This is a great way to find new authors and books out there. My thanks to Gina Danna for inviting me to join. Here’s mine!
1: What is the working title of your book?
Across the Stars
2: Where did the idea come from for the book?
I've always been intrigued by cyborgs and the idea of humans being a nearly extinct race in the future.
3: What genre does your book come under?
SFR (Sci-Fi Romance)
4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Chris Hemsworth as the hero and genetically enhanced cyborg named Rorik
Teresa Palmer (if she had chestnut hair) as the quiet and survival minded Laina Roberts (one of few remaining humans in the universe)
5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
She was the last of her race, his sworn enemy, and the only hope for the cyborgs to survive...
6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?
Not published yet. Still technically a Work in Progress. I hope to have my literary agent shop it around to publishing houses when it its ready.
7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Still technically writing the first draft.
8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Probably closest to a combination of Linnea Sinclair and Laurann Dohner's stories.
9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I just had this vision of a woman on an alien ship, catching sight of the dreaded cyborgs ready to board. She knows she has to hide and survive and that they will surely kill her. I wanted to tell a story, her story, about how a person can be strong simply by opening their heart and trusting that kindness, love and understanding can sometimes bring peace.
10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I tried to focus the story more on an emotional journey than a scientific one, hoping to appeal to more readers. It's a story about love and how it's powerful enough to cross cultures and barriers.
Here's an excerpt:
It was only a matter of time
before her family crossed paths with a Legion. And the time did come, when she
was but fourteen. Laina had never seen a cyborg before, her parents had forced
her into an escape pod before the cyborgs had boarded. She had wanted to stay
and fight alongside her family. Instead, she’d clung to the tiny confines of
the escape pod as it shook and trembled with the force of the explosion of the
transport ship. She would never forget the sight. Sparks and golden flames
turned purple and rippled outward across space like waves in a cosmic pond
disturbed by a stone thrown by a careless god. Laina had collapsed to her
knees, shock tearing through her as sharply as any explosion could have.
It was that day the
nightmares started. And the longing for a world she’d never known. Earth. Her
blood remembered it, the feel of cool grass beneath her bare feet, the warmth
of a healthy yellow sun, the air thick with symphony of early morning bird
song. Could a person’s DNA carry memories? Laina had been born on a starship
but she could feel the weight of earth deep in her soul.
The comlink by the metal
door of her chamber glowed to life.
“Attention all passengers.
Unidentified vessel approaching. Captain Zore orders all a board to prepare for
possible invasion.”
Possible invasion? She
groaned. The problem with hitching a ride on this piece of space junk was that
it couldn’t outrun anything worth a damn. Laina ran to the closet and retrieved
her small pack, filling it with her belongings. If she got through this
encounter, she’d jump ship at the next galaxy port and get on something faster.
Maybe she could talk her way onto a smuggler ship. Of course, she’d likely up
her chances of being sold into slavery by throwing her lot in with obvious
lawbreakers.
The comlink made a crackling
noise as a foreign transmission broke through.
“This is Lieutenant
Commander Rorik of the Silver Legion of the Orion.
We are hereby ordering the Calliope
to allow for boarding and inspection. Anyone in possession of contraband will
be sanctioned. Any humans on board must be turned over to the members of the Orion crew.” The static cut off,
signaling the end of the transmission.
Laina stared numbly at the
comlink. The Silver Legion was here? She had to hide, had to get somewhere safe
before the crew of the Calliope
decided to give her up to save themselves. She zipped up her small pack, for
once thankful she had only a few paperback books, a fresh change of clothes and
a picture of her parents. It was a light load. As she turned to check the room
one last time for anything she might have left behind, she saw a shape pass her
cabin window. She drew closer, unable to look away. Through the thick glass she
saw it. The Orion.
The
cyborg ship was a thing of beauty. Sleek, silver, almost decadent in design,
yet it held a lethal grace that reminded her that the creatures on board would
kill her without a thought.
And then she saw him.
The
most beautiful man she'd ever seen. Even though men weren't supposed to be
beautiful, he was. Blond hair long enough to run her fingers through, blue eyes
that caught hers and swallowed her whole. They were icy eyes, no emotion
lingered there, nor did any trace of feeling flit across the chiseled features
of his face. He wore fitted black pants that showed long, muscular legs, and a long
sleeved black shirt that outlined broad shoulders and a tapered waist.
He
was devastating. He was a god.
He
was a cyborg.
And
he was staring back at her through the floor to ceiling window of the Orion. Legs braced apart, hands clasped
behind his back in a military at-rest position, he looked every inch the
predator she knew he was.
His
lips curled into a smile that seemed to say, "I'm coming for you little
mouse."
The
Orion drew nearer and when it was
close enough to extend a connecting bridge, the Calliope shuddered violently as the bridge locked onto the
transport ship’s bay doors.
The
blond haired cyborg turned to say something to another of his crew before he
left the main deck. She swallowed thickly. He’d seen her. Hiding was now
crucial. But she had a sinking feeling that no matter where she hid they’d find
her. If they knew she was on board, they’d tear the ship apart to get to her.
