Is There A Doctor in the House? 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!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

The excerpt  will be the last one from this book as next week I’ll start on my Pets In Space 5 story. Jumping ahead a few days and over a number of events to answer the question for you if Henry has allergies or is he sick. The big social event for the colonists themselves, prior to tourist season kicking off, was a wedding. Henry was a groomsman and Saffia and Micah were guests: 

There were shouts now, yelling for a doctor.

Saffia wished she wasn’t wearing her fancy footwear but at least she had her medical bag. Guests were milling around in the corridor the closer she got to the reception area and Micah took her arm protectively as he bulled his way through.

“Make way for Dr. Mandell!” His deep voice penetrated the buzz of excited conversation and people moved aside.

When she entered the room where the elaborate multi course dinner was to have been served, Saffia would have stopped in disbelief if Micah hadn’t been guiding her forward. The bottom half of the towering wedding cake sat forlornly in the center of its table, highlighted by special candelabra. The rest of the cake was on the floor and covering the groaning form of her clerk, Henry. He must have grabbed at the table to steady himself as he collapsed but now lay sprawled in a heap on the elegant carpet, face down.

The bride was weeping hysterically in the arms of her new husband but as Saffia drew closer, she realized the distraught girl was primarily mourning the cake. Suppressing an exclamation of disgust, Saffia knelt next to Henry, moving him onto his back, Micah jumping in to help. She ran a quick scan. “High fever,” she said, eyeballing the next set of results scrolling across the screen with dismay.

The blurb: Newly graduated from a prestigious interstellar medical school, Dr. Saffia Mandell has been assigned to the Haven Two colony on the galaxy’s outer rim as the only doctor for some 2000 human residents. She’s counting the days until her five years there is up, trying to adjust to rural living after life in the crowded Inner Sectors and fighting her attraction to Chief Ranger Micah Navonn. She’s dreading the upcoming tourist season when the rich and pampered will descend on the planet for the scenic wonders and novel sports opportunities and no doubt inundate her little clinic but the colony depends on the seasonal income to survive.

As the senior official for his people, the Calinurra, the indigenous inhabitants of Haven Two, Micah enforces the treaty, regulates the tourist permits, patrols the forests and resists his fascination with Dr. Mandell. He never expected to be involved with a human woman and doesn’t want to believe in the concept of a fated mate. He wants to keep his life simple and isn’t ready for any long term commitment. Besides Saffia keeps proclaiming she’ll be leaving when her appointment is up in four and a half years so why should he risk his heart?

Then a ship arrives unexpectedly carrying a very ill little girl and soon the deadly virus is spreading through Haven Two. The colony authorities are desperate to cover up the problem to preserve the all-important tourist season and Saffia and Micah have to work together to battle the outbreak, the local administration and their undeniable feelings for each other.

Can the colony survive? And will Micah and Saffia be able to move past their fears about entanglements to act on the mutual attraction?

An 87K word novel of the far future…

Amazon      Apple Books      Kobo      Nook      Google Play

Are You Sick? 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!)

May be edited a bit from published version.

It seemed to me people were about equal on whether they wanted more of the scene with the baby grizval cubs or me to move on to more of the medical issues, so since that’s really the theme of the novel, I’m moving forward in time.

The excerpt (Giving you the whole thing aince we essentially have no limit now): 

Henry was supposed to arrive an hour before her, to open the clinic, set things up for the day and accomplish other administrative tasks. He also dealt with the early arriving patients.  It was part of the arrangement that allowed him to skip working the weekends. Saffia frowned as she walked up to the clinic’s portal and found it locked, no lights on inside. Checking her wrist chrono to make sure she had the time right, she gave the three waiting patients an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry we’re keeping you out here in the cold,” she said as she keyed open the door and allowed them to walk past her. “If you’ll make yourselves comfortable in the waiting room, we’ll be right with you.” Wondering where her nurse was, she headed toward the office wing and nearly tripped over a stack of toys piled messily beside the reception desk.

“Whoa, doc, be careful,” Henry said as he rushed through the door and came to her side.

“What is all this? And why are you late?” Saffia hated to have her morning routine disrupted because it was part of how she maintained her calm center and professional balance. She needed things to be as expected and she had to have her few minutes of meditation in her office. She wouldn’t permit herself to take the time today, not with patients waiting outside while she and her staff were late. She focused more closely on Henry who seemed a bit pale. “Are you sick?”

