Scavenger Falters by Liza O'Connor

Can you really die of a broken heart?

Yes, you actually can. When you feel the physical ache within the left cavity of your chest, you could be experiencing a life-threatening condition — broken heart syndrome. Yep, that’s what they named it.

The blood pumping in and out of your heart becomes temporarily disrupted by a surge of stress hormones, which are secreted in response to high emotions. These can be either good or bad emotions, but it happens more often with bad news. The resulting contraction in your heart can kill you.

Scavenger Falters

By

Liza O’Connor

Alisha Kane, the Corps’ best flyer, is promoted to colonel, in charge of teaching the Corp’s SkyRyders her extraordinary flying maneuvers. The man she loves, Logan, continues to place the Corps first and insists they both remain focused on their work. For Alisha, this means ferreting out the best flyers in a Corps that has systematically forced great flyers into mediocrity. Logan focuses on learning Alisha’s flying techniques so that he can become the hero the East Coast desperately needs. The result includes fractured ribs and broken hearts, but through it all they never relinquish their love of the Corps.

EXCERPT

Logan gathered her in his arms, and it felt so good, so warm and safe. Yet, she knew it was all a lie. There was no warmth or safety within his arms, because he was too damned stubborn to admit the love between them was right.

“Hush,” he soothed. “You don’t want to upset your gramps now.”

“Don’t even try to distract me with Gramps. If he knew why I was crying, he’d kick your butt.”

“You’re probably right there,” Logan admitted. “As much as your grandfather and I like each other, he knows I’m too old for you.”

She struck his chest with her fist. “Stop saying that!” she demanded. “You’re not too old! And I’m not as young as I look. And our ages don’t matter. We love each other and that’s all that matters.” So she was twenty-one and he fortysomething. Who cared in a world where neither of them were likely to live for long?

Colonel Logan captured her hand in his and turned her so she faced him. “It isn’t even close to all that matters. It doesn’t even make the top five priorities.”

“Name one thing more important!” she demanded.

“Your career in the Corps.”

“I don’t care about my career…”

“Then you’re a fool. You have a rare ability to make real changes and contributions to the Corps. Look at your first two battles. Without you, hundreds of Ryders would have died. Ginnie, Jersey, and Philly—all dead if you hadn’t been there. And don’t say anyone could have stepped up to the challenge, because you know that’s not true. At this point in time, there’s only you, and until your techniques can be taught and transferred to other Ryders, there is nothing more important than your contributions to the Corps.”

Alisha wanted to tell him he was wrong, but how could she? She’d only convince him she was a petulant child. Would she really place her own happiness over the lives of hundreds of Ryders? A part of her wanted to do just that, and her selfishness shamed her to the core. She never hesitated to risk her life for the Corps—why was this sacrifice so much harder?

Because when you’re dead, the pain stops. Living without Logan will be a never-ending agony.

She pushed away the thought and sighed heavily. “All right, I’ll concede that my contributions to the Corps should take precedence right now, but can’t I have both? Is there some law that says I must be unloved while I save the world?”

Colonel Logan gave her a sad, gentle smile and stroked her face. “You’ll never be unloved, Alisha. Everyone who meets you will love you. And someday, when you can risk a few distractions in your life, you’ll meet some young man and fall in love again.”

“I will not,” she replied, her voice quivering with emotion. “I will never love anyone but you.”

“You think that now, but trust me, time will heal.”

Alisha couldn’t listen to any more of this. He had made it clear that nothing had changed. He refused to see there might be a compromise, a way she could contribute to the Corps and be happy at the same time. However, to listen to him demean the intensity and durability of her love for him: that was more than she could bear! She ran from his room and down the hall.

Her heart ached with a paralyzing intensity as she entered her bedroom and leaned against the door. Her heart hurt so much, she truly couldn’t breathe. She slid to the floor as gray dots appeared in her vision. Her last thought before blacking out was: So you really can die of a broken heart…

SALES LINKS

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 2

Scavenger Falters

AMAZON

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 1

Scavenger’s Mission

AMAZON

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

Click here For ALL Novels by Liza

Social Networks 

Facebook    Facebook Author Page   Twitter  Multiverse Blog

Scavenger's Mission by Liza O'Connor

Scavenger’s Mission

By

Liza O’Connor

How does one go from Debutante, to street girl, to Scavenger?

As far as Alisha was concerned, debutants were the most useless creatures on earth. Nor were they allowed to choose their friends, or more importantly, their husbands.

