VERY excited that the audio book version of WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM is now available so I’ll be doing my eight sentences from it today. The narrator, a terrific actor named Michael Riffle, caught the main character perfectly. And brings the rest of the cast to life really well too LOL. (Interviewing him on the blog tomorrow BTW.)
This snippet is from early in the book, as Nick rides the shuttle to the Nebula Dream. One distraught passenger wants OFF, endangering all of them in her attempt to open an escape hatch. Nick steps in to stop her since the husband doesn’t seem to know what to do. First Nick gently disarms her while she tries to stab him. This excerpt comes after that, as the pregnant woman collapses on the deck in tears.
He’d no idea what language her people spoke – he hadn’t heard enough of it to trigger any of his implanted linguistic reflexes. Cradling her, Nick tried a reassuring murmur in Basic. “It’s all right, madame, we’re in no danger – the shuttle flies normally. There’s no need for you to –“
“Fool!” She literally spat at him, twisting her upper body so she could see his face. “If we set foot on that cursed ship, we’ll all die! My baby will die unborn with me – we must not go there.”
The story:
Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.
All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.
But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?
A note: WRECK was loosely inspired by the events of the Titanic sinking and there were a number of people who had premonitions of disaster prior to her sailing.
I love and appreciate your comments and feedback! Go here to find all the other Weekend Writing Warriors and read a variety of terrific excerpts…
WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winner, is available for kindle, as an audio book or a paperback at Amazon.
That is so cool, Veronica. What a wonderful idea for a story. Loved hearing how it’s inspired by the Titanic.
That’s awesome news about your audiobook! Congrats! I like how you handled this snippet and the difference between the two character’s attitude. Nice job!
The writing is great Veronica but I LOVE your attention to the language barrier.
Love the idea of Titanic’s disaster brought forward into space. And Nick seems like a very resourceful type of person–so good to have when all hell breaks loose. Love his character show here.
An audio book, how very cool, congratulations! Love that it has you sharing more from this one. The tension in the last couple lines are brilliant.
Intense, exciting excerpt. You do an excellent job with the finer details here – it really brings the story to the reader. Congrats on the audio!
Oh my! And it started out so tender. LOL. Wonderful snippet!
Love the contrasting characters. Creates drama. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Gripping stuff, and a fantastic story concept!
Fantastic news about the audiobook release.
And the snippet… I love how sweet it started out and the turn of events was fantastic. Can’t wait for more.
She really doesn’t want to get on that ship, does she? I wonder what he’ll do next to try to calm her down. Congratulations on the audiobook 🙂
guess she understood him – nice scene
Audiobook – how cool. Wow! He’s brave messing with a pregnant woman yielding a knife. Really enjoyed this snippet.
Fascinating. Well done! So pleased to have found you. I shall troll you from now on.
This is great. Tense, exciting. Loved it!
very tense excerpt and this sounds like an awesome book. Congrats on the audio version!
Congratulations on the audio release. Great extract too!
Excellent 8. And congrats on the audio version. I also love the Titanic inspiration!
Intense and I hope her unborn baby does not die. Congrats on the audio release. This was an awesome snippet. 🙂
Very tense and exciting.. and congrats on the audio release..
Congratulations on the audio release. I’ve read far enough to know she is having a real premonition. Or does she know something?
True premonition in this case!
Thanks for all the comments and the best wishes on the audio book! I’m going to post on March 4th about some aspects of my journey to have the audio book done. The audio auditions for example….it was a fun process!
Aah, yes, opening an escape hatch mid flight is such an obvious way to escape certain death… 🙂
She sounds seriously unhinged, yet deadly serious with it. I somehow doubt that soothing words will help.
When I was writing the scene, I was thinking she’s just in complete panic-flight mode, like a person with claustrophobia might be if confined to a small space, and as you said, deadly serious even though opening a hatch in flight *will* kill her. And everyone on the shuttle. She just wants OUT. Beyond rational thought.
Poor woman, pregnant and terrified. And having a premonition, judging from the blurb. Your Nick is wonderful to deal with her as he does. Great job!
