☀ The Proving: The Earth-X Chronicles [1] - Ken Brosky

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for The Proving, a Young Adult Sci-Fi by Ken Brosky (5 January 2016,Ken Brosky, 303 pages).

This is the first book in the Earth-X Chronicles series.

Don't miss our interview with author Ken Brosky.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first chapter

The Proving is FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library.

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

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Synopsis

The Earth that man once knew is long since gone. Gone are the days of human dominance - For over one hundred years now, Earth has been overrun by Specters, terrifying ghost-like aliens that have forced the remaining humans to take refuge inside protected cities. These Xenoshields may protect, but they also cage. Humanity yearns for freedom. Tensions run high between the clans.

Today is the day of The Proving, the day when clan children of a certain age and training venture beyond the protection of the city shields into the wilds where Specters haunt the ancient ruins of man. Tasked with a routine maintenance mission, the clan children venture deep inside Specter territory and quickly find a secret so shocking that it challenges everything they've learned.

Poignant, thrilling, and deeply atmospheric The Proving is a non-stop thrill ride you can't help but sink your teeth into. This coming-of-age tale is a vividly detailed testament to the realities of social pressure and resilience of the human spirit in the shadow of Armageddon. Journey forth into the breach as the last of the human race balances on the precipice of Earth's final hours.

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Teaser: Excerpt

Prologue

      Her heart hammered wildly as she ran. Her ears strained for sounds of pursuit over the whoosh and thrum of her own blood. She dared not turn around. She clung to the hope that it wasn’t behind her, following, hunting.
      Running was all that mattered now.
      Her foot caught on a tree root and she nearly fell. She reached out, palms scraping against the furrowed bark of a tupelo tree. Her eyes probed the shadows for a clear path. Bushes and thick undergrowth choked much of the forest floor but there were places near the tallest trees where the ground was mostly clear. She zig-zagged through the barest places, her shoes digging into soft dirt and rotted leaves, her legs numb with exertion. She’d been running for so long that the burning pain of overworked muscles had grown dull.
      She could do it. She could escape with her life. She had to.
      Then she heard it: a low, haunting moan that seemed to echo from all around. Her breaths escaped in raspy coughs. There were no other sounds in the forest, not even the rustle of a bird or the harsh chirr of katydids calling for mates. The forest knew what was following her and wanted no part of it. She was losing light; the sun had set. The last traces of rosy dusk filtered through the forest canopy wherever the leaves allowed. Where branches intertwined thickly there were only dark shadows.
      Just ahead, the edge of a ravine leapt up from the gloom. She skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding a nasty tumble down the dangerously steep slope. She looked around. To the right, an opening in the leaves above provided a reprieve from the heavy shadows but the forest floor was heavily roped with twining strands of ivy. To the left, the forest thickened into a mass of dark, broad trunks but at least there would be less undergrowth.
      Suddenly, the area all around her began to glow, as if some sinister light was slowly coming to life. Thin pine and tupelo trunks were painted in a fiery red light, bright enough that each tree cast a bloody shadow. The creature was near. She ran left, thinking about her family and blinking away stinging hot tears. She hoped to see them again. She hoped to tell her husband and her daughter how much she loved them both. Her body, numb, expected death at any moment but she refused to give in. Ahead, she could see an end to the forest. And something else . . .
      A fence! An old fence whose links were being pulled earthward by heavy vines with thick stalks and fat, crescent-shaped leaves. And beyond the fence: a dim pool of white light illuminated a squat building at the far edge of a barren lot. The building must be an emergency supply depot, no doubt running solely on stored energy from the solar panels attached to the roof, slanted up at the sky. The depot would contain emergency equipment and maybe some kind of weapon. It would have a communication system, too.
      She could jump the fence. She could take one step on the constrained chain links and reach the top and hop over. She could reach the building. She could survive. She’d carried a child in her womb for nine months, seven days and an additional fifteen excruciating hours of labor. Her back had endured. Her legs had endured. This pain she felt in her shins now? It was nothing. It was an annoyance.
      She could do this. She could send a warning.
      All around her, the forest glowed a dark red, as if fire lurked deep inside the trunk of each tree.
      She reached the fence and jumped, sticking out one foot and pushing off the damaged diamond-linked metal wires. Her hands fumbled with the cold bar at the top and she held on for dear life, the toes of her shoes digging between the wires. She pulled herself over, dropping to the ground. A sharp pain coursed through her left ankle. She tried to put weight on the joint; it was impossible.
      Her family, Kaya and Gustav, if she could send out a warning, then someone would know, someone could ensure her daughter and her husband would be safe.
      She limped toward the building. From behind her came another low moan that seemed to vibrate all the way to the marrow of her bones. Bitter bile rose from her stomach to coat the back of her tongue. The sun was long gone behind the mountains beyond the squat building but the dark red glow remained. The creature was behind her, so close that she cast a shadow in its bloody light. Each move it made caused her shadow bounce and stretch, as though desperate to abandon her.
      “Kaya . . . Gustav . . . I love you,” she rasped, watching her shadow shorten. Her hunter was closing in. It would overcome her and steal the life from her, an alien thief, a parasite. A ghost.
      A ghost with dangerous secrets.
      She had to survive. If she didn’t get the warning out, the last of Earth’s remaining cities could be doomed. Her family . . . she shuddered to think. They’d been so wrong. So wrong about everything. They thought they knew their enemy. This creature closing in on her, this ghost, they did not know it as well as they thought.
      She was close to the door of the building now. She could see its touchscreen lock — her thumbprint would open it. And then all that mattered was sending the warning. She thought of her Kaya, and how last she saw her had been almost a year ago, and Kaya had just started primary school and had become obsessed with the periodic table and used pastels to color in the families of elements. Uranium. Neptunium. Phenocyte. She had been so proud of her daughter. Her two-week leave had made her ache to retire from her position so she could return home for good.
      But the research was important. The secrets they were uncovering . . .
      The door! She pressed her shaky thumb to the touchscreen. A green light blinked on. Her brain allowed an optimistic surge of dopamine. She grabbed the handle to the door and pulled.
      The door refused to open.
      “No!” she shouted. The bloody glow spread over the exterior of the building. The creature behind her advanced and her shadow seemed to duck down in terror. She could not hear her hunter moving closer . . . she could feel it. The soft hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She pressed her thumb to the touchscreen again and again its light turned green. She tried the door again.
      Again it refused.
      “Please!” she screamed, punching the touchscreen again and again with the palm of her hand. A click — a click! She tried the door again.
      This time it opened.
      She could get away —
      She —