Her parents couldn’t care less that she didn’t want to marry the President of the Americas. Never mind the ass was old and gave her the creeps every time she’d had the misfortune to be in his presence. Her father wanted the lucrative connections that came with becoming a part of the President’s family. To ensure a successful engagement, her parents kept the creep from ever talking to Alisha. Her mother even took on the task of entertaining the jerk…mostly in her bedroom.

By checking the house monitors early each morning, Alisha learned her parents intended to drug her that evening and she’d wake up married to the creep. She wasted no time climbing out a window and hitchhiking back to Capital.

Finding her Gramps took several days, and she wouldn’t have found him at all without the help of Denny, a young, but savvy street kid who had befriended her the day she arrived.

She had hoped her Gramps would take her in, but when she found him, he was nearly dead. Denny stole a Ryder’s wind-catcher so she could take it up and see if she could fly it. If she could, then she could earn serious money as a scavenger.

Alisha was up on her first try and knew without a doubt that she was meant to ride the skies. Denny kept her Gramps alive for the week she taught herself enough to scavenge. And despite some problems here and there, for the first time in her life, Alisha was happy. And then she crash-landed and a colonel of the SkyRyders took her back to his fort…

Scavenger’s Mission

By Liza O’Connor

Blurb

Meet Alisha: A young woman who refuses to live the life her parents want.

In a single month, Alisha Kane has gone from a wealthy debutante to street girl to scavenger.  While testing her new flying skills in the Cully Canyon, Alisha incurs a near-death crash landing. She’s “rescued” by a colonel of the SkyRyders and her life changes forever.

Meet Logan: A SkyRyder colonel in charge of a sleepy fort with little to do other than arrest the occasional scavenger.

For the first time in his life, Logan’s attracted to a young woman, only she’s probably a scavenger and he’ll have to arrest her.  But first he offers her a shower and food while he checks on his crew. His videographer has captured her extraordinary flight through the Cully and her flying is astounding!

He forgoes arresting her and puts his career at risk by asking MAC to assess her skills and integrity as a potential SkyRyder. If he can get Alisha into the SkyRyders, it will be his greatest contribution to the Corps.

Meet MAC: The Artifical Intelligence that runs the SkyRyders Corps.

Upon seeing her arrival, MAC upgrades Alisha’s test. Her flying skills are not just excellent; they exceed what was previously thought possible. MAC classifies her as its top asset and soon she proves her value. 

But…the SkyRyders remain a male dominated Corps where Alisha’s sense of right and wrong often clashes with her superiors. How long can a rebellious young woman survive in a regimented Corps?

Excerpt

Alisha soared into the canyon of Cully River. Rocky cliffs, over a thousand feet high, stood on each side. Farther above, the walls widened, reducing the wind speed, but here, near the water, her wind-catcher traveled at exhilarating speeds reaching nearly two hundred miles per hour due to the narrow wind channel.

Her newly designed slats enabled her to fly just above the water. Previously, at these speeds, without the slats, the smallest snag of her toe against the river’s surface would have sent her rolling to her death.

As she approached the canyon bend, she shifted the angle of her slats so their front tips pressed against her stomach. A moment later, she tugged ever so lightly on the two front panels of her wind-catcher, increasing their lift capability. Her body soared upward as if an invisible hand had reached down and tugged her to a safer level, where the winds were only a hundred miles per hour, so she could survive the deadly bend in the Cully River Canyon.

With a single hard tug on the right toggle, she turned within the wider canyon walls. She smiled, pleased with her modifications to her catcher. She recalled the first time she had run the Cully at night. She’d come within inches of crashing into the granite wall at this bend.

The near-death experience had scared her into avoiding the cliffs for several days while she modified her wind-catcher to be more responsive to turning. Now, with her latest improvements, she possessed such control that next time she planned to take the bend at water level.

Even the idea sent chills down her back. To fly the Cully at night was dangerous, but to take its bend so close to the river…unthinkable! Yet these dances with the impossible made her only more determined to enhance her equipment and improve her flying. Nothing was impossible with the right equipment and flying skill.

LINK

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 1

Scavenger’s Mission

AMAZON

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza’s Multiverse Blog

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

All the Many Books Liza has written

Arrival Titan by Liza O'Connor

Escaping imminent death

There were a great many people who didn’t want the colony of scientists to succeed. In fact, they concocted fifteen sabotages to prevent the team from reaching Titan. And due to some extraordinary efforts by the soldiers, the scientists, and the students, and their AI, all fifteen attempts to stop them failed.

