Beasts in the Garden

Archangel Project #9.5

by C. Gockel

Beasts exclusively through Kickstarter

When John Miller signs up for the rescue mission to the Proxima Centauri outpost, he expects to find his former lover, Hana, the brilliant physicist behind the invention of near light engines, dead.

Instead he and his team find Hana missing and a large part of the outpost destroyed.

John’s team suspects suicide. John knows Hana would never give up so easily.

John and Hana are very different people. Their relationship was a fluke born of proximity and convenience. But when he discovers her Hail Mary attempt to return to Earth with a dangerous, experimental faster-than-light vessel, he has to follow her.

But it isn’t where Hana has gone that is the real surprise. It’s when …

Vessels damaged, fighting for survival, Hana and John struggle to rebuild the basics of civilization from scratch. They’re in a world where unboiled water or an untreated cut can result in death, and four-legged predators lurk in the trees. But the greatest threats to Hana and John are almost human

Genres: Science Fiction

382 pages, ebook

About the author

C. Gockel got her start writing fanfiction, and she is not ashamed! Much. She received emails, messages and reviews from her fans telling her she should 'do this professionally'. She didn't; because she is a coward and life as a digital designer, copywriter and coder is more dependable. But in the end, her husband's nagging wore her down: "You could be the next '50 Shades of Gray' and I could retire!" Unfortunately, the author isn't much for writing smut. She is sad about this; she'd love for her husband to be able to retire and just work for her so she could nag him.

At the moment, Ms. Gockel is working on the next installment of her Archangel Project series.

Ms. Gockel loves to hear from readers. She can be reached by email at: cgockel.publishing at gmail.com

Her Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/CGockelWrites

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hana used her knowledge and materials at hand to save herself when technology failed her. John takes that knowledge, with the help of a friend, and builds a pod so he can recover her body. Little did he expect to land where .. or should I say when… she did. What an adventure as they fought to survive 100000 years before and rebuild for a chance to make it back home. This is a story of survival, losses, and growth mixed with a healthy dose of hope. C. Gockel has once again written a story that leaves the reader feeling like they are there with the characters - laughing and crying with them as they blend future and past and marveling over how much historians may have gotten wrong. This was not my first time reading this story and I found it just as compelling the second time. On to Intelligent Design for the next phase of their adventure… into another foreign place and time.

[einst · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not understand the enthusiasm surrounding this book.

In my view, it feels rather flat, with an excess of loosely connected digressions that disrupt the narrative flow. The author frequently overexplains and describes elements that add little to the plot, which ultimately makes this style unappealing to me. After reading approximately 70% of the book, I decided not to invest any more time in it.

[Kay Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another C. Gockel special

The author has done it again… but this one is unbeatable! Apart from being highly entertaining, this story plucks at the emotions, provides Japanese cultural snippets and general outdoor knowledge. All in the most interesting story ever!

[A.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing adventure! Don't miss it!

Present, past, future... Friendship, devotion, loyalty, love... This is a perfect stand-alone novel that should be enjoyed by any reader of science fiction adventures. And animal lovers are sure to appreciate Haiiro and Squawk!

[Shirley Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time traps.

Hana and John have gotten lost in time. They've found trusted friends who help them. Relationships and adventures which help them grow.
An amazing story. Very well written and explained. Five stars.

[Steve Boyko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it, mostly. The narration flips from Hana to John and back - mostly John - but I found their “voices” to be too similar. Otherwise the story moves along and is relatively believable and interesting.

[scott Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome love it

This book is awesome. Funny I love the characters. Great melding of hard sci-fi and time travel lots of fun in the past. Almost 0 editing errors. One of the best Kindle unlimited books I’ve ever read.

[Tom Brey · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!

An interesting twist on time travel as a plot device. It focuses on the anthropological aspects rather than the science. The book takes a while to unfold but once I got into it I couldn’t put it down.

[Vidar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking

This great time travel story is not just interesting and entertaining, but also thought provoking. Can’t wait for the next book.

[Karen Kersley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was an interesting concept and I liked reading about the Neanderthal people. I'm afraid I didn't understand the science at all so I skimmed a lot of that.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of two people from humanity’s spacefaring future who end up trapped in Earth’s distant past at a time when Neanderthals and homo sapiens both exist. Their interactions with people and their attempts to fix their technology so they can return home are entertaining and keep the story moving quickly. There are themes here regarding how much a person needs to fit into a social structure, how your worth is determined by the environment around you, and what family and parenting mean. These are incorporated well and do not slow the pace of the story. The negatives for me were the framing device which seemed unnecessary (but might make sense later in the series), and some of the misunderstandings between the main characters that seemed somewhat unlikely to me.

This is the first book in a trilogy, the follow-up to a short story (Let There Be Light), and part of the larger Archangel series. It would be nice to read the short story before this but it isn’t necessary. You do not have to have read the earlier books in the Archangel series; this book stands on its own just fine.

[Jan Niblock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given an ARC for an honest review. But I have already pre-ordered the book and will not be cancelling it because I believe in supporting authors.

This story really has well developed characters. The story centers on John and Hana who are so different but seem to have something that keeps them together even with those differences. I enjoyed reading about the people who lived 100,000 years ago. We were taught that they were so primitive that they were a step above an animal. But I never believed that and that was what was so fun about this story. It showed culture, family ties, ability to reason and learn. I am looking forward to seeing where Hana and John end up after leaving the past.

[Misty Meos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic story by C. Gockel. The world building is top notch, as usual.

I loved all of the anthropology scattered throughout the story and the compassion used to show their neanderthal neighbors as different but not lesser.

I enjoyed the way that John and Hana took pains to not overly affect the timeline, even trying to protect their neighbors from their modern diseases.

None of C. Gockel's books are written to exist in a bubble and this one leaves you on a particularly delicious cliffhanger.

My only regret is that I'll have to wait for the next book to arrive before I can know what happens.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

A physicist disappears in a future where cryogenic freezing of humans is a means of intergalactic travel.
An engineer sets out to find her and travels through space.
Both end up in the Stone Age, surrounded by Neanderthals, mammoths and so on. Will they be able to survive until they find a way back, and if so, to the right time?
Another wonderfully word-richly illustrated world created by C. Gockel, and we can only wait with bated breath to see how the story will further unfold.

[Slugpuppy3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEASTS IN THE GARDEN (an Archangel Project tale) started out rather slowly but became more and more interesting right up to an outstanding finish! John and Hana are total opposites whose unique relationship draws you in until you MUST see what happens next. I’m looking forward to Book 2, Intelligent Design.

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable story, interesting characters, believable plot and interactions. I can't say more without spoiling the "when" mentioned in the blurb. (Although I'm sure others will at some point.) If you're intrigued by the blurb, go for it. It's better to start reading it without knowing where they end up.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The future, the past and a different future, all in one story. Parts were a little slow, or even redundant, but as a whole the story was stimulating.

[Adam Collings · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun character-driven sci-fi survival story about a couple who get stranded on Earth 100,000 years in the past.