Rachel c Thompson – författare

 Aggie Piper is a Key West High School senior that must stay out of trouble to earn a much needed college scholarship, but trouble keeps finding her as usual. When her parents are kidnapped by Karnack, an alien pirate, to force Aggie’s defense contractor grandfather into helping steal the world’s Life Force, Aggie must jump into action and forgo her dreams in order to save her parents. This teen girl comes of age while cracking open the mystery of the alien presence on Earth. Powerful secret factions on Earth and the moon aren’t happy. Thanks to Aggie Piper the world will never be the same.

In the deep past there was a garden and in it were Dragons who were given the task of guiding human kind but over time the dragons became more like humans and their societies became entangled which blinded the best of dragons. Here in Dragon Fire the Dragon's Age is ending as foretold. Magic wanes. The Golden Dragon, Mars Hammertail, has come as prophesied but he is not what anyone expected. Mars the runt has an uphill battle just for acceptance and he is earning his way but human treachery intervenes putting Mars on the wrong path. He must regain his lost magic fire and gain wisdom on his forced hero's journey before he can fulfill is calling and save his race. If Mars doesn't return in time all will be lost.

Back Cover Text:Stalking Kilgore Trout is a collection of  short stories inspired by the late great Kurt Vonnegut. Author R.C. Thom credits Vonnegut with her interest in writing but she claims to be more a writer after Vonnegut's alter ego character Kilgore Trout. "Nobody writes like Kurt," she says, "he was slicker than wale poop and just as deep." Like Vonnegut, R.C. Thom enjoys poking a finger in the eye of our realities. Some of these stories are ridicules, some serious, some funny, and others critical but what they have in common with Vonnegut are ideas worth considering.

Introduction: from the book

First a warning, my stories deal with ideas and some are dangerous to some people. My hope is that there is something offensive for everyone here. If you are religiously sensitive, offended by base language, that is to say locker room words—or ideas outside of your choir, this is not for you. If you enjoy poking a finger in the eye of religion, history, science, society and politics, you are in the right place. My intent is entertainment that tickles one’s intellect; I will count it a success if you walk away laughing and thinking and a little angery.

I admit it; I’m a fan of Kurt Vonnegut. This anthology is a tribute to him. The late Mr. Vonnegut is why I’ve read, why I write, and why I explore the universe and the human condition. I discovered him in the 1960’s at a young age and he rocked my inner world. So the following is a collection of stories after his influence. I hope to honor his memory here.

To me, Vonnegut was an idea man. Sure, he wrote good characters but for me they were there to illustrate his ideas and observations. Perhaps that is why, when I write, I start with ideas and create characters that flesh-out concepts. Like Vonnegut, I enjoy taking an idea to the extreme with humor. Vonnegut's  are hard shoes to fill. Also, my aim is to tell a good story.

 For you non-Vonnegut people, I’ll explain my title, Stalking Kilgore Trout. Kilgore Trout was a fictional person of Vonnegut’s. It’s been said that Kilgore was Kurt’s alter ego, but there is evidence to the contrary. The character appears in many Vonnegut stories and in each, Trout serves a different purpose. That is fitting, if Trout is Vonnegut, Vonnegut wasn’t a one dimensional man. One of Trout’s characteristics may be biographical of Vonnegut; Trout was constantly writing and immediately rejecting what he just wrote. I’ve read that in Kurt’s early writing life he did much the same. It’s a writer’s thing, I think. All writers write trash before we find our voices. Maybe Trout is a nod to struggling writers; Trout was that for me. But as you'll see in the title story that’s not true for everyone.

Vonnegut had his favorite ideas and I have mine. I’m fascinated by concepts surrounding history, aliens, politics, God, GLBT issues and the core realities of our human condition. It’s fun to mix them all up. I’ve asked myself many bizarre ‘what if’ questions and wrote ridiculous answers. Also here you will read serious stories with serious questions or observations and ideas concerning human nature.  Looking at life, I've got to laugh. Vonnegut did a lot of that sort of thing too, “and so it goes.”

Science Fantasy: Hippie John Doe was designed to reseed a new and improved human race but he doesn''t know that, he doesn''t even know he is immortal. That is a problem. The Intelligent Designer lost him, and the alien angel race She sends to find him can''t find him either. John is on his own and humanity will suffer de-evolution if he isn''t found. The last of many Creation Waves will reset Earth and end the human race forever if John doesn''t find himself first. This togue in cheek tale walks John Doe through history, past and future, in true Forest Gump fashion.

In Book Of Answers, there is an Intelligent Designer of the universe and She ain''t wrapped too tight. She made the perfect Earthling-an immortal designed to preserve the best of mankind but then, She lost him. John Doe must find himself even if it takes ten million years and it does. Everything changes except John Doe, but he changes everything.

R.C. Thom takes a wider deep dive into the human condition within this new anthology by adding short stories of standard topics yet sprinkled with her offbeat perspectives and satirical flavors. She doesn''t disappoint with her sci-fi and fantasy tales by twisting perspective with her quirky eye, the same eye that takes on conventual topics this time. The theme is expanding consciousness, hers, the reader''s, and her characters. This anthology provides 21 short stories and three nonfiction essays on the craft of writing. Editor Angel Ackerman says, "...the weirdos are the heroes and the people outside the norm have more potential than the status quo."