From the beginning of my story “Star Cruise: Stowaway.” We’re in Owen, the Cargo Master’s POV:
This was the time of day he enjoyed most, when all his crew had gone off duty and the Nebula Zephyr’s top cargo deck was quiet. Sure, more work remained tomorrow to get the cargo squared away properly and ready for the next stop, but there was no rush, being several weeks out. Cargo Master Owen Embersson surveyed his desk in the tiny office on Deck 18. Time to leave the place to the ship’s AI, go have his dinner in his cabin and then resume work on the scale model of a long-vanished temple he was building. This one was incredibly intricate, and he’d charge the customer triple the usual price.
Stepping onto the echoing deck, he called for Moby. She spent most of her evenings hunting vermin lurking among the monstrous crates and containers, but she usually passed the first part of the evening in his cabin, eating the incredibly expensive cat food he had the ship’s AI keep in stock. Not much else to spend his salary on. “Come on, cat, I want my dinner even if you don’t,” he said to the elegant vision in white fur who trotted from the murky recesses of the deck. How she stayed clean when she spent her days prowling the cargo deck, he’d never know.
Purring, she came to his steel-tipped work shoes but evaded his effort to pick her up, moving just out of range the way felines did, as if cats could teleport. Moby scampered toward the towering stacks of cargo then turned. Seeing he’d failed to chase her, she sat, tail twitching, head tilted, eyeing him.
“What‘s the matter with you? I’m not in the mood to throw cat toys and retrieve them right now.” Embersson headed toward the gravlift. Moby regarded the entire ship as her territory and could find his cabin for her dinner when she was hungry.
In the next minute, he nearly tripped as she rubbed his ankles, nipping at one in passing. Swearing, he caught himself with a hand to the bulkhead. “What in the seven hells is wrong with you tonight? Giving me a concussion won’t get you fed.”
Moby yowled at him and ran toward the stacked cargo again.
Figuring she wanted to show him a recent kill, which he’d then have to dispose of, he followed.
Moby moved faster now that she’d gotten him with the program.
Moby and Midorri by Artist Nyssa Juneau
He followed her around the corner of the pallet the ship had taken on earlier in the day and found Midorri, the Zephyr’s other pet, crouched beside a free trader container. “What mischief have the two of you gotten into now?” he asked Moby. Midorri came aboard the Zephyr originally as the pampered pet of a princess, but after the whole outbreak incident, Sector authorities refused to let the lady disembark on Sector Hub with the undocumented animal, so the ship had kept the odd green fluffball. Dr. Shane was her official owner of record, but the entire crew liked the slightly clumsy but always amusing creature.
Midorri sneezed, as she was often wont to do, allergic to humans perhaps, and flicked her plush prehensile tail before lowering her head and extending her long green tongue to lap at something on the deck.
“Freaking flares, do not tell me we’ve got leaking cargo. Damn free traders and their beat-up equipment.” He hoped Moby hadn’t sampled whatever Midorri was drinking. The alien animal could probably handle anything up to and including nuclear fuel, who knew, but Moby was definitely a terrestrial cat, with a more delicate stomach. He tried to shoo Midorri away from the slowly growing puddle of green goo, dripping from a dented corner of the container. Musta gotten banged when the shuttle crew offloaded the final pallet too fast and had to straighten everything in a rush. Funny, he’d never have picked this box—well constructed, made from high-quality materials—to be a problem. “I better see what’s in there,” he said to the interested animals.
Moby yowled, startling him as her voice echoed, and Midorri emitted a high-pitched chirping that grated on his ears like a physical assault.
Spurred on by the animals’ distress, which confirmed his own suspicion he faced a genuine problem, Embersson used his cargo master key, which was supposed to open any container on his ship. Nothing happened. Swearing, he tried again. “This free trader’s never shipping anything with us again, idiot forgot to set the damn code for my access….”
STAR CRUISE A NOVELLA: STOWAWAY with Star Cruise Rescue and Golden Token Short Stories.
In this volume I’ve gathered three stories set in the Sectors which have previously only been available in anthologies (which are no longer on sale), plus a bonus Sectors short holiday story that I originally wrote for my blog.
Star Cruise: Stowaway: A novella of 22K words, previously in the first Pets in Space™ anthology.
Cargo Master Owen Embersson is shocked when the Nebula Zephyr’s ship’s cat and her alien sidekick, Midorri, alert him to the presence of a stowaway. He has no idea of the dangerous complications to come nor does he anticipate falling hard for the woman whose life he now holds in his hands. Life aboard the Nebula Zephyr has just become more interesting – and deadly.
