Oct 14 2017

Write You Into a Song Weekend Writing Warriors

Here’s the link to the Weekend Writing Warriors central page, so you can visit all the participants sharing excerpts today…a fun way to sample new books and find new authors! (Also welcome to the Sunday Snippet visitors!)

The snippet is from my new novella Star Cruise: Songbird, from the EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2 anthology, which released on October 10th.

This will be the final snippet I’ll share from the novella. Grant has taken Karissa the singer to the security office while they wait for an unruly crowd of fans to disperse. Grant has been checking the wall chrono anxiously and Karissa asked if she was keeping him from a date…

The excerpt:

Reluctantly he said, “Not a date. I have a—a pet, who requires exercise.”

“A pet on board the ship? I never expected that answer. So Fido needs a walk, does he? Let’s go—I could use some exercise.”

“It’s not that simple,” he said.

“Is the pet exercising area open to passengers?”

“Not the one I use.” He admitted. “But—”

“This office is boring,” she said, “Now I’m not a Socialite who’d probably die of boredom if you kept me here, but you can’t dangle a chance to take a pet for its walk in front of me and then yank it away. Too cruel, Officer Barton – be mean to me and I might have to write you into a song.”

The story:

Grant Barton, a Security Officer on the Nebula Zephyr, is less than thrilled with his current assignment to guard an Interstellar singing sensation while she’s on board the ship. It doesn’t help that he and his military war bird Valkyr are dealing with their recent separation from the Sectors Special Forces and uncertainty over their future, with their own planet in ruins.

Karissa Dawnstar is on top of the charts and seemingly has it all – talent, fame, fortune and devoted fans, but behind her brave smile and upbeat lyrics she hides an aching heart. When a publicity stunt goes wrong, Karissa finds herself in the arms of the security officer assigned to protect her – and discovers a mutual attraction she can’t ignore.

Trouble continues to plague the pair, driving a wedge between them and leaving Grant certain that Karissa is in more danger than she realizes, from overzealous fans and her own management. Grant is determined to protect Karissa whether she wants his help or not. Can he discover the truth behind what’s going on before he loses Karissa or is there someone else plotting to keep them apart – permanently?

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you! Join in the fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author, Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King, for stories that will take you out of this world! Join New York Times, USA TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard, Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!

10% of the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.

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Oct 7 2017

Keeping You From Something Weekend Writing Warriors

(If you’re looking for the October SFRB Showcase, that post is here.)

The snippet is from my new novella Star Cruise: Songbird, which is coming out in the EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2 anthology on October 10th (but can be pre-ordered). Only a few more days!!! (Can you tell I’m excited?)

I’ve skipped ahead a bit from last week’s excerpt. Grant has taken Karissa to his boss’s office to wait until the coast is clear to get her safely back to her own cabin. The excerpt is edited a bit to fit the rules here.

The excerpt:

Still holding her drink, she rose and made a slow tour of the office, examining the few knickknacks and holos on display. Over her shoulder, she said, “You’re not a fan, I gather?”

“Fan?”

“Of my music,” she laughed, “I must sound conceited but most people would be thrilled to have a one on one session with me – you haven’t even asked for an autograph.”

“I’m sure your music is wonderful. I’ve been downrange for the last few years so I’m not up on popular culture,” He checked the time again and looked up to see her frowning at him. “Means I’ve been outside the Sectors, in places I can’t talk about.”

She nodded, “Am I making you nervous? Or am I keeping you from something, a date maybe?” Karissa pointed at the shiptime indicator on the wall, “You keep checking.”

We’ll find out what Grant is anxious about in the next excerpt. Or if you buy the book, you can read the entire novella on the 10th. I’ll probably only do one more excerpt from this book after it’s been released and then move on to my next planned new release, which is an ancient Egyptian paranormal romance. It’s been too long since I wrote one of those!

The story:

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

Buy Links:

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Amazon JP iBooks B&N Kobo Google Play

We have a free coloring book to download while you wait – it’s on our website here!

Oct 6 2017

SFR Brigade Presents Star Cruise Songbird Rock Concert

Once a month the SFR Brigade does a blog hop where authors share excerpts, cover reveals or other fun posts related to their scifi romances. Check here for the list of all the participants this month.

We’re about five days away from the release of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, so I thought I’d share an excerpt from my novella in the anthology, STAR CRUISE: SONGBIRD. The story blurb and more about the anthology itself are below the excerpt! We’re doing pre-orders this time…

The excerpt:

When the singer emerged from the room where she’d been getting ready, he was astounded. She looked as if she’d stepped straight from a trideo, her sexy costume elaborate and glittering in the lights, her multicolored hair caught up in coils by all manner of elaborate, bejeweled accessories. Even he could tell her shoes were works of art, with heels designed to resemble stacked planets, standing six inches high. She smiled, obviously enjoying his reaction. “Well?”

Pirouetting on those absurd heels, she laughed and held out her hand. “Escort me,” she said like a queen.

He did so, surrounded by her team, including the backup singers and the six dancers, all of whom joined Karissa when she reached the backstage area. Gently she let go of Grant’s arm and stepped away, gathering her team around her for a pep talk. He stayed alert, watching everyone else in the area, ready to challenge anyone acting suspicious.

The show was already going on at full volume. Karissa’s was the final set of the evening and when she ran onstage, her dancers bouncing and doing acrobatics around her, the roar was astounding. Grant stood in the wings, as close to the stage as he could, and watched the performance. Karissa strutted, she danced, she teased, she brought a child on stage for a brief chat, she sang full throated. The crowd loved it all. He had a hard time keeping his eye on the audience, watching for problems, because she was so riveting.

“First time at a show?” asked an older woman standing next to him. “This is nothing compared to what she’ll do at the big concert on Calillia next week. There’ll be multiple costume changes and aerial components. And maybe some new songs, although she’s been quiet about that. She doesn’t want Ted getting the rights to any more of her stuff if she can help it. Things are really sour between them now.” She laughed self-consciously and held out her hand. “I’m Desdusan, by the way, her chief makeup artist. Chief busybody too. I try to look out for her as much as I can. Been with Karissa for nine years, ever since she hit the bigtime with ‘Twisted Comets’. She’ll probably sing that for the encore.”

“I hate to admit it but I’ve never heard her music before—it’s all new to me,” he said as they shook.

The woman did a double take. “Really? You’re probably the only person in the Sectors who hasn’t heard at least one Karissa song.”

“I have now,” he pointed out, annoyed to feel so defensive

As expected, Karissa left the stage briefly at the end of her set and returned to deafening applause to sing the encore. Then she waved to the crowd and danced off. Grant followed her as Desdusan gave her a bottle of water and the two women headed for the dressing room. “Did you like it?” Karissa asked him over her shoulder.

“Full of energy and feeling,” he said. “Clearly I missed a lot while I was on active duty.”

The story:

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

Buy Links:

Amazon US Amazon CA Amazon UK Amazon AU Amazon FR Amazon DE

Amazon JP iBooks B&N Kobo Google Play

We have a free coloring book to download while you wait – it’s on our website here!

Sep 30 2017

Like A Dentist ? Weekend Writing Warriors

The snippet is from my new novella Star Cruise: Songbird, which is coming out in the EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2 anthology on October 10th (but can be pre-ordered).

The singer’s manager set up an unauthorized signing in a small space on the ship and now there’s a near riot going on. Security Officer Grant Barton gets singer Karissa out of the crowd. I’ve edited this a little bit from the published version. Grant keeps calling her Miss Dawnstar as they leave the area of the disastrous, unscheduled autograph signing.

The excerpt:

“Just Karissa,” she said. Hands on her hips as they floated in the gravlift, she raised her eyebrows, “And you are?”

“Sorry, Officer Grant Barton.” He reached out to shake the hand she offered and tried not to stare at her wildly decorated fingernails and the jewel-encrusted ring big as his palm. “Should have introduced myself earlier but I was concentrating on the extraction.”

Everything he said seemed to amuse her, as she chuckled now,“Like a dentist?”

“What? No, sorry, military terminology for removing personnel when it’s considered imperative that they be immediately relocated out of a hostile environment and taken to a secure area.”

“My fans certainly aren’t hostile,” Her frown was epic, her arched eyebrows punctuating her displeasure, “Over-enthusiastic sometimes maybe.”

“There were way too many of them crammed into that small space and a lack of proper exits – the ship’s AI tells me we never use the Observatory for events.”

The story:

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

Buy Links:

We have a free coloring book to download while you wait – it’s on our website here!

