Monday, July 31, 2017

Jessica E. Subject shares Love In A New World.

Writing “What You Know” in Sci-Fi Romance


One of the most common pieces of writing advice I hear is to “Write what you know.” That means to use familiar settings, character types, and experiences. In sci-fi romance, that advice seems impossible when I’m penning tales of aliens, space travel, and serving in the Galactic Military. Some of my stories take place on Earth, but many are set on spaceships or foreign planets, places just as unfamiliar to me as Antarctica. And while I have no idea what it’s like to fly a spacecraft, fight with an evil alien, or even to find out what it’s like to learn the person I have feelings for is an alien, I do know what it’s like to fall in love in my early twenties while I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. That is generally the stage in life my characters are going through, and how I “write what I know.”
In Beyond Reach, Prince Mekai does not want marry his betrothed and flees the planet before his wedding. And Nixie has just finished learning the art of erotic massage and is taking her first clients while not sure if she made the right choice in professions. When they meet, sparks fly, but the secrets they learn about each other could destroy their lives.
Accidental Romance isn’t sci-fi, but Leanne has finished college and is getting ready to take over the family dairy farm. An accident changes her life forever, and she finds love where she least expected.
Missy and RJ have returned home for the summer after their second year of university in It Took a Zombie Apocalypse. While they’ve crushed on each other from across the driveway, their families have always stood in the way of them ever getting together. But when zombies invade their small town, they must depend on each other to survive.
It’s just days before Christmas in Hey, Santa, and Claire is dared by her best friend to ask the sexy mall Santa out so she won’t be lonely over the holidays. Little does Claire know that the man in the costume is from another planet.

So, with all these new events and people in their lives, the characters must make decisions that will be key turning points. It’s not an easy time, and can be made even more difficult while falling in love for the first time. I certainly remember those years. Visit them again with the characters in the five stories included in Love in a New World...

LOVE IN A NEW WORLD
New Adult Romance on Earth and Beyond

by Jessica E. Subject

Release date: July 31, 2017

Genres: New Adult Romance, Anthology

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-988428-07-9
Print ISBN: 978-1-988428-06-2

Cover artist: Fantasia Frog Designs



# of pages: 270 print (268 ebook)



BLURB:

An alien prince, a farm girl, two university students from a small town, and more are all ready to begin their lives as adults. They have everything planned out. But when drastic events crush their dreams, they must carve a new path. And they just might find unexpected love along the way.

Includes the New Adult Romances Beyond Reach, Accidental Romance, It Took a Zombie Apocalypse, Hey Santa, and bonus story Alien Kisses at Midnight.

EXCERPT

(It Took a Zombie Apocalypse  PG-13 – 449 words)

“Fifty dollars for a kiss.” RJ held the bill and waved it across the counter. “It goes in the jar if I get a kiss from you.”

“I’d do it for five.” She pointed to the paper sign on the jar. “But if you’re willing to donate more, go ahead.”

He walked into the booth and sat on the bench. “You misunderstand me, Missy. I don’t want a peck on the cheek. I want a real kiss, your lips on mine.”

Her cheeks reddened, making her all the more adorable, and she stepped back. “I, um.... It’s not.... I can’t.”

“It’s one kiss.” He waved the money around again, enjoying her discomfort. “The same money you’d make kissing ten old guys with beards, or ten creeps who gawk at your cleavage when you bend over to kiss them.”

The flush on her face disappeared. Maybe he shouldn’t have included that last observation.
“Hey.” He needed her attention back on him. “One kiss, and you never know, you just might like it.”

“Really?” She placed a hand on his knee then waltzed in front of him with a confidence he’d never seen from her before. “You’re that confident of the power of those full brown lips, are you?”

Before he had the chance to think of a response, she snatched the bill from his hand, leaned between his spread legs, and kissed him. He barely had a chance to close his mouth when it was all over.

“Thank you so much for your support.” Missy curtsied then stuck the money into the collection bottle.

RJ gripped the bottom of the bench, trying to process the fact the kiss had already happened. He’d hoped for so much more.

“Another.” He stood and yanked his wallet from his back pocket. “I’ll give you one hundred dollars if I can kiss you.” Yanking the bill from inside the leather fold, he held it out in front of him to prove he was good for it.

“Now, that’s against the rules.”

