Lukes' Fluke

Alexis Spanarkel is living the life of a career woman. She has a well-paying job; she has girlfriends to go clubbing with; and she has a steady boyfriend. Then the FBI pays her a visit and her balanced world becomes a topsy-turvy one in which her dream sleuthing skills will be tested to the max. Her seemingly impossible mission is to dream herself into the prior life of the recently murdered egomaniac, J.R. Lukes, and extract the stopcode and location of a nuclear device. His doomsday clock begins a 96-hour countdown to a nuclear explosion that will destroy mankind – and the Earth. And, at the request of local detectives, solve his murder. She proclaims that she’s not Superwoman. Can she succeed in her undertaking? In dreamstate, Alexis must play Lukes’ game, an interacting video game called MindBlow, which he designed and became a billionaire. Alexis must defeat a myriad of beasts, including two-headed sand serpents, sand dogs and sky vultures; and an android protector, her clone named Alexis Nine. On her way to the “Our Town” tier of the game, she encounters the khans, Genghis and Kublai, plus a pygmy who says he is God Almighty and that Lukes is a pretender to his throne in Heaven. To save the world, all Alexis must do is to rely on her faith in God and to outwit Lukes.

Elbert Marshall's fourth novel is a sequel to "Emily Lied." He has written two previous novels, "Nomad" and "Who Slew Bonnie Blue?"; and co-authored "Plotz" with Sandra Z. Bruney under the pseudonym, Marshall Bruney. He is a former newspaper sports writer, news editor and editor; and was executive director of the Anson County (N.C.) Chamber of Commerce for 10 years. Also, he and Bruney operated Marshall Bruney Media Consultants, a website development company. He and his wife, Carla, have three sons, two grandsons and a granddaughter; and reside in Pound, Va.