I’ve known Diane as an author friend in the scifi romance world for so long now, I can’t even remember how we first met! She has a new novella out that’s on my To Be Read list!
Thank you, Veronica, for inviting me to your blog. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Goldilocks Planets
Have you heard the term “Goldilocks Planet” and wondered how planets and fairy tales are connected? Scientists use that term when referring to an Earth-like planet that could be habitable by humans. It’s not too cold, not too hot. It’s just right. That’s the simple definition.
NASA’s Kepler satellite with its massive telescope is scouting the heavens looking for that planet capable of sustaining humankind. In the last year, we’ve heard about Kepler finding such possible planets. In fact, I wrote about this topic on my blog in January 2015 when Kepler found 8 new planets.
Just last week, Kepler found one that is the closest yet. Just 4.2 light years away. Sounds close, right? Don’t pack your bags yet. Proxima b (the planet that orbits the star Proxima Centauri) is actually more than 24 trillion miles away. Still, it’s the closest Kepler has found. So far.
Why is this exciting news? Besides the scientific thrill of discovering something new? Humans have been exploring from the beginning of time. Early cavemen (and women) went beyond their immediate area looking for food to hunt or gather. We used to call Alaska the “final frontier.” Remember the words from Star Trek: Space…the final frontier?
But do we just want to explore? Might we want to live there?
Doomsday “prophets” claim Earth as we know it will end. I’m not a fan of dystopia or the apocalypse. But the thought that someday we humans may need a new home in the universe intrigues me. Like many writers, I love playing the “what if” game. What if Earth runs out of resources? What if there isn’t enough room for all of us? What would we do?
That’s the premise of my new science fiction romance novella Mission to New Earth. In the movie Interstellar, catastrophes ruined food crops, created a worse Dust Bowl than the one in the 1930s. Add overpopulation to similar catastrophes, and you can see the need to find a new home.
I’m not a harbinger of doom. My children probably won’t see that day coming and, hopefully, my grandchildren won’t either. But what if . . .
Good thing NASA and scientists around the world are looking for that Goldilocks planet.
The story:
Would you go on a one-way trip to explore a new planet? Would you do it to save humankind?
Earth’s overpopulation and dwindling resources force the United Earth Space Agency to expedite exploration of new planets for a possible new home. When new crises ensue—a giant tsunami and the threat of nuclear winter—the timeline changes. Eight years of training crammed into four. Sara Grenard and her team prepare for launch, but are they ready for the one-way trip? Will the Goldilocks planet prove just right for Earth’s inhabitants? Before time runs out.
Here are links to interesting articles about Kepler and its search for an inhabitable planet:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/29mar_goldilocks/
Excerpt from Mission to New Earth
Marsh strode toward me with determination—so different from that easy-going swagger that caught my eye the first time I saw him four years ago at the White Sands Training Center. I never believed in love at first sight, but oh, mama. With dark-haired, dark-eyed Marsh, I fell hard. I must’ve done a great job hiding my feelings back then. He said he never knew—until a year later I pinned him on the exercise mat and kissed him. Yep, I took the initiative and planted a toe-curling smooch on his delectable lips. Not to be outdone, he kissed back. Holy smoke. If I’d known what a great kisser he was, I’d have done it sooner. He said he’d been biding his time, waiting for me to catch up. According to him, one look into my “gorgeous blue eyes” and he was a goner, too.
“We need to talk,” he said as he blasted past me toward our quarters.
What? I looked around. Where was the rest of my team? Marsh took an impatient whack at the mistletoe ball hung from a garland. Oh, boy. What had gotten into him?
Bill and Tom trailed behind Marsh with Gloria and Ana bringing up the rear. Like me, they wore forest green jumpsuits, and they did not look pleased. Glum was a better word.
The last simulation wasn’t that bad. A couple of glitches with last minute corrections. Maybe a reminder to one person or another. I thought we did well. Glitches happened. No need for concern. Or was there? What didn’t I know?
Bill hung back and waited for me to catch up. “He’s right. We need to talk without Big Brother listening.”
The last he delivered in a whisper with a wink and a nudge. I tried not to smile at his reference to George Orwell’s 1984, required reading in my elementary school. Considering all the cameras located throughout the station, Big Brother was an appropriate appellation.
“I assume Marsh has a place in mind?” I matched my stride to Bill’s, the most easy-going of our team. Bill was a guy’s guy. Best friend to everyone.
“Yeah, he does.”
Good thing. We couldn’t just take a walk outside, unless we could breathe methane. Titan was a trifle inhospitable. In preparation for our mission, the United Earth Space Agency established Saturn’s largest moon as our launch platform. Connected habitats, added before we arrived, evolved into crew quarters, conference and training rooms, and general meeting areas. We weren’t absolutely sure, but we thought our quarters were monitored—something I’d queried but received no definitive response. None of us were happy about that. But then in four days, we’d be on camera all the time. That was the second worst thing I feared about our voyage.
Mission to New Earth is available at:
Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01JXZR0AK
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/mission-to-new-earth-a-novella
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/mission-to-new-earth-a-novella/id1148678942?mt=11
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/661493
About the Author:
Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched and Outer Rim series, she is the author of One Red Shoe, a romantic suspense, and the Alex O’Hara PI mystery series. She is also a contributor to two anthologies: Portals, Volume 2 and How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in West Michigan. They have two children and three grandchildren.