“Damn!”
She ran to the door and pressed her palm on the panel to unlock her door. The
light beneath her palm flared red. The door remained locked. She removed her
palm and placed it back on the panel. Still red. She hit the comlink keypad to
get to the captain.
“Captain
Zore, this is Laina. My door won’t open, can you override the controls—”
Captain
Zore, a male of the Nubra species of humanoid aliens, spoke. “Laina, I’m sorry.
The Legion gave me strict orders. We carried this far at our own risk. I won’t
condemn my crew to die for shielding you any further.”
Terror
squeezed her heart. Even Zore, a man she’d come to respect over the last two
months, was betraying her to save his crew. As much as she understood his
reasoning, she couldn’t help but feel lost and wounded at being so quickly
abandoned. She would be handed over the cyborgs for execution of a crime she’d
not even been born to commit.
She
sagged back against the locked door in defeat and tipped her head back to suck
in deep breaths. Panicking wouldn’t do her any good now. Her eyes opened and
she gazed up at the ceiling tiles. For the first time that day, she smiled.
Running over to her bed, she leapt up on it and climbed onto the thin metal
headboard. She was just tall enough to reach the low ceiling. The tile moved
easily when she pushed up and in a matter of a few seconds she’d cleared a body
sized hole. She summoned the strength to pull herself up. It was a confined
space and impossibly dark, even darker when she slid the tile back into place.
With her pack slung over her shoulders she started to crawl towards a distant
light. She wasn’t a moment too soon because the heavy clang of the ship’s body
told her the cyborgs had boarded.
***
Rorik
led his two man team into the small tunnel that connected the Orion to the little transport ship the Calliope. He carried his phaser gun
ready in one hand. The doors opened ahead allowing him to enter the ship. A
humanoid male with pale blue skin, wearing a captain’s uniform, waited for him
to approach.
“Captain
Zore?” he asked in a clipped tone. He was not amused by this Nubra male’s
attempt to transport a human female anywhere. There was an intergalactic order
by the High Council to turn all humans over to the Legions. Zore was in clear
violation of this order.
The
captain gave a curt nod, wariness in his amber eyes, but no fear.
“Very
good. I’m Lieutenant Commander Rorik. You have been detained by order of the
Galactic High Council. Your vessel will be searched. You are further ordered to
turn over the human female we know is aboard you ship.”
Zore’s
skin flushed to dark purple. “How did you know she—”
“How
I know is irrelevant. You will have her brought to me at once.” Rorik flicked a
hand in a rapid gesture to his two fellow cyborgs. They spread out in the
control room, inspecting everything.
“I
have her locked her in chamber. We want no trouble with the High Council or
with you,” Zore replied, but disapproval layered the Nubra’s tone. Rorik
narrowed his eyes. Zore flinched and looked away.
Rorik
turned to the two crewmembers he brought with him: Alanna, an auburn haired
female and Julian, one of the many males in their legion.
“Have
one of the Nubras show you to the human’s quarters and bring her to me.” Rorik
slid his gun back in his holster on his shoulder and waited while Alanna and
Julian walked down a hall and disappeared.
Although
Rorik felt no particular emotion strongly, he was designed to feel some
responses. Cyborgs were after all not machines. Contrary to what the general human
populace believed, cyborgs were ninety-five percent human in origin. In truth
they were humans who’d been heavily modified at the genetic coding stage and born
inside tubes in laboratories. They were stronger, faster, smarter, and less
burdened by emotions or weighed down by fears that had plagued humans.
It
wasn’t unnatural for him to feel pleasure, he had found it often enough with
females of various species across the universe. He also enjoyed the
companionship of being with his fellow legion members. But all of that seemed
to pale against the rush of pleasure at knowing this one particular human would
be in his grasp. She was a way to find answers, to free his people of the
chains that still held them after a hundred years. She might know about the
mysterious Genesis Code, something he and Alaric had only just discovered
existed. They had so many questions about everything. And she might be the one
to talk.
Still…it
wasn’t talking with her that interested him most. It was simply her that he
wanted. He hadn’t a clue what he would do with a human female. He would never
touch her, never use her as he did other females. Humans were beneath him,
forbidden, vile. But despite his head urging him to remember the cruel tortures
her race had perpetuated against him and his fellow cyborgs, he found himself
fascinated. He couldn’t banish her from his mind. The stunned look of surprise
on her face, her pale pink lips parted and her gray eyes wide with fear. Her
chestnut brown hair fell about her shoulders in wild disarray as though she
hadn’t had time to prepare herself for their arrival or for him. Why that idea
pleased him even more, the idea of her tumbled and unready, and made his heart
rate increase was a mystery. It had to be the thrill of success, of winning.
Cyborgs had been programed to be dominant and victorious in all scenarios they
faced.
I want to tag the following authors in this Next Big Thing Blog Hop
Ammy Pereira
Ella Quinn
Collette Cameron
Sandra Owens
Christina DeGennaro
Nancy Fields
Ann Chaney
Elf Ahearn
Jenna Jaxon
Louisa Cornell
Jean Gordon
Marie Higgins
