Kindle Edition Amazon Amazon story Time by Linell Jeppsen Category:  Science Fiction Publisher: World Castle Publishing ISBN-10:  1470106000 Type: Fiction Pages: 284 Copyright: March 2012 ISBN-13: 9781938243493 Post-apocalyptic thriller with over 59-4 and 5 star reviews! In the not too distant future, a young woman bears witness to the end of her world. Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions rock the planet, reducing cities to smoking rubble, burying entire islands and coastlines beneath cataclysmic waves. Religious fervor and human evil erupt and entwine, becoming a maelstrom of madness in the days after, bringing with the horror of apocalyptic war. As a population in the depths of despair struggles to overcome insurmountable odds, can a single glimmer of hope flare into a beacon for the survivors? This is her tale... the world is our... and now, it's Story Time! Excerpt Linell Jeppsen In the year 2015 Naomi Campbell and her younger brothers Zack and Josh, watch in horror as a series of natural disasters destroy the state of California. An 8.5 earthquake rocks the west coast and sends tsunami waves crashing throughout the Pacific ring of fire. Their parents are vacationing in the Hawaiian Islands, and before television broadcasts are lost, they realize that their parents, along with millions of others, are gone forever. As earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions continue to rock the rest of the planet, reducing cities to smoking rubble, they find themselves stranded on the family ranch, and struggling to survive. They call their Uncle Allen and his family for help, and eventually realize that they need an army to protect the sanctuary the ranch has become. Hundreds of people arrive to bolster their defenses and join forces against marauding bands of desperate outlaws who are attempting to seize control of what has now become the Harmony ranch. The eruption of Mount Rainier causes the Grand Coulee Dam to fracture and flood millions of acres of the inland northwest, killing hundreds of thousands of people and spilling over into the Hanford nuclear reservation, creating a radioactive wasteland. Soon after the Teutonic plates begin to shift, and trigger the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera. In Montana an evil and charismatic man by the name of Dwight Engle, leader of the religious sect The Angel’s Sword, hears rumors about the safe haven of the Harmony ranch in Washington state, and begins moving west with his followers. His goal is to take the ranch for himself. Within days after the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, hundreds of religious fanatics are on the march, killing anything and everything that gets in their way. In Colorado, Michael Anderson, a forward for the Denver Nuggets, and his brother Gary, set out for Spokane to rescue their family. Along the way they encounter prejudice, fear and danger from their fellow man. To make matters worse, they meet alien visitors from off planet; some are trying to kill them, while others are trying to help them. Four different species of aliens have come to Earth to harvest what they can from the dying planet. Two aliens, named Auntie and Uncle, have taken an interest in Michael and his brother. They tell Michael and Gary that they are “in the continuum” and must make haste to the Harmony ranch to protect the woman named Naomi Campbell and her people from what is to come. Michael and Gary are escorted through the Pacific Northwest by the benevolent aliens. Seeing the devastation of the cities, they realize that there is no hope of rescue for their family. They are then compelled to save a group of young Indian children from the burned out husk of a bus garage in Deer Park, Washington before they make their way to the Harmony ranch. Meanwhile, Naomi is contending with lion attacks, illness, starvation, and mutiny amongst the members of the Harmony compound. After her uncle Allen is killed, a man named Trumble and his followers attempt to seize the ranch for themselves. Disaster is averted only by Michael’s timely arrival, and with the help of an alien weapon called a Remi. Dwight Engle and his lieutenant, William Schmitt, guide The Angel’s Sword into a Deep Underground Military Base (DUMB) where they find human victims of alien experimentation in one of the labs. They have to fight their way out against an alien warrior species, and lose many of their followers in the conflict. They finally emerge from the DUMB installation in the town of Colville, only five miles away from the Harmony ranch. They find the world covered in ash and the air filled with suffocating toxic fumes. Their desire to reach the Harmony ranch intensifies, and culminates in a series of battles for control. Death and disease prevail, and clouds of ash clog the atmosphere, blocking the sun and bringing on a deadly winter. While the aliens harvest the planet’s magnetics, the Harmony ranch is protected from the worst of the devastation by a dome provided by the Tatularian emissaries, Auntie and Uncle. Dwight Engle, unable to penetrate the ranch’s defenses, uses children he has captured to insert a Trojan horse onto the ranch, called the Tox flu. In one fell stroke, Harmony loses half of its population to the disease. Doctor Andy Grossman and his partner, a reporter named Steven Cummings, help to save as many of Harmony’s people as possible. Steven, being an award winning reporter, is compiling notes as events unfold. It is only long afterwards that he is able to tell the whole awful story. Although events conspire against them, Michael and Naomi fall in love as the Tatularian dome loses its power and winter wraps the world in its icy arms. The young couple finds comfort in each other in spite of everything. Naomi is a teacher and a natural storyteller. The children flock to both her and Michael, and to comfort them the couple starts a tradition they call Story Time. Dwight Engle knows this love of children to be a fatal flaw, and in a final gambit uses children against them to gain control of Harmony. In a last desperate act of heroism, Naomi and a woman named Lydia Spence, rescue the children from Dwight Engle, but at a terrible cost. Broken and bleeding, Naomi watches in amazement as meteors fall from the sky and hover above the Harmony ranch. The last sight she sees on this earth is what she believes to be angels descending from the meteor-like crafts to carry her and the other members of the Harmony ranch away from the dying planet. Many years later on a planet called Harmony, an old reporter by the name of Steven Cummings gathers information from the war criminals, Dwight Engle and the faction group, The Angel’s Sword. Meanwhile, an old woman by the name of Nana Nay tells the story of Earth’s final days. This is Naomi’s story… the world is ours… and now, it’s story time.