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Have you booked your Star Cruise yet? 14 Voyages to choose from!
Ever wish you could get a peek at your favorite scifi romance author’s To Be Read List?
I have not read most of the new releases listed (although I always end up one-clicking a bunch as I prepare these posts LOL) and as always I recommend sampling before you buy!
ZADRI (DRAGONS OF PREOR BOOK 5) by Celia Kyle as Erin Tate
BEYOND REACH by Jessica E Subject
ALPHA GEEK by Milly Taiden
Aztec heart-stealing god have complicated their mission. And finding the Tuatha Dé’s next ruler and combatting gods who want them dead aren’t the only problems facing the young couple; they also must find themselves….
debutante to street girl to scavenger. While testing her new flying skills in the Cully Canyon, Alisha incurs a near-death crash landing. She’s “rescued” by a colonel of the SkyRyders and her life changes forever.
of rescue. Follow the series on convoluted romps through space with smart, super sexy females and their companions.
big a deal as getting home to her therapy cat, except that getting anywhere in the U.S. is dicey in the wake of public uproar about first contact. For Navenah, a short-term assignment with vague directions to find generators to save her dying race leads to frustration and misunderstanding. The two women find unexpected pleasure together, but will that solve the galactic die-off?
do it.
When one man can’t steal her heart,
After Bree’s life was torn apart, Nereidium had represented a haven to her. A place that—if she could save it—was beyond the King’s reach.
TERRA’S VICTORY (DESTINY’S TRINITIES BOOK 7) by Tracy Cooper-Posey 
northern territories and protected by the Lummi nation.
Human governments grow weary of the immortals and the dangers they bring to the world. Desperation reigns, tempers flare, and the immortals find themselves on the brink of war from all sides.
a muscular Swedish man named Sven.
VS NOTE: Including this because it seemed like an interesting series. An Omnibus only available as paperback or hardback? Individual stories are out on kindle. Apparently as an urban fantasy the romance grows over the series…anyone want to weigh in here and tell us more?
Veronica: NY Times Best Selling and RITA Award winning Susan Grant is one of those author names you always hear mentioned in the science fiction romance world, usually on a “Best of…” list. Many people began their enjoyment of SFR with one of her novels! When my friend, author Pauline B. Jones and I decided to put together the Pets In Space anthology, Susan was one of the first people we wanted to invite. As you’ll read in her blog post, Susan is a veteran and a pet lover, as well as a pilot and and an SFR author and….well, read for yourself!
Next came a stray cat named Alice. I was around 7 years old. I set out food and water for her every day and gave her all the love a kitty could want. But she wasn’t allowed in the house. I had allergies, and my allergist told my parents that if I got a cat, I would die. Or, at least this was the reason they gave me. Not wanting to die, I accepted this, and loved Alice with all my heart until she disappreared one day after about a year. My mom told me that a band of hippies stole her and drove off with her in their car. (Or, in my imagination, a baby blue VW bus) However, I recently learned, some four decades after the fact, that Mom actually dropped Alice off at the pound. I hope from there Alice found her forever home, hippies or no.
Foxbat was so little when I brought her home that she slept in my slipper. I had a few sniffles at first, but they passed, and I proved my childhood allergist wrong—cat ownership did not in fact kill me. Foxbat attended all the pilot parties at our house, was partial to Cheetos, and was known to lick the mouths of empty beer bottles, and stayed up until all hours; she made many a military move to new duty stations, and then some.
Foxbat was no ordinary cat. I might have had to wait my entire life for her, but she was worth every moment. She used up every one of her nine lives, surviving even a rattlesnake bite, somehow making it home before she collapsed, miraculously making it to the vet before she stopped breathing. She bounced back better than ever, and went on to live nineteen adventurous years, until a devastating disease called FIV took her down. (There is a vaccination for FIV now, but there wasn’t then.)
A good pet is behind the smile of many a military veteran:
Here’s the link to the 
I have not read most of the new releases listed (although I always end up one-clicking a bunch as I prepare these posts LOL) and as always I recommend sampling before you buy!