The Proving
Available NOW!

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About the Author

The Proving is Ken Brosky’s newest YA sci-fi adventure.  His first series, The Grimm Chronicles, ran from 2012-2014 and is available on Kindle.

Ken received his MFA in writing from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Follow Ken Brosky:

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Tour Stops

Follow The Proving's tour at:

Apr 17 - Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours
Apr 18 - Chosen By You Book Club ☀
Apr 19 - A Life Through Books ℚ
Apr 20 - Bound 2 Escape ☀
Apr 21 - Beach Bound Books ☀
Apr 22 - My Reading Addiction ℚ
Apr 23 - Reading Against Time ✍
Apr 25 - A Writer's Journal ☀
Apr 26 - Us Girls and a Book ✍
Apr 27 - The Recipe Fairy ☀
Apr 28 - Texas Book Nook ✍
Apr 29 - Penny For My Thoughts ✍
May 2 - The Indie Express ✍
May 3 - Authordom, or There About ✍
May 4 - Steamy Side ✍
May 5 - Logikal Blog ✉

May 6 - On a Reading Bender ✍
May 9 - Novel News Network ✍
May 10 - Jazzy's Book Reviews ✉
May 11 - Avenue Books ☀
May 12 - Natural Bri ✍
May 13 - Satin's Bookish Corner ☀
May 16 - Xtreme Delusions ☀
May 17 - Rambling Reviews ✍
May 18 - Coffee Book Mom ☀
May 19 - Adrienne Thompson Writes ✉
May 20 - Readsalot ☀
May 21 - The BooksChatter ℚ
May 23 - Literary Musings ☀
May 24 - Don't Judge, Read ✉
May 27 - RABT Reviews

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