Brilliant!
Ordinary Americans Brave Apocalyptic Struggles: BRILLIANT!, October 17, 2011
By
Ellen Ekey-Hines - See all my reviews
This review is from: Story Time (America's Great Emerging Authors) (Kindle Edition)
This is the second Linell Jeppsen novel that I've read and she does not disappoint in either. Just as in 'The Hunt', her characters in 'Story Time' are well developed and the reader grows to know them as friends. Linell has interwoven many survivors' journeys, their fears, struggles and sacrifices to reach Naomi's ranch. Once there, they must learn to pull together while living and dying, loving and understanding, and believing there is still hope. Times are difficult with apocalyptic events: floods, earthquakes, fire, famine, etc. Both human and alien forces oppose them as they strive for a new beginning. Their future will astonish you...

The conclusion will amaze and prompt you to consider many things even after the book is closed. Nothing is predictable about 'Story Time' except that it is very well told by a fantastic writer.

The Eve Of Destruction!
The Eve of Destruction, January 28, 2012
By
mountainmama "Shirley Hicks" (Charleston, West Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Story Time (Kindle Edition)
This is a truly original story about the apocalyptic end of the earth. As natural disasters and alien invaders claim millions, a group struggles to survive the devastation on a remote ranch in Washington State. The tale is unveiled to us as it is being passed down to younger generations by the woman whose family owned the ranch, and also through interviews by a reporter who gives us another side of the story.

This is a beautifully crafted book. Ms Jeppsen has done a brilliant job of portraying the entire gamut of human emotions and personalities, - from weakness to strength, despair to hope, immorality to compassion, grief to peace. Her characters are utterly believable and her descriptions of events put you in the midst of the action. It is well-paced and maintains the tension throughout.

I loved the book and recommend highly. Well done, Ms. Jeppsen.

A Compelling Read!
A compelling Read, May 7, 2012
By
Entropiated "Entropiated" (Saint John, NB) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Story Time (Kindle Edition)
This novel is what I'd call "science-fiction light." That means it's not weighed down with heavy technical specs and mostly stays away from long, intricate descriptions of technology. There's certainly some of that, and Mrs. Jeppsen handles it well, but this book is more about the characters and their relation to the events unfolding around them. As such, I think it is a real success and a compelling read... and the majority of critics seem to share my opinion. I was certainly motivated to continue reading it and looked forward to finding some free time in my schedule to return to that world to find out what happens next.
There are a number of different story "streams" in Story Time and the author does a great job in shifting back and forth between them. She employs a number of clever techniques to do this, including making the frame of the novel an old lady telling her story of "way back when" (hence Story Time) and a future journalist researching a story about the past. In each stream the characters are well fleshed out and believable, to the point where you really start to like them (or hate in the case of some evildoers.)
Mrs. Jeppsen also tackles some deep and controversial subjects in this apocalyptic thriller. First, as we learn the causes behind the dying Earth, she touches on the effects humans are having on their world and the dangers associated with messing around with things we don't fully understand. Story Time also does a great job of dealing with the idea of extra-terrestrial life and postulates about its possible attitudes and motivations. There are at least four different alien races in this book and each has its own look and character. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the author tackles human nature and how we might react to an apocalyptic situation like the one in this book. In this respect, I believe Story Time is bang on and I believe this book has a lot to tell us about what we could expect to encounter in such a situation.
Once again, this was an interesting, compelling read and I would recommend it highly. I look forward to seeing it available in the World Castle Publishing lineup soon!