Her jaw shifted to the side, but when she tilted her head, he hoped she was actually considering his proposition.

RJ hopped off the bench and took a tentative step forward. He’d didn’t want her to automatically say no. “You know I’ve never played by the rules. Why would I start now?”

With a laugh, Missy playfully pushed on his chest. “You’re trouble, RJ. And you’re looking to get me into trouble with you.”

Returning to the stool, he stared into her crystal-blue eyes and smiled. She hadn’t said no. “Just a kiss.” He nodded to a patch of bushes with a bench set amongst them. “No one will see us over there.”

EBOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Love-New-World-Romance-Beyond-ebook/dp/B073Q8X8DM/
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-New-World-Romance-Beyond-ebook/dp/B073Q8X8DM/
Amazon Canada – https://www.amazon.ca/Love-New-World-Romance-Beyond-ebook/dp/B073Q8X8DM/
Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-in-a-new-world-jessica-e-subject/1126693038
Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jessica_E_Subject_Love_in_a_New_World?id=6eEqDwAAQBAJ
iBooks – https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/ love-in-a-new-world/id1255708226?mt=11
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/love-in-a-new-world

PRINT BUY LINKS:

Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Love-New-World-Romance-Beyond/dp/1988428068/
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-New-World-Romance-Beyond/dp/1988428068/
Amazon Canada –
CreateSpace – https://www.createspace.com/7323838
Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-in-a-new-world-jessica-e-subject/1126704115
IndieBound - http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781988428062


Add to Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35613379-love-in-a-new-world

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jessica E. Subject is the author of science fiction romance, mostly alien romances, ranging from sweet to super hot. Sometimes she dabbles in paranormal and contemporary as well, bringing to life a wide variety of characters. In her stories, you can not only meet a sexy alien or two, but also clones and androids. You may be transported to a dystopian world where rebels are fighting to live and love, or to another planet for a romantic rendezvous.
When Jessica is not reading, writing, or doing dreaded housework, she likes to go to fitness class and walk her Great Pyrenees/Retriever her family adopted from the local animal shelter.

Jessica lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two energetic children. And she loves to hear from her readers. You can find her at jessicasubject.com.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website - http://jessicasubject.com
Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/eX1Zw
Twitter - http://twitter.com/jsubject
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-E-Subject-author/205759796126370
Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/jessicasubject/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jessicaesubject/
Google+ - https://plus.google.com/u/0/100079570422204018357/
Amazon Author Page - http://amazon.com/author/jessicasubject
Goodreads Page - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4959083.Jessica_E_Subject
Authorgraph - http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/jsubject 



Friday, July 28, 2017

K Reedwood shares how 'goobers' got in her latest book.



There’s Goobers in my Galaxy.

What’s that, you say? You’ve a what in your what?

Well, I’ll tell ya. It all comes down to goats. And world building. And naming alien races in a scifi-fantasy-adventure story. And having an ultra-cool writing partner that listens to your crazy ideas and says, “Yeah, ok.”

When Chris Heinicke and I thought up the idea for our Legacy Hunter series, we knew we wanted it to be a story that was fun and entertaining. The kind of story that had an epic hero like Indiana Jones, and took the reader to far off worlds populated by alien races with seemingly good intentions but more often than not perilous ones. And romance, yeah we wanted that in there too, because every Han needs his Leia to save him from being frozen in Carbonite now and then.
But back to those Goobers.

The conversation went something like this:

Chris: "So what are we going to call these aliens?"

Me: "I don't know."

Chris: "They're goats right?"

Me: "Yeah. Kind of."

Chris: "So maybe it's a mountain planet. And they're like mountain goats. So it's kind of rocky."

Me: *Googles the name for goat in other languages* "Goat is capra in Latin. What about Caprnaites?"

Chris: "Hmmm."

Me: "The Kaza?"

Chris: "How about Planet Ramstein? Nothing's really grabbing me."

Me:  *searches on Google again* "Gobhar creig? That’s Scottish for goat rock."

Chris: "Gober what?"

Me: "You know, they don't have Australian on Google translate? I think they should have it. There's lots of Aussie terms for things that I have no clue about. Like billabong. What the heck is a billabong?"

Chris: "It's like a pond."

Me: "Right."

Also me: "And Maccas is McDonalds."

Chris: *laughing* "Yes."

Me: "You guys love to shorten words."

Me: *thinking* "So what if we take a couple of words and mash them together? Like Gohbar and creig. And mix them around a bit so it's not exactly the same. Gho'barchreig. Only it's pronounced Goober Crag by humans because they don't speak the goat people language and that's the closest translation?"

Chris: "Planet Goober Crag?" *laughing*

Me: "Yeah, and humans would refer to the goat people as Goobers, because you know how people like to mock names for things."

Chris: *still laughing* "I like it."

And that's how Goobers ended up being in my galaxy. 

Thanks so much for having us on your blog today!



The first book in the Legacy Hunter series, Queen Killer, releases on July 29th 2017 and is on special for 99Cents until August 7th. It can be purchased at all major e-book retailers.

AMAZON US:
AMAZON UK:
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iBOOKS:
B & N:
ANGUS and ROBERTSON: 




Blurb:
Stardrives. 
Powerful, beautiful, bio-mimetic energy in its purest form. A benevolent gift meant to launch humanity into a new age of space travel.  They were the hope for the future. The key to the next stage in human discovery.
But every gift has its price.


Nearly a thousand years after Earth took its place in the network of galactic commerce, the planet is depleted of resources and on the edge of collapse. Can stardrive technology bring the Earth back to life? Adventurer Axel Ryan is betting his life that it can. But there aren't any stardrives left to be found on Earth, and ships capable of interstellar travel are hard to come by. His only choice is to enlist the aid of mercenary pirates to steal one. With the stakes high, and the future of Earth on the line, does it matter he'll have to betray the love of his life?


Keep your friends close and your enemies closer has always been Element Cruz's motto. And it couldn’t be more true with Axel Ryan. Drugged, abandoned, and her ship stolen, she's more than ready to let the price on his head kill him. Except Axel holds the key to saving humanity. And if there's one thing Ellie can't refuse, it's the chance to win.


Author Bios
Chris Heinicke
Although working as a baker for many years, writing has been a passion for Chris for some time, starting in high school and reigniting again in 2006, when he first got the inspiration to begin writing 'The Man In Black.'

After completing that project eight years later, he took part in NaNoWriMo in November 2014, culminating into a project named 5PM. Deciding to self-publish, 5PM came out in February 2015, and then The Man In Black in August.

2016 saw the release of 7PM, and in that same year, his writing path met with that of Canadian author Kate Reedwood. A mutual respect of each other's work ignited an interest in working together, creating the Legacy Hunter series, the first of which to come out in July 2017.
Apart from writing, Chris enjoys travelling, reading, watching movies and all things geeky. He resides in Coffs Harbour with his wife and three children.


Chris will be at Nexus Con on July 29 celebrating the release of the first book in his Legacy Hunter series.



Kate Reedwood
Kate Reedwood, also know as Felicity Kates, is a mild-mannered manager by day. At night, she trades in her high heels for bunny slippers and lets her imagination run wild.

A trained artist and writer, Kate enjoys writing stories that combine humor with strong characters who know what they want and aren't afraid to go get it. Every story is an emotional journey where the characters must struggle to find their happily ever after. But they do always reach it in the end, no matter the time or place in the universe.

She lives off of coffee and dreams and enjoys going for walks along the shores of Lake Ontario, taking pictures of whatever catches her eye. A romantic at heart, she loves to snuggle under a blanket with a good book to warm up the cold Canadian winters.

When not dreaming up new worlds and books to write with Australian author Chris Heinicke, she can most often be found enjoying the quiet company of her husband and son.
Social Media Links
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Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Clarissa Lakes shares The Narovian Mates Series



The Narovian Mates Series
Erotic Science Fiction Romance

I just released Her Alien Captain at the end of June, the latest installment of my Narovian Mates series. I very much enjoy reading sizzling alien romances as well as writing them. Fated mates is a recurring theme throughout. I wanted to do something a little different. While I was partly influenced by Cheryl Brooks Cat Star Chronicle Series which I devoured in a matter of weeks. My feline humanoids are a little different as is their alternate universe that I created for them.
Novara is a world populated by feline humanoids and homo sapiens. The feline humanoids are genetically compatible and capable of interbreeding with homo sapiens. Set in the present, the Narovians are part of an Alliance that has chosen to protect Earth from unscrupulous aliens while waiting for Earth to mature enough politically and technologically to join the Alliance. 

The feline humanoids of Narova find their true mates - meomee (me-OH-me) through genetic recognition. When the males come into physical contact with their meomee, they produce a combination of pheromones and hormones that give their true mate females an irresistible urge to have sex with them and bond. The catch is, resistance could be fatal.

The Alliance has had a secret base in the Blue Ridge Mountains of what is now West Virginia for 400 years. During that time, many felines have served there and have mated with humans during that time. The result has increased odds that the alien felines will find their fated mates among the local population surrounding their secret base.

There is also a Narovian Matchmaking Service that has a field office on Earth doing ancestral DNA testing and using the results to secretly match Earth humans with Narovian felines. This leads them to Earth to claim their fated mates---for life. It also causes unscrupulous aliens to kidnap some of those mates to hold for ransom.  Between them and the Tenzari slavers, Alliance Law Enforcement is busy trying to keep the people of Earth safe.




Her Alien Captain is one of these stories:
Kidnapped by aliens who sell her into sex slavery to a hideously ugly alien of another species, Jenna Harper is sure her life is over. Enter freighter Captain Farzeke Be'Kal maneuvered by Alliance to rescue Jenna and five other women stolen from Earth. After the Alliance agent he transports to Se'Nar buys all the women from the auction, Captain Be'Kal and Jenna Harper are chagrined to learn they are biological fated mates for life.

Neither one feels ready to make that life time commitment, but it's already too late.

Once Jenna is exposed to his pheromones she must have sex with the feline humanoid or risk death in a matter of days. Is she now doomed to sexual slavery of another kind?





Notice: The Narovian Mates Series is Erotic Romance Set in Science Fiction and contains sexually explicit scenes.



Saturday, July 22, 2017

Veronica Scott shares Mission to Mahjundar & backstory


Thanks for having me as a repeat guest! Always love being here…
I’m still in edits on the new book (coming SOON, I promise!) so I’m going to talk about the older title I currently have on sale – Mission to Mahjundar. When I write, I like to have an element of mysticism and fantasy present, even in my ‘hardest’ scifi tales. I personally love the idea that science doesn’t answer all questions and that many things are possible, especially on the far flung worlds of the galaxy. I enjoy having my matter-of-fact Special Forces heroes encounter inexplicable things that can’t be affected or deterred with blaster fire.
The planet Mahjundar is full of elements hovering just out of sight, fantastical forces and powers at work, some benevolent and others decidedly not. Major Mike Varone, the hero of the tale, has arrived to search for survivors of a spaceship crash in the mountains. Pretty straightforward stuff…but noooo, he gets drafted into escorting the blind Princess Shalira to her arranged marriage and his own mission goes off the rails right away.  The first stop on the journey is an abandoned temple, where the lady has to retrieve the key to her mother’s tomb, which involves petitioning the old pantheon of gods for assistance. The next stop is the mother’s tomb, where even more eerie events occur (and Mike was pretty shook up from the morning ceremony in the temple). I gave myself goosebumps when I wrote that scene!
I won’t do spoilers – too much – but later in the book they end up in the mountains and encounter a civilization worshipping an ancient, blood thirsty deity who bears a strange resemblance to one of Mike’s high tech enemies out in the stars…for this character I drew on my own encounter with a truly terrifying Aztec god (in statue form only, thank goodness) in a Mexico City museum. The overwhelming horror and ‘wrongness’ of the statue (to my eyes) left an indelible impression on me and was a perfect wellspring for the emotions I wanted Mahjundar’s equivalent to evoke in Mike, Shalira and the readers.
On a lighter note, I also had fun creating a fairy tale for the planet’s backstory, about the Princess of Shadows, and how she was eventually rescued by her Prince Charming. My heroine Shalira is the modern day embodiment of that fable.
So this book combines many of my favorite elements and I was honored that it received an SFR Galaxy Award in 2015.


The story:
An attempted assassination left Princess Shalira blind as a child and, now that she’s of marriageable age, her prospects are not good because of her disability. She’s resigned herself to an arranged marriage rather than face life under the thumb of her cold stepmother. But then she meets Mike Varone, a Sectors Special Forces officer sent to Mahjundar by the intergalactic government to retrieve a ship lost in her planet’s mountains. After Mike saves Shalira from another assassination attempt, she arranges for him to escort her across the planet to her future husband. She’s already falling hard for the deadly offworlder and knows she should deny herself the temptation he represents, but taking Mike along to protect her is the only way she’ll live long enough to escape her ruthless stepmother.
Mike, for his part, resists his growing attraction to the princess; he has a mission on this planet and rescuing the vulnerable but brave princess isn’t it. No matter how much he wishes it could be.
But what should have been an easy trek through Mahjundar’s peaceful lands swiftly turns into an ambush with danger around every turn. Shalira’s marriage begins to seem less like an arranged union and more like yet another planned assassination. The more they work together to survive, the harder it becomes to stop themselves from falling in love. Caught in a race against time, can they escape the hostile forces hunting them and make it off the planet?

The Excerpt  
This scene occurs late in the book, when Shalira is beginning to recover her eyesight. She and Mike’s teammate, Johnny Danver, are on their way to rescue Mike, who’s been captured by the local high priest. (I talked about Johnny, who got his own book later, in my last visit to Liza!) But first they have no choice but to walk through the inner sanctum of the god’s temple.
The evil emanating from the room ahead was already taking her breath away. The sensations were much the same as when Ishtananga had led her past the statue, but now she was more nervous because she and Johnny were vulnerable, so much depending on their success in finding and rescuing Mike and Saium. She closed her eyes tight as they crossed the threshold, knowing she could make her way perfectly well without seeing the horror they were walking past.
She thought she heard a voice, whispering just below the threshold of her hearing, urging her to open her eyes and behold the glory of Tlazomiccuhtli. Horrified, she let out a little gasp and bit her lip, fighting the effects of the mental assault. The temptation to peek, a little bit, at the effigy they were passing became more than an irritation, then a compulsion she had to actively combat. She realized Johnny was barely walking.
“What’s the matter?” she whispered.
There was no answer, and he stopped.
“Johnny.” She shook his shoulder, horrified to find his hand was now at his side, blaster pointed at the floor. With her abnormally keen hearing, she was positive no one else had entered the room. Opening her eyes, she tried again to jar her companion into speech or movement. Following the direction of his gaze, she beheld Tlazomiccuhtli for herself and fell to her knees, retching at the sheer horror. Arms crossed over her gut, Shalira raised her head to take another cautious glance in the torchlight.
After a single, horrified glance, Shalira forced herself to look away from Tlazomiccuhtli, shaking her head, trying to clear the dizziness.
She stood, checking on Johnny who seemed locked into position, literally transfixed, either by the dark powers Tlazomiccuhtli wielded or his own memories, or both. Shalira glanced at her hands and realized she was projecting pale green light from every pore. Startled, she stepped back, losing contact with the sergeant. Instinctively she clutched her amulet and found it warm to her touch. Pavmiraia must be protecting me, as much as she can in this horrible place. Frantic with the need to move, Shalira tugged harder on the paralyzed Johnny but couldn’t rouse him from the trance or traumatic state he was in. Unblinking, he stared straight at the effigy, his body rigid.
Dizziness was overtaking her senses, whether from the smoke or the influence of Tlazomiccuhtli she wasn’t sure. Reaching a decision, she closed her eyes and took off her amulet, which she looped over Johnny’s head. The end of the chain slipped from her fingers as if pulled and she heard the locket clatter onto the stone floor. Kneeling, Shalira swept the floor with her hands. Frustrated, she risked opening one eye and immediately felt the pull to turn toward Tlazomiccuhtli and worship him. Fortunately she caught a glimpse of her locket, shining with the pale green glow, half-hidden under a table supporting a cage of hissing snakes. Forcing herself to move away from the statue, praying the snakes couldn’t escape the enclosure, she crawled to retrieve the locket and brought it back to Johnny. As soon as she fastened the chain around his neck, he jerked and blinked, rubbing his forehead.
“Can you walk now?” Shalira asked, closing her eyes against the hypnotic pull of the god, but not letting go of his sleeve. “Close your eyes and lean on me, soldier.”
He mumbled something in Basic that she took for agreement.
She led him out of the chamber, counting the steps and listening to the echoes, although it was hard to hear over the voices in her head, calling her to return to Tlazomiccuhtli’s embrace.

Buy Links: 
Amazon     Barnes & Noble   iTunes      KOBO   

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.
Seven 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 “City On the Edge of Forever.”
Amazon Author Page: