Welcome to the blog tour for Sci-Fi/ Adventure CROSSLINE, by Russ Colchamiro! I have an excerpt, book trailer, a review, and a fantastic giveaway for you all today! Check it out!
CROSSLINE
First Published: March 2013
Genre: Science Fiction/ Fantasy
“A high-flying adventure of a novel, filled with ambitious ideas and a breathtaking conclusion.” — The Leighgendarium
In the SciFi/Fantasy spirit of Firefly, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Stargate, and Escape from New York…
Hotdog pilot Marcus Powell has been selected to test Taurus Enterprises’ Crossline prototype craft and its newly developed warp thrusters, which, if successful, will revolutionize space travel as we know it.
But during his jaunt across the stars, Powell is forced into a parallel universe — including a parallel Earth — where he finds himself at the center of an epic battle he may have been destined for all along.
Meanwhile, back home, reclusive oil tycoon and Taurus CEO Buddy Rheams Jr. — who sent Powell on that very mission — has a mysterious past and a secret agenda, one that could prevent Powell from ever making it back to his wife and little girl.
From author Russ Colchamiro, Crossline is a psychedelic, action-packed romp across time, space, and dimension that asks the question: once you cross the line, can you ever really go back?
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Excerpt
The warp engines were ready for the first of six return blasts it would take to get him back to Earth, when a blip came across the screen. Powell shifted toward the incoming message, but his short-range sensor interrupted him. Something in the Saturn rings. Video amplification revealed that among a cluster of particles was an odd-shaped fragment, with sharper, more reflective edges than he would expect. But he supposed that after debris crashed around over millions if not billions of years, who knew what was really out there? He looked again. Probably nothing of consequence. Just some lagging hallucination from the multiple warps.
As suspected. Just ice particles swirling around the planet. Billions of frozen blue ice particles floating in space that—
Powell focused his monitor on the third ring layer. Studying it more carefully, his sensors revealed that the particle cluster wasn’t in the Saturn ring, but among it. The fragment wasn’t ran- dom, a collection of dust, or some anomalous asteroid fragment.
It was another ship. Looking just like Crossline. And headed his way.
Review: 3 Stars out of 5
Tigger Warning: Contains adult language, mild sexual content, and some coarse humor
In this unpredictable Sci-Fi by Russ Colchamiro, star pilot Marcus Powell is about to make history. He is testing out Taurus Corporation’s new warp thrusters, hopefully allowing him to travel through space at warp speed…Or which may simply blow up, destroying both the multi-billion-dollar technology as well as pulverizing his body. But Powell is a risk taker. Leaving his wife and 5-year-old daughter back on Earth, Powell takes the leap, literally. Leaping through space, disobeying direct orders from Tower Command, Powell finds himself among the rings of Saturn, where he finds another ship just like his. What does this mean? As Powell follows this mystery ship, nothing will ever be the same for him again. Caught up in an unfamiliar war, can Powell do what he must to survive in order to get back to his girls on Earth?
Wormholes, wall cakes, and cosmic shadows? Powell could deal with them all. The same again with muffin zombies, corporate raids, and a distant world on the brink of annihilation. But confronted with an awkward family moment? Not so much (Loc 4432).
Beginning this novel, I was expecting it to go an entirely different way, with the classic Star-Wars-esque intergalactic fighting and aliens and the like. However, Crossline definitely took an unfamiliar turn! Rather than wearing out the already over-done classic space opera plot, this novel decided to dive into a much more philosophical and thought-provoking time-travel story. It seemed that with every chapter, a new mind-blowing idea popped up! There’s time-travel, a sort of telepathy between characters, alternate universes, magic muffins, an idealistic war, and newfangled technology. This novel was chock-full of craziness!
His time on Aretha seemed like an ongoing hallucination, one that morphed and twisted and reconfigured–a waking dream (Loc 1092).
Regarding the writing style of the novel itself, it is extremely detailed and descriptive. In fact, it was almost a bit too descriptive for me, but I tend to like more plot movement rather than description in my books. There was a lot of onomatopoeia and somewhat overdone descriptions of various experiences that each of the characters went through, but this did definitely fully immerse me into the story itself. I felt as if I could not only see what was happening, but also feel and hear all the surroundings. Along this same note, there was a lot of character building, as we were able to glimpse into the pasts of various characters and see previous events that occurred to them, shaping their personality and mentality. One thing that bothered me with the writing style was that there was a LOT of very short, choppy sentence chunks at multiple points in the book. I don’t know if I’m just a picky reader or what, but each time I came across these, it would unceremoniously throw me out of the book. It especially occurred during long segments of dialogue. I also did not particularly enjoy the parts of the book in which Jesse spoke, because for one, it simply slowed down my reading, as I tried to figure out what exactly she was saying. But also, most 5-year-olds I know can speak much better than that, and so it was not very realistic, linguistically speaking.
