C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Two New Books!

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I’m so pleased to have H.R. Sinclair and Tyrean Martinson here today to show off their new books. Take it away, H.R. and Tyrean.

For people who love color, its history, symbolism, and superstitions. There’s information on color from around the world, a color thesaurus, and color descriptors as well as places and things that are predominantly one color. Plus the effects of color, trademarked colors, historical dyes, phrases, and information about your color mood.
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Amaya is supposed to bring peace to the galaxy. Which is tough when she’s being held for crimes against the Neutral Zone. Her imprisonment is on her own ship with her own crew. But close quarters create tension.

Honestly, her role as Rayatana is a mess.

She may never get to use her powers for anything good. Not if her teacher continues to keep secrets, and not if her powers keep harming others. Putting her mother in a coma should put her in prison, but she has a mission. She wants to bring peace to her people. She needs to become the Rayatana.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tyrean Martinson is a word hunter. She forages for words both sweet and tart in the South Sound of Washington State. An eclectic writer, she writes speculative fiction, contemporary and historical fiction, short scripts, devotions, writing books, song lyrics, and poetry.

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Time for Liftoff!

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Tyrean Martinson has a new book out! Congratulations and thanks for the Guest Post today. Take it away, Tyrean.

Sci-Fi Trope: Say What?
Language Barriers Lifted with Ease

Tropes can be symbolic and helpful for our understanding of plot and characters. We can use them, bend them, or try to avoid them. In science fiction, language barriers are often lifted with ease at the beginning of an alien-human interaction because attempting to break a language barrier could take up most of a book or film.

There are various ways science fiction films, books, and stories lift the language barrier quickly so humans and aliens can interact.

  1. Language barriers are lifted by the combination of an interpreter and a computer translator like in many episodes and films in the Star Trek universe.
  2. Language barriers are lifted by a technological “universal” translator, as in some versions of Star Trek, Men in Black, and Doctor Who.
  3. Language barriers are lifted via translators or droid translators, as in Star Wars.
  4. Language barriers are lifted by an alien life form, like the Babel Fish in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
  5. Language barriers are ignored and not mentioned, as in Stargate.

Arrival is an example of a film where the language barrier is lifted through an arduous process, and this process is one of the main focal points of the film.

In Liftoff, I didn’t have a great deal of time to spend on this, so I handled it in three ways: a downloaded universal language, aliens who could speak English, and dialogue about how slang can be confusing.

Liftoff: The Rayatana Series, Book 1

A spaceship in disguise,
An Earth girl searching for a sense of home,
And a Thousand Years’ War between alien races,
All collide on a summer afternoon.

An old movie theater welcomes Amaya in and wraps her up in the smell of popcorn and licorice. But one sunny afternoon during a matinee, the movie screen goes dark. The theater rumbles.

Amaya gets trapped in the middle of an ancient alien conflict. Angry and frightened, Amaya entangles herself in a life-changing cultural misunderstanding with Sol, a young alien who keeps omitting key information, even while they’re on the run from his enemies.

What will it take to survive a battle between alien races involved in an ancient war?

Liftoff is a fast-paced read for fans of Code 8, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Cobra Kai.

Release Date: November 10, 2020

Paperback ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-9889933-8-9

Ebook ISBN: ISBN: 978-0-9889933-9-6

Copyright Tyrean Martinson November 2020

Publisher: Wings of Light Publishing, Gig Harbor, WA, USA

Professionally Edited by Chrys Fey

Cover Art and Interior Design by Carrie Butler

LINKS: Kindle Barnes and Noble Kobo Smashwords Goodreads

About the Author: Tyrean Martinson is an author and teacher from Washington State. As a former fencer and kickboxer, she enjoys writing fight scenes in fast-paced novels and novellas. As a teacher and writing tutor, she loves to get students writing and reading comfortably by any means: talk-to-text, short writing assignments, short stories, novellas, and adventures. She wrote her latest novella, Liftoff, for herself during COVID, but realized it also fits a dream she’s had for a while: to create a short, fast-paced read for teen/YA readers who love popcorn movies, adventure, and sweet romance.

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