I released a new book about a week ago (see below) but I’ll do a few more weeks of excerpts from COLONY UNDER SIEGE: INTERSTELLAR PLAGUE…

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!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

The excerpt – skipping ahead a few hours, Dr. Saffia Mandell is doing her rounds at the clinic and is about to meet the rich family who just flew into the spaceport:

“I’m Dr. Mandell,” she said, entering the room with an easy stride and staring directly at the man who stood beside the examining table in a stance as if he was ready to pick a fight.  She wasn’t going to be cowed, not in her own clinic. His gaze lowered first and he moved aside, muttering “About time.”

“We’re the Fremington-Ulms,” The richly clad wife rushed into the awkward silence, raising her eyebrows as if the name should have meaning for Saffia, who said nothing, waiting for more information and remaining unimpressed, “And this is our daughter.”

The other woman in the room wasn’t introduced, nor was the hulking bodyguard. Saffia assumed the woman, who was dressed in plain sand-colored garb and holding the little girl’s hand, must be the nanny.

Giving the room’s occupants a generic nod, Saffia made her way to the medAI interface and pulled up the details of the nurse’s intake notes, “The room is too crowded,” she said over her shoulder, “Can the other gentleman please wait in the lobby?”

Mr. Fremington-Ulms began to bluster in irritated sentence fragments growing progressively louder.

Who does he think is going to menace him in this room? “Or in the hall perhaps?” Saffia suggested mildly, “The incidence of violence on Haven is infinitesimally low this year.”

Frowning as if he was unsure whether she was joking or being rude, the father made a curt gesture and the guard slipped outside.

The room immediately felt bigger to Saffia.

The blurb: Newly graduated from a prestigious interstellar medical school, Dr. Saffia Mandell has been assigned to the Haven Two colony on the galaxy’s outer rim as the only doctor for some 2000 human residents. She’s counting the days until her five years there is up, trying to adjust to rural living after life in the crowded Inner Sectors and fighting her attraction to Chief Ranger Micah Navonn. She’s dreading the upcoming tourist season when the rich and pampered will descend on the planet for the scenic wonders and novel sports opportunities and no doubt inundate her little clinic but the colony depends on the seasonal income to survive.

As the senior official for his people, the Calinurra, the indigenous inhabitants of Haven Two, Micah enforces the treaty, regulates the tourist permits, patrols the forests and resists his fascination with Dr. Mandell. He never expected to be involved with a human woman and doesn’t want to believe in the concept of a fated mate. He wants to keep his life simple and isn’t ready for any long term commitment. Besides Saffia keeps proclaiming she’ll be leaving when her appointment is up in four and a half years so why should he risk his heart?

Then a ship arrives unexpectedly carrying a very ill little girl and soon the deadly virus is spreading through Haven Two. The colony authorities are desperate to cover up the problem to preserve the all-important tourist season and Saffia and Micah have to work together to battle the outbreak, the local administration and their undeniable feelings for each other.

Can the colony survive? And will Micah and Saffia be able to move past their fears about entanglements to act on the mutual attraction?

An 87K word novel of the far future…

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NEW RELEASE!!!

The blurb:  Proud enforcer of the Badari South Seas pack, Ivokk undertakes a secret mission back to their former home, in search of a cure for a mysterious illness affecting his soldiers, now in exile in the north. He’s ready to make any sacrifice to find the answer and help his pack brothers stay strong. He’s even willing to accept responsibility for the human woman assigned to the mission, although she’s a headstrong civilian, difficult and rumored to dislike his kind.

Sandara DiFerria was once a three star chef in the Sectors, but that was before the alien enemy kidnapped the entire adult population of her colony to use for experimentation. Rescued from the labs by the Badari, she does her part to support the rebellion now by running the vast commissary operation in Sanctuary Valley. All she asks is to be left alone until she can get back to the Sectors and pick up her old life again. Her one previous romantic brush with a Badari soldier turned out badly, ending in public humiliation. Add to that post-traumatic stress from her life before moving to the colony and she’s the last person to pick for a top secret mission. Or so she believes.

The Alpha running the pack disagrees and sends her to do the job under Ivokk’s watchful eye. Thrown together by the nature of the task they must undertake, the undeniable attraction they both feel grows. Will the dark secrets of Sandara’s hidden past create an insurmountable barrier between them? Can Ivokk and the tempestuous human chef find the answer to the Badari illness in time? Or will the elements and the enemy bring disaster?

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