Thursday, December 1, 2016

Veronica Scott shares Star Survivor & how it came to be.

Today, I have the fabulous
 Veronica Scott over.
And she is going to explain how this book came to be. They don't happen by magic, you know...
Take it away, Veronica!

I think one of the highest compliments an author can receive is requests for a sequel. Therefore I was always pleased whenever someone would ask me “When will you do the sequel to Wreck of the Nebula Dream?” Wreck was my 2012 “Titanic in space” scifi novel with romantic elements, loosely based on the sinking of the actual Titanic, but set in the far future on an interstellar space liner. I’d always been fascinated by the tragic sinking, since I was a little kid and my mother used to tell me we had a relative aboard the ship, in Second Class, who survived. As an adult, with the vast resources of the internet, I’ve done a lot of research and seriously doubt the woman was actually related to us, despite the somewhat unusual family name. But nevertheless my interest in everything to do with Titanic remains unchanged.
Before writing that book, I’d done huge amounts of research, not just about the actual ship, passengers and crew, but about other similar events and life on large ships like aircraft carriers. One thing I hadn’t paid as much attention to was how life went on for those who survived.
My readers were pretty specific that they wanted the sequel to tell them what happened next for two secondary characters in the original novel – Twilka, a high society party girl, or Socialite as I termed them, and Khevan, a darkly mysterious D’nvannae Brother from an organization of assassins and bodyguards sworn to serve an alien goddess. It’s not a huge spoiler to say these two were together at the end of Wreck.
When I looked into what life had done with the First Class survivors of Titanic, especially those who didn’t lose loved ones in the sinking, I realized they pretty much went back to what they’d been doing before the tragedy. An early movie star, Dorothy Gibson, made a film about the sinking and wore her actual clothing from the disaster in the key scenes! Several of the ladies were fashion designers for high society and continued in that line of work. And of course everyone knows the Unsinkable Molly Brown, who was rich, and used her post-Titanic fame to help her do charity and philanthropic work, and also apparently tried her hand at acting.
So as I was pondering what Twilka might have done next with her life, two things were apparent. First, almost no one endures more than one “Titanic level event” in their life, other than a few crew members, but that’s another story for another day. So a survivor has to just keep going with ordinary day to day life like all the rest of us. Second, as a famous (some might say notorious) Socialite in the far future, Twilka could leverage her status as what we call a “celebutante” in these times, and a Nebula Dream survivor to follow various career paths. I could see her becoming a fashion designer, especially because I’d been clear that the Socialites were very into clothing and setting trends.
As for Khevan, he was sworn to serve the Red Lady of D’nvannae and she’s an extremely jealous goddess. That’s pretty well established in Wreck. So how would she react to his romantic connection to Twilka?
Then there’s also the issue that Sandra Bullock’s character ‘Annie’ raises with Keanu Reeves’ character ‘Jack’ in the movie “Speed” – do romances that start in a crisis situation last, or not? How smoothly do they run?
Probably not a spoiler to tell you that I only write romance so there is definitely a Happily Ever After ending in Star Survivor  but it’s not easily achieved!

The story:
The survivors of a terrible wreck meet again—but this time only one can survive.
 The long-awaited sequel to The Wreck of the Nebula Dream…
 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?

Buy Links:
iBooks      Amazon    Kobo       Barnes & Noble 

NEWSBREAK!

Another fabulous tale by Veronica Scott!
This is a sequel from Wreck of the Nebula Dream. And as good as that was, I loved this one even better.  While Twilka had proven in the prior book that she was more than a socialite, this time she literally goes to the mats for the man she loves.
I don’t want to share too much.  But I will say that making bad choices due to anger can be hard to break and to do so, you’ll need some help from those you love.

And one other share: nomally, I hate weddings, but this was the best HEA ever!



Author Bio:

Best Selling Science Fiction & Paranormal Romance author and “SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Three time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances! She recently was honored to read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”


11 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me as your guest today!

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  2. How exciting to have someone asking for a sequel! It appears you have done an amazing job making the next story another fan favorite!

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    1. Yes, and I just read it. It's better than the first book, and that was a really good book. Definitely improved my day! My problems aren't nearly as daunting as theirs

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    2. Thanks! Yes, I started getting e mail pretty much right away in 2012, wanting to know about Twilka and Khevan, which especially as a really newly published author, was so thrilling to me. But the story had to be right!

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  3. I love the idea/research on what happens to survivors after a wreck of Titanic-proportions. I wouldn't think they could go back to their daily lives, but what else could they do? Sounds like a book I will greatly enjoy, Veronica.

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    1. I did think it was an intriguing light to shine on the characters, when I was trying to figure out what would happen next. Because we don't tend to think all that much about "what next"? We tend to focus on the wreck or the disaster itself in fiction and then kind of a fade out... I hope you'll enjoy the book if you do decide to read it! Thanks for commenting!

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  4. I started reading Star Survivor right after it came out and knew right away I needed to reread Wreck of the Nebula Dream. Then I finished Star Survivor. What a terrific story. I love, love, love the wedding. You outdid yourself, Veronica.

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    1. Thank you, Diane! I'm so happy you enjoyed the book right down to the wedding :)

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    2. I loved the wedding and I hate weddings. It was that good!

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