Sep 16 2017

Disperse the Fans Weekend Writing Warriors

The snippet is from my new novella Star Cruise: Songbird, which is coming out in the EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2 anthology on October 10th (but can be pre-ordered).

The singer’s manager set up an unauthorized signing in a small space on the ship and now there’s a near riot going on.

The excerpt:

“Listen, there must be a couple hundred people here,” Grant said, “I’m going in the back way and extract the lady. Then the rest of you can do crowd control and disperse these fans – it’ll be easier to persuade them to leave when Karissa isn’t here anymore.”

“Go for it,” Jake said.

Grant backed out of the casino and ran to the nearest crew-only gravlift. Once inside the system he transferred to the small tube giving access to the observatory. Emerging from the concealed door at the far end, he found himself behind the singer and her entourage, who were backed against the bulkhead by a clamoring crowd, only a small table separating them from the fans. The singer herself was easy to identify, clad in a sparkling, short blue and green dress, lavender boots to the knees and her towering pink hair ornamented with silver braids. He shouldered his way through the crowd and touched her arm. Startled, she turned to him, her blue eyes wide with fear.

“Ship’s security, Miss Dawnstar, here to get you out,” Grant took her elbow in a firm grip and towed her sideways, away from her manager and staff.

The story:

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

Buy Links:

We have a free coloring book to download while you wait – it’s on our website here!

Sep 9 2017

Our Passenger Is Alarmed Weekend Writing Warriors

The snippet is from my new novella Star Cruise: Songbird, which is coming out in the EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 2 anthology on October 10th (but can be pre-ordered). Please excuse the creative punctuation here!

The excerpt:

The ship’s AI spoke in his ear, “All Security Officers, I have a situation in the casino observatory level.”

Grant hastened his pace, “I’m right there, responding now – what’s up?”

“There’s an unruly crowd gathering. Passenger Karissa Dawnstar was doing an autograph signing and apparently word has spread.”

“There’s no such event on the calendar for today,” Jake Dilon, head of the ship’s security detail spoke up on the private com.

He sure sounds pissed. Grant paused at the entrance to the casino. The crowd was huge and growing, jostling for position in the line to reach the observatory. The queue snaked around the gaming tables.

“Our passenger and her entourage are alarmed,” the AI said.

The story:

Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:

Buy Links:

We have a free coloring book to download while you wait – it’s on our website here!

Sep 2 2017

How Did You Do That? Weekend Writing Warriors

(If you’re here for the SFR Brigade Presents excerpt from my next release Star Cruise Songbird, go HERE.)

The snippet is from Two Against the Stars (story below the excerpt), my latest release. Continuing on from last week where Carialle tries to help her elderly landlady. Edited slightly from the published version to fit into our rules here.

The excerpt:

Carialle sent the entity [the tree] a comforting thought and then used her power to push the insects.

Mrs. Galaganos screeched and retreated as a flood of tiny black and white insects came pouring from the ground between the tree’s gnarled roots, and out of every knothole, “I’ll get the watering robo and drown them!” She hobbled to take action, as the pet arrived to growl and make threatening noises at the invaders. His elderly mistress washed the horde off the sidewalk and into a drain, muttering imprecations against them and obviously taking great joy in defeating the hitherto unseen enemy. Carialle bit her lip hard to repress her urge to grin at the landlady’s enthusiasm, pivoting on her heel to survey the tree.

“It looks better already. How—how did you do that?” Mrs. Galaganos was staring at her.

Hastily Carialle sent a thread of her power to calm the old woman, and to help her believe the lie she was about to utter, “I heard them moving and chirping under the bark and so I thumped hard on the tree. I guess I startled a bunch of them and the others followed, like larger creatures stampeding. – you took care of the problem then.”

Mrs. Galaganos took a deep breath and patted the robo by her side, “I certainly did.”

The story:

Empathic priestess Carialle has escaped the evil Amarotu Combine, but she’s hardly out of danger. Not when she risks everything to rescue a drugged man from a crooked veterans’ clinic. By lulling the clinic staff to sleep, she reveals her powers. And once again, criminals are after her and her rescuer.

Marcus Valerian, a wounded Special Forces veteran, never expected to have his life threatened by the clinic that’s supposed to help ex-soldiers like him. But when he wakes from a drugged state to find a lovely woman urging him to run–he does. In his family’s remote fishing cabin, he suffers the agony of withdrawal, soothed only by her powers.

In their idyllic hideaway, the two also discover a nova-hot attraction flaring. But can they stay alive long enough for it to become more? Not if the Combine has anything to say–they are not giving up until Marcus is dead and Carialle is their weapon

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Aug 26 2017

Not the Cause of the Problem Weekend Writing Warriors

“My late husband planted this tree when we moved in here, all those years ago.” Mrs. Galaganos sighed, “He was such a romantic—he carved our names into the trunk, with a heart, in honor of our love. This tree is my last link to him—he died a year ago. I’ll be devastated if it dies too – I feel close to him when I’m out here gardening in the shade of the tree,” Her voice quavered and Carialle feared the elderly lady was on the verge of tears.

She peered more closely at the inscription and could barely make out two names and several slashes resembling a date. The carving was old and clearly not the cause of the tree’s current health problem. “Bugs, living deep within the trunk, feasting on the rising sap.”

“How—how can you tell?”

“I know a lot about plants – I’ve studied them,” Carialle improvised. The tree was attempting to tell her what course of action might help it fight off the infestation.

Next week I’ll continue with this scene..

The story:

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3 empath covers canva

Aug 19 2017

Let Me Take A Look Weekend Writing Warrior

The snippet is from Two Against the Stars (story below the excerpt), my latest release. I’ve jumped ahead to a scene where Carialle tries to help her elderly landlady. Edited slightly from the published version to fit into our rules here. I’ll go on with this scene next week.

“You certainly maintain the garden in great shape,” Carialle said, trying to change the subject.

Pride evident on her face, Mrs. Galaganos surveyed her small domain, “Yes, all but the biggest tree. I’ll be devastated if anything happens to it but the leaves have been dropping for ten days now and this isn’t the leaf-casting season – I gave it extra water.”

Impatient as she was to be off about her own errands, Carialle felt a compulsion to react to the concern about the possibly ailing tree. Tulavarrans and nature worked hand in hand on her planet and a priestess was never to ignore the needs of the differently-sentient. “Additional irrigation isn’t always the best tactic,” she said, walking toward the tree in question, “Let me take a look.”

Mrs Galaganos trailed behind her while the pet yawned, rolled over in its patch of sun, and ignored them.

The tree had a beautiful shape, with a swirling trunk rising twenty feet in the air, and graceful branches currently sporting rather patchy clumps of leaves. The older leaves were a glossy deep green but the newer ones were shriveled, mottled with red and brown. Carialle stepped across the ornamental barrier of white shells and rested her hand on the tree, reaching for the sentient with her power.

The story:

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3 empath covers canva

Aug 5 2017

No Time To Waste Weekend Writing Warriors

NEW RELEASE! The snippet is from Two Against the Stars (story below the excerpt). I’m continuing on from last week, where Dobkin, Carialle’s mob handler, has died in the bathroom of their cheap hotel room from an accidental, drunken fall. She was handcuffed to the bed but has gotten loose, although one cuff remains around her wrist. Edited somewhat from the published version:

Carialle swallowed hard and forced herself to go through his pockets, snagging the key to the handcuffs and his ID and credit tag. Her hands were shaking so hard it took her three tries to release the shackle around her wrist.

She took a deep breath to quell her rising hysteria – No time to waste.

Carialle unfastened a gaudy, retro timepiece from his wrist and sidled away. It took her a few moments in the bedroom to dump out the contents of his small pack, snatching whatever might be useful and leaving the rest on the bed. She contemplated the small hand weapon for a long moment. She’d no idea how to use it but the allure of possessing a means of defending herself against those immune to her power was impossible to resist. Grabbing the shiny mini blaster, she hid it at the bottom of the pack and sealed the seams.

She straightened her spine, took a deep breath and checked the mirror to be sure there was no blood on her drab gray tunic, leggings or shoes. She hastened to the door and stepped into the hall, closing the portal behind her, keying the advisory to Do Not Disturb.

The story:

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Veronica Scott

Science Fiction & Fantasy Romance Author

Tag Archives: SFR

Write You Into a Song Weekend Writing Warriors

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Keeping You From Something Weekend Writing Warriors

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SFR Brigade Presents Star Cruise Songbird Rock Concert

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Like A Dentist ? Weekend Writing Warriors

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Disperse the Fans Weekend Writing Warriors

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How Did You Do That? Weekend Writing Warriors

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