The ship quantum leaped into the nearby space of Titan, only the captain of the ship intended to dump all the brilliant teens into space, and torture Colonel Lancaster to death. The remaining scientists and soldiers would have become slaves. 

 While the captain believed all the students and scientists were safely locked in their tiny rooms, the little bots quickly released them and lead them to the hold, where their animals were being kept. The scientists sent their little bots into ceiling ducts to locate the wiring for the main controls of the ship, so they could take control of the ship from the hold.

Then a bot was sent into the ceiling ducts searching for the scent of Colonel Lancaster. It quickly located the room Lancaster was lock in and unlocked his door. Then the bot moved ahead, checking for dangers, as it led him to the hold.

When Lancaster arrives in the hold, he discovers Scarlett, their fabulous AI, has taken control the ship and everyone not in the hold is taking a nap.

Arrival: Titan

By

Liza O’Connor

 Blurb

Dangers continue even as the crew of soldiers, scientists, and brilliant teens quantum leap to space near Titan.

Captain Drake has his own agenda, and it doesn’t include Colonel Lancaster, or the students being alive for much longer. Fortunately, the scientists and students are a formidable group to go against. The attempted takeover is stopped with only one death.

When Scarlett lands the ship on the north pole near the methane lake, they discover several sentient life forms. They also learn that the moon, Pan, is actually a ship called the Death Star, mining minerals in the outer rings of Saturn. Even more shocking—Jupiter is not a planet, but a disguised ‘eye in the sky’ watching over the mining interests of a superior sentient planet.

Excerpt

Captain Caesar Drake pointed to a chair. “Strap in and avoid movement.” He then took his captain’s chair and spoke in his com unit. “Prepare for transport, at mark of ten.”

As the numbers counted down on the monitor, Drake glared at Lancaster. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to miss your court-marshal, because destiny awaits me.”

At the count of one, a bright light flashed before Lancaster. He held his breath waiting for reality to return. For a very long moment, he seemed to be in the same instant of time. Then with another flash of light, all seemed normal, except for the image before him.

On the monitor was Titan, a little over seven-hundred and fifty-nine thousand miles away from its massive, ringed planet, Saturn.

Titan, a moon most like early Earth, and now the future of mankind—if they could do what nature had done on its own to Earth. Otherwise, they would simply die here. But they had a chance, albeit slim, to succeed, and that was better odds than those left on Earth.

Given the brilliance of the scientists and kids that were in this ship, Colonel Lancaster believed it possible.

The captain wasted no time admiring their orange fuzzy home or the beauty of Saturn and her lovely rings. Instead, he engaged the engines and headed straight towards Titan. After three seconds, he disengaged the engines and let the ship continue on its own momentum.

“Will that be sufficient?” Colonel Lancaster asked.

His former friend and presently annoyed captain responded.

 “Are you capable of flying this ship?”

“No, I’m not. However, I do outrank you, so let’s not start a pissing war. Survival will require all of our brilliance. I just wanted you to share your thoughts with me, because you are now a part of this team…unless you had orders to return to Earth.”

Drake sighed. “No. This is a one-way journey. No do-overs. We, hopefully, will have sufficient fuel to search for an optimal landing spot. Otherwise, we’ll land where we can until your scientist can create some form of fuel that this ship can use. Fortunately, the gravity pull is quite mild here. So, we won’t need to waste fuel on landing if we land somewhere that allows for a long runway drift-down.

Sales Links

Destination: Titan

AMAZON

Arrival: Titan

Amazon

All books are free for KU subscribers

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

Social Networks

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza’s Multiverse Blog

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

All the Many Books Liza has written

Destination: Titan by Liza O'Connor

Meet the main characters

Tamara: She’s not even considered important when she first arrives but very soon she is critical to the mission.

Destination: Titan

By

Liza O’Connor

 Blurb

With Earth destined for a new ice-age, seven scientists and twenty-two brilliant teenagers are gathered in a compound deep within a mountain. There they struggle to come together as a group and complete the projects needed for their survival in the inhospitable environment of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons. However, certain factions on Earth have no intention of letting Project Einstein succeed. Keeping the group alive and productive is the hardest task Colonel Lancaster and his soldiers have ever had, but they are determined to succeed no matter how well the saboteurs have planned. The continuation of the human race depends upon it.

Excerpt

Her mentor was the brightest man she knew, but this didn’t make any sense at all!

“So, you’re telