H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS Audiobook Sample AND Status of Audiobook

H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS ©2017 Natalie Wright
Audiobook Narration by Dylan White

The audiobook version of H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS (H.A.L.F. 3) is on the way. I promise!!

We’ve had some delays in production due to my broken foot, but the narrator has finished recording. The audiobook is now in editing and final production. Yay!!

I know some of you have been waiting for the final audiobook in the series and I sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm for H.A.L.F. I apologize for the delay, but there were unforeseen circumstances that delayed production. I’m thrilled that you look forward to this final book and I can't wait for you to hear it!

As I listen to Dylan’s narration, I’m on the edge of my seat at times —and I wrote it!!

To tide you over (and give those new to the series a preview), I’ve uploaded the first chapter of ORIGINS to Dropbox. You can click the link to have a listen while you wait for the final audiobook to hit stores this month.

Thank you to all who have inquired about the audiobook. It truly will be here soon!

H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS — Chapter 1 Audio 

(narrated by Dylan White) (©Natalie Wright, 2017)

Later this week, check back to the blog for my review of Blade Runner 2049 and announcements about upcoming appearance dates.

Teaser Tuesday:

When writing a series, the story generally changes significantly from beginning to end. I began writing the H.A.L.F. series in 2010! That's seven year's worth of life, experiences and changes in my thinking!

One of the beautiful surprises was the strength of the friendship between Erika and Ian. Their friendship was sorely tested in book two, The Makers. Book 3, ORIGINS, is no walk in the park for them either.

Will their friendship survive the trials of an alien invasion?

H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS (H.A.L.F. 3) arrives in stores August 24, 2017. If you haven’t yet read book 1 (The Deep Beneath), you can get a FREE copy by subscribing to my newsletter. You can purchase books one and two (The Makers) in the Kindle store. And you can Pre-Order ORIGINS here.

H.A.L.F.: The Makers Book Trailer

H.A.L.F.: The Makers launched May 10 and wow! It's like overnight people have found this series!

 

There are multiple aspects to The Makers. Readers will follow new adventures of characters they loved (and hated!) from book 1, The Deep Beneath. But there are also lots of new characters - and worlds - to discover.

 

In this trailer, I focus your attention on the aliens of The Makers. Think you know all there is to know about those bulbous-headed, little grey aliens?

 

Think again!

 

And alien abductions may be the least of our worries ...

 

Did you enjoy the trailer? Does it make you curious? You can learn more about The Makers on its dedicated web page here. And you can purchase the book in the format of your choice here.

H.A.L.F. is FREE on Amazon for a Limited Time Only!

BREAKING NEWS - FREE BOOK!!

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath
by Natalie Wright

For the first time ever, and only for 5 days, my award-winning book H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath (H.A.L.F. #1), is FREE on Amazon!

If you haven't yet picked up a copy of H.A.L.F. (#1) but you've wanted to try it out, Now's the time!

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath is free from 5/6-5/10/16, only on Amazon. Here are the links:

Amazon
Amazon U.K
Amazon CA

And if you want to pre-order H.A.L.F. #2 - The Makers - you can do that here.

And to learn more about the special pre-order offer that I've got going on (including an exclusive full-color book that you can't buy in stores), click here.

As seen in SyFy Magazine

Teaser Tuesday: Erika and Ian from The Makers + Preorder Giveaway Bonanza

Here's a tidbit of a teaser for my upcoming release, The Makers (H.A.L.F. #2). I'll let the meme speak for itself and (hopefully) pique your curiosity about what it means.

Do you love Giveaways, Swag & Bonus Content?

I have such a fun package of goodies for people who Preorder The Makers!

• The first 25 who Preorder will receive the audiobook version of The Deep Beneath, my award-winning first book in the H.A.L.F. series
• Everyone who preorders the eBook is automatically entered into a giveaway to win an AUTOGRAPHED Hardcover copy of The Makers + Exclusive swag. (NOTE: This part of the giveaway open ONLY TO U.S. mailing address.
• **For every 100 copies Preordered by release date (May 10), I'll add another signed hardcover + swag to the prize package :-D
• An exclusive and exciting bonus book that is only available to people who preorder
• A second exclusive book that includes lost chapters with the author's commentary 

But you have to play to win! In order to claim your exclusive preorder package, follow these instructions:

1. Preorder The Makers HERE
2. Forward your receipt or Email the Screenshot or otherwise send proof of your purchase to this email: TheMakersBook@gmail.com
3. BOOSH! That's it. You will receive an email with links to download your digital content.
4. NOTE: If you were one of the first 25 to order, you'll receive a gifted copy of The Deep Beneath directly from Audible to the email address you mailed the receipt from
5. NOTE: When the Preorder period is over, the giveaway ends and winner(s) of the signed hardcover will be notified by email & asked to provide their U.S. mailing address

You can learn more about the book including the description & early reader reviews by visiting this page.

The Makers PREORDER Announcement

Do you love to see life in numbers? If so, here are some stats from my life in 2015:  I travelled over 6,000 miles; saw nearly half a million people traipse by my table/booth at events; said good-bye to two loved ones; played over a hundred hours of Dragon Age Inquisition and Fallout 4; gained 25 pounds (but I deny a correlation between pounds gained and video game hours logged ;-); and - oh yeah - wrote my fifth novel!

H.A.L.F.: The Makers (Book 2 of the H.A.L.F. Series) is available for preorder NOW! *Does a happy dance* I'm so excited, a made a video. (You'll have to watch the video to see why I look like a reproachful librarian in this thumbnail.)

PREORDER

Link to PREORDER The Makers on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1PDruTp

Want to see if I'll be in a town near you this year? Stay up to date on my appearance/travel schedule here: http://bit.ly/1v50fdJ

As usual, I tend to do things a bit bassackwards so you're getting a preorder announcement BEFORE a cover reveal! Go figure. But I promise you a cover tomorrow so come back to see the lovely package your new H.A.L.F. book will come in :-)

Paranormal October: A Shadow in the Dark by Pippa Jay

I'm happy to welcome back to the blog today a fabulous writer, Pippa Jay. Pippa shares with us a truly cool ghost story (and reminds me why I don't live in an old house!). And Pippa is generously donating her story Hallow's Eve to the October giveaway so make sure you enter the Rafflecopter at the end of the post ;-)

A Shadow in the Dark

Hi, I’m Pippa Jay, author of scifi and the supernatural with a romantic soul. I’ve had a few ghostly encounters in my life, but probably the most memorable happened more to my husband than to me. When we were first married, we lived in a rented house set into the old Roman wall of our home town of Colchester, Britain’s oldest recorded market town and the scene of some of the bloodiest conflicts in British history. We’d had our stereo system switch itself on full blast several times, something it had never done in our previous house, nor ever did again after we’d moved. Not even changing plug sockets or turning the volume right down when not in use stopped it from happening. Our two kittens would regularly stop dead and stare at a certain point in our ceiling. Then one evening my husband walked to the top of the stairs and saw someone in a cloak standing in our back room (just about at the point our kittens used to stare). He thought it was me waiting to jump out on him, so he said “Don’t be stupid, I can see you hiding in the dark.” A moment later, I let myself out of the bathroom, nowhere near him. The look on his face was priceless! Of course, when he looked again the shadow, or whatever it was, had gone. Being of an extremely sceptical nature, it wasn’t like him to see or imagine things - that’s much more my department - but he swears someone was standing there, and that he was looking at whoever (or whatever) it was for some time before I came out. Suffice to say, we weren’t all that sorry to finally move out of that house a year later after buying our own!

Pippa has generously donated a copy of her short story, Hallow's Eve, to the giveaway. Enter for your chance to win - see the Rafflecopter at the end of the post.

