Welcome, friend! Today is a cover reveal and book excerpt+interview post all in one! Lawrence J West is coming out with his first book, a Scifi Horror, Breached, in February and I am excited to bring you the cover, designed by CoversbyChristian.
Let’s welcome Lawrence and learn more about the book.
Get to know the author: Lawrence J West
Hi Lawrence! Welcome to Armed with A Book. Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Hi I’m Lawrence J West. I’m an author, father, and friend. I’m an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy, and of course horror. I also love to game, watch movies, and just be an overall nerd. I’m pansexual and polyamorous and an active member of the LGBTQIA+ community and an advocate.
What inspired you to write this book?
The book originally started as a short story I submitted to Inked for their anthology What Remains. It was too long but they asked me to expand it into a novel. I was inspired by movies like Alien and The Thing. I’ve always loved claustrophobic stories where normal people face off against something that goes way beyond their understanding and how that conflict can bring out the best in some and the worst in others.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
I started in September of 2019 and am working on the final edits now in 2023. It’s been a long journey. From rejected short story submission, to novella, to novel.
What makes your story unique?
The blend of science fiction and horror. The monster is unique. How it comes into the story, how it behaves, what it can do. But the true uniqueness is the moral question at the novel’s heart.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
I think this story is perfect for someone who enjoys very tight, briskly-paced novel with a fun and terrifying monster, a collection of varied characters, and a deep and interesting question of “What would you do in this situation?” at its heart.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
That sometimes there is no clear right or wrong, no easy answers, and that small mistakes can cascade.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
There is a scene at the beginning of the final act that is a real gut punch. Everytime I read it I find my pulse racing and my heart aching. It centers around characters fleeing for their lives while a monster chases them through pitch black tunnels. It might be the best bit of writing I’ve done yet.
What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?
Trust your editor. Even if you don’t agree all the time they will always help you see your writing with fresh eyes.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received?
Trust the process. You can always improve your skills, your writing, but only if you keep going.
If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!
Dakota Rayne and Stephanie Contreras for being incredible editors on this book. And the rest of my little community of writers that I’ve gained over the past almost 5 years.
Breached is the first book of a series. How many books are there? Do you have ideas for another series or story?
I have a plan for a sequel to Breached. But beyond that this universe is wide open for stories to tell.
Where can readers find you on the internet?
Breached
Outpost 9106 was a space transport station at the far end of the galaxy. Candace, Travis and the rest of the crew had 15 minutes remaining. Then they were going to go home. Retire. See the beach.
Their last transport malfunctions. The Avealus Gate that provides power to the station collapses and something stumbles in. Candace and Travis soon realize they are trapped inside the outpost as a shapeshifting monster hunts them down. Travis and Candace clash over the best plan of action. Travis struggles to ensure the survival of their friends, loved ones, and the crew, while Candace schemes a plan where the monster can never escape to harm anyone else, but no one on the outpost can leave.
Content notes include death, gore, homophobia, and violence.
Book Excerpt from
Breached
Final transmission. Sent 5:34 PM
Zurathel Transit Outpost 9106
Location: Planet 802.17 (3rd Galaxy, inner ring. Uninhabitable.)
Crew: 65 (Human)
Gate Classification: Dual Relay
Net Accessible. Clip Operated
Commander: Candace Pruit
Second in Command: Science Officer Travis Scanlon
There is a truth that lurks within the heart of all civilization. Death is patient. Life is forgetful.
****
Candace Pruit reclined in her chair and propped up her feet on the rarely-used control panel. Alone in the control room she spoke with her wife’s projection via her clip, a thin metal disc implanted halfway down the back of her neck, while she waited for the last gate alignment of her tour to start. A cold drink called to her as the last of her patience faded.
“Shit, Julia. I’m done talking about this,” Candace said for the hundredth time. “Yelling at me isn’t going to make time move any faster, and it’s not going to erase the past three years. I did this for us.”
