Feb 14 2014

Just A Pawn ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE SFRB Presents

Sorry I didn’t have any Valentine-themed excerpts to give, from my science fiction romance! I didn’t want to jump ahead to the pages where the romance begins to develop and then backtrack.

(The link is here to find this week’s excerpts from novels or WIP written by other Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members. A fun way to sample new books!)

Last week I gave you the opening of the book. This excerpt is a bit later, as Andi has returned from the wedding of the Planetary High Lord’s daughter to her host’s summer home, only to find a squad of Sectors Special Forces soldiers waiting. The officer in charge claims they’ve come to rescue her and need to leave at once. Unconvinced, she argues with Captain Tom Deverane and is speaking as the snippet starts:

“You’re insinuating my hosts have deceived me and deliberately put me in harm’s way? I find that insulting.”

Eyes closed, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re a pawn to them.” Now he reopened his eyes and flung his arms out, hands wide open. “You mean nothing to them. If you’re going to refuse my offer of evacuation, then you’d better be ready to take care of yourself because I guarantee you the Obati won’t.”

“Give me some specifics to back up your claims, captain,” Andi said. “So far I only have your word there’s a problem. No insult intended.”

He nodded. “All right,” he said, his voice crisp. “Fair enough. One of your own Loxton agents was murdered in the southern region, along with all his Shenti guides and workers. The cargo wasn’t even stolen, just left to rot in the haulers. I’m told that was the incident which spooked your boss to close the office and leave the planet.”

“One of the Loxton crew? Who?” As Deputy Agent she knew and worked with all of the Loxton crews. Mentally reviewing who might have been in transit, seeing the faces of men and women who were her friends as well as coworkers, Andi felt a wave of nausea.

“Someone named Kane. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you all this.”

Andi nodded, her mind racing. She swallowed the bile in her throat and said, “When did this happen?”

“Two weeks ago.”

“And no one thought I needed to know? No one saw fit to tell me?” Her voice rose as she got angrier.

The Story:

Andi Markriss hasn’t exactly enjoyed being the houseguest of the planetary high-lord, but her company sent her to represent them at a political wedding. When hotshot Sectors Special Forces Captain Tom Deverane barges in on the night of the biggest social event of the summer, Andi isn’t about to offend her high-ranking host on Deverane’s say-so—no matter how sexy he is, or how much he believes they need to leave now.

Deverane was thinking about how to spend his retirement bonus when HQ assigned him one last mission: rescue a civilian woman stranded on a planet on the verge of civil war. Someone has pulled some serious strings to get her plucked out of the hot zone. Deverane’s never met anyone so hard-headed—or so appealing. Suddenly his mission to protect this one woman has become more than just mere orders.

That mission proves more dangerous than he expected when rebel fighters attack the village and raze it to the ground. Deverane escapes with Andi, and on their hazardous journey through the wilderness, Andi finds herself fighting her uncomfortable attraction to the gallant and courageous captain. But Deverane’s not the type to settle down, and running for one’s life doesn’t leave much time to explore a romance.

Then Andi is captured by the rebel fighters, but Deverane has discovered that Zulaire’s so-called civil war is part of a terrifying alien race’s attempt to subjugate the entire Sector. If he pushes on to the capitol Andi will die. Deverane must decide whether to save the woman he loves, or sacrifice her to save Zulaire.

ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE is a 2014 SFR Galaxy Award Winner…

Available on AMAZON for kindle and as POD paperback Nook Kobo All Romance eBooks and iTunes Smashwords Xin Xii

Feb 7 2014

How Did She Get Talked Into Doing This? ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE SFRB Presents

I’m very pleased and thrilled to announce that Escape From Zulaire is a 2014 SFR Galaxy Award Winner! (Complete info on the awards here.) So I thought I’d do some excerpts from the novel for the next few weeks…

(The link is here to find this week’s excerpts from novels or WIP written by other Science Fiction Romance Brigade group members. A fun way to sample new books!)

Here are the first 200 or so words from the book (story synopsis below the excerpt):

This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever done as Assistant Planetary Agent for Loxton Galactic Trading – standing in as a bridesmaid in a borrowed puce dress because some other girl failed to show up. Andi Markriss sighed, feeling the garment binding too tight across her chest. I didn’t mind representing the company as a guest, but this is way outside the line of duty.

Early afternoon on Zulaire was too warm for an outdoor ceremony but the Planetary High Lord’s spoiled daughter Lysanda didn’t care to be ready any earlier in the day. Her guests’ comfort wasn’t a consideration.

An inch at a time, Andi shifted from her assigned spot into the shade cast by the towering stone pillars. How did I get talked into this? Oh yes, Lysanda wept and her mother made vague threats about her husband reviewing our shipping contracts. As the musicians played, Andi turned, watching Lysanda pace toward the dais in time to the music, smiling for her groom-to-be.

The local priest took a deep breath and launched into a lengthy blessing, invoking the deity and relating the history of the planet’s three Clans – Obati, Shenti and Naranti. Andi chanted along with him, under her breath. Overlords, Second Class and Neutrals, as her boss had told her when she arrived on Zulaire six years ago. Easy to keep them straight that way, he’d said, but don’t ever slip and use the nicknames out loud.

The Story:

Oct 4 2013

Science Fiction Romance 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 switch gears this week a bit and excerpt 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 ship. Here’s the 200 word excerpt and the story blurb is below the picture:

The deck pitched violently underneath him, and Nick was thrown the other direction, fetching up against the bed platform shoulder first with bruising force.

Rubbing his shoulder, Nick glared around the cabin. “Ship, what the hell is going on?”

No answer.

The Nebula Dream pitched to starboard, but not as drastically, and then slowly returned to near vertical. Getting cautiously to his feet, Nick grabbed for his scattered clothes, pulling them on as fast as possible.

“Ship, I want status.” Nick fastened his blue shirt as the deck wobbled underfoot again. The engines are down again, for one thing. Determined to wrest some information from someone, he made his way to the interface panel.

Just as he got there, clinging to the molded desk as the ship shuddered again, the image of Captain Bonlors appeared. Flickering once, the holo stabilized. Amazingly, the captain continued to project unshakable calm. If I hadn’t met the man, I’d be wondering if he was nothing but a well-designed hologram. Reassuring to the passengers or not, no one should be this serene while in charge of a ship pitching and rolling in space like the Nebula Dream.

“Again, I must apologize to you, my passengers,” the image was saying. “We have experienced a small malfunction –”

“Not from where I’m standing, pal,” Nick said grimly. “Small is not the word for it.”

VE sez: Need I add the situation goes downhill from there?

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.

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?

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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

Feb 10 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors – More from SciFi WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM

This week I’m going to post 8 sentences from WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, my science fiction adventure with romantic elements, which received a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award. In honor of Valentine’s day I thought I’d post a little moment between Nick and Mara, as they’re searching the ship’s hold for some essential gear. There’s not a whole lot of time in this novel for the two of them to (ahem) actively further their romance, given that the ship may explode at any moment, the alien enemy is on the way and pirates are hovering….but romance CANNOT be denied LOL! Nick is speaking as the excerpt begins:

His courage had never failed him in combat, but he was reluctant to risk rejection from her. “You may change your mind, once we get to Sector Hub, and the adrenalin of this crisis wears off. Maybe we should forget it for now, see how the idea of dinner strikes you after we’re rescued and we return to our proper orbits in society.”

Mara wasn’t having any of his self doubt. She placed one hand on the carton he was about to toss aside, stopping him. Gently, she caressed his cheek with her other hand. “Nicholas Jameson, don’t be an idiot. I know what I’m doing – I wanted to have dinner with you long before this misbegotten ship took its detour and plowed into an asteroid field, or whatever the disaster was.”

The story:

I love and appreciate your comments and feedback! Go here to find all the other Weekend Writing Warriors and read a variety of excerpts…

Feb 3 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors – Excerpt From SF Wreck of the Nebula Dream

Much as I miss the Six Sentence Sunday weekly blog hop, I’m happy to report there are several new possibilities going on for posting and reading weekly excerpts in an organized fashion!

This week I’m going to post 8 sentences from WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, my science fiction adventure with romantic elements, which received an SFR Galaxy Award this past week for “Best Disaster Rewrite”! (I’m still beaming, can you tell?)

The ship has suffered an unknown accident in the middle of the night and Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson, traveling aboard the Dream as a passenger, is trying to get panicked civilians aboard the lifeboats on Level Three, all the while worrying about Mara Lyrae, the businesswoman he’s very much attracted to. She arrives in the corridor, asking for help. The excerpt starts after she’s explained about the two children trapped in a cabin near hers. I did a tiny bit of condensing to make the excerpt work as eight sentences:

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

After hearing about trapped children, Nick knew he’d stay on board as long as it took to free them. “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 said, taking a hasty step away, 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.”

The story: