Apr 12 2014

A Small Malfunction WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM SFR Brigade Presents

(The link is here to find this week’s excerpts from novels or WIP written by other Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members. A fun way to sample new books!)

Today’s selection is from WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, my SFR Galaxy and Laurel Wreath Award winning novel, loosely based on the Titanic, but set in the far future, on a luxury spaceliner. April 14th marks the 102nd anniversary of Titanic’s tragic encounter with the ice berg, leading to the sinking.

This excerpt is from the moment of the crash, on the second night. We’re in the POV of Nick Jameson, the main character, a passenger aboard the ship:

For the second straight night, Nick was awakened by a ship malfunction. This time he was hurled abruptly out of bed, landing halfway across the cabin, instinctively curling to break his fall even as he transitioned from sleep to full wakefulness in midair. The deck pitched violently underneath him, and Nick was thrown the other direction, fetching up against the bed platform shoulder first with bruising force.

Rubbing his shoulder, Nick glared around the cabin. “Ship, what the hell is going on?”

No answer.

The Nebula Dream pitched to starboard, but not as drastically, and then slowly returned to near vertical. Getting cautiously to his feet, Nick grabbed for his scattered clothes, pulling them on as fast as possible.

“Ship, I want status.” Nick fastened his blue shirt as the deck wobbled underfoot again. The engines are down again, for one thing. Determined to wrest some information from someone, he made his way to the interface panel.

Just as he got there, clinging to the molded desk as the ship shuddered again, the image of Captain Bonlors appeared. Flickering once, the holo stabilized. Amazingly, the captain continued to project unshakable calm. If I hadn’t met the man, I’d be wondering if he was nothing but a well-designed hologram. Reassuring to the passengers or not, no one should be this serene while in charge of a ship pitching and rolling in space like the Nebula Dream.

“Again, I must apologize to you, my passengers,” the image was saying. “We have experienced a small malfunction –”

“Not from where I’m standing, pal,” Nick said grimly. “Small is not the word for it.”

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?

Available from Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks iTunes Google Play Kobo

Audiobook, narrated by Actor Michael Riffle – Available Now at Amazon and iTunes

Apr 10 2014

Steamy SciFi Encounter at USA Today HEA

Over at the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, I’m interviewing science fiction romance author Eve Langlais, who specializes in hot and spicy…she’s a NYT and USA Today Best Selling author, whose books are consistently in the top of the Amazon science fiction romance best seller lists. I also have a few other recommendations to share, from steamy to not-as-much.

Quite a few SFR novels have cyborgs (short for “cybernetic organism”) – male and female – as the main characters/love interests. In the old days when I thought of a cyborg, my mind went straight to the Terminator films and if there was romance to be had, I was more interested in Kyle Reese, soldier from the future, than I was attracted to Mr. Schwarzenegger. Fortunately many SFR authors have a more active imagination than I do on this topic, and cyborgs have become quite the romantic heroes. In most cases they have a lot more dialog than the 58 words uttered by the Terminator in the first movie! Just looking at the cover of Eve’s latest novel and comparing that image to the Terminator, you get the feeling Seth would be MUCH better as a romantic partner.

Edgar Allen Poe generally gets the credit for being the first to mention a man with prostheses, back in 1843. Then there was the Six Million Dollar Man TV series in the 1970’s, with a lot of good science fiction stories being written between Mr. Poe and Lee Majors’s time. And many more in the past forty years since then!

Nowadays medicine can do amazing things with prostheses to restore a lost function, such as an arm or leg, or to provide a missing ability, the way cochlear implants can allow people to hear. I have a feeling we may not be all that far away from the capabilities that SF writers give to their cyborgs…but come on over to USA Today HEA and have the SciFi Encounter!

(And before we hop over there, here’s Kyle Reese as well as his ‘brother’ Derek Reese, from “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’ TV show, which I enjoyed.)

Apr 6 2014

Will You? MAGIC OF THE NILE Weekend Writing Warriors

A fun way to sample new books and find new writers! Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…
So we’ve moved on to the newly Released MAGIC OF THE NILE, which is the sequel to the book I had been sharing excerpts from. Last week we had the first eight sentences. Just so you know, she refused old Hotepre the Crocodile Keeper’s well intentioned suggestion that she attend the festival and he gave up, leaving to enjoy the festivities. I’m going to jump ahead for now, past her first moments of conversation with the extremely handsome and dashing Captain Sahure from Thebes, enjoyable as they were LOL, to the point where he issues an unexpected invitation. Sahure doesn’t realize she’s the high priestess he came to talk to, since she’s not wearing her ceremonial garb, but a more simple dress. (I may have played with the punctuation to make it eight sentences. I think!):

“I noticed the town was preparing for a festival of some kind,” he said, “You don’t attend?”

