A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth by Gerhard Gehrke Excerpt, Interview & Giveaway

A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth

by Gerhard Gehrke

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GENRE: Science Fiction

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BLURB:

What would you do if you found a dead alien on a lonely highway?

Was it an accident, sabotage, or murder? And why is everyone blaming Jeff?

The extraterrestrials aren’t waiting for answers. They want revenge. And Jeff isn’t ready for company.

His only hope is an outcast mechanic from another world and a woman who might do anything to get off planet, including selling out her own kind. Jeff has to get to the bottom of why there are so many alien bodies piling up and who is really responsible.

A science fiction adventure novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth tells the story of a reclusive ex-computer programmer who is the unwitting central figure of a plot to keep humanity from ever making first contact.

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Excerpt One:

First contact with the humans wasn’t going as planned, as was obvious by the rank smells that choked the air of the alien visitorsʹ craft. But no one called them aliens where they came from.

Seven little Greys, short bipeds with large heads and big eyes and delicate limbs, sat in the flight seats of their ship’s crew compartments and listened as the Mission Commander lectured them from the Command Module. The harangue lingered in the air, not as words or even sounds but as a smell, a ripe one replete with pheromones and scent packets that the Greys used to speak with one another. A new string of curses from the Commander’s glands smelled of licorice. The Mission Commander composed itself. It wiped sticky sweat from its hairless frontal lobe.

The lights and displays in front of the seven crewmembers blinked and flashed. No one would so much as touch a button until the Commander was finished addressing the crew.

“I’ll hear no more of it,” the Commander said. “We’re on the human world. We go forward. Probability calculations for success show at 100%. The computer will be trusted.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Gerhard Gehrke studied film at San Francisco State University. He wrote and produced several shows for community television. His Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror short stories have appeared in several publications, including an Editor’s Choice-winning short story at AnotheRealm.com. A Beginner’s Guide to Invading Earth is his first novel.

You can connect with him at Gerhardgehrke.com.

Interview:

Where are you from?

I was born in San Francisco, and my family moved between there, Germany, back to S.F., and finally wound up in the north Bay Area. I'm still behind in my schooling from missing parts of kindergarten and first grade.

Tell us your latest news?

I've finally mastered carnitas. You need to use the fattiest, bone-in pork shoulder and don't bother with the smaller cuts without the bone. Never use a crock-pot's high temp but rather cook for a longer time on low. Also, my novel A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth was just released this past October and is published by Booktrope.

When and why did you begin writing?

I was weened on a heavy diet of comic books and cheesy science fiction and monster movies. As reading books came into the picture I started writing my own stories in a notebook for no one else to read but me. This blossomed during grade school into making Pac-Man comic books, which included a heavy dose of vampires and Shogun Warriors to please my fellow collaborators. Getting involved in local community television introduced me to actually finding an audience for things put down on paper, even though most of what we worked on was non-narrative in structure. Writing fiction evolved from all of this.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I struggle with the title. It's like when someone calls me “Sir” or “Mr. Gehrke.” I look for my dad and get confused. But for the past two years I've been able to make a good effort in writing regularly and at a level where I don't feel embarrassed by knowing someone might actually read what I have written and maybe pay a couple of bucks for it.

What inspired you to write your first book?

A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth began in my work truck's notebook with the line “No one likes them very much.” This was to be the conclusion reached by aliens intent on first contact who reached the USA and decided to try other parts of the planet after some unfortunate experiences. This notion evolved into the aliens wanting nothing to do with the entire planet, and them hanging a virtual “Do Not Disturb Occupants” sign on our doorknob. As I fleshed this out over a few months I decided a more focused story that centered on one man's experience as a scapegoat for an alien conspiracy just felt better. By then I had a rough idea of where I wanted the project to go.

What would you like my readers to know?

Cherish the time you have to read. Teach your children to love books. And don't forget to visit your local library!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gerhardgehrke

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gerhardgehrkeauthor   

Blog: www.capriciousnarrator.wordpress.com/   

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+beginner%27s+guide+to+invading+earth+

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-beginners-guide-to-invading-earth-gerhard-gehrke/1122581957

Also available on iBooks

Link to YouTube Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwExDzGD6Js

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

Gerhard Gehrke will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway