(No new release to report this week LOL!)

Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriorscentral 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!)

I’m going to finish this scene from LADY OF THE STAR WIND today! Then we’ll move on next week because I have two other new releases out there.

Mark and his companions, including the unconscious Sandy, have been rescued by a clan of desert-dwellers. They’ve taken refuge in the underground village to wait out the sandstorm, before attempting to continue their trek to the Lost City. After treating Sandy as best they can for the snakebite, the chief takes Mark to show him the scrolls from the ancient library, rescued from the Lost City, including one depicting  a snake such as Mark has described, but which the chief insists is a myth. Mark is speaking now. Edited from the published version.

“I’m out of my depth here. I’m a soldier, you know? I can take a collection of hard facts and make them add up like a stack of bricks. You want to attack some kind of fortress, I’m your man. You want someone assassinated or kidnapped, I can do it. But what am I supposed to do with this kind of magical construct, how do I use it to help Sandy? Do I go back there and tell her to wake up, quit faking it, because, hey, you were bitten by a mythological snake, not a real one?” He bit his lip against the flood of words. Panic over the possibility of losing Sandy was uncomfortably close to the surface of his emotions.

            Jagrahim inserted the scroll into a jar with others and fastened a thin leather cover over the opening, knotting a string around the jar’s neck, “I regret having confused you more than I helped – you and your Lady of the Star Wind are sadly unprepared for what you’ve found upon your return to our world.”

The story:

Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?

Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.

Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again.

They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen.

Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land.  Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?

Buy Links: Amazon    KOBO     Barnes & Noble   iBooks 

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!)

If all has gone as planned, I’m coming home from the RT Booklovers Convention today so I won’t be able to make the rounds and comment on everyone’s post till later in the week.

The Lady of the Star Wind is an epic portal fantasy, which will be released after Star Cruise: Outbreak, in the May 2016 time frame.

Sandy and Mark have been transported to an unknown world. This snippet is from  quite a bit further in the novel, after they’ve left the mysterious mountain oasis, in the company of some new friends… Sandy, who picked up an odd stone key in the Oasis, was bitten by a snake named Sherabti, went into the green light with a woman unknown to her and now is sitting in a room she’s never seen before, with four women who seem to think Sandy is someone else…the Lady of the Star Wind…A new player, Haatrin, entered the chamber and scolded the Moon Sisters, after which an even more senior goddess, Nuet, arrived to scold them ALL and sent the Moon Sisters fleeing. Nuet is speaking – I’ve skipped a few sentences between last week’s snippet and today’s:

“….I will take Sherabti with me away from this world, as I ought to have done long ago. But she retained her fondness for the activities of mortals, which I’ll no longer indulge.” Nuet shook her finger at Haatrin. The goddess walked toward the door, no longer needing to guide her steps with the cane, which she cast aside. The wood struck the floor in a burst of purple and gold sparks, and Sandy gasped as the cane became Sherabti, the white snake, coiling sinuously for a moment.

Nuet was as youthful now as the Moon Sisters had been, in demeanor and appearance, and her robes transformed to shades of purple, from deepest amethyst to pale lavender, as if dye poured over the fabric. Masses of silver-blond hair tumbled over her shoulders.

Haatrin raised a hand. “And the mirror?”

This is the last excerpt from Lady of the Star Wind, until it’s released in May. Star Cruise: Outbreak releases this coming week, so I’ll be sharing a few excerpts from it going forward. Thank you for all the comments and feedback you’ve given me about this book! I’ve loved presenting the snippets…there is more to this particular scene but we’ve run out of time in my release schedule.

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!)

I’m really sorry I didn’t get around to everyone’s post last week to comment. Going to WonderCon threw my routine out the window. I’ll be making the rounds today, I promise!

The Lady of the Star Wind is an epic portal fantasy, which is undergoing formatting and will be released after Star Cruise: Outbreak, in the late April/early May 2016 time frame.

Sandy and Mark have been transported to an unknown world. This snippet is from  quite a bit further in the novel, after they’ve left the mysterious mountain oasis, in the company of some new friends… Sandy, who picked up an odd stone key in the Oasis, was bitten by a snake named Sherabti, went into the green light with a woman unknown to her and now is sitting in a room she’s never seen before, with four women who seem to think Sandy is someone else…the Lady of the Star Wind…A new player, Haatrin, entered the chamber and scolded the Moon Sisters, after which an even more senior goddess, Nuet, arrived to scold them ALL and sent the Moon Sisters fleeing. Nuet is speaking:

“The scales are not yet balanced and may tip either way.” Nuet stared at Sandy. “You’ll need my mirror. And yet the gift may not be enough.” Dropping Sandy’s hand, she stood tall, the vestiges of age dropping away like veils. Now she appeared luminescent, beautiful, compelling in a way that made Sandy want to fall on the floor and worship as the Moon Sisters had earlier. Locking her knees, Sandy refused to bend, fighting the compulsion to grovel. The Zhivanov family ruled, they didn’t make themselves subservient to others.

 “You have the strength,” Nuet said, as if aware of Sandy’s inner resolve. “Can you apply it to the choices you and your consort make?”

The Mirror of the Mother is a key piece of the puzzle in this novel and this scene is the first time it’s mentioned….

The story:

Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?

Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.

Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again. 

They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen. 

Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land.  Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?