We have editted versions of all three novels, and rave reviews so far, but we still want to improve, before releasing this to the general public.
"Crosswalkers", the first novel, is in beta format and we are looking for early readers to fact check and evaluate the story. This is necessary due to the controversial content.
You may request a physical copy of the book, a downloadble e-formatted book for your kindle, or an audiobook in Mp3 format. There is no charge for anything. We will even take care of postage for the physical copies. When you are finished reading we will ask you to fill out a survey and offer any suggestions you may have to help us improve the story. That's it. You will be rewarded by having your name listed in the first printed version of the book in the end credits unless you prefer to remain annonymous.
THE STORY
Defense Department researchers are disappearing.
Hypatia Hasheem, a Muslim woman recruited by the FBI, uncovers a secret Homeland Security program that is far more dangerous than global terrorism.
Agent Hasheem is a woman in a culture of men and a foreigner in her own country. She finds she can trust no one. With the help of neuroscientist, Braeden Thomas, and her partner, Richard Torrence, she must face the results of neuroscience research gone horribly wrong.
The link above will take you to Lauren Turner's email (co-author). Just let him know what format you'd like: Kindle, mp3 or hard copy. Send a snail mail address if you request the physical version.
This offer is limited to 100 people and will end shortly.
SPECIAL NEEDS
Our story examines the two sides of religion: the healthy positive side and the dangerous extremist side. The story is neutral, showing no favoritism to any one side. Hasheem regularly clashes with her very male, very Roman Catholic and very white partner, Richard Torrance, and in the process they discover it is not easy to prove either culture or gender is superior. Haseem is liberal, Torrance is concervative, they reflect current divisions in the USA. We have done extensive research on Islam, Catholicism, Neuroscience and the FBI, but we don't claim to be experts. If anyone has expertise in any of these fields we could use your thoughts. We believe there are good and bad people in virtually all large groups, so if you expect your own group to be portrayed as flawless you may be disappointed, but you may expect respectful portrayals of a wide variety of different mindsets.
We particularly need help making Agent Hasheem believable. In the story, Hasheem's maternal grandparents come from Pakistan (Punjabi) and her father came to the USA on a student Visa just before the Iranian Revolution. She speaks three languages fluently and two passably (which is why the FBI recruited her). She grew up in Brooklyn. She is progressive, but she's also a sincere Muslim. She is taking graduate courses at Columbia with a special interest in comparing the literature of England and the Persian Empire from the 13th century. She doesn't like to admit it, but she also reads Fantasy and writes in that genre for her own amusement. So if you are a Punjabi/Persian woman working for the FBI with a graduate degree in Comparative Literature, if you grew up in Brooklyn and feel comfortable identifying both as an American and a Muslim...we'd LOVE to hear from you. Recognizing that we probably won't find this in one person, if you have ANY of these things in your background we'd like to hear from you.
If we can find a professional neuroscientist or an FBI agent to fact check our research, we'll also be very pleased. But anyone who enjoys reading a good thriller will be helpful. We hope to reach a wide audience with our story and we'd like to guage how it flies with different demographics.
Don't mistake this book as politically correct. We don't dodge controvery and this trilogy will upset many. The action and the threats are very intense. They are softened with humor in a few places, but they may be too intense for some. There is plenty in this book to make people from any background think deeply.
