Oct 5 2014

Trapped! WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM 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…

(Friday night was another ER trip (that’s three in three weeks due to medication side effects, for those who are counting – can’t wait for life to settle down a bit), doing ok again now, so just going to continue posting from WRECK, which was my first SFR….)

The luxury ship Nebula Dream has suffered a middle of the night catastrophe in space. My hero, Nick Jameson, has fought his way to the nearest lifeboat and found chaos. Some creative editing and punctuation has occurred. As he’s just about finished loading the lifeboat, businesswoman Mara Lyrae arrives, much to his relief. (Do I need to mention he’s been distracted by her since they met on the shuttle coming to the ship at the start of the novel?) She’s shouting for help.

He’d been prepared to search the entire ship for her if necessary, but now here she was.

Sensibly dressed but disheveled, her hair loose around her shoulders, Mara worked her way through the rapidly thinning crowd, gaze locking onto him. “Please, I need someone to come to Level Two.” His men let her through the cordon and she grabbed at Nick’s arm. “I’m so glad you’re still aboard. It’s the family who was on the shuttle with us – I can hear the children crying in their cabin, but I can’t get the door to open far enough to get in. The boy says his mother is trapped under something,” Mara bit her lip, shoving her hair away from her face, “And they can’t get out of the back bedroom, or won’t try.”

Don’t expect Mara to be getting into the lifeboat, is all I can say!

The Story
Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanicproportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?

Sep 27 2014

No One’s Going to Make It WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM 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…

(Last night was another ER trip, doing ok now, so just going to post something from WRECK, which was my first SFR….)

The luxury ship Nebula Dream has suffered a middle of the night catastrophe in space. My hero, Nick Jameson, has fought his way to the nearest lifeboat and found chaos. (SMT is the name of the shipping line.) Some creative editing and punctuation has occurred. I hope this is only eight sentences, kinda struggling with the medicines and a flu variation I picked up!

“Quiet down now,” he said, watching the people in the front row of the mob, getting eye contact, to personalize his commands, make them feel like responsible individuals, not a mindless, panicking herd.

The blaring sirens and recorded emergency warnings cut out, resumed briefly and then died away in a slowly fading gibberish. The lights in the corridor flickered, causing gasps here and there in the crowd.

“Are there any SMT officers or crew here?” Nick said.

Desperation, fear, and puzzlement on the faces in front of him, many sidelong glances, mute head shakes.

Silence.

“All right, then, I’m Captain Jameson, Sectors Special Forces and I’m taking charge of this LB portal. You can’t all get into this LB – no one’s going to make it off unless you keep your heads and we go about this calmly and quickly.”

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

Oct 18 2013

A Rescue Attempt SFR Brigade Presents WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM

(The link is here to find other excerpts from novels or WIP written by Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members.)

I thought I’d keep going a bit longer with excerpts from my 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winning novel WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, which is a loose retelling of the Titanic sinking, set in the far future on a spaceliner. Nick Jameson, Sector Special Forces operator, has been awakened in the middle of the night, thrown from his bed by some violent maneuver of the SMT Nebula Dream, which now seems badly damaged. Crew members are nowhere to be seen. He’s gotten a lifeboat loaded with passengers…but he’s had something else on his mind….Mara Lyrae is a woman he met earlier on the cruise and is more than slightly interested in.

Here’s the 200 word excerpt and the story blurb is below the picture:

“Help! I need help – there are people trapped in a cabin on the next level.”

Mara!

Hoping he was right, Nick craned to see who it was. Sure enough, to his great relief, Mara Lyrae came running up to the ring of volunteers at the LB portal. He’d been prepared to search the entire ship for her if necessary, but now here she was.

Sensibly dressed but disheveled, her hair loose around her shoulders, Mara worked her way through the rapidly thinning crowd, gaze locking onto him. “Please, I need someone to come to Level Two.” His men let her through the cordon and she grabbed at Nick’s arm. “I’m so glad you’re still aboard. It’s the family who was on the shuttle with us? I can hear the children crying in their cabin, but I can’t get the door to open far enough to get in. The boy says his mother is trapped under something.” Mara bit her lip, shoving her hair away from her face. “And they can’t get out of the back bedroom, or won’t try.”

After hearing about trapped children, Nick knew he’d stay on board as long as it took to free them. But first, she needs to be safe. “Tell me exactly where on the Second Level and I’ll go. You get in this LB.” Nick reached out to take her by the arm, intending to guide her through the portal.

“No,” She took a hasty step away from Nick, shaking her head vehemently. “I promised that little boy I’d come for them myself, as soon as I found their father, or someone. If you’re going to help me with this, then we have to hurry.”

Here’s the story:

Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

This Best Selling Science Fiction Adventure is Available from Smashwords , Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks and iTunes Also available from Amazon as trade paperback here

Audiobook, narrated by Actor Michael Riffle – Available Now at Amazon and iTunes

Oct 11 2013

SFR Brigade Presents WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM Lifeboats

(The link is here to find other excerpts from novels or WIP written by Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members.)

I thought I’d keep going a bit longer with excerpts from my 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winning novel WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, which is a loose retelling of the Titanic sinking, set in the far future on a spaceliner. Nick Jameson, Sector Special Forces operator, has been awakened in the middle of the night, thrown from his bed by some violent maneuver of the SMT Nebula Dream. He’s ventured into the corridor, to find panic raging. (I’ve done a little editing today to fit the word requirement.)

Here’s the 200 word excerpt and the story blurb is below the picture:

“Are there any SMT officers or crew here?” Nick said.

Desperation, fear, and puzzlement on the faces in front of him. Many sidelong glances, mute head shakes.

Silence.

“All right, then. I’m Captain Jameson, Sectors Special Forces. I’m taking charge of this lifeboat portal. You can’t all get into this LB. No one’s going to make it off unless you keep your heads and we go about this calmly and quickly.” He pointed at some likely candidates. “You gentlemen form a ring. No one gets by until I say so. Watch my back while I open this damn portal.”

The men linked arms and established a perimeter. Nick gave his attention to the locked access. Damn, there should have been at least one SMT crew person at each LB by now, with the unlock code, getting the civilians safely off the ship as fast as possible. Lucky for all these nice people I know how to open the thing.

Nick scanned the portal info display. “Capacity one hundred sentients,” the label declared in Basic and the other five languages. Okay, Jameson, quick, calculate what the limit really means, what the margin of design safety probably was. How many extra oxygen-breathers can I shove onto the thing without killing them all?

Here’s the story:

Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick

Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

This Best Selling Science Fiction Adventure is Available from Smashwords , Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance eBooks and iTunes Also available from Amazon as trade paperback here

Audiobook, narrated by Actor Michael Riffle – Available Now at Amazon and iTunes