Tuesday, September 16, 2014

RELEASE DAY: Katy Newton Naas "The Visitors"



Blurb:
Sometimes soul mates find each other in unlikely places. But is love worth it if it risks your life?

Seventeen-year-old Noah is startled when he awakes one day to find that dangerous, irrational, self-serving, and destructive visitors called “humans” are coming to visit his beautiful, perfect society. All citizens are ordered to have limited contact and share minimal information with these visitors.

Sixteen-year-old Jady is thrilled to accompany her father and his crew on a trip to a recently-discovered planet, Verdant. The United States’ crew is hopeful that they can learn from this advanced yet similar species.

Despite their greatest efforts to fight it, it doesn’t take long for Jady and Noah to fall in love and begin a secret affair. But when their relationship is revealed, danger is created for everyone involved...
 

Author:
I graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in English Education and a master’s degree in Reading and Language Studies. I currently teach high school English in southern Illinois. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, including my young son, Aven, and my four-legged sons, Shakespeare and Poe.

 

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Excerpt:

Chapter One: Noah

The overwhelming sensation that invaded my body when I awoke was so unfamiliar that it took a while to register in my brain – fear. Something was happening, and whatever it was, the society was afraid. After quietly pulling on the tan coverings I laid out the night before, I walked out of the male sleeping chamber. Once inside the solid white eating quarters, I found Lucy sitting motionlessly at the table. She stared ahead at the blank walls without acknowledging my presence. The look on her face only supported my thoughts.

“Lucy, what’s happening?” I focused my attention on her response, trying to read her emotions.

She shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I was ordered to come here and wait for further instructions.” Anxiety was rolling off of her body in rapid waves as she responded.

Before I could question her further, Sir Andrew walked through the door. We automatically stood up in respect at the sight of him. He nodded slightly to both of us, and without a word, motioned for us to follow him out the door. We trailed just behind him, quietly stepping out into the thick, humid atmosphere. Once inside his transportation means, we strapped ourselves in. The waves of anxiety coming off of Lucy’s body were only growing larger with every minute of silence. Her large brown eyes were wide and alert as she looked out the window. I watched over her shoulder as we passed the massive gray stone and brick buildings in the town’s center. The towering trees stood stiffly over our heads while the smaller plants and bushes swayed gently in the breeze our vehicle created. We were moving away from the heart of the community toward an unfamiliar area.

I considered the situation carefully. Something was definitely wrong. The lack of communication was extremely unusual. The fact that Sir Andrew, one of the most highly respected leaders of society, was taking us somewhere was strange in itself. His gift of intelligence kept him incredibly busy and made his appearance in our society rare. I watched him closely, trying to get a feel for his emotions, but as usual, he radiated nothing. He appeared to have no feelings. I guessed that he was somehow shielding himself, as he was aware of my gift, so that I could not read him. I knew better than to question him, though.

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at a large, gray, castle-like building. Its structure was made entirely of stone, with small, intricate swirling patterns surrounding the doors and windows. A locked gate blocked the entrance, but it opened automatically as we pulled up close to it. We moved quickly to the main door of the building, still maintaining the silence. Sir Andrew put his hand on a small computerized gray box beside the heavy door so that it opened for us. Lucy and I stayed close as we followed Sir Andrew’s long, quick strides through a dark, damp corridor.

Finally, we arrived in a small room, where several men sat waiting. I glanced over them all to get a quick read – fear, anger, nervousness, irritation. Each man tried to appear serious and intelligent as they sat around a round table in tall, cushioned chairs, but I could see that they were as unsure and scared as Lucy and I were. Sir Andrew motioned towards three empty chairs at the table, and Lucy and I hesitantly took a place with the others.

It was Sir Andrew who finally spoke. “Noah and Lucy, we have brought the two of you here today for a very special reason. You are in a place that most members of the society will never enter, particularly those of your young age and position. This is a building where new technology is developed and tested. It is also the location where security for our society is monitored. It is for the second purpose that we have brought the two of you here.”

Lucy and I exchanged glances. Security monitoring? What could we possibly have to do with that? And from what did our society need security?

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