VS: Uh oh, not a good sign….we’ll have one more excerpt from COLONY before I switch to my Pets In Space 5 story, STAR CRUISE: RETURN VOYAGE. There’s so much story left to tell in COLONY but we must move on.  (The book is for sale after all LOL.) Next week I’ll jump ahead over lots of things and show you the answer on Henry. Allergies, or????? 

The blurb: Newly graduated from a prestigious interstellar medical school, Dr. Saffia Mandell has been assigned to the Haven Two colony on the galaxy’s outer rim as the only doctor for some 2000 human residents. She’s counting the days until her five years there is up, trying to adjust to rural living after life in the crowded Inner Sectors and fighting her attraction to Chief Ranger Micah Navonn. She’s dreading the upcoming tourist season when the rich and pampered will descend on the planet for the scenic wonders and novel sports opportunities and no doubt inundate her little clinic but the colony depends on the seasonal income to survive.

As the senior official for his people, the Calinurra, the indigenous inhabitants of Haven Two, Micah enforces the treaty, regulates the tourist permits, patrols the forests and resists his fascination with Dr. Mandell. He never expected to be involved with a human woman and doesn’t want to believe in the concept of a fated mate. He wants to keep his life simple and isn’t ready for any long term commitment. Besides Saffia keeps proclaiming she’ll be leaving when her appointment is up in four and a half years so why should he risk his heart?

Then a ship arrives unexpectedly carrying a very ill little girl and soon the deadly virus is spreading through Haven Two. The colony authorities are desperate to cover up the problem to preserve the all-important tourist season and Saffia and Micah have to work together to battle the outbreak, the local administration and their undeniable feelings for each other.

Can the colony survive? And will Micah and Saffia be able to move past their fears about entanglements to act on the mutual attraction?

An 87K word novel of the far future…

Amazon      Apple Books      Kobo      Nook      Google Play

Is He Betraying Her? Weekend Writing Warriors

Warriors logo revisedHere’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!)

I don’t have a holiday story – sorry! So I’m continuing on with my latest release, Star Survivor. (Blurb below the excerpt.) I’ve jumped way ahead, to a point where Twilka and Khevan are on the run, trying to evade other assassins, since the Red Lady has a kill order out on Twilka. This snippet is the next day, after the conversation the two were having in last week’s  excerpt. I’m trying not to give spoilers! The couple are on the run in a bad area of town, waiting for their friend Nick to arrive. (Edited a bit from published version):

She looked over her shoulder to see if Khevan was on his way to rejoin her yet and her nagging problems fled as she observed him standing fifty feet away, talking to another D’nvannae Brother. Adrenaline banished all traces of tiredness. Is he betraying me? The suspicion ran through her like a shock of ice water.

She couldn’t see Khevan’s face, but she didn’t like the smirk on the other Brother’s countenance. Trying to control her breathing, she was frozen for a moment, debating what to do. Should I get away from Khevan now? Wait for Nick on my own? This could all be a cruel trick on the part of the Red Lady, with Khevan fully on board to torment her for his goddess’s pleasure – a twisted mind game would be the Lady’s style.

Arguing with herself, panic lacing the edge of her nerves, she took a second glance at the two Brothers, now standing as if ready to fight each other. Clearly the discussion wasn’t going well.

Star Survivor by Veronica ScottThe blurb:

The survivors of a terrible wreck meet again—but this time only one can survive.

They survived an iconic spaceship wreck together. She never expected to see him again … especially not armed to kill her.

Twilka Zabour is an interstellar celebrity. She built on her notoriety as a carefree Socialite who survived the terrible wreck of the Nebula Dream, and launched a successful design house. But now the man who gave meaning to her life, then left her, is back–this time for the worst of reasons. Will he kill her … or help her survive?

D’nvannae Brother Khevan survived the Nebula Dream in the company of a lovely, warm woman, only to be pulled away from her, back into his solitary life in the service of the Red Lady.  Now Twilka’s within his reach again–for all the wrong reasons. Khevan will do everything within his power to discover why Twilka has been targeted for assassination, and to save her.

But Khevan is not Twilka’s only pursuer. Will allies Nick and Mara Jameson arrive in time to aid the couple, or will Khevan and Twilka’s ingenuity be all that stands between them and death?

iBooks      Amazon    Kobo       Barnes & Noble

Happy New Year!

