THE NEAR DISTANT is a novella collection with three speculative fiction stories with two other fantastic authors at Expanse Books, Erin Howard and C Kevin Thompson. My novella in the collection is titled By Far and Away. By Far and Away and C Kevin Thompson’s Eye of the Beholder are individually finalists in the 2023 Selah Awards!
ABOUT THE NEAR DISTANT:
On a day trip into the wilderness around Lake Tahoe, college students Ned, Tyler, and Everly stumble upon a monolith. No one knows its origin or purpose, but structures like this one have popped up all over the world, making national headlines. While not the local legend the group hoped to find, they decide to investigate, only to be engulfed by a blinding, powerful pulse of light. Instantly, the three friends find themselves in separate and drastically different worlds. They must quickly adapt to their new surroundings or perish.
If they can survive, the mystery of how to return to Earth becomes entangled in another question fundamental to our humanity: Where do I belong?
ABOUT BY FAR AND AWAY:
College student, Tyler, was studying cyber forensics with his future looming bright and clear ahead of him. That is until The Event transported him to the world Irizan. A bit of a Sci-Fi nerd and tech geek, initially he was fascinated and enthralled by a world that is controlled by two super AIs. However, as years pass without success of getting home and it becomes clear the Zan, the world’s natural residents, reject him as inferior, hope fades. Assigned to work in the undesirable field of asteroid mining, he stumbles on evidence that indicates something sinister is going on undetected by the super AIs. Something big enough to threaten Irizan and Earth.
It’s a pretty ambitious story. A world-level threat to face, a fresh take on the portal story genre, my first foray into space-based sci-fi, and is a reflection of the Biblical Book of Esther. I’m nervous, excited, and hopeful to be sharing this with everyone. I hope The Near Distant engages, entertains, and resonates as deeply with you as it did with me. You can use the links below to preview the prologue and each first novella’s first chapter for free or jump straight to the Amazon page:
Brett Armstrong 