“You gotta relax, Chang. Like my dad always said–if you don’t got the juice, it’s tough to stay loose.”
“Huh. Whenever I was being a jackass, my dad told me to jam a cork in my cakehole and pay attention.” (Loc 28)
The characters themselves were very quippy, with several one-liners that got a hearty chuckle out of me. I liked that there were multiple POVs throughout the book so that we could more deeply connect with each of the characters, rather than just Powell. I especially enjoyed Buddy’s POV (though I do think it went on a little too long, was a little too detailed) and getting to know this “unique” character. One thing that I did not quite understand about the characters, however, was each of their unnecessary identity crises. IT seems that every single one of the characters were fighting with themselves about who they should be and who they actually were. Additionally, I think this made them have weird interactions with the rest of the characters, and they all tended to get mad at each other for random reasons that I could not discern. To me it was a bit annoying and made the characters less likeable. But they definitely had their redeeming qualities as well!
“Sometimes we just get so attached to a person, a place…even an idea….that we construct our world view around it. It shapes the way we see ourselves, the way we see everyone. And if that…person, place, idea…suddenly goes away–especially if it’s taken–that through-line is shattered.” (Loc 2368)
One particular aspect of this novel that I found fascinating was the bit of Native American folklore interspersed. This becomes more obvious near the end of the book, but it was interesting to learn a bit more about that culture and see how it influenced the characters. It was also interesting with the kind of magic embedded in the story. I am not sure if I enjoyed that aspect or not yet, I am still processing. I think it may have been better just to have had the time travel and alternate universes rather than ALSO including magic muffins and telepathy and a small child being able to control people, but it definitely gave a unique spin to the book!
Overall, this was a good read to stretch my mind out a bit. It was unpredictable, original, and contained a fair bit of crazy within its pages. Definitely an entertaining read, less for those looking for a realistic, emotional read; best for someone who just wants a bit of sci-fi and mind-blowing while on vacation or just before bed!
For your chance to win a print copy of this high-flying adventure in either print or digital, AND a $15 Amazon Gift Card, be sure to click the link below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About the Author
Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking space adventure, Crossline, the zany SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, and is editor of the SF anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, all with Crazy 8 Press.
Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and crazy dog Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, Altered States of the Union, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, They Keep Killing Glenn, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Camelot 13, and Brave New Girls.
He is now working on the first novel in a new series featuring his hardboiled private eye Angela Hardwicke, and the first of three collaborative novella projects.
Russ Colchamiro| Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Blog Tour Schedule
May 27th
Reads & Reels (Excerpt) http://readsandreels.com
She Marie (Excerpt) https://shemarieblogs.com/
Tranquil Dreams (Review) https://klling.wordpress.com/
Didi Oviatt (Excerpt) https://didioviatt.wordpress.com
Tsarina Press (Excerpt) https://www.tsarinapress.com
May 28th
The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Interview) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com
Ity Reads Books (Review) http://www.ityreadsbooks.home.blog
The Book Dragon (Review) thebookdragondotblog.wordpress.com
Breakeven Books (Excerpt) https://breakevenbooks.com
May 29th
The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com
Audio Killed the Bookmark (Excerpt) http://audiokilledthebookmark.wordpress.com
Reading Nook (Excerpt) http://readingnook84.wordpress.com
May 30th
That Nerdy Girl (Review) http://thatonenerdygirlblog.wordpress.com
Triquetra Reviews (Excerpt) http://www.triquetrareviews.blogspot.com
Reviews by Nyx (Excerpt) https://nyxblogs.wordpress.com/
May 31st
Every Book Counts (Review) https://everybookcountsblog.wordpress.com/
Jessica Belmont (Review) http://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com
Dash Fan Book Reviews (Excerpt) https://dashfan81.blogspot.com/
Sophril Reads (Excerpt) http://sophrilreads.wordpress.com
The Consulting Writer (Excerpt) https://theconsultingwriter.wordpress.com
Blog Tour Organized By:
The Book Dragon 
Great review
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Thank you 🙂
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Fantastic review! Thanks for hosting today!
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Thank you! My pleasure!
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