 

 

Six Sentence Sunday – Science Fiction Continues

six sentence sundayI’m changing pace, leaving Ancient Egypt (temporarily) for science fiction romance. Here are six more from my current WIP PRINCESS OF SHADOWS (title subject to change!).

Princess Shalira is explaining the term “princess of shadows” to the hero, Major Mike Varone, Sectors Special Forces:

I have to get away from here, before the emperor dies,” she said with a bitter laugh, adding “Playing the princess of shadows won’t protect me after his death.”

“Princess of shadows?” Nothing about that in our briefing. Mike remembered the empress had also used the term to refer to Shalira.

“It’s an old folktale, a girl of royal blood who hid from her enemies in the shadows of the palace walls, disguised as a beggar, until her true love rescued her.” Touching one delicately tinted eyelid, Shalira said, “It’s meant as an insult to me, since I can’t see, not even shadows, and I’ve lived the past fifteen years on the fringes of the court, tolerated, protected only because my mother was the emperor’s Favorite till her death.”

Here’s the story blurb:

Blind since childhood due to an attempted assassination plot, Princess Shalira is resigned to an arranged marriage with a warrior chieftain… until she meets Sectors Special Forces Major Mike Varone, sent to the planet Majumdar to investigate a crashed spaceship, lost in the planet’s mountains.  After Mike saves her from another assassination attempt, she persuades her father the Emperor to order him to join her caravan, going to meet her bridegroom.

 Mike resists his growing attraction to her but the pair bond further as they work to retrieve sacred artifacts from her mother’s tomb, narrowly escaping another ambush. Mike offers Shalira the opportunity to go off planet with him, but she insists on carrying out her father’s wishes to create an important alliance by marrying the chieftain. Heartsore, Mike promises to deliver her safely to her bridegroom and walk away.

 But when they reach the mountain camp, the chieftain is revealed to be a brutish thug, with no intention of honorably marrying Shalira. Can Mike rescue her, will they win the race against time to accomplish his mission, escape the hostile warriors hunting them and make it off the planet?

hubble imagenew

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….only a few more Sundays left of the official Six Sentence blog hop but I  plan to keep posting excerpts…

Please go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts today.

Six Sentence Sunday – More Science Fiction Adventure

Going back to my SFR , STILL out on submission now, set in the same universe as my recently published WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. 

In the excerpt two weeks ago Tom was taken suddenly ill. Last week Tom and Andi discussed his illness and as promised, here are the next six sentences in that conversation:

“This assignment was unusual, having a squad under my command since Mitch and I work alone 90% of the time,” he said, reaching out to take her hand, twining his fingers through hers, stroking his thumb across her palm.  “I would never put my guys at risk – I get about a week’s warning before an attack comes on, which gives me time to lie low.”

“What kind of warning?”

“The whole visible spectrum of colors shifts on me, like an aura, enough so nothing looks normal and for sure nothing smells or tastes right – I know an attack is coming and I know what I have to do. I was starting to see the first symptoms the day the orders changed, which was another reason I wasn’t pleased to be diverted to the Obati summer compound. ”

Biting her lip Andi drew little circles in the quilt with her free hand, saying, “I’m sorry.”

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….and hopefully my spam filter will behave this week!

Go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts!

Six Sentence Sunday

Here’s the last excerpt from my new book Wreck of the Nebula Dream, science fiction with romantic elements, available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thanks to everyone on the Six Sentence Sunday hop for being so wonderful & supportive!

The situation: Nick Jameson, Sectors Special Forces, has unexpectedly wound up traveling to his next assignment via a new luxury liner. The ship has problems early in the voyage but then suffers a catastrophe of Titanic proportions. The excerpt comes after Nick and Mara and their party have been through a lot (no spoilers so I can’t explain why Nick’s voice is raspy but trust me, the man has endured a harsh ordeal)… but still aren’t safely off the ship.

“This is one weird damn voyage,” Nick said, his voice raspy from the hours of tortured agony.

“I certainly never had any other business trip like it, ” Mara agreed, with a small smile. “Even if we don’t make it out of here, I’m not sorry I took this journey with you.”

He gazed at her, a matching smile spreading itself across his face. Just looking at this woman makes me happy – I don’t care if that sounds hokey.  “Neither am I, lady, neither am I.”

Go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts!