The audiobook of Mission to Mahjundar is now available on Amazon, Audible.com and iTunes (sound sample below). Actor Michael Riffle and I’ve done a fun interview on the subject, over at USA Today Happily Ever After. This time, for the sake of variety, we’ve turned the tables and he interviewed me, asking questions about my science fiction world of the Sectors. We invite you to check out the interview!

Here’s the story for Mission to Mahjundar:

An attempted assassination left Princess Shalira blind as a child and, now that she’s of marriageable age, her prospects are not good because of her disability. She’s resigned herself to an arranged marriage rather than face life under the thumb of her cold stepmother. But then she meets Mike Varone, a Sectors Special Forces officer sent to Mahjundar by the intergalactic government to retrieve a ship lost in her planet’s mountains. After Mike saves Shalira from another assassination attempt, she arranges for him to escort her across the planet to her future husband. She’s already falling hard for the deadly offworlder and knows she should deny herself the temptation he represents, but taking Mike along to protect her is the only way she’ll live long enough to escape her ruthless stepmother.

Mike, for his part, resists his growing attraction to the princess; he has a mission on this planet and rescuing the vulnerable but brave princess isn’t it. No matter how much he wishes it could be.

But what should have been an easy trek through Mahjundar’s peaceful lands swiftly turns into an ambush with danger around every turn. Shalira’s marriage begins to seem less like an arranged union and more like yet another planned assassination. The more they work together to survive, the harder it becomes to stop themselves from falling in love. Caught in a race against time, can they escape the hostile forces hunting them and make it off the planet?

One question we didn’t have room for in the USA Today column:

Michael: While narrating Mission to Mahjundar, I noticed several places where there were hints of deep political intrigue, but the story couldn’t have easily followed it. Without giving too much away, can you tell us more about what was going on behind the scenes with the explosion that led to Michael and Shalira meeting? I smelled a hint of a rebellion or insurrection.

Veronica: Originally there was a lot more in the book about the growing resistance to the empress and her plans. Her attempts to install a new religion were part of the political upheaval. Captain Rojar played a much bigger part in the attempt to overthrow her, and I was setting him up for a possible sequel throughout the book when I first wrote the story. I’d even considered a sequel with Mike and Shalira returning to Mahjundar!