Links for Pippa:

Website – http://www.pippajay.co.uk

Blogs –

Adventures in Scifi - http://www.pippajay.blogspot.co.uk

Spacefreighters Lounge - http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com

Romancing the Genres - http://www.romancingthegenres.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/pippajaygreen

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5054558.Pippa_Jay

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pippa-Jay-Adventures-in-Scifi/114058821953752

Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/pippajaygreen/

Amazon page - http://author.to/PippaJay

Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/IKX7b

Looking for something spooky this Halloween? Meet Luke and Annabelle, a pair of lost zombie teenagers that my editor described as ‘adorable’. Restless In Peaceville - Warm Bodies meets Supernatural in a Louisiana that never was. http://mybook.to/RIP

Restless in Peaceville by Pippa Jay

After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 22 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, Broad Universe, and EPIC, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3^rd place), the 2015 EPIC eBook awards, the 2015 LERA Rebecca, and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2^nd place).

You can stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.

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Sci Fi Friday: If Sigourney's In, I'm In

Movie Poster for original Alien, 1979

When I first heard that there was going to be a reboot of the movie Alien, I yawned. Reboots are always ... Well, reboots. If a remake is faithful to the original product that we love so much, then it is predictable because we've already been there, done that. If it's not faithful to the original, then we complain because it changes the thing we love so much.

And then there's the magic of a first. Some movies, like music, have a synergy that only exists the first time around. Any art that become phenomenon has this synergy. It's complex and is about more than the artists but also includes the audience.

When Alien appeared back in 1979, it came on the heels of the comparatively childlike Star Wars. Hans Solo, the bad boy of the film, is a cartoonish space pirate compared to Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. 

If the two were in a fight, I'd put my money on Ripley to kick Solo's ass.

Star Wars gave us R2D2, C3PO and Ewoks. Cute, sometimes cuddly characters.

Alien gave us this:

Alien art from Neill Blomkamp's Instagram

Alien ushered us, not so gently, into an age where all kinds of things come out of the sky, hellbent on destroying humankind (Thor, Transformers, Independence Day, Mars Attacks ... just a few that came to mind - please add to the list in the comments section). Star Wars was our age of innocence. Alien was our coming of age.

I saw the original Alien in the movie theatre when it first came out and can still remember yelling out with surprise (as did most in the theater) when that alien popped out of the guy's stomach. I've seen it several times since and I still jump at that moment - even though I know it's coming. The movie has a pervading dark tension that builds and builds up to that moment. You know bad shit's going to happen. You just don't know what or when.

And then there's Ripley. Smart, sassy, mother of all bad mother f***in women who will kick your sorry ass ... Ripley.

Sigourney Weaver on the set of the original Alien movie, 1979. Corbis

Sigourney Weaver pretty much invented the strong female lead for Sci Fi media. Sure, there are plenty of strong female characters in the world of story before Ripley. But I can't think of one in film prior to Alien that had a female character that could kick ass the way Ripley did.

Linda Hamilton (with cut arms to die for) in Terminator II:Judgment Day (19991) owes her bad assedness to Weaver paving the way for this type of character.

In fact, Weaver paved the way for a lot of us. Seeing Ripley on the screen back when I was a kid allowed me to see that a woman can save herself. Ripley looks that alien bitch with two sets of teeth in the face and says eat it.

So Neill Blomkamp wants to give us his take on Alien? And media touts it as from the director or Elysium and Chappie. Well, that made me snore. I wouldn't exactly call those two movies a great sci fi pedigree (some of you may disagree and if you do, feel free to tell me so in the comments).

But somehow or other, Neill convinced Sigourney to come along for the ride.

If Sigourney's in, I'm in. I look forward to seeing how she'll fit into the Alien world (re)created by Blomkamp nearly 40 years after the original (damn, that's a long time!).