CLAIMED (PROJECT DESTINY BOOK 1) by Lee-Ann Wallace
PACK (THE BLADES OF JANUS BOOK 1) by Cassandra Chandler
SHADOW SILENCE (WHISPER HOLLOW) by Yasmine Galenorn
NO GOOD DRAGON GOES UNPUNISHED (HEARTSTRIKERS BOOK 3) by Rachel Aaron
SILVER WOLF RISING (WOLVES OF FENRIR bOOK 3) by Sela Carsen
A SHADOW BRIGHT AND BURNING (KINGDOM ON FIRE BOOK 1) by Jessica Cluess
WITCHES RULE (DEMON ASSASSINS BOOK 3) by Ann Gimpel
VS NOTE: Was originally released in 2006 by Amber Quill Press.
Joanna Angeles is ready for anything. Sent to Chalice, an alien world, with state-of-the-art equipment and a ten-year time limit, she is determined to change the harsh environment of her new world into a welcoming home for the hundred-thousand colonists that are depending on her. How will she survive the most brutal environment she has ever faced? Can her Artificial Intelligence companion, Bardas, truly be the perfect lover? Can she succeed in her mission when her new home seems to be determined to kill her? (more)…
now at full strength — but is his might enough to safeguard the realm when half the Heavens are already in their hands? John and Emma fight a last-ditch desperate struggle to conserve their kingdom and their protect their families.
The heirs of the city’s most powerful—and warring—families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou, share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on the Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan—and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.
WORLDS AWAY (ALPHA ALIEN ABDUCTION TALE BOOK 1) by J. L. Hendricks
VS NOTE: Liza O’Connor 
THE GENDER GAME by Bella Forrest
TRAPPED IN THE STARS by Lynn Red
The story:
I have not read most of the new releases listed (although I always end up one-clicking a bunch as I prepare these posts LOL) and as always I recommend sampling before you buy!
DISRUPTOR by Sonya Clark
DECOHERENCE A TIME AND SHADOWS MYSTERY by Liana Brooks
wants something more. At night, Michelle has dreams about an alien. She can’t believe how handsome he is and lets him do unspeakable things to her. After all, it’s just a dream, right?
But the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. But queens are still just human, and no matter how strong or good, the threat of danger always looms.
NOTE from Ms Danes, on Amazon =>Dear Reader,
PORTALS VOLUME 7 by Various
woman infected with unruly magic, unknowingly using her soul to find love…
were dead at Central Park’s ice-skating rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor, and a teacher. As random as random can be.
VS NOTE: From July, Whiskey With My Book blog brought it to my attention
THE FORSAKEN PEARL (BROKEN WATERS SERIES BOOK 2) by Jennifer W. Smith
equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.
As part of the Watchers, Rhys is used to all types of combat, pursuit, and interrogation. But hacking and tracking through hidden online channels is where he excels. Shattering codes and sneaking around firewalls comes as easily to him as a swordfight or street brawl with a predatory enemy.
world secret. Bad things happen when he tries to let people in. Now that he’s awakened, he’s determined to help save the world and disappear back into the shadows. Until he rescues Lana, a feisty, damaged human who draws Dom in and tempts him to risk getting close to someone for the first time in so long. Too bad his dream woman has a no-shifter rule.
SIENNA: I hate my life. So do all the other genetically inferior orphans at the Training Center. How much worse could it get than forced diets, grueling exercise and gene therapy designed to tame our curves?
BIONIC OUTLAW’S BABYA SECRET BABY SCIFI ROMANCE by Zara Zenia
power as a witch and a leader, found her way home, chosen to face battle again, and (after losing her first love and being betrayed by her new love) she has learned more about loss and grief than she ever wanted to know.
Abigail Forsythe’s life hasn’t been easy lately. Still, if there’s one thing guaranteed to take her mind off an empty bank account and abandoned dreams, it’s a naked man locked in a plane’s cargo hold. A very big, incredibly gorgeous naked man. And when instinct prompts her to free him, Abigail must rely on this stranger for survival . . . a stranger who leaves her thrumming with need every time they touch.
corporeal spirit, and he is also my protector. Against what, you ask? Well, it seems that ever since my return, I’ve been chased by ghosts. Demons. Ancient evil. Monsters. You name it.
Stag and the crew of the Varnish are on a mission, responding to a distress signal of a freighter that has been attacked by the Markus Models. Instead of finding the enemy, they discover one sole survivor. Nala’s a human, and having suffered at their hands during his time on Earth, there’s no species Stag despises more. But when the petite woman confuses him for an android and tries to order him around, Stag decides she’ll live—and pay for her slights. …
the disaster? How does the chief handle the destruction of everything he’s ever known?
MARRIED TO THE CYBORG
23rd, over 50 books!!! Includes my LADY OF THE STAR WIND, which was an All Romance eBooks Top Pick!
