Veronica: My guest today is science fiction romance author Liza O’Connor, talking about her novel Surviving Terranue. Take it away, Liza, and tell us more about the question you’ve posed in the blog post’s title…sounds highly intriguing!
Liza: Sounds risqué, but in Tamara’s case, it’s more a question of practicalities.
Tamara is no longer corporal. She’s part of a three bonded soul, but she’s no longer technically human. Her human body was murdered six years ago. While she can manipulate billions of molecules, she only creates what she needs to appear human. A great deal of her molecules has to be used to create lungs, a throat and a great deal more so she can speak.
So why are clothes an issue?
To be honest, weaved clothing is a royal pain to re-create in detail, all those lines of thread crisscrossing, gathers, zippers, stitching… It’s much easier to drape real clothes over her life-like body. But there are times where real clothing is a liability.
Such as when she goes hunting with Colton. Real clothes carry a scent that other animals can smell. Tamara hadn’t even realized this problem because she can’t smell. While her form has a nose, it doesn’t function. That is way beyond her understanding of biology, and frankly not worth the effort to learn since during the three deadly seasons, most of the colonists don’t bathe. The last thing she’d want to do is smell them. They are annoying enough scentless.
Normally, when outside, especially when other colonists are not about, she won’t wear real clothes. She often won’t even create a body. If she’s doing manual work that requires a physical form, she’ll create the appearance of clothes, but if you look close, you’ll realize the fabric has no weave or stitching or tears.
Clearly women would notice this oddity, so if she’s going to be anywhere around the ladies, she has to wear real clothes. And she’s very hard on real clothes, so Saran, one of her soul-bonds is always having to repair the two jumpersuits Tamara possesses.
And the more tears the two outfits get, the more Tamara has to wear them instead of creating an outfit from molecules since there is no way she is going to memorize and duplicate the hundreds of small tears and stains her real clothes have aquired.
Also, if it’s raining, she needs to wear real clothes, because otherwise, she’ll come in all dry, which would be weird.
If she plans to assist the men, she’ll leave the cave as a spirit then appear behind a large rock or tree, dressed for the day’s work. The men never notice her clothes have no weave patterns. Honestly, most of them want nothing to do with her. She is one bossy crew chief and has tossed a great deal of them to the ground for not obeying her commands.
The story for Surviving Terranue: Leading a colony of frightened people on a new world is rarely easy. The human colonists of Terranue have as their leader, Tamsarandem, the only Soul-bond of Three that has ever existed. Unfortunately, some perceive the innate kindness in the shaman’s choice of leaders as a weakness, thus, challenges begin. From the moment they arrive on the planet, self-survival instincts take hold among the colonists, putting the survival of the colony at risk.
To survive, they must act for the good of the colony rather themselves, even when their natural instincts tell them to do the opposite. First, they must befriend the dominant intelligent life form on the planet, long-haired blue cattle, only slightly smaller than the blue bull Tamsarandem brought with them. Second, they must find a way to survive three of the planet’s five seasons. Otherwise, they’ll be baked, frozen, and pummeled to death. Third, they must protect themselves from the giant bears, saber tooth lions, and T. rexes that roam their planet. But worst of all, deep within the planet, a seed of evil grows, waiting to devour every living creature on the surface.
Every day in their new paradise is a challenge to survive. Despite all the advantages the Gods have provided, success is neither easy nor certain, and people are rarely as good as they need to be.
Excerpt
Colton jumped a foot in the air when Tamara spoke directly behind him.
“At least now we know what the ship was shooting at. The captain probably didn’t like the T. rex being so close to the wagons.”
Her nonchalance upset him. “Dmitri drove the last wagon and would have been the most vulnerable.” Colton stared at her. “You do realize how vital you three are to this colony?”
She smiled.
“I ask, because I’m not sure you do. You take too many chances with your lives. The colony won’t last a week without Tamsarandem. So with all respect, I must ask why you didn’t stay on the rock.”
“You and I will travel often across these lands, so you need to know a truth that I do not wish to share with the others just yet. Thus, I require your oath of silence.”
“You have it,” he replied without hesitation.
“You do not need to worry for my safety. I cannot be harmed. I am here to protect you.”
Her words made no sense. “What do you mean you cannot be harmed?”
“This form you see is simply materialized ions.”
He scowled at such an absurd claim. Until she disappeared and reappeared five feet away. Colton narrowed his eyes and gripped his gun tighter. Dear Gods, was he losing his mind?
“You are frightened,” Tamara said.
He could hear the disappointment in her voice. “I’m pretty sure I’m suffering delusions since I know what you just did is impossible.”
She reappeared beside him. “I was once human, soul-bond to Saran, wife to Dmitri. I was murdered, and the bonds to both held me to them as a ghost. Once we joined into one, I became strong enough to create a corporal body that is warm to the touch. I can dress it in real clothes or create the illusion of clothes, as I have done today.
He reached out and touched her sleeve. “That’s the difference. Normally, I can smell the scent of soap from your clothes, but today you have no scent. And you leave no trail, but you are careless in your step. I kept wavering on whether you were an experienced hunter or not. When you failed to catch the scent of death, I concluded you weren’t a hunter.”
“You’re correct, but I can still help you, and I will keep you safe.”
“How? You don’t even have your gun anymore.”
She laughed, and instantly it reappeared in her hand. “It’s an illusion. I could easily kill most of the dangers on the planet, only…”
Her pause confused him. A great deal about her confused him. “Only what?”
“I am reluctant to do so because Saran is part of me, and she could not endure the taking of life. So I am here to keep you safe, while you do what is necessary to keep our people safe.”
“But you cannot be harmed?”
“Not even by the fifteen-foot grizzly at the edge of the woods.”
Buy Links:
Book 3: Surviving Terranue
Book 2: Surviving Outbound
Book 1: The Gods of Probabilities
All books are free for KU subscribers
About The Author:
Liza is a multiple genre author of 16 novels. A Late Victorian Series, The Adventures of Xavier & Vic, plus a spinoff, A Right to Love, is an ongoing series. A Long Road to Love is a humorous Contemporary Disaster Romance series of five books. She has two single books. One is a humorous, bad boys contemporary novel with ghosts, called Ghost Lover, the other is Untamed & Unabashed, a spinoff from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Now, she’s rolling out her Science fiction series (with romance & humor) called The Multiverses. The first four books are slotted for last half of 2015. In addition she hopes, if she hasn’t dropped from exhaustion by then, to re-release a sometimes humorous/suspense thriller called Saving Casey
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LIZA O’CONNOR Investigate these sites:
Liza’s Blog and Website Facebook Twitter
Hahaha! Days like this I wish I could create the appearance of clothes — to save the trouble of wondering what to wear when packing for a week’s vacation. 😀
That’s true, but only if you stay away from the women. They’ll notice right off you have no weave, no seams, no zippers or tucks, but the fabric fits you like a glove.
Wouldn’t that be great to just decide what to wear and be able to put it on. No more shopping! 🙂 Tamara is an amazingly strong woman. I love her ability to make sure everything gets done.
She is most powerful. Good thing Saran and Dmitri are there to ground her, or she might become all powerful.
which might result in the Gods having to take her out.