Blog Book Tour | “Remnant in the Stars” by Cindy Koepp #IndieSciFi #RRSciFiMonth

Posted Wednesday, 16 November, 2016 by jorielov , , 4 Comments

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Acquired Book By: I was selected to be a stop on the “Remnant in the Stars” an Indie Science Fiction release focusing on Space Opera. The tour is hosted by Tomorrow Comes Media who does the publicity and blog tours for Seventh Star Press and other Indie and/or Self Published authors. I am a regular blog tour host with Tomorrow Comes Media, seeking out new authors and stories within Science Fiction, Fantasy and Cosy Horror wherein my readerly journey takes me inside novellas, short stories and full-length novels.

I received a complimentary copy of “Remnant in the Stars” direct from the author Cindy Koepp in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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On why jorie loves space opera:

There has been an allure for reading and/or watching Space Operas ever since I was a young girl who became wicked fascinated with the Cosmos and the Universe. Even the new mini-series MARS (by NatGeo) has me enthralled – I cannot wait to see it! It became quite innocently enough – a mild curiosity, but it developed into a life-long appreciation of everything intergalactic and exploratory!

I am truly dedicated to old school story-tellings of the genre – inasmuch as I’m a purist who appreciates the original canons of: Star Trek, Star Wars & Battlestar Gallatica (who knew you had to be that specific?) – however, there is such a wide sea of choices to read and to watch across mediums of creative thought, I find myself wicked amazed by the discoveries I am continuously able to make!

Most recently, it was Ms Czerneda who charmed me with the breadth of her Clan Chronicles – an EPIC of a saga set in Space whilst Mr Sullivan gave me the kind of Spacer collective of shorts I was itching to find as well! You truly have to love taking on adventurous risks reading Space Opera – because in order to fully feel engrossed & a part of the stories, a part of your own heart has to take that daring leap of faith to insert yourself into the character’s shoes! This is one reason I love reading Space Opera as much as I do! You’re exploring the uncharted and unknown – your risking it all to see a portion of the cosmos most will never be able to drink in with their own eyes.

The allure of course is the wonderment of what is waiting for you to see & find; to discover the stories of the cultures and creatures who are just outside of naked sight and of whom live these ordinary lives light years away from our own world. There is a big wide universe out there just past this spinning globe of light and water we call Earth; by anchouring your imagination into Space Opera you get to creatively see what writers see as they enrich our lives with these fantastic worlds!

How truly blessed am I? I get to dig inside two of these lovelies by Ms Koepp and journey inside an anthology of shorts called FAR ORBIT soon hereafter!

Bring on the Spacer stories!
I heart this kind of Science Fiction!

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Blog Book Tour | “Remnant in the Stars” by Cindy Koepp #IndieSciFi #RRSciFiMonthRemnant in the Stars

Two hundred years ago, the Aolanian home world exploded and a remnant of survivors escaped. As their convoy combed the galaxy looking for a new world to colonize, they discovered Earth and were given permission to establish a temporary base while they continued their search for a new home world. When an Aolanian exploration vessel goes missing after transmitting a garbled distress call, the uneasy alliance between the humans and the Aolanians is put to the test as two anti-Aolanian groups jockey to use this opportunity to press their own agendas by foiling the rescue mission.

Because his daughter was onboard the Kesha when it vanished, Calonti Sora reluctantly signs on as an astrogator with the Gyrfalcon, one of the ships in the search party. There he meets up with an old human friend, Kirsten Abbott. Together, they work to overcome prejudice and political plots as they race toward an enemy no one could expect.


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ISBN: 978-1934153314

on 2012

Pages: 242

Published By: Under the Moon
Available Formats: Softcover and Ebook

Converse on Twitter: #IndieSciFi + #SpaceOpera

About Cindy Koepp

Cindy Koepp

Originally from Michigan, Cindy Koepp has a degree in Wildlife Sciences and teaching certification in Elementary Education from rival universities. After teaching for fourteen years, she pursued a master’s degree in Adult Learning with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. Cindy has five published science fiction and fantasy novels, a serial published online, short stories in five anthologies, and a few self-published teacher resource books. When she isn’t reading or writing, Cindy spends time whistling with a crazy African Grey. Cindy is currently working as an optician in Iowa and as an editor with PDMI Publishing and Barking Rain Press.

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my review of remnant in the stars:

Your jolted inside an intergalactic old school face-off between defenders of the Aolanian station and the mechs who are seeking to attack it. Kirsten is an ace of a pilot – braving incredible odds (the mechs all but destroyed her ability to fly and fight) whilst finding sweet irony in the battle. We immediate have a shift of focus to meet an Aolanian family – of whom are natural telepaths and who reminded me of a species I met in Trade Pact space; ergo, I felt immediately familiar and at home with this particular style of Space Opera Ms Koepp was stitching together for me to absorb! What wicked sweet fun for me!

As Previn’s parents fear the worst after hearing of her ship’s mercy call of unknown danger – we find her and her cousin have crash landed with a leader who puts priority on able-bodied survivors over the welfare of the wounded. Her own flex of anger shielded her pain until she could bring Tiva out of the flooding pod – their only reason for survival – whilst finding a kind soul running to help them once they were out of the pod heading towards shore. It was in that moment, Previn found courageous souls who are not dependent on their Captain but were of their own mind to do what was right; even if it put them in danger lateron. Their enemy could still pursue all of them – but Previn was finding strength of resolve in the unexpected aide of the other survivors whose pods had also crashed haphazardly around her own. They made up the rag-tag few who could live through the impact and potentially the hunt for survivors once the adversary of theirs set foot after them.

Threading underneath the humanity, we start to see murmurings of a life of faith ebbing out of Koepp’s characters; athough unnamed and defined – the presence of a spiritual side of her character’s heart emerges quite strong and true. Her characters of all species have a duality to their thoughts; one part sentient and one part spiritualist; as they try to find sense and compassion out of the circumstances they are facing. In Previn’s instance, it is hard for her to reconcile the actions of her Captain when other survivors (especially the medical staff) are full of compassionate mercy and seek to aide and not vacate the crash site without attempting to reach everyone still alive. Her father and mother seek solace out of the emergency signal and Kirsten was properly amazed she survived her ordeal but kept calm inside her mind – not allowing her thoughts to shift into a spiral, similar to how Previn wanted to admonish herself for foolishly giving in to self-pity and self-doubt.

Previn encounters such an interesting presence in the grasslands of on the world she’s crash-landed; without a better name for the entity she calls him ‘Blue’ and he is a form of a shield of protection; there is much about this land they have yet to understand, but through her attempts to communicate she found an understanding spirit and an emotional regret of memories wherein the Blue felt he had failed those he previously tried to protect. Whilst she and the other survivors were trying to make sense of where they were and how to hide from their enemy, a search party was forming together; including the addition of Kirsten, whose injuries from her emergency exit had cost her one of her limbs. In-between the sequences Koepp stitched together a bit more foundation on her characters, where you see their raw states of fluttered thoughts, concerned emotions and a propensity for bravery through chaos.

It was such a kind touch to have Kirsten know Previn’s father Sora – a man who was full of pride and a bit of anxiety if he would be picked for the rescue mission. A man with a jaded past but a spirit uplifted by his faith to where he ‘let go’ of certain things in order to carry onward with his life’s purpose. His children and his wife were singular joys and knowing he could do honest work amongst humans he was particularly good at doing gave him confidence. Although a sombering reality, I felt it was quite poetic in justice what befell the first scout team of Previn’s crashed ship – she stood by the wounded and those who sought to leave behind those too weak to advance too quickly truly received their just dues for such intolerance of fate.

Hidden from the survivors is another community – tucked into caves who oversee their progress as a tipping stone of danger to their own way of life. The glowing orbs of light shielding them from their known and unknown enemies grows weaker when their defenses are attacked yet they stand by their all the same. Previn even sorts out a way to help them re-establish the link but one of her kind misunderstand her intentions; a nod is given towards the prejudice against her father. Concurrent to this, her father Sora lives with a secret he is not willing to share even though Kirsten learnt of it from him due to their close friendship. Their friendship is a sweet one in the story – where human and Aolanian and co-relate to each other, despite their differences (speech being only one barrier!) and find common ground. If only the others of both their species felt the same way as they did, there would be less judgement and more peaceful connections.

What keeps with you is the relationship between Kirsten and Sora; she has to work through her adversity with her injury which causes friction and difficulties with the medical team; as her injury is a compounded one to resolve. For Sora, it’s more of a psychological issue to resolve – where he has to make peace with things he hadn’t allowed himself to work through but the beauty of the story is how his daughter Previn made a connection to Blue! Such a tender friendship, full of grief at their parting but it is what they shared through their telepathic bond that truly set the tone for the story’s arc. Not all was planned – even life can derail or detract from a straight line of accent, but if you take heart in the journey, you’ll get to where you are meant to be.

There is a fierce congestion of opposition and adverse situations – yet despite all of it, each of Koepp’s characters remains vigilant and hopeful for a turning of the tide. She sets the undertone very well, and even when it came time to release the true meaning of Kirsten’s medical issues, she fused in a twist of fates and one that I found fittingly lovely to be written into the story-line! There were small mentions of Cancer throughout the novel, however, blessedly (for me) these were mostly of memories of past afflictions and not current ones; as I honestly cannot handle a long drawn out terminal ordeal. (as previously stated elsewhere on my blog) There is so much heart and spirit inside this novel – the backdrop is a Space Opera adventure – a daring interplanetary rescue mission but at it’s core lies a stirring dramatic narrative you feel hugged close too whilst your reading how everything unfolds.

