BooksChatter: ☀ The Colony: Rasper [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for The Colony, a Young Adult Science Fiction novel by Kathleen Groger (31 March 2016, Leaf & Thorn Press, 292 pages).

This is the primo book in the Rasper series.

Don't miss our interview with author Kathleen Groger.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first three chapters with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Kathleen Groger will be awarding a Kindle Fire, five print copies of The Colony, and swag to randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter during the tour.

Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops

Synopsis

Trust no one.

Never go out in the dark.

Always have a weapon.

Sixteen-year-old Val lives by these three rules etched on her arm. Her rules and her gun are the only things standing between her and assimilation by hordes of human-looking aliens she calls Raspers.
By day, Val gathers supplies. By night, she hides and wishes she could go back in time…before her family died…before the annihilation…before the Raspers began stalking her and demanding she join their collective.
But when the Raspers attack in broad daylight, the truth becomes startlingly clear. They’re evolving.
A fellow survivor crashes into Val’s life. Adam’s full of charm and promises—like rumors of a safe haven—but there’s something wrong. He’s survived with no supplies, no weapons…no plans. Time is running out. With the formula for survival shifting around her, Val must decide how many rules she’s willing to break to escape the Colony.

Teaser: Excerpt

Val and the others she is with have stopped at a waterpark/zoo in hopes of finding a vehicle with gas. Val has climbed to the top of the stairs for a water slide ride.

The stair structure shook. I fell onto the deck, frantically searching for something to hold onto. The radio slipped from my grip. Megan screamed, then a metallic screech drowned out her cries. I pulled myself to the edge as the slide shifted back and forth. A hole ripped open below the chairs in the wave pool, sucking them down.
     Another earthquake.
     All the vertebrae in my spine tightened. No. Not now. Not when I was fifty feet in the air. Not with Raspers below.
     The Raspers.
     “Go away.” I whispered my useless request.
     They ran in every direction to avoid the gaping crack breaking open at their feet. A few fell in. Then all at once, they turned in a collective, almost choreographed, movement and ran out of the park. What the hell?
     My ledge rocked back and forth. My insides mimicked the movement. I had to get off this thing before it collapsed and dropped me to my death. “Don’t let me die. Don’t let me die. Don’t let me die.” I didn’t care who heard my prayer.
     A sickening crash added to the chaos of noise. Another sway to the right. A metal groan. The platform shifted enough to pitch my fallen radio over the edge. If I didn’t move, I was next.
     I only had one option. I let go of the railing and scrambled to the waterless slide. Could I survive sliding down? I holstered my gun and jumped into the plastic flume just as the staircase and platform broke away.
     I screamed and crab scooted down the slide. I pushed myself faster. I refused to die on a damn water slide in the middle of an earthquake. The staircase slammed back into my chute, sending me tumbling head over feet down the twisting ride. I jammed my hand outward to break my momentum and after a few moments came to a skidding halt, leaving the skin on my palms ripped and burned. I managed to right myself, but not before I had entered the enclosed portion of the ride. Darkness enveloped me.
     I couldn’t tell what was happening. I was trapped in a tube—a tube of horror. Another shockwave hit. I pictured the water slide as my coffin.
     My breath caught and my head pounded. I had to get out of the confined space. I tugged the jacket under my butt and stuffed my bag in front of me. I rocked back and forth to gain momentum. A creaking sound filled the tube, and panic squirmed under my skin, searching for release. The tube rocked to the right, and then I shot forward. I closed my eyes and prayed I wouldn’t feel any pain when I died.
     I flew through the ride as if I was sliding on water instead of nylon. I squeezed my eyes as tight as I could. Then a horrible thought hit me. At the end of water slides, riders were dumped into a pool of water. There wasn’t any water in the park. If I survived the ride, I would crash into an empty concrete basin.
     I pictured my mom and dad. Clutched my bag. Rocketed through the tube of death.

The Colony
Available NOW!

About the Author

Kathleen wrote her first story in elementary school about a pegasus named Sir Lancelot. It had no plot or conflict, but it sparked a dream.

After serving a fifteen-year sentence in retail management, the bulk in big box bookstores, she turned her love of reading into a full-time career writing dark and haunting characters and stories.

She lives by the mantra that a day is not complete without tea. Lots of tea.

Kathleen lives in Ohio with her husband, two boys, and two attention-demanding dogs.

When not writing or editing or revising, you can find her reading, cooking, spending time with her family, or photographing abandoned buildings.

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