Just please, Neill, don't try to make her more "feminine" - more likable - like they did in the second film, Aliens. So typical of Hollywood, they had to give her a kid to take care of (1986 Aliens, written and directed by James Cameron). So many Hollywood stories give us female characters that have a kid slung to their hip, even if they're toting a gun with the other hand (and typical of Hollywood too to put kids, dogs, and  yes, Ewoks, into movies to cuteify them, perhaps thinking it will make the franchise appeal to a larger audience).

So go forth, Neill Blomkamp, and revision Alien. But please, while your re-envisioning what Alien can be, don't take away from us the strong, self-reliant Ripley that we love.

H.A.L.F. Is HERE! New Sci Fi Book by Natalie Wright

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath
by Natalie Wright

What does it take to write a novel?

For my most recent novel, the stats are something like this:

Four years, three complete rewrites, four Moleskine notebooks, hundreds of cups of coffee, three content editors, six beta readers, several bottles of wine, two different covers, a gazillion Reese's cups, a trip to the Roswell museum of UFOs in New Mexico, and hundreds of hours with my butt glued to a chair, fingers virtually numb from typing.

There may be a few exaggerations in there, but it's mostly true. ;-)

But all the hours lead to this moment of Yay! Hooray! Booyah!

H.A.L.F.: The Deep Beneath e-book is available for pre-order on Amazon. *raises a glass and drinks* If you'd like to order your Kindle copy, click the Amazon link, hit pre-order and boosh! It'll be delivered to your account on 1/29 when it releases.

And, for those of you that enjoy the feel of paper in your paws, the paperback is available now on CreateSpace and Amazon. I've even got a spiffy coupon code for CreateSpace. Just enter this coupon code for 25% Off. You're welcome ;-)

And what's this? A hardcover is coming you say?

Yep. Hardcover baby. The firm feel and weight of a hardcover will roll your way in early March.

It's time to party. To raise the roof. To bask in the glow of pulling that manuscript kicking and screaming into the world!

I really did have a blast writing H.A.L.F. It's the most fun book I've written so far and I hope that readers have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

I'd love to hear what you think. Reviews on Amazon are a plus. Dropping me a line or comments for bonus points.

Now time to get back to work. I have four more books to write in the H.A.L.F. series. :0

From the Back Cover:

H.A.L.F. 9 has taken his first breath of desert air and his first steps in the human world. Created to be a weapon, he proved too powerful for his makers, hidden from humans and sedated. But H.A.L.F. 9 has escaped the underground lab he called home, and the sedation has worn off. He has never been more alive. More powerful. Or more deadly.

Erika Holt longs to ride her motorcycle east until pavement gives way to shore. She bides her time until graduation when she’ll escape the trailer she shares with her alcoholic mother and memories of her dead father. But a typical night in the desert with friends thrusts Erika into a situation more dangerous than she ever imagined.

Circumstances push the two together, and each must make a fateful choice. Will Erika help H.A.L.F. 9 despite her “don’t get involved” rule? And will H.A.L.F. 9 let Erika live even though he was trained to kill?

The two may need to forget their rules and training if either is to survive the dangers of the deep beneath them.

Sci Fi Friday: 3 Cool Future Identification Technologies

There are certain technologies that are ubiquitous in future stories. Flying cars. Laser guns. And identification technology.

It's hard to imagine fingerprint dusting in the 22nd century. Instead, crime investigations may be "dusting" for DNA. And forget about a mere iris scanner to gain entry to that above top-secret lab. Instead you may have to pass the sniff test.

Good luck trying to fake someone else's scent.

Here are three super cool, super futuristic identification technologies that I read about recently on LiveScience and provide some cool inspiration for futuristic sci-fi stories:

1. BODY ODOR

You read the correctly. Apparently, each person has a unique odor. That's an "of course" to dogs. Companies are working to catch up to dog tech by finding ways to identify our unique smell signature.

But don't worry about having a computer sniff you yet. Although researchers have attained a recognition rate of better than 85%, the technology is still in the research stages.

2. HEART BEATS

While I can see the "sniff test" being used at border crossings and airports, this one seems more like the kind of thing we'll use every day. A Toronto company called Bionym is developing a bracelet called Nymi that uses your heartbeat for digital identification. Each of us has a unique pattern of electrical activity in our heart. Who knew? The bracelet reads ECG (electrocardiogram) waveforms to identify the wearer.

But here's where this one gets super spiffy. The Nymi bracelet can them communicate via Bluetooth to our devices. It seems that the possibilities there are endless. No need for a password or even a finger scan to log in to your computer. Just wear the bracelet and it could seamlessly connect the wearer to their devices. But why stop there? How about your car? A hotel room? Bank deposit box? 

And this one isn't just theoretical. You can order this device from Bionym now and it will ship next year.

3. VEINS

This one is even more strange than the others. And a bit creepy too. Apparently we not only have unique fingerprints, odors, and heartbeats, we also have unique vein patterns. This sounds like it's straight from a sci-fi movie, but it's actually a technology being branded as BiyoWallet (originally called PulseWallet). Imagine waving your palm over a machine that scans your veins. Once you've introduced yourself to the machine, the device would automatically deduct payment owed to the merchant from your account. Good-bye credit and debit cards. Sounds like one of the more promising technologies to prevent identity theft related to credit/debit card use.

Until some evil genius finds a way to counterfeit our veins! (Just wait - you know it will happen ;-)

Do you think we'll see widespread use of any of these technologies in the near future? Do you embrace these technologies? Or do they scare you? What one would you like to use the most?

Subscribe to receive a FREE original short story by Natalie every other month in your InBox + "It's a Nerd's World" monthly newsletter + exclusive giveaways, discounts and news about new releases!

Sci Fi Friday: When Art and Science Meet It's a Beautiful Thing

If you've been reading my blog on Fridays, then you may have surmised that I frequently geek out over scientific discoveries. Whether its news about a new technology for space travel or the latest from CERN, I can't resist a headline that hints at a cool discovery. 

This week I was blown away by this elegant idea from Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde. Roosegaarde's team has conceptualized interactive highways and parks that remove smog. But this latest idea is where art meets science.

Here's the pitch: What happens when you take the biology that produces bioluminescence and merge it with plants? Think algae street lamps that store energy from photosynthesis to generate light at night. But Roosegaarde's team takes it one step further.

Roosegaarde's team, inspired by deep water jellyfish, imagined bio luminescent trees. Check out this video as Daan Roosegaarde explains the concept. Imagine, a street lined with trees instead of street lamps.

How cool is that? Imagine a landscape lit at night by glowing trees. My sci fi imagine is spinning ...

What other applications can you imagine for bio luminescent biology?

3 Loglines for H.A.L.F.

I've been working on a spiffy log line for H.A.L.F., my speculative sci fi-ish novel that launches in March. For anyone not familiar with a logline, it's a one sentence (short) summary of the big idea of the book. It's the "elevator pitch".

After playing around with it for some time, I've come up with three and would like your opinion. Which of these do you think is the most intriguing? Which one makes you interested to know more? Or have I missed the mark completely?

Please drop a comment below and let me know your honest opinion. And thanks so much for dropping by :-D

1. When a teenager liberates an alien-human hybrid from a government lab, she triggers an inter-stellar war.

2. Three teens become fugitives when they help an alien-human hybrid escape a government lab.

3. While inter-stellar war looms, a teen must liberate the government's top secret weapon or be terminated.

So let me know which is best for you - #1, #2 or #3 - and why :-) Thanks!

Sci Fi Friday: Alien Structures on Mars and a Man on the Moon?!

For this SciFi Friday, a bit of fun with moon shadows (cue up Van Morrison). 

Remember the face on Mars?

Face on Mars, 1976

The internet swarmed with stories of an alien race having built the structure.

NASA denied that the image was what it appeared to be. They said it was a trick of light and shadows. They have proffered this more recent photo taken by the Mars Global Surveyor camera in April, 2001. 