As an aside, I found listening to ambient electronica to be the best component to the story because those soundscapes mimic intergalactic space environs! I truly hope others take a chance on reading this one, because they will find a lot of depth inside this Space Opera!

on the galactic writing style of cindy koepp:

Any writer who can insert humourous nods of irony involving knitting and sewing get a full clap of wicked sweet joy from me! Being  a knitter, I especially loved the riddling but it was hope it was inserted at key moments of punch that delighted me the most! The humour is deliciously quirky and it was such a lovely backdrop to the action! Koepp has a natural capacity for etching in humanistic thematics focusing on family and the life of the stars in balance with one another – wherein you feel pulled into the emotional throes of her characters, even at first meeting! Her characters feel vibrantly real – sincerely honest and particularly human, even the ones who are most decidedly from another world!

Koepp bridges spoken speech and telepathic communication well – you are never guessing what is being exchanged or by which method either!  A true joy is watching how her characters interact and express emotion – as their emotion is nearly surmised by their body language and their choice of words, enveloping you in the urgency of the crisis they are facing. Koepp has developed this world quite well – as each character in turn wholly feels fully fleshed together with their individual quirks and trademarks of personality.

I appreciated the warm touches of spirituality and how Koepp left most of her inclusions to be openly interpreted by her readers; she gets specific in some ways and vague in others; which I felt was fitting, as spiritual paths are dearly personal and individual. She allowed her characters the ability to speak their minds in all regards, including how much they felt they could share about this side of their life whilst going through the motions of their everyday hours. Simple truths knit alongside the conversations leaving the spiritual undertone to remain light and full of hope whilst giving solace to those whose path has grown overwhelming.

special note of gratitude to stephen zimmer:

Due to a variety of factors, my inbound Inbox was overly stuffed round the time this particular blog tour was being assembled and pitched in the book blogosphere. I overlooked this particular s/o of interest as I was coming out of a batch of migraines and had a steep learning curve of shifting into a new tech era of computers after mine had perished in a lightning storm. Learning how to use a new machine in this high-tech era was a wicked challenge but my Inbox was suffering from a lack of time and motivation to read through everything which filled it with notes and alerts I had to let fall by the wayside for a short bit whilst I pulled myself through the migraines.

This particular blog tour would have missed me completely if a certain bloke attached to Tomorrow Comes Media hadn’t sent me a personal enquiry about reconsidering the tour. He knew how much I *love!* Space Opera (esp the classical style of it; see also Commanding the Red Lotus) and Science Fiction; thus in his eyes it would be a keen fit for me to become a part of and boy! He was certainly right! I am wicked blessed I saw his note in time to join in on the festivities, whilst having the chance to receive both books and host the author for a geek-out on sci-fi Q&A! (which is upcoming on the 20th!)

The beauty of this tour is being able to read a #newtomeauthor of whom writings #IndieSciFi stories which are wicked good #mustreads! Rock on, dear hearts! And, give this author a chance to introduce you to her Spacer style which I think will pull you inside as soon as you alight on the pages! Some of the action sequences had me thinking of Han Solo and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon!

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{SOURCES: Book Cover of “Remnant in the Stars”, author photograph of Cindy Koepp, author and illustrator biographies, book synopsis, blog tour badge, TCM Host badge and Seventh Star Press badge were provided by TCM (Tomorrow Comes Media) and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets are inserted due to codes provided by Twitter. Instagram photo inserted due to codes provided by Instagram. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna, Sci Fi November Banner and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.

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About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Wednesday, 16 November, 2016 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Brothers and Sisters, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Debilitating Diagnosis & Illness, Equality In Literature, Fathers and Daughters, Hard Science Fiction, Science Fiction, Siblings, Space Opera, Spirituality & Metaphysics, Tomorrow Comes Media, Women's Health




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4 responses to “Blog Book Tour | “Remnant in the Stars” by Cindy Koepp #IndieSciFi #RRSciFiMonth

    • Hallo, Hallo Ms Koepp,

      Sorry for the delayed response – November proved to be life changing for my family and I (as my father had a stroke Thanksgiving weekend); however, participating on your blog tour was one of the highlights of Sci Fi November for me! I was so wicked excited to be introduced to your fiction and I look forward to keeping an eye out on your future releases. I hope the holiday season went well for you and yours, whilst 2017 has hopefully begun on a good footing! All best.

      • Hello!

        I do hope your recovery is progressing well. I appreciate your detailed reviews and comments. I have a few projects in the works in various stages including some new endeavors.

        May 2017 well exceed the joys of 2016 and fall very short of 2016’s perils.

        (:

        • How kind of you to respond so quickly, Ms Koepp!

          Yes, getting back into a readerly mindset after you go through a family medical emergency takes time; I’m thankful my dedicated readers and followers have understood my need to ‘take a breathier’ shortly after my father’s ordeal whilst returning as best I can to a frequency of posting which is in balance with my new reality. I love to blog, I truly do, but for awhile I struggled to get into the groove of blogging, reading and sharing my readerly tweets; sometimes we just have to give ourselves a bit of time to recover the joys we lose whilst living through adversities. Definitely looking forward to seeing this New Year fall extremely short of the perils of 2016 – as the previous year was weighed down by difficulties I’d rather not see repeat! Oy. Thank you for your kind reply!

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