This is excellent foreshadowing—and I like the idea of the linguistic implant!
I love this story. Great foreshadowing.
Exciting snippet! Tense and well written.
Congratulations on your audio book! That’s interesting about basing this on the premonitions people had about the Titanic; a sense of “impending doom”. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Exciting hardly covers my feeling after reading your snippet. Congratulations on the audio. Hope it leads to big sales.
Someone should tell him you don’t mess with a pregnant woman. They better watch her and make sure she doesn’t get a hold of any weapons. Few instincts are stronger than that of a mother protecting her child, born or unborn. I wonder if anyone will dismiss her fears as hormones.
Congrats on the audiobook release!
Oh yes, Nick is aware of what a sticky situation he’s gotten himself into! He does the best he can for her…
Oh, very cool. I love this twist on the Titanic. And what a great last line. It leaves me wanting more. And it makes me think of all those times I board an airplane. I don’t know why, but I always think the worst will happen on an airplane, lol. But if I saw someone screaming and shouting we needed to get off the plane cuz something bad was gonna happen (i.e., Final Destination), I’d be like screw this and get off ;P
Thanks! I’m with you, if someone else was THAT determined to get off, and scared, I’d think twice too. Unfortunately most of the passengers here fail to heed the warning. Of course I’d have a boring novel if everyone got off the ship before the cruise LOL!
What does she know that we don’t? Eep! Great snippet, Veronica. 🙂
Yay for the audio version! Sounds like a great story 🙂
Congrats on the audio version, Veronica! This snippet and last week’s was enough to send me running to Amazon. I just bought the Kindle version. 🙂
Great snippet. 🙂
Thank you very much! I hope you’ll enjoy the book and not having to read it in 8 sentence snippets LOL…
You’ve really captured her panic here, Veronica! Great snippet.
Lots of emotion in that scene! Great snippet! 🙂
They never listen though. It’s like Cassandra–blessed with foresight but cursed with the inability to convince anyone.
An interesting premise. What a way to twist the Titanic story. Sounds like a great story in the making. The language thing was interesting, and you conveyed her emotion well. Will be reading on!
Audio book? You go girl! Congratulations!
So excited about the audio version! Great job, Veronica, and excellent snippet! I love the visuals here, you’ve got such a talent for imagery 🙂
Congrats on the audio!! Very intense snippet, love it!
Audio book—wonderful!!! This also gives you some feeling for what the Titanic captain must have endured. And the pregnant woman is like many who have been out of control on an airline such as the businessman who slapped the toddler recently…irrational, they will do anything to relieve their own stress.
Congrats on the audio release! I am planning to put together a profile and audition for audiobook jobs soon so I’d love to hear more about your process (read the interview you posted, great job!)
On to the snippet – pregnant woman+hormones+budding motherly instincts = stay the heck out of her way! He will have his hands full dealing with her, brave man to take it on.
Glad you enjoyed the interview! I’m going to write about my experience as the author in search of an audio book narrator next week. I was so fortunate that Michael auditioned because he was perfect!
I love the idea of a sci-fi-style Titanic retelling. Congratulations on the audio book!
Great news about the audio book… and drawing inspiration from the Titanic is just genius. A great premise…
Thank you! My grandfather had a distant relative in Second Class who survived, so I grew up hearing about Titanic but since I love science fiction, well….
Thank you again everyone for all the comments and feedback and good wishes! I love the Weekend Writing Warriors!!!
Great idea. Wonder how Nick will deal with her premonition.
How does she know? You convey her desire to NOT to board the shuttle in a way that ‘this is not going to happen!’ Looking forward to your next snippet.
I pretty much leave it that she’s had some kind of psychic dream, which was what happened to several people re Titanic, including some who sailed anyway and died.
Wow, What a fantastic idea and great 8. I love how take-charge and gentle Nick is, and how foreboding her words are. Congrats on your audio book too, yay!
ohh, poor thing! She’s clearly carrying some demons. This kind of snippet draws you right in. Nice job.
Terrific premise and tension. I’m hanging on for next week! 😉
Great inspiration for the story. Loved this piece. I will have to check out the book on Amazon.