Taking excerpts from STAR CRUISE IDOL’S CURSE, my novel in the USA Today Best Selling Pets In Space® 4 anthology. Today is the last one because then I’ll be switching to my new release DAEGAN, the 11th book in the Badari Warriors scifi world.

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 took a special assigment to pick up an item on the last planet the Nebula Zephyr visited, at the request of her shipping line. This will fulfill a deceased passenger’s dying wish. Last week we were in a nightmare with Juli, caused by the cursed rock, and Steve also had a nightmare and came to check on her. They’re in her cabin:

“You have a call from Aunt Dian,” Maeve [the Ship’s Artificial Intelligence] said, “She also tried calling Officer Aureli’s cabin.”

Feeling as if she was a kid caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to, Juli exchanged glances with Steve and smothered a chuckle. His expression mirrored hers.

“Go ahead and connect,” Juli said, reaching for her robe and hastily putting it on.

Dian’s sleepy face filled the vidscreen. Without makeup, at this hour of the night, she was still quite sprightly. Charrli was cradled in her arms. Dian gazed past Juli and nodded to Steve, “I had a nightmare,” she said, “Charrli woke me up out of it – you two were in danger. I think he wanted me to come to your cabins and check on you in person once I was fully awake but we compromised on using the com instead.”

End of the WWW snippet. Here’s the rest of the scene:

“We each had nightmares too,” Juli said, blushing. “Steve came to check on me.”

“I had to see for myself, make sure she was all right.” His voice was firm, unembarrassed.

Juli envied him his composure because she was embarrassed all out of proportion to the situation. They were consenting adults, why did it matter what Dian might be thinking? And besides, she was the one who’d been matchmaking for them all this time. “I believe I saw the rock earlier in the evening, at the concert,” Juli said a little desperately. “We were just discussing whether the incident might have been the trigger for my dream.”

“Well it doesn’t explain mine.” Dian was testy. “Or why Charrli was upset, which I assure you he was. Your rock seems narrowly focused on the three of us and my dog.”

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?

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.

Amazon      Apple Books     Kobo     Nook      Google

New release: DAEGAN: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE NOVEL

Ex-Special Forces soldier and mercenary Flo Michetti is bored with her assignment as a pilot for the genetically engineered Badari pack in their fight against the evil Khagrish scientists. She jumps at the chance to take a dangerous undercover mission. She infiltrates a group of human prisoners on their way to a secret lab in the southern ocean, where the Badari believe many more of their own kind have been created and are being experimented on. Once Flo has located the lab, found the Alpha among the Badari there and sent a report back, the plan will be to attack and rescue all the prisoners.

Arriving at the island Flo learns the true nature of the horrific experiment for which the humans have been brought to this remote location. Time will be perilously short to escape before it’s too late for all of them. She has to locate the Alpha of this captive southern pack, who conceals his identity to escape death at the hands of the Khagrish, and get him to join with her and her allies.

Daegan feels an instant attraction to Flo when the Badari and the humans are forced together by the Khagrish scientists, but there are mysteries and questions surrounding her. Before he reveals himself as the incognito Alpha she’s seeking, he wants answers to allay his doubts. He also wants Flo in his bed…but can he risk his heart to claim her as his mate?

Complicating the situation is a dangerous rival for Daegan’s position as Alpha, an oncoming hurricane and Flo’s resistance to abandoning her life as a soldier of fortune…as the Khagrish scientists prepare to initiate the experiment, the clock is ticking for humans and Badari alike.

Amazon      Apple Books      Kobo     Nook and GooglePlay Coming Soon