Of course it would be nice to see it pulled back from the terrain a bit so we can compare surrounding landscape. I looked for one that was equivalent to the top photo but couldn't find one. If any of you find it, can you leave a link in the comments below?

So we have alleged faces, pyramids and cities on Mars. Now there's a literal man on the moon! Or maybe it's an alien.

What do you think? Is this a shadow playing tricks on our mind? Is it a complete fabrication/hoax? Or is it possible that there's a being on the moon that just happened to get caught on film by a satellite?

Writer Wednesday: Time to Fight or Take Flight with Chele Cooke

Welcome to Writer Wednesday! I am pleased to welcome back author Chele Cooke. I'm happy to share with you her new release, Fight or Flight. It's the follow up to Dead and Buryd (the Out of Orbit series). If you haven't already read Dead and Buryd, pick it up now! It's FREE on Amazon from July 25 to August 8. And grab Fight or Flight while you're there.

To whet your appetite, here is an excerpt from Fight or Flight. Enjoy!

Fight or Flight by Chele Cooke
Book 2 of the Out of Orbit Series

From Chapter 2: Promises and Protection

“Dhiren,” Georgianna began. “How did you… I mean, why did you agree to work for them?”

A soft sigh left his lips and he leaned forwards, resting his arms across his knees. He glanced at Georgianna before turning his attention back onto his boots.

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”

“But you’re… You could have defended yourself,” she argued. “You don’t need their protection like…”

“Like me” almost slipped from her lips, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Dhiren tilted his head to the side and carefully stretched out his jaw, a click sounding from one of the joints.

“I did from the Adveni,” he admitted. “When I was captured, I knew that it would only be so long before I was given the rope. Vajra approached me. He said he would keep me from being executed if I worked for them.”

He gave a dismissive shrug.

He was older than her, perhaps by five or six years. She had often wondered about him, curious about what he’d done to get put into the compound, but she had never dared ask. 

He’d never been anything but kind and cheerful to her, but the opinions of the other inmates had often weighed on her mind.

She’d heard stories when she used to come into the compound on her medic visits, but it was only when she arrived as an inmate herself that the other inmates really began to talk. They told her everything she wanted to know. There were different stories, but the one she heard most often was that the brothers had been captured after the massacre of an Adveni transport almost six years before. Ta-Dao, the elder brother, and Vajra, the younger, had been informed that they would never leave the compound unless they were being put into the ground.

Funnily, there were no common rumours about Dhiren’s incarceration. Every person who spoke about it gave a different story, varying from the questionable to the downright insane. His story, according to most, was far more exciting than the brothers because he never talked about it. Georgianna wondered if anyone had bothered to ask him.

“What… What did you do?”

Dhiren’s eyes narrowed and he tugged at each of his sleeves in turn, covering up a little more skin. She wondered whether she had stepped too far. If she was wrong about people being afraid to ask him about his crime, he might not look at her the same way again. He didn’t speak to many of the other inmates and from what Georgianna had seen, he didn’t even speak to the brothers unless he had to. He watched her for a few moments, a calculating expression on his square face.

“Murder. Three Adveni.”

In an instant, the cautious look in his eyes was gone and he smiled proudly, almost childishly—a teenager boasting of his first hunting kill.

“That they caught me for.”

*     *    *

Oh, I love that last line. And I want to know more about Dhiren. How about you?

Links to Fight or Flight

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LZTQV30

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/fight-or-flight-8

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/456775

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21545342-fight-or-flight

And read Chele's bio and check out her social media links after the Giveaway.

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Chele Cooke is an English-born writer based in London. Starting out writing fan fiction, she soon moved onto her own fiction, releasing her first novel, ‘Dead and Buryd’, in 2013, the sequel ‘Fight or Flight’ following less than a year later.

She is currently working on The Out of Orbit series, a number of short stories, a circus based sci-fi, and a paranormal serial currently released weekly on Wattpad.

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