For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com
Blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmburton72
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor
Goodreads: Diane Burton Author https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2902110.Diane_Burton
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Amazon author page: http://amzn.com/e/B00683MH5E
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Once a month the Science Fiction Romance Brigade authors showcase snippets from new work, WIPs, cover reveals or other fun things. 
The Story:
Here’s the link to the 
The story:
MY NEW RELEASE!
PIRATE (SPACE GYPSY CHRONICLES) by Eve Langlais
stories in my opinion…
With an alien symbiont living inside her, giving her incredible healing powers, even immortality, she looks forward to spending eternity with her lover, ex-mercenary Wolf Youngblood. Their lives and the fortunes of the Empire are purring along like a well fed Kaphier cat, so they decide now would be a good time for Wolf to go into the operating tank to have his old augmentations updated.
the gossip about her past as the king’s mistress. Unfortunately, wicked fairies have come to her village, intent on stealing all the most attractive children away–and Beatrice’s newborn son is widely agreed to be the most beautiful baby in the land.
Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to….
facing an even bigger nightmare. Hiding from her con man “husband” aboard his space station, she comes across an intimidating cyborg…one who could just be her last hope…..
The machines have risen, but not out of malice. They were simply following a command: to stop the endless wars that have plagued the world throughout history. Their solution was perfectly logical. To end the fighting, they decided to end the human race.
JayMax Productions to film scenes in the swamp for a horror movie, he is intrigued. Both by the movie, whose subject hits a little too close to home, and by the tall, freckled redhead, Charlie Dupine.
get out of orbit, a brutal alien warrior attacks. He says he wants our ship, but from one look in his eyes, I know he wants much more from me.
maybe show up her loathsome ex-boyfriend in the process. Instead, the beautiful scientist is whisked from Earth by the very alien invaders whose existence she sought to prove. Not only do they exist, but a stunning specimen of an alpha male believes it’s his destiny to mate with her….
female for over two centuries and he will fight—kill—any who dare attempt to take her. Even one of his own males.
deaths.
rescue. Each day she is consumed with the task of foraging for food, finding shelter, and avoiding predators. But the nights are the worst.. When the planet freezes over and she is left with nothing but her demons. That is until the day she sees a ship fall out of the sky….
China. In San Francisco, headstrong secretary Ingrid Carmichael is assisting a group of powerful geomancer wardens who have no idea of the depth of her own talent—or that she is the only woman to possess such skills.
chasing down those who wish either side harm. But when a string of violent murders sweeps the Corgan community, even Cora may have finally seen too much. And it only gets more complicated from there, when one passion-filled night with the most terrifying man in the realm leaves Cora with a surprise she wasn’t quite prepared for…
I’m so happy to announce my latest new release Trapped on Talonque (A Sectors SF Romance), with gorgeous cover by Fiona Jayde!
Here’s the link to the 
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!
QUANTUM by Jess Anastasi
heir before the Norse lead a devastating war against the Tuatha Dé for control of the Otherworld. But ever since Cameron took the Spear and became the next sun god, new threats keep emerging: one from a Persian god and one from Cameron himself….
The war against corrupted monsters from the Void may have ended, but much remains broken in Valentia, including its reluctant monarch. To save the kingdom from the destruction of civil war, Darius Marillion had to sacrifice his heart, agreeing to a marriage of convenience over one of love.
Trapped in the last place he wanted to be…he would find the only thing he ever wanted.
ARK by Lucy Snow
THE GUILD CONSPIRACY: A CHRONIKER CITY STORY by Brooke Johnson
A PROMISE OF FIRE by Amanda Bouchet
the plot quickly, the book follows two cadets at the Solar League’s naval academy. The League is in fact a traditional space opera Empire, with an aristocracy drawn, amusingly, from descendants of owners of contemporary mega-corporations. They are called the Fortune 500. The two focal characters are a tailor’s son and the Emperor’s daughter, the first female cadet at the academy. They deal with intrigue, prospective civil war and two alien threats. Romance does ensue but it isn’t overwhelming and it feels true to life and not fantastical….
A malfunctioning escape vessel, a deserted planet, and an angry warrior…
bent on chaos and taking over the world has been hard on Sorrin, leading the warrior to become hardened and single minded where he was once much more friendly and easy going. When he finds out that the Camadors are planning to take their reign of terror to Earth, he follows, arriving just in time to find that humans are being taken prisoner and that the Camadors have something planned for the planet. His mind isn’t on saving the humans, but getting his revenge, and so he attacks their floating city, but winds up getting captured.
Welcome! You have arrived at a portal to the galaxy.
preparing to declare war. Nearly twenty years after Owen’s supposed death, his granddaughter Courtney wants to learn the truth—even if she has to travel to the far-flung colony to do it.
The entire world laid to waste. There are no second chances.
those who call me a pirate don’t get a chance to say it twice.
Three deliciously spooky (and hilariously funny) love stories that will make you believe in magic and romance (and maybe even Mothman!). Discover the haunted town of Banshee Creek, where it’s Halloween 365 days a year.
crashing onto a strange planet, a strange culture, and even stranger inhabitants.
CLUE AND THE SHRINE OF THE WIDOWED BRIDE by Wendie Nordgren
