Five years after the Great Language Outage, lang-laws have been repealed, but world affairs have only gotten worse.
Welcome to the May 22nd stop on the blog tour for The Dark Court by Vyvyan Evans with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
In The Babel Apocalypse, book 1 in the Songs of the Sage series, the protagonist, Ebba Black, a professor of linguistics, discussed the biblical origin story of language, the tower of Babel.
The second installment, The Dark Court, continues to develop the themes surrounding the nature and origin of language, exploring similar religious mythology motifs.
Language is, on some accounts, the hallmark of what it means to be human. And human cognition is underpinned by sophisticated symbolic abilities that, enables language, as well as other advanced human behaviours, including religion and art.
The Dark Court explores these themes by examining the mythological significance of the Watchers, the fallen angels of Genesis in the Old Testament. The novel also introduces the protagonist, Lilith King, who was first met, in passing, in book 1, The Babel Apocalypse.
The book begins to set up Lilith’s galaxy-wide search for the origin of language, which holds the power to restore balance to the Elyonim, the universe. In so doing, The Dark Court introduces the ancient language engineers, beings who are travelling backwards through time, and who come to prominence in later books in the series.
About the Book
The Dark Court
Songs of the Sage Book Two
by Vyvyan Evans
Published 7 May 2024
Nephilim Publishing
Genre: Science Fiction
Page Count: 400
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
A genre-blending dystopian, sci-fi mystery-thriller that will make you think about communication in a whole new way.
Five years after the Great Language Outage, lang-laws have been repealed, but world affairs have only gotten worse. The new automation agenda has resulted in a social caste system based on IQ. Manual employment is a thing of the past, and the lowest soc-ed class, the Unskills, are forced into permanent unemployment.
In a world on the brink of civil war, a deadly insomnia pandemic threatens to kill billions. Lilith King, Interpol’s most celebrated detective, is assigned to the case.
Together with a sleep specialist, Dr. Kace Westwood, Lilith must figure out who or what is behind this new threat. Could the pandemic be the result of the upskilling vagus chips being offered to the lowest soc-ed class? Or are language chips being hacked? And what of the viral conspiracy theories by the mysterious Dark Court, sweeping the globe? Lilith must work every possible angle, and quickly: she is running out of time!
While attempting to stop a vast conspiracy on an intergalactic scale, Lilith also faces shocking revelations about her origin, coming to terms with her own destiny.
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Excerpt
But just then, twenty meters in front of me, a small group of Dark Court cultists emerged, out from a side corridor. I grimaced—this only meant trouble. There were four of them, this time with cappa hoods covering their heads, obscuring their faces from sec-cam and LS orb identification by NYPD droids. They were no doubt trying to imitate their beloved, so-called adjudicators, the self-appointed, anonymous leaders of this vile cult of violence and misinformation. The cultists were dressed in black from head to toe, including leather pants and tunics. They even wore black, tactical Kevlar gloves.
The cultists spotted me. “Let’s get her, boys,” said one voice. Then I heard raucous laughter.
They moved toward me, cutting off my route to the UN employee East River entrance. And as they approached, they pulled out neural shock sticks, sheathed in cases worn around their belts. Of course, just my luck. The long, thin devices were illegal, and for good reason. If applied for more than a few seconds, they could result in permanent brain damage or even death. I steeled myself—this was the only way through.
As I neared, the group appeared surprised I was still heading toward them—not the response they expected. I would never run away again, not since that night in the Black Forest, twenty years ago. Sure, I had been through Interpol’s basic combat training, back in the day. For what that was worth. But since the Black Forest, I had taken self-defense training to insane levels, obsessive as always. You could say I had elevated it to the status of a dark art.
About the Author
Dr. Vyvyan Evans is a native of Chester, England. He holds a PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and is a Professor of Linguistics. He has published numerous acclaimed popular science and technical books on language and linguistics. His popular science essays and articles have appeared in numerous venues including ‘The Guardian’, ‘Psychology Today’, ‘New York Post’, ‘New Scientist’, ‘Newsweek’ and ‘The New Republic’. His award-winning writing focuses, in one way or another, on the nature of language and mind, the impact of technology on language, and the future of communication. His science fiction work explores the status of language and digital communication technology as potential weapons of mass destruction.
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Giveaway Alert!
Vyvyan Evans will award a randomly drawn winner paperback copies of both book 1 and book 2 on the series – a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway| May 13 | Kenyan Poet | May 14 | The Avid Reader |
| May 15 | Books+Coffee=Happiness | May 15 | Long and Short Reviews |
| May 16 | Literary Gold | May 17 | Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read |
| May 20 | Hope. Dreams. Life… Love | May 21 | Gina Rae Mitchell |
| May 22 | Westveil Publishing | May 23 | Sorchia’s Universe |
| May 24 | Hollies, Happiness, and Healing | May 24 | Full Moon Dreaming |
| May 27 | Teatime and Books | May 28 | Joanne Guidoccio |
| May 29 | A Wonderful World of Words | May 30 | The Clog Blog |
| May 31 | Readers Roost |
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Fantastic cover
I like the cover and think the book looks interesting.