Awards, the Silver Remi Award for Creative Excellence at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, won the Maple Leaf Award at the Canada International Film Festival, been an Official Selection of the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema—Milan, been an Official Selection of the Switzerland International Film Festival, won Best Director—Music Video in the Honolulu Film Awards, and been a Finalist in the American Movie Awards. They have also been Official Selections of many additional international film festivals.
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Giveaway Details:
4 lucky winners will receive a $20 Amazon Gift Card, International.
Giveaway Link:
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Tour Schedule:
Week One:
6/4/2019- BookHounds– Interview
6/5/2019- Book Sniffers Anonymous– Excerpt
6/6/2019- Simply Daniel Radcliffe– Review
6/7/2019- Tyto Forest– Excerpt
Week Two:
6/10/2019- fictitious.fox– Review
6/11/2019- Lifestyle of Me– Review
6/12/2019- The Tired Buyer– Interview
6/13/2019- Burgandy Ice– Excerpt
6/14/2019- Two Chicks on Books– Interview
Week Three:
6/17/2019- Pacific Northwest Bookworm– Review
6/18/2019- A Dream Within A Dream– Excerpt
6/19/2019- Owl Always Be Reading– Guest Post
6/20/2019- Adventures Thru Wonderland– Review
6/21/2019- Bookbriefs– Review
Week Four:
6/24/2019- Smada’s Book Smack– Spotlight
6/25/2019- Don’t Judge, Read– Interview
6/26/2019- KayBee’s Bookshelf, A Literary Blog– Spotlight
6/27/2019- A Gingerly Review– Review
6/28/2019- PopTheButterfly Reads– Review
Week Five:
7/1/2019- Reads & Reviews– Review
7/2/2019- Jaime’s World– Excerpt
