Taking excerpts from STAR CRUISE IDOL’S CURSE, my novel in the soon-to-be-released PETS IN SPACE® 4 anthology.

Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

Punctuation may be wonky to comply with our guidelines here. May be edited a bit from published version.

The excerpt – Juli has gone to a lawyer’s office on the planet to pick up an item at the request of her shipping line. This will fulfill a deceased passenger’s dying wish.:

Juli stared as the lawyer brought out a gaudy package—a cheap, woven straw box approximately  6” by 6” by 6” high, tied shut with a pink and green scarf, whose frayed ends had been chopped off—set it on the polished desk and gave it a shove in Juli’s direction. The item had no place in this sophisticated, high end attorney’s office.  Instinctively she reached out to catch the box as it slid across the highly polished wood, finding it heavier than she expected.

“Don’t open it here,” Cilla said in a rush as Juli toyed with the knot.

“I should make sure it’s okay to take onto the Nebula Zephyr,” she said, working at the tight wrapping, “And have you verify the item is as it should be.”

She had the impression the woman was pushing her chair as far away from the desk as she could go without being obvious. But when Juli removed the scarf and opened the box, she did a double take, “It’s a rock.”

“Yes, from Tahumaroa Two, from the Beach of the Two Goddesses to be exact. He wanted it placed there,” The lawyer swallowed hard, “Anywhere on the beach is fine.”

“Is this one of those cases where the gullible tourists fall for the tour guide spiel about how removing the rocks brings bad luck?”

The blurb:  An unusual bequest….

Juli Shaeffer, the Nebula Zephyr’s cruise director, receives a mysterious bequest from the estate of a longtime passenger – a lump of rock taken from a reef on the planet Tahumaroa. Legend states anyone who steals from the ocean gods will be cursed. The passenger’s will requests the rock be returned to the beach so his heirs won’t be affected by the bad luck he believed he’d incurred. Juli doesn’t believe in superstitions and she agrees to carry out this small favor on the ship’s next stop at the planet in question.

Until the rock disappears from her office…

When the rock disappears and reappears in various locations around the ship, and seems connected to a steadily escalating series of mishaps, Juli turns to Third Officer Steve Aureli as the only one she feels she can trust. Along with Steve and his elderly Aunt Dian – a passenger aboard the Nebula Zephyr for this cruise – she investigates the strange series of malfunctions plaguing the interstellar luxury liner. Steve and Juli enlist his Aunt Dian’s dog, Charrli, a retired Sectors Z Corps canine, to help them track the missing rock as it moves about the ship.

Juli and Steve must find the rock, hang onto it and transport it to the planet’s surface, before the alien idol’s curse turns deadly. The attraction between the two of them grows as the threat to Juli becomes more and more focused. Can she carry out her task while he keeps her safe from the alien curse? Will the capricious alien idol bring them good fortune…or disaster?

My alien dog in this story – Charrli

Pets In Space® Anthology Blurb:

For a limited time only! Pets in Space® 4 is proud to present 13 amazing, original new stories! Join the adventures as today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors take you on a journey to another world. Pets in Space® proudly supports Hero-Dogs.org, a non-profit charity that provides service animals to veterans and first responders in need. Join New York Times, USA TODAY and Award-winning Bestselling authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Tiffany Roberts, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Donna McDonald, Regine Abel, Alexis Glynn Latner, JC Hay, E.D. Walker, Kyndra Hatch, and Cassandra Chandler for another exciting Pets in Space® anthology. Get the stories before they are gone!

Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space® authors have donated over $7,100 in the past three years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans and first responders. 10% of all pre-orders and the first month’s royalties of Pets in Space® 4 will again go to Hero-Dogs.org. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Pets in Space® 4 today so together we can continue to assist this worthy charity!

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