Dominique Gibson

Title: Rise of the Dark Throne

Author: Ligia N. Cushman

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Publication: Self-Published

Date: November 15th, 2022

Rating: Five stars

Hello! I’m back. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. I meant to do this post some time ago considering I was done reading this book some while ago but as 2024 is coming to a close, I have decided that I need to finish up my reviews for the books I read in 2024. One of those reviews is Rise of the Dark Throne. This story talks about a woman name Lia Soleidae, also known as Sole,  who is marrying the love of her life, Nashir Ashr. Everything is supposed to run smoothly and this was supposed to be the biggest night of her life: To solemnize their bond as husband and wife. However, there is something that creeps in the air…something that cannot be explained or shaken. It causes her father to go out into the sea and disappear surrounded by a light so deep, it casts a memory that they will never forget. It is only until Sole wakes up and finds her husband cold and lifeless that she knows that something is very wrong. Him along with a few other people have been overcome with a mysterious magic called The Darkness. 

Now, as an attempt to find answers on what happened when it came to the Darkness taking over and leaving dead bodies along the way, Sole and her sister Nisa set sail to find answers. Despite the difficulty she obtains when it comes to sailing to a new land, Sole is determined to find out the truth…even if that means not being so distracted by Rivian, a second born son to the King of Sundom. With the turning of events when it comes to one or both of their lives, in addition to finding out their powers while uncovering a huge reveal that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, this is one book to have on your to be read list (otherwise known as your TBR).  

No offense, but this book was an awesome read that represented the characters beautifully without horrible stereotypes that have been surfacing on the internet lately when it comes to representing black characters. This story shows proof that we need more diverse authors in the publishing space that represents more diverse voices. My overall rating: Five stars 

See you soon. 

Dominique Gibson

Title: Sapphire Millie and the Quest for the Unknown Destiny 

Author: Matt Rankin 

Genre: Children’s book 

Publication: Green Hill Publishing 

Date: September 4, 2024 

Rating: Five stars

Hello! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. I have recently bought a children’s book from Matt Rankin, an Australian indie author who has written his first book, Sapphire Millie and the quest for the Unknown Destiny. I didn’t know what to expect when I read this book but I was willing to give this book a try anyway so I bought it. The author did a really good job hooking me in from the first couple of pages as I discovered that this book takes place in the Australian bushes of Gum Tree Gully, where all of the animal friends are eagerly expecting the news of the latest Kangaroo birth who ends up being the main character tin the story.

The entire town of Gum Tree Gully becomes concerned when the baby kangaroo takes a little longer than expected to come out into the world. None is more concerned about this than another kangaroo named Eli, who prays and checks in everyday to see if the mysterious kangaroo will ever be born into the village. It’s only when Eli gets in trouble for what he does to one of his friends that he misses the most important event in Gum Tree Gully: The birth of the new kangaroo known as Sapphire Millie…Sapphire being that she is born with the most beautiful sapphire eyes anyone has ever seen. All of her friends are excited for the birth and for a while, everything is calm in Gum Tree Gully. 

But Millie’s mom knows that there is danger coming along the village. She has a serious discussion about what could possibly happen in Gum Tree Gully and shows Millie a special necklace that matches her beautiful sapphire eyes. The readers find out that this necklace will eventually be used in the later part of the story to send Sapphire Millie and all of her friends on an incredible journey full of danger, suspense, and adventure while Sapphire Millie goes on a quest to find her true destiny. This is a children’s book that talks about the consequences of what happens when humans become careless about wildlife without it sounding preachy by looking at it through the main character and all of her friends.

I gave this book five stars. This book was very entertaining and the author did a great job of bringing a middle grade book to life through the lives of the different animals in the Australian bush. I highly recommend this book for middle grade readers in addition to people like myself  who just want to read a really great children’s book to read in-between reading adult novels. 

If you want to purchase a copy of this wonderful book, please click on the link down below to purchase your copy today. That’s all for this book review. Please check back for more book reviews in the future. I will be posting more book reviews before the year is out as well. 

Sapphire Millie and the Quest for the Unknown Destiny

See you soon.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! I don’t know how to really start this blog post off. Usually, I would be talking about all things related to books: Book publishing, reviews of books, and even have some excerpts of future books that I am currently writing and editing for 2025. I will still do all of these things when it comes to this website, that will not change. As a matter of fact, I do have content that is lined up for this website before we reach the next year including:

Doing a book review for a children’s book I just currently finished by an indie author

Doing a book review for two books I have read but didn’t do a review on quite yet (but I will before the year is out). One is by an indie author and the other is by a traditionally published author.

Giving out more snippets of Courtney’s Redemption, the fourth book in the Truson S.E.T. series which should be coming out in 2025.

Anyways, I felt as if I needed to go on here and start sharing something that I had saw last month which shook me for days. Usually, I would be posting content on my website every month at least to keep you guys updated on what I am doing in the writing world. Well, there is a reason why I haven’t been and after wrestling with this decision for a while, I finally decided to bring what I saw to share on this blog post to just put it out there. I think putting it out would finally give me the peace to move forward when it comes to my writing life once this is over.

The visions I saw:

Before I start with the visions I saw, there is a few things I need to get off of my chest:

1. I am not emotionally connected to politics. I don’t know why I had these two visions in my head during this time because I am so disconnected from politics, it’s crazy.
2. These visions are hard for me to share because it involves someone losing their life. I take no pleasure in seeing people like this. The only reason why I am sharing this is because I am being led to do so.

Now, onto the vision:

I received these two visions on November 6th, 2024:

Introduction: I woke up around 4:10 a.m. I grabbed my phone and saw the electoral votes pop up on my phone. The race was between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. I woke up to Donald Trump winning 277 votes during this time along with a brief article titled ‘Donald Trump thanking Pittsburgh for the final win‘. For some really strange reason, I immediately became sick. My head started hurting and it only got worse on my way to work. There were more symptoms I experienced throughout the day that didn’t easily go away with eating or drinking. My symptoms included stomach pains, pain in both of my legs, and a sore neck. It was then that I had these two visions:

First vision: I saw President Donald Trump walking down some sort of runway leading to the door of the White House. He had a pep in his step. I saw a quick picture of Mickey Mouse bouncing down the runway in his stick figure form (1928) before he became the full mouse he is today. While he was walking, the scene switched to where I saw him fall to his knees (I’m not quite sure what happened to him, I just saw him fall). The next image I saw was him falling to his knees while still trying to make it to the White House. However, the impact from whatever hit him struck him so hard that he went from crawling on his knees to doing an army crawl where he was using his arms and the upper part of his body to keep going to his destination. The last image I saw was him with his hand stretched out to the White House before he collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes.

Second Vision: The people of America was still grieving over the loss of President Donald Trump. I was sitting down, watching TV when a sudden announcement came on. I was still grieving at this point so I didn’t pay too much attention to what was happening on the screen until there was a very familiar face that took the podium to deliver some sort of speech: It was none other than President Barack Obama. The speech mostly consisted of him acknowledging the grief of the American people and some other stuff I didn’t really pay too much attention to. However, one thing I heard in that speech was the words ‘peace and safety‘. It came with some sort of excuse when it came to the American people voting for a new president. Example: Due to the chaos surrounding the last election, we have decided to not go through the voting process for the ‘peace and safety‘ of the American people. This was what he was trying to convince people when it came to the voting process. He ended the speech with the following statement: “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you your new president, Kamala Harris.”

Again, I received these two visions on November 6th, 2024. These two visions shook me but after seeking and talking to someone about these visions, I am okay. I don’t know what is going to happen when it comes to the future of this country (Although I have an idea which I don’t want to share at this time) but I am hoping that this DOES NOT happen in the future and that these are just visions that will NEVER come true. But we shall see.

In the meantime, I will be completely devoting this website back to doing what I love to do most: Writing about my books and my works in progress. I just had to get what I saw off of my chest, that is all.

That’s all for now. See you soon.

Dominique Gibson

Hi! My name is Dominique Gibson. You might have saw me on social media. Or maybe you have not. Either way it goes, it’s okay. For people who are new here, I am a indie-published author of five books, two nonfiction books called The Gibson Newsletter: A Year In Review and three fiction books that are part of a series called the Truson S.E.T. series. There are currently three books in the series that involve a set of characters that each fight their enemies while finding love and discovering themselves throughout the book. The first three books in the series are called: An Orman’s Revenge, An Orman’s Fate, and An Orman’s Allegiance.

The book above is the paperback/hardcover version of the first book in the Truson S.E.T. series, An Orman’s Revenge. Before you scroll away, may I interest you in describing what the book is about through my back copy of the book? Okay, here goes.

Step into the electrifying realm of the Truson S.E.T. Series, where extraordinary superhero hybrids battle formidable criminals while uncovering their true destinies.

Haunted by the tragic loss of his wife, Ford Mayfield, a relentless Orman, a half-human, half-orca hybrid, is driven by an unrelenting desire for vengeance against her murderer. Fueled by grief and rage, Ford must decide what he is willing to sacrifice for love and justice. Will he find redemption or be consumed by his thirst for revenge?

His path intertwines with Mandy Stevenson, a woman grappling with amnesia and a mysterious connection to his past. As Ford and Mandy’s attraction deepens, they find themselves ensnared in a web of dangerous secrets, navigating a world fraught with action, betrayal and unexpected romance. Love and heroism collide in a gripping tale of revenge, identity, and self-discovery. Will they uncover the truth before it’s too late. Can love heal even the deepest wounds?

Join Ford and Mandy on this heart-pounding adventure that explores the boundaries of love and vengeance.

Did I grab your attention yet? Are you ready to learn more? If you want to start diving into the sci-fi fantasy romance about superheroes, romance, and escalating tension with every chapter of the page, then sign up to get your FREE copy of An Orman’s Revenge today. Sign up below.

Hi! Dominique Gibson is back with another post. Back in August of this year, I had sent out a newsletter to all of my subscribers releasing some of my earlier work I was doing with the fourth book in the Truson S.E.T. series, Courtney’s Redemption. Since the final draft of the book will be heavily changed once my editor makes the necessary changes it needs to make for my manuscript to become better than it is now, I have decided to release small snippets of my earlier drafts to people who are just curious on how my writing process works or book readers who just might be interested in what the book is about. Either way, I have decided to post it here for a short while before it goes under the ‘short story’ tab (The tab will be changed to something else when this happens).

BUT…Before I move forward and give you the snippet I sent out for Courtney’s Redemption, I would like to take the opportunity to make an announcement on the update of Courtney’s Redemption.

After months of doing a lot of self-editing the fourth book in this series, I have now decided to hire an editor to look over my manuscript to help make sure that my manuscript shines before I hit the publish button. The editing service is called Desert Ink Editorial and they offer different services for a cheaper rate (a flat rate I believe). For example, Courtney’s Redemption is around 70,000 words and she gave me a flat rate of seven hundred dollars for the entire book and even agreed to do payment installments for the developmental editing process (which is the most expensive part of the process). If you are interested in finding out more about their services, you can check it out here.

Now, onto the deleted/revised scene of the first chapter of Courtney’s Redemption. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Bodyguard 

*Note: Courtney Madison (the main character in the book) is sitting down with her grandfather. Her grandfather announces that she will need a bodyguard to ‘watch’ her while he goes on an investigation for the Truson Super Elite Team. In this scene, she is reflecting on her life as a hybrid (Half-human, half-animal). 

***

Courtney understood she was a part of a secret society of superhero hybrids who protected the Earth against criminals both on land and underwater. If their secret got out, humans would destroy them. It was something that was embedded in her since she turned into a member of the Truson Super Elite Team at the age of six. 

Sure, there were times where she had to defend herself against criminals because of the mistakes and assumptions they made when it came to her purple and magenta hair and light almond shaped eyes. It didn’t help that she had a successful reputation as a microbiologist back in Colorado before her grandfather moved her to Chicago after her father died from a brutal attack against the great white sharks in the ocean. But it was during those times she was able to fight back and win thanks to her multiple egos and powers. 

Still, her grandfather was blind to her abilities and decided that once again, she needed protection against something she would rather do on her own. He decided to hire a bodyguard to look after her while he stole some of her greatest ideas and experiments with him. 

“Really?” Courtney raised a brow while she shuffled her feet. The fact that she didn’t have a say so on who her grandfather hired to protect her annoyed her. Though she would never admit it directly to her grandfather, his choices were a little off sometimes when it came to protecting the Truson name. There were people that were hired in the past that almost destroyed the entire society all because the employees couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

***

That’s all for now. See you soon.

Dominique Gibson