Here's an extract from Marie Harbon's lastest installment in her sci-fi series, Seven Point Two: The Second Chronicle, as well as an interview with the author. Her book is currently on tour and I will be posting a review for it as soon as possible!
Currently, I stood at ground level, with most of the activity going on well above me. Remembering what the machine elf had shown me, I wondered if I could indeed exert more power in this world, abuse the laws of physics or manipulate the extra-dimensional beings that existed here. Only one way to find out.
Let’s put this to the test.
I focused on one of the higher walkways and imagined a huge surge of power coursing through my veins. Instead of allowing my consciousness to draw to a point in the distance like I’d done before, this time I propelled my energy body upwards, feeling like some superhero from a comic. The thrill was immense, like a euphoric rush from a drug but more vivid; not just simply a shift of consciousness but as if my actual body leapt a hundred feet into the air at once.
The buildings rushed past me, their otherworldly steel glinting in the cool glow of the triple suns. I now stood on one of the highest points of the city, surveying the whole of it like an eagle. The interconnectedness of the city and engineering spectacle itself took my extra-dimensional breath away. Despite the urban nature of the panorama, it remained as beautiful as any natural landscape. At this height, the peace and serenity invited me to remain here. The world was at my feet. The novelty and enormity of this sensation overtook me so much, that I focused my energy body onto the next skyscraper and within a moment, I felt myself leaping there, in complete defiance of gravity. Such was the freedom of pure consciousness.
I wonder if anyone can see me.
Dropping to the level of the walkways, I stood on one, trams whizzing past, creating a draught as they passed. People were locked into their own thought processes as before, as if they were unaware of each other. Their somewhat translucent skin barely disguised their internal organs, and their blood which looked like watery milk. Each still had that faint neon outline, as if someone had drawn around them with a luminous pen. The clips on their temples blinked rapidly, the only real sign of sentiency, yet not one of them made any eye contact with another.
They can’t see me.
Unless they choose not to see me.
No one’s told me to get out yet.
That means I can move freely and no one will care.
Let’s put my newfound powers to the test.
The normal laws of physics didn’t seem to have any hold in the domain of consciousness, or when operating in other dimensions. Knowing this, I looked over at a particularly imposing skyscraper and decided to test this theory. Immediately, I ran along the walkway and jumped up, my feet landing on the side of the building, my body parallel with the ground.
What an odd and exhilarating experience!
I’m not going to fall off.
Confident of my ability to abuse gravity, I starting running, straight up the side of the building, faster and faster over the steel-like surface and the toughened windows until I reached the top. Here, you don’t even get out of breath. Within moments, I stood on the roof of the building, feeling like a God.
In the other dimensions, I am a God.
Ecstatic, I leapt from building to building, watching the busy city beneath me as I somersaulted, twisted and jumped from roof to roof. Once I’d reached the top, I sprinted back down the other side, laughing at the idea of my own personal playground. Running down the sides of the buildings, I sensed the smoothness of the steel-like substance under my extra-dimensional feet and once I reached the walkways, I launched myself to the top once more, crouching to rest, surveying my domain.
Not content with jumps and vertical running, I sprinted underneath the walkways, upside down as if gravity couldn’t even begin to protest. I even landed on the top of a tram and rode it, standing firm and unmoved as it sped along, under the bridges formed by other walkways. I flinched as the steel-like walkways passed right through my energy body, like flour filtering through a sieve, but I quickly discovered that I was left unscathed.
What can this world do to me now?
But then something jolted me from my fairground ride.
“You don’t belong here.”
Interview with the author...
Please tell us and our readers a
little bit about yourself.
I’m a UK based author
who writes mainly in the science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal genres,
although I may break that rule from time to time. Apart from writing, my greatest
passions also include fabric and stitching; I create bags, corsets and clothing
in the vintage, retro and alternative style.
Describe your book series in a
sentence to convince us to buy it.
Be prepared
for a journey, an expedition that draws together fringe science, psychic
powers, alternate dimensions, time travel, past lives, folklore, consciousness,
conspiracy and ancient wisdom, in a soap opera for the soul.
Why science fiction?
I like
geeky science, but I also love the grand and epic scope that sci-fi offers.
Speculative fiction really stretches the imagination and whole creative
process, plus you can integrate all kinds of technology, while examining the
moral aspects of it. There are many movies and TV series in this genre that
remain favourites too, such as Star Wars, Contact, Star Trek, Star Gate, and
Fringe.
Any
advice to aspiring writers?
Don’t rush; craft your story with care, patience
and above all, passion. Pass it to a variety of people to read in beta form,
and ideally one or two people you don’t know very well, so you can get a more
unbiased opinion. Take on feedback and appraise your work with honesty. Then
after it’s published, be prepared to work extremely hard promoting it. See it as a journey and enjoy the ride.
Do you ever write in your PJ’s?
Of course! Writing
feels so cosy in a pair of fleecy PJs!
Coffee or tea?
Coffee in
the morning and late afternoon, tea in between or at night.
Where can your readers stalk you?
Subscribe
to Marie Harbon on Facebook
Like The
Seven Point Eight Chronicles on Facebook
Follow me
on Twitter @marieharbon
Join me on
Goodreads
I’ll be
posting articles about UFOs, the supernatural, and ancient wisdom on my blog,
some of which relate to the theory behind Seven Point Eight.