“It’s in honor of Horus, not Sobek.” An easy answer, which should deflect further questions. Sometimes she wished her defenses weren’t so well honed, so automatic. So imprisoning. Putting her hand on the gate, she pushed the painted gilt panel ajar.

“Well then, I must certainly put in an appearance, since Horus is my patron god.” He peered through the open gate at the deserted temple compound and said, “Will you come with me?”

Ah, that moment of temptation!

As always, I love your comments and feedback. Although this is a published work, the input helps for the future novels…

Here’s the story blurb:

The standalone sequel to Priestess of the Nile…picks up about fifteen years later and tells the tale of Tyema, who was the younger sister in Priestess of the Nile…

After a childhood spent scorned and ignored by her family because of her crippled foot, Tyema was magically healed then installed as the High Priestess of his temple by Sobek the Crocodile God. But Tyema is still haunted by her memories, scarred by the abuse she endured. Despite Sobek’s protection, as an adult she’s become a near recluse inside the temple grounds…

Until Captain Sahure arrives in her remote town, sent from Thebes on an urgent mission for Pharaoh, requiring High Priestess Tyema’s help. From that moment on, her quiet, safe life is upended in ways she never could have expected.

But after a whirlwind romance with Sahure, the two part as Pharaoh orders him to undertake another assignment on Egypt’s dangerous frontier, far from Tyema’s remote town.

Heart-broken, Tyema is ready to return to her life of loneliness, official duties and, now, regret. But the Crocodile God has other plans for his priestess: she must uncover the sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh’s life with black magic. Soon enough, Tyema finds herself thrown into the chaos of Pharoah’s court, neck deep in intrigue and danger. Just when she thinks she can’t take the pressures of a very public court life and her secret investigation for the Crocodile God any longer, Sahure re-enters the scene.

But is her former love there to help or to hinder? Can they resolve their differences and work together to find the dark sorcerer who threatens Pharaoh and Egypt? Will the love between a proud warrior and a shy priestess lead them to a future together?

Available at Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks iTunes Google Play Books

Apr 5 2014

Why Are the Engines Off? WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM SFR Brigade Presents

(The link is here to find this week’s excerpts from novels or WIP written by other Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members. A fun way to sample new books!)

Today’s selection is from WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, my SFR Galaxy Award winning novel, loosely based on the Titanic, but set in the far future, on a luxury spaceliner. I’m switching off to excerpts from this book for a while, because April 14th marks the 102nd anniversary of Titanic’s tragic encounter with the ice berg, leading to the sinking.

This excerpt is from early in the cruise, the first time the Nebula Dream experiences some difficulties. We’re in the POV of Nick Jameson, the main character, a passenger aboard the ship:

Moving seamlessly from the depths of a dream into alert awareness, he came awake in the middle of the night. He lay in the center of the bed for a second, trying to assess what had changed in the environment, triggering his reflexes.

“The engines are off,” Nick realized, sitting up and throwing off the covers. He raised his voice to a conversational tone. “Ship, what happened to the engines?”

No response.

“Ship, I want to know what’s going on.” Nick strode to the direct interface console in the bulkhead, keying in a quick inquiry.

“There is nothing to be concerned about, Passenger Jameson. We apologize for disturbing your sleep. Please resume your slumbers now, with no further care.” The AI’s voice was smooth, glib as always. “Do you require a sleep inject, Passenger Jameson?”

“No, I do not.” Nick allowed his considerable annoyance to creep into his tone. “Why are the engines off?”

“Merely some required maintenance, sir.”

“Yeah, right. And I’m a Bengaz silk trader.” Nick glared at the interface. “No one does engine maintenance in the middle of the shipping lanes.”

Silence from the AI.

Available from Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks iTunes Google Play Kobo

Audiobook, narrated by Actor Michael Riffle – Available Now at Amazon and iTunes

Apr 4 2014

Veronica Answers More Last Thing Questions

(Why yes, I am faffing around before working on the WIP, how did you know?)

(Random photo from my archives, randomly selected because I love sequins and bling and it’s colorful…)

It’s been a while since I did a magazine quiz and I love the “One Last Thing” quizzes in People magazine, so here goes with a few more:

Last sport I played: Volleyball at a party given by one of my co-workers. This was a few years ago, not the world’s most athletic person here. But as Readers of this blog may recall, I had a killer year at volleyball in the ninth grade, my team winning a school championship and everything so…let’s just say I was a total ringer at this work-related party and my co-workers were blown away by the mad volleyball skillz I dredged up. Pick me last and see what happens, mwahahahaha!

Last thing I misplaced: Hmm, give me a moment while I try to remember…never my keys. I ALWAYS keep them in the same, sacred spot precisely so this will not happen to me. At work I wear the key to my office on my badge lanyard so I don’t lock myself out, which would cause much amusement to my co-workers because I am the Keeper of the Keys to everything. So I can’t lose one. I’m afraid the last thing I ransacked the house searching for has escaped my memory so…moving on LOL.

Last time I cringed: April Fools Day actually, when one of my co-workers (hmmm, is this actually the Co-Worker Blog today???) played a particularly dumb and not-well-thought-out joke on the entire organization. Repercussions to come, I’m sure and a lot of “what was he thinking?” type conversation. Can’t say any more on that!

Last time I danced: I’m assuming this question isn’t asking about the time I did some sashaying and hip swinging in the aisle at the store because the muzak happened to be playing something I like…have you ever seen that commercial where the lady in yellow goes full out Broadway chorus girl in the frozen food aisle? Yeah, that wasn’t me. Actually, I danced at my younger daughter’s birthday party last year, which was held in a swing dancing venue and it was my first ever dance with my grandson, who was then eleven, so it was a very special moment. Still waiting for the waltzing Duke…

Last Celeb Crush: Charlie Hunnam in “Pacific Rim”…or maybe Idris Elba in anything….

Last Adventure: I was standing in the Forbidden Valley next to Pharaoh and Sobek the Crocodile God, fighting an evil sorceror – oh wait, no that wasn’t me, it was the heroine of my last book…..ummm, I don’t do adventures much, not on purpose. They sort of find me, not the other way around. Probably the last big earthquake I was in, because you never know if this will be The Big One and All The Things are going to fall down on your head.

Last Diva Demand: to be moved to a different table at our favorite restaurant because I can’t sit and look at venetian blinds – the stripe effect gives me vertigo and then a migraine. I don’t think the server believed me!

And on that note, I really do need to get back to the WIP. Happy Friday!

Apr 2 2014

Blogging at USA Today HEA About Anxiety, Ancient Egypt and Me

April is National Anxiety Month (and probably some other “National Months” too, so many topics need attention)…so I’ve written a special column over at USA Today Happily Ever After blog on this subject.

Now I’m strictly a layperson, but as I understand it, almost everyone suffers stress and anxiety from time to time in our modern world. There are plenty of things to stress a person in the normal day – commuting to work, the big meeting with the boss or client, the final exam, making a speech etc. Anxiety becomes a problem when it interferes with a person’s everyday life.

In my house, we call it “Mama’s feeling tense”, which can be quite an understatement at times. But I’m happy to say it isn’t all the time, every day either! Everyone has their own health challenges – I have migraines, asthma and oh, anxiety attacks. None of the three things is 24 hours of the day, seven days a week, thank goodness, and there’s stuff I can do to alleviate each one when it comes on. Now I’m not trying to make light of the topic, not in the least. After a near fatal car crash on the way to work one morning, I became subject to anxiety attacks, particularly when I had to drive. Especially when I had to drive to work along the same route where I had my accident!

I pretty much avoid that particular bridge on the 605 freeway every time I can, even after all these years.

Now I’m not my characters and they aren’t me, but when I was writing my latest novel, MAGIC OF THE NILE, I realized the adult heroine Tyema had been through a very stressful series of events as a child, when the enemy had invaded her village, killed a number of people she knew and kidnapped her. (These events form part of the plot of my first novel PRIESTESS OF THE NILE, about Tyema’s older sister.) It wasn’t believable that Tyema wouldn’t have some lingering effects as an adult. Symptoms of anxiety were well recognized in ancient Egypt, although not of course by that name.

You can read more in my post over at USA Today Happily Ever After. My primary reason for writing the post was to urge anyone who might have symptoms of anxiety not to hesitate, but to do something about it. I was so lucky that my family doctor diagnosed what was going on right away, so I’ve always known what to do for it.

My character figures out what to do about her challenges over the course of the novel, in ways that work for her. And yes, she has a Happily Ever After! It’s a romance after all 🙂

Best wishes!