The image of Julia sat firmly in the center of Candace’s vision, projected onto her mind. The image window was a small piece of what the neural link technology did, but it was a welcome one for those like Candace who sometimes spent years away from their partners and families.
A chime rang in her ears and a message popped up in the lower part of her vision, partly obscuring the image of her wife.
Official Notice from Tsoral Nievel, Director of Operations:
This is a reminder to all crews located at gate outposts that they may experience fluctuations in gate readings. These are expected as the overflow system reccalibrates. Please disregard these anomalies unless they become persistent and exceed the levels specified in previous briefings.
“Shut up,” Candace said, swiping the memo away with a flick of her fingers. In an hour she would be done with this job and would have no more use for the hail of memos and reminders that came down the chain of command. Her priority was assuring her wife that —
“It’s just hard here,” Julie said. “I still don’t know why I couldn’t come along like I did when you were stationed at Santalaria.” She pouted. Her eyes were red and puffy, contrasting her blonde hair and makeup that still looked perfect.
The sight of her wife so distraught thawed Candace’s frustration. Candace would make it up to her. The house she bought for them would be a start. She envisioned the joy on Julia’s face when she saw it for the first time. Happy tears would replace the ones that now silently spilled down her wife’s cheeks.
Candace groaned and shut her eyes, but the virtual heads up display was still there behind her eyelids. As marvelous as the clip was, there was no hiding from what it showed.
The calendar app pinged and the numbers in the top left of her vision flashed red. Candace glanced up, bringing the clock to the center and forcing the window with her wife to move right. Fifteen more minutes till the Avealus Gate aligned and last guests arrived. Retirement was almost here.
“I already told you. They don’t allow spouses to come along to outposts like this. There’s no shopping. No sightseeing on my days off. Trust me, you didn’t want to be locked in this box for three years. It was hard enough to keep the workers from going stir crazy, let alone their families. That’s why they paid me so much to take the post. No one else would do it.”
Julia scowled and said nothing. Candace’s clip pinged again.
“Listen Julia. I have to go and prep the gate. I got the last group coming through, but I’ll call when my shift is done. Okay? I love you.”
Julia pursed her lips, her face stony and red. “Fine,” she said, and the window blinked out.
A robotic female voice spoke through the speakers. “Fifteen minutes until gate alignment.”
The chair creaked as Candace pushed further back to study the familiar gray brick of the ceiling. After nearly twenty-five years of running outposts like this all over the galaxy, it was strange to be seeing them for maybe the last time. At least as an employee. Odds were, if she and Julia did any traveling, they would end up at one of the eleven thousand outposts. But a brief visit would be better than a long stay.
The clock showed that she had fourteen minutes left until the Avealus Gate on Outpost 9106 and the one on Vexel-7 would be aligned. The computer’s voice intoned this.
Candace dropped her feet and sat up before straightening her uniform. Robotically she flipped two switches. The solid steel shield that separated the control room and the hangar lifted, illuminating the enormous room that contained the ancient structure. It was protocol to leave it shut when the gate was not in alignment, and while no one would have cared or even known that she left it open, it was better to lead by example and show her crew that policy and procedure mattered.
The hangar was half a mile long and three quarters of a mile high. It was barren except for two doors — one leading to a waiting area and the other leading into the outpost. The stone archway of the Gate stood against the far wall more than a thousand feet away.
Candace gasped. The Avealus Gate was not illuminated as it should have been. Instead, a flat dead blackness resided within the confines of the stone. The hair on her arms stood on end as she stared at it. Was something wrong? Should I do something? Say something? The warning bells in her mind chimed loudly but then she thought of Julia, of seeing her wife, of freedom. It was probably nothing. Just a little variance. If something was actually wrong, the system would tell her. She checked the readings on her clip anyways and they didn’t show that anything was out of the ordinary. Yet something —
“Creepy, isn’t it?” asked a voice from behind her.
Candace jumped and whipped around as her replacement doubled over with laughter. She gripped her chest, digging her fingers deep into the flesh over her heart and waited patiently for her breath to return to normal while Jackson held himself against the doorframe, grubby in his faded jeans and blue t-shirt. Like everyone else at this outpost, he didn’t bother wearing the company uniform. Only Candace bothered. Her white shirt bore her name and the corporate insignia. Her black slacks were perfectly pressed. Who else was going to set the example if not the person in charge?
“What the fuck?” Candace yelled. “You trying to kill me?”
“Sorry,” Jackson said between laughs.
“What the hell are you doing here anyway? I gave everyone the night off. Including you. Go enjoy it.” Candace made no attempt to hide the contemptuous dismissal from her voice.
Jackson frowned. “Yeah, well, my promotion starts for real in fifteen minutes, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to have you walk me through the gate alignment procedure one more time. It’s all on me after you leave and it should at least appear like I know what’s going on.”
Candace scowled. Fat fucking chance of that happening. The Zurathel Transit Corp must be desperate if they are promoting a dipshit like Jackson.
“Thirteen minutes until gate alignment.”
“Fine,” Candace said. “Sit down, shut up, and pay attention. The system does all the work anyways.” Jackson and his crew had been watching Candace and her team align the gate every day for the last three weeks. If Jackson didn’t know what he was doing already, this last time wouldn’t help him. She didn’t say that though. What was the point? His eyes tracked her movement and slid over her.
Jackson sat in the empty chair beside Candace. His eyes tracked her movement and slid over her. Candace watched and, when he was settled, she turned back to the console. A twitch of her eye accessed the outpost system via her clip. She glanced at the visitor tab and focused on it to bring up the manifest for this alignment. One hundred and three people, all human.
“Have you pulled up the visitor manifest?”
“Yup,” he said.
Boredom was etched across every inch of his face. The next three years were going to suck for him.
“Okay, well, just follow along with what I’m doing.”
In the three centuries since humanity had become a part of the intergalactic Empire, nearly all facets of technology across the galaxies had migrated to the clip and to the net. It was humanity’s one great contribution. Only at the outposts had the technology not been fully integrated. Candace guessed it was just a matter of cost. Cheaper to keep the old control panels than upgrade the systems of every outpost across the whole of space.
She flipped three switches on the panel. One stopped the Outpost from siphoning off power from the gate allowing it to leave standby mode, the other returned the Gate to normal function, and the last recalibrated the atmosphere in the hangar so humans could breathe.
As the vents opened, the sound of metal scraping on stone filled the hangar and Control Room. The still black void inside the gate’s arch shimmered for a moment, like moonlight on the surface of a lake at midnight. Or at least, Candace thought it had. A slight vibration radiated across the control room. It reverberated from the metal instrument panel to the tips of her fingers. She waited for it to stop but it didn’t. Nothing like this, not in all of the hundreds of transmissions she’d overseen, had happened before. At least not that she could recall.
It’s nothing. Just my nerves. Candace put it from her mind and returned her focus to watching the gate align. The life support readout on her clip confirmed that the hangar had reached the correct air pressure and atmospheric make-up.
The clip indicated one life sign in the hangar. Jared should be in there finishing the sanitization process. She caught another flash from the gate out of the corner of her eye.
The control panel vibrated louder. She considered reporting these events and calling off the visitor transmission, but that would mean an inspection. An inspection would mean days or weeks stuck here waiting for the inspectors’ report. Julia would kill her if that happened, and for what, a little tremor? It was probably nothing. Cable loose somewhere. Jackson can deal with that after she’s gone.The clock in her head-up display flashed red.
Interested?
Breached will be released in February 2024. If you would like to read an advanced copy, sign up through this form. You can also preorder on Inked in Gray, the publisher’s website. Add the book on your Goodreads shelf and learn more on IndieStoryGeek.
Thanks for taking the time to join us for this interview!
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