Hair Power

Terminal cancer patient, Quiti, walks into an abandoned building planning on taking her life.

Instead, she encounters a telepathic ball of hair that insists it is an alien seeking to facilitate diplomatic communication on Earth.

Quiti assumes it is all a hallucination conjured up by her brain tumor.

Because of this assumption, when she saves the alien’s life and it insists on doing Quiti a favor in return, she only asks for her hair back. She soon discovers, however, that the creature’s gift extends much further than her new locks that can change color with a thought. As her powers grow and her deadly illness goes into remission, Quiti quickly realizes that there are those that would want to use her for her abilities and is forced to leave behind everything that she knew.

Will this blessing curse her to a life on the run, or does the mysterious hairball have more in store for her?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Piers Anthony takes alien invasion to a whole new level with his humorous fantasy/science fiction novel, Hair Power. When a hairball appears and asks main character, Quiti, for help, it certainly creates a new image of what an alien could look like, while prompting a new investigation into why they would invade earth. 

Quiti has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. In the beginning of the novel, she doesn't have much time left to live and decides to end it all on her terms. Until a twenty-pound hairball intervenes and asks her for help. In return, she granted a request. Easy for Quiti, all she wants is her hair back. The hairball agrees, but in the end does so much more for her, including curing her cancer. Quiti is a nice, down to earth person, who was given a raw deal, like all cancer patients. She's smart and even keeled. However, readers will only really get to know her after she becomes the convoy for the alien species. After she starts growing a new alien hairball on her own head, Quiti becomes incredibly intelligent, brave, and courageous. She also becomes more and more robotic as the novel progresses. As a mix between human and alien, Quiti's formality increases as her knowledge of what the magical hair can do expands. Even though the dialogue becomes more formal, I think readers will like Quiti as she travels around experimenting with her developing powers, knowing that there are government officials following her. 

The plot generally revolves around the question: what do these aliens want and why are they choosing specific people to help them? With that lingering throughout the book, readers see Quiti develop her powers and grow with the hair. As she finds more like her, the truth of the matter is revealed and the possibility of a sequel presents itself. Hair Power is a silly (in a good way), expansive enjoyment of science fiction and fantasy that lovers of the genres will like. The evolution of Quiti into an alien convoy is interesting and engaging while the thrill of escaping the government officials also adds a bit of adventure to an otherwise exploratory novel. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Teaser Tuesday (245)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm/Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers



Hair Power (71% Kindle)
   - Piers Anthony

"But why? I mean, the hairballs -- what do they want from you?"
"That is what we are waiting to find out. There has to be a price on this largess. Whatever it is, we'll gladly pay it." 






Synopsis

Terminal cancer patient, Quiti, walks into an abandoned building planning on taking her life. 
Instead, she encounters a telepathic ball of hair that insists it is an alien seeking to facilitate diplomatic communication on Earth. 
Quiti assumes it is all a hallucination conjured up by her brain tumor. 
Because of this assumption, when she saves the alien’s life and it insists on doing Quiti a favor in return, she only asks for her hair back. She soon discovers, however, that the creature’s gift extends much further than her new locks that can change color with a thought. As her powers grow and her deadly illness goes into remission, Quiti quickly realizes that there are those that would want to use her for her abilities and is forced to leave behind everything that she knew. 
Will this blessing curse her to a life on the run, or does the mysterious hairball have more in store for her?

InHuman Blog Tour - Guest Author: Kama Falzoi Post

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Kama Falzoi Post for the release of her Young Adult sci-fi thriller, InHuman!
Keep reading for a chance to win $25 Amazon Gift Certificate!

Title: InHuman

Author: Kama Falzoi Post

Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Release date: December 13, 2016

Publisher: BookFish Books
Cover Artist: Anita Carroll at Race-Point

About InHuman

Kama Falzoi Post on the Characters of InHuman

InHUMAN started out in a different body. A hastily thrown-together manuscript—50,000 words—written furiously during National November Writing Month, and titled The Dark Eternal.

The characters were there from the beginning: Mira, with her raging red hair and human/alien complex, and Adam, the alien-in-the-hot-body who captures her heart. Originally, the conflict centered around Adam’s desire to either remain in a human body, or go back to his original species. But I found, as I kept revising (for, like, years) that it was necessary to create a nemesis. Someone dark and salty, someone opposite Mira, who served to highlight her faults, threaten Adam, and push the narrative forward.

Enter Decklin.

Decklin was loads of fun to write because I could make her both confident and evil—a dangerous mix. She doesn’t think anything can stand in her way, certainly not a teenage girl. But Mira proves her wrong.

That was fun too, giving Mira the chops to stand up to a powerful enemy. She had to reach down inside herself to find the strength and courage, but it had been there all along. Kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She always had the shoes, she just didn’t know how to use them.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but the concept applies.

Something that has always fascinated me is pondering what defines us as human beings. Are we human because we’re in human bodies? What if you sawed off our legs, our arms, took us apart piece by piece? When do we stop being human? Maybe it comes down to something inside, something intangible. Our soul? If so, where is that located? Can it be displaced?

As you can see, I did way too much thinking.

But those kind of ruminations served as the inspiration for Adam’s character: an alien soul placed in a human body. Both he and Mira think of the body as a vessel at first, and Mira especially writes him off because of that:

I didn’t want to hear about his feelings. The body served only as a machine to him, a vessel.

But as the story progresses, she begins to see he is not much different than her. He has the same emotions, the same drive. Inside that body, he experiences all the human things we experience.

And of course, you know what happens at the end. The other phenomenon humans strive for: the happy ever after. At least, that’s what I lead you to believe…

-Kama Falzoi Post

BUY InHuman Now!

Add InHuman to your Goodreads TBR list

About Kama Falzoi Post

Kama Falzoi Post is a functioning member of society, a part-time introvert, a pinnacle of contradictions, the mother of a hurricane, a step-mother, and an author. She enjoys drinking red wine and then drinking more red wine, listening to music that moves her, and taking things too far.

She developed a love of books and writing at a very early age. Her stories have appeared in a handful of literary magazines including Inkwell and SmokeLong Quarterly, and most recently in the anthology Outliers of Speculative Fiction. She lives in a small town outside a small city with her husband, son, and too many cats.

Here is the link to entering the contest to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card, a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read The Coffee Pot's review of InHuman Here!

InHuman

Mira’s mother sizes up bodies at the morgue like she’s rifling through the sales rack: this one’s too big… this one’s too small… ah, here it is. Just right. The perfect vessel for the one they’ll call Adam.

Since Adam’s survival is the key to drawing out the Conduit—a slippery sort bent on evacuating souls from their human bodies—Mira must help him pass for a typical teenage boy. That means showing him how to talk right, walk right, chew with his mouth open... blend in.
​
Ironic, because blending in is has always been a challenge for Mira, especially with hair the color of a Dorito. But at their small, secluded prep school, blending in is a matter of life and death.
​
Because the Conduit is watching.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Kama Falzoi Post brings a race of aliens to Earth in hopes of trying to save their species in her book, InHuman. The beings need a host and become a parasitic race, accidentally evacuating human souls from bodies and taking their place. They realize their mistake and begin searching for deceased bodies to reinvigorate, but it's too late. The damage is done and revenge from one specific soul is underway. 

Mira is half-human, half-conduit, with no world-saving experience, but she's still tasked with the job. A conduit is part of the alien race who functions as a doorway that souls can travel through. Specifically, souls that have been sent to the Dark Eternal, aka the other side. Mira has been trying to find *The* Conduit for years. The Conduit is the villain of the story, taking souls from the Dark Eternal and giving them bodies that were originally used for the alien species to reside in. This has resulted in many alien souls being trapped in the Dark Eternal, threatening the extinction of the alien species. Mira, since she's half-conduit, has been assigned the job of finding The Conduit in order to bring back all the trapped alien souls. Though Mira has no idea exactly how to do this. It doesn't matter though, because her father is one of the trapped souls, and she'll do anything to get him back. 

Mira is also a teenage girl, which comes with its own set of problems and character traits. She has a bit of trouble making friends and is unsure of herself when it comes to boys. Though she'd give anything to only have those problems. Readers will enjoy learning about this alien race and how exactly their species survives, but they'll also be interested in Mira's life as a half-conduit. I think the teenage aspect of her character creates a fun addition to the story while also adding weight to the search for her father. 

Adam is the newest Initiate from the alien race and his story is a bit sadder. He's been brought to Earth in order to be bait for The Conduit. Mira and her two leaders, Hal and Larry, think that if Mira is with the Initiate then she can catch The Conduit when it comes for Adam. Adam gives the readers a sort of insight when it comes to the aliens invading former deceased bodies. As described in the book, it's like a new foal - a little clumsy and unsure of how to act. I think readers will like Adam's character and offer an understanding of what he's going through. He knows he's bait and it's a difficult position to be in. 

The only real problems I had with the book were the lack of training Mira has when it comes to her capabilities as a half-conduit and her father. Her father is also a conduit, which is why Mira has that ability. However, I'm not sure how The Evil Conduit could force her father out of his body and into the Dark Eternal without him fighting back. It seems like her father could/should have had the power to stop The Evil Conduit from evacuating the alien souls in the first place. There's also a lot of back-stabbing in this book and though there are reasons given, it doesn't seem like loyalty is a well known trait in this cast of characters. 

InHuman is a book that brings aliens to Earth and creates a chaotic mess that could potentially destroy the human race as well as the alien species. I think young adult readers as well as those who enjoy supernatural, alien, or fantasy genres will like this novel. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Mark your Calendars: 

December 13th, Guest Post by Kama Falzoi Post,

 author of InHuman

Teaser Tuesday (121)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers



Prophet Wacko (Kindle (42%)
 - Thomas Leo

Zawt, who by now had taken the time to look over the basic charter objectives stored in the vehicle's memory banks, had the avatar vehicle say, "This vehicle's here to unite the Human race through religious manipulation."