The Romance Author Hotspot is running   a fun blog hop/giveaway from Halloween through November 7th, so check out their website for the details and links! Leave me a comment below about your favorite Halloween costume (or favorite October/November memory) and be entered to win a $25.00 Amazon gift card from me!

This is my grandson and his 2012 pumpkins (he wanted to be a ghost, hence the blurry photo LOL!). The pumpkins are Marlin and Nemo BTW.

And here’s my grandson in this year’s costume to the right:

A vintage one of me to the left – the year I was 12 and switched from trick or treating to handing out candy. I was a gypsy…..

And below is me at some indeterminate age!

(The novel is still out on resubmission, might hear something by mid November – this is not a pursuit for the impatient LOL.)

Set in the same universe as my WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. 

Finding a massive roadblock ahead of them, they’ve taken shelter in a rock formation, and are fighting a gallant last stand. Andi is under  a psychic attack from an enemy alien and Tom is attempting to teach her a mental defense technique. Andi isn’t getting it but he won’t let her give up…small word of explanation here – early in the novel, Andi encountered a herd of near-mythological creatures of Zulaire, gazelle-like, three horned animals known as urabu…

Leaning against the rock wall, trying to get com­fortable, Andi didn’t want any distraction, however small, as she figured out her mental defense. She’d already found one chink in the Betang’s armor – her genetic ability to see right through its illusions – so perhaps Tom was right and she could fight off its other powers as well.

Something on a nearby slab of the black rock caught her eye. Brushing the patina of dust away, she uncovered a small painting, faded, aged with the passage of centuries, but the figure seemed clear enough – urabu.

No one was going to think an urabu buck to death. He’d go down fighting and inflict grievous harm on the opponent – even a Betang would be hard put to get past the urabu unarmed.

So will the urabu come to assist Andi in this mental battle? The insurgents are about to renew their physical assault on the defenses Tom and his few remaining soldiers have put up….but we’re out of sentences for this week!

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….

Please go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts.

(The novel is still out on resubmission, might hear something by the end of October.)

Set in the same universe as my WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. 

Finding a massive roadblock ahead of them, they’ve taken shelter in a rock formation, and are fighting a gallant last stand. Tom agreed to Andi’s demand take part in the fight and for now they’ve beaten the enemy back. (Skipped ahead a bit from where we left off last week – you guys can only take so much tension, right?) The alien enemy has arrived on the scene, however, and is applying its unique mental powers to kill Andi. Tom wants Andi to attempt her own mental defense.

Obediently she shut her eyes, ignoring increasing pressure in her chest and flashes of pain in her head from the Betang’s mind scan. What says protection to me?  A wall, as he’d suggested – no, walls crumble or fall down. Fire? Shivering, Andi remembered what it had been like, caught in the burning Tonkiln mansion. Definitely not fire.

Stay tuned next week…will she figure out a defense before the Betang succeeds in killing her? (Well, there IS an HEA LOL) What would you visualize to defend yourself?

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….

Please go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts.

The novel is still out on resubmission, might hear something by the end of October.

Tom and Andi and their companions have a few more twists and turns to navigate before the HEA….

Set in the same universe as my WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. 

Finding a massive roadblock ahead of them, they’ve taken shelter in a rock formation, and are preparing for a last stand. Tom has agreed to Andi’s demand take part in the fight:

Crouching behind the rear flank of the car, Andi found a position where she had a clear line of sight without being too exposed.

Strange how the enemy is so silent – why aren’t they yelling demands?  Sweat trickled down her neck and her legs were cramping already. Inaction was so much more torturous to endure than action. She wanted to stand up and run towards the rebel trucks, just to break the terrible tension, end the waiting.

“Remember, make each shot count,” Tom said in a tense whisper.

Stay tuned next week – Andi’s most dangerous enemy has yet to arrive on the scene!

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….

Please go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts.

Blogging today over at Paranormal Romantics (where you can find me on the 13th of every month), about Ancient Egypt, birthdays and Renenutet the Snake Goddess, plus a small snippet from my WIP DANCER OF THE NILE, a paranormal romance set in Ancient Egypt!

Here’s what my cat Keanu thinks of all this – sometimes even a cat needs a lovey LOL!

UPDATE Oct 10th: Patricia P was the randomly selected winner of the gift card giveaway – thanks to everyone for the terrific comments!!!

Yesterday was my birthday – had cake and fun times – so I thought today was the perfect day for this post – Twelve Things I’ve Stopped Waiting For:

1. That one last upward growth spurt my Mother promised me – been waiting for that since I was twelve. Yup, still 5’2 ½”…I think that’s the final number, Mom.

2. Winning the Publishers’ Clearinghouse contest…never gonna hear the doorbell ring and be greeted by a check bigger than the door.

3. Developing a green thumb (for anything other than roses and iris, which curiously I can grow) – I can even kill cacti!

4. Being informed I’m actually a princess of some ruling house in Europe and Next In Line for the Throne. Apparently not.

5. Or, being informed I’m actually a princess of some alien civilization and…well, you can probably fill in the blanks here.

6. Walking past a TV or movie film site at just the right moment and being exactly what they need  to play the role that the famous actress failed to show up for that day. (Is there an Oscar in my future LOL?)

7. Somewhat related – “meeting cute” with that People’s Sexiest Man (any year, I’m not too picky on this one!), who falls madly, immediately (and permanently) in love and sweeps me away.

8. Discovering time travel and going back to see dinosaurs from a safe distance. (IS there a safe distance when it comes to dino watching?)

9. Having Tim Gunn admonish me to Make It Work while he restyles my wardrobe. (What could he do with a closet full of Ross Dress for Less and Maxxonista dresses???)

10. Being the first woman on Mars…

11. Waltzing with the Duke of ______ and becoming the next Duchess, wowing them at Almack’s on a regular basis…(this one kinda depends on that time travel invention again)

12. Being kidnapped by a sexy Alpha Shifter because I’m his immortal Mate…

I could go on, but this is probably a good list. I have checked off some items – children, a grandson, becoming a published author (thank you Carina Press, for your faith in me!), career at the day job, good friends, excellent memories (I don’t bother to hang onto the bad memories too much)….

I do see a kind of theme in the above list though – most of them lend themselves to becoming plots or subplots in a romance, so it’s lucky I’m an author. If you can’t live it yourself (ME? I’m the next Queen of Intergalactic Space?), you can always write about it….except for the height thing, but hey, that’s why the high heel was invented, right?

What have you stopped waiting for? I’ll give a $25 Amazon gift card to one randomly selected commenter in honor of my birthday!

The novel is still out on resubmission, might hear something by the end of October.

Tom and Andi and their companions have a few more twists and turns to navigate before the HEA….

Set in the same universe as my WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. 

Finding a massive roadblock ahead of them, they’ve taken shelter in a rock formation, and are preparing for a last stand.

 “Take charge here for a few minutes, ” Tom said to the sergeant. “I’ve got to talk to Andi.”

Andi pulled her hand from Tom’s. “I can fight –  I want to be here on the line with you, not hiding in a rock crevice.”

She expected him to argue, had her own counterarguments ready.

He stood staring at her for a long minute, hands on his hips, saying nothing, face drawn.

Stay tuned next week!

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….

Please go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts.