Aug 17 2014

The Dead Have Infinite Patience MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR Weekend Writing Warriors

A fun way to sample new books and find new writers! Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…

Doing excerpts from Mission to Mahjundar, which has been Released and is now available…Princess Shalira has maneuvered her father the emperor into insisting the hero, Major Mike Varone of the Sectors Special Forces, and his companion, must accompany her on a journey. Mike’s not exactly pleased. Continuing on from last week’s excerpt. (Creative editing and punctuation have occurred.) Shalira is speaking, attempting to answer Mike’s question about why she asked for his escort. (NOTE: He saved her life in a terrorist bombing the day before.)

“You’re searching in the mountains for a lost military ship, aren’t you; to give those who died the proper burial, set their spirits free?”

“Well, yes,” Mike said, aware Command had used those terms to explain the request for access to this closed world.

“But the dead have infinite patience, Major. Surely you can spare a few days for the living?” Leaning forward, she set her glass on the table, perilously close to the edge.

He shifted the glass to a safer location as he said, “Your Highness—”

“Would you let the life you saved be lost so soon? There are those who don’t want me to reach my wedding.”

The story:

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. 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?

Can there be a future for a simple soldier and an intergalactic princess?

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As always, I love your comments and feedback. Even though this book is now published, the input helps for the future!

Aug 10 2014

Did He Ask? MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR Weekend Writing Warriors

A fun way to sample new books and find new writers! Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…

Doing excerpts from my soon-to-be published science fiction romance WIP, Mission to Mahjundar…Princess Shalira has maneuvered her father the emperor into insisting the hero, Major Mike Varone of the Sectors Special Forces, and his companion, must accompany her on a journey. Mike’s not exactly pleased. Shalira is speaking. (Creative punctuation has occurred.)

“At the presentation ceremony, did the minister ask if you’d be willing to ride in my caravan?”

“Ask? More of a threat.” Mike knew his frustration was showing, “Ride with you or else my own mission gets cancelled.”

“And you don’t sound pleased – I wish I could have made the request myself.” She nibbled on a cracker, brushing crumbs from her lap.

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but why do you want us to go with you?” Setting his glass on the table, he leaned forward. “I’m on an urgent mission – your route causes me quite a delay, which I can’t afford without good reason.”

She’s going to give him a good reason, of course.

The story:

Can there be a future for a simple soldier and an intergalactic princess?

(Still working on the blurb…)

As always, I love your comments and feedback.

Aug 4 2014

Meet My Character Meme

I was tagged for this meme or hop by my very good Weekend Writing Warrior friend Charmaine J Gordon!

I thought, with a new science fiction romance coming out in August, I’d like to participate and without further ado, here are the seven questions with my answers.

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

The character I’m going to talk about is Princess Shalira, from the planet Mahjundar, so entirely fictional.

2) When and where is the story set?

The events in this novel occur in the far future, out in the greater galaxy, where a civilization known as the Sectors sprawls across the star systems. The citizens of this loosely organized stellar nation are humans, people of human descent and alien beings. So far all of my science fiction romances have taken place within this structure.

3) What should we know about him/her?

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

Questions 3, 4 and 5 can be answered by the book’s blurb so here goes with the relevant information:

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.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it? I’m kinda basic with my book titles so this is Mission to Mahjundar, which is the name of the planet where all the action takes place. There’s more to the blurb on the book’s page on my blog

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

The manuscript just emerged from copy edits and needs one more high level editing pass, plus formatting, so probably another 2-3 weeks, which is just a little bit behind my self-imposed schedule. But I want it to be perfect!

I put out a call to several of the loops I’m on for other authors to tag and this meme seemed to appeal to a lot of people so I’m tagging seven friends. They’ll put their Character posts up a week from today, on their own blogs so I hope you’ll visit them then!

Shawna Reppert Shona Husk Mimi Sebastian A J Larrieu Sonya B Clark Sheryl Nantus

Regan Summers Jody Wallace and Sandy Wright

Aug 3 2014

Will You Care? MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR Weekend Writing Warriors

A fun way to sample new books and find new writers! Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…

Per the popular vote last week, switching to excerpts from my soon-to-be published science fiction romance WIP, Mission to Mahjundar…

Although she’d never lived in the temperate mountain forests, Princess Shalira imagined she’d prefer them to the hot lowlands. Whenever she visited the tiny temple of her patron goddess Pavmiraia on the outskirts of the city, as she was doing today, she pretended the heat and intrigues of the capital and the court had been left behind. This chapel and her vivid daydreams had provided special refuges for most of her life.

The floor was cool beneath her bare feet as she strolled twenty paces from the door to the altar, passing the snoring priestess, sprawled on a bench no doubt, mouth probably wide open. Not many come here anymore, not many at all. Will anyone worship the goddess when I’ve gone? Tears pricked Shalira’s eyes as she felt for the padded knee rest, bowed her head, and knelt in front of the altar.

“Do you know this is to be my last visit?” she whispered to the goddess she could no longer see, “Do you care?

The story:

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.

Can there be a future for a simple soldier and an intergalactic princess?

(Still working on the blurb…)

As always, I love your comments and feedback.

EXCITING NEWS! My award winning SFR Escape From Zulaire is in a boxed set, released last Friday! It’s available now at the major ebook retailers at a ridiculously low price of $.99…I used to excerpt it here and on Six Sentence Sunday in the old days…

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Jul 19 2014

SciFi Cover Reveal Mission to Mahjundar

I’m happy to share the cover for my upcoming science fiction romance, Mission to Mahjundar! For a little more about how the tremendously talented Fiona Jayde and I work together on covers, you can visit the USA Today HEA cover reveal post. The book will be released on August 18th! Here’s the story:

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.

Can there be a future for a simple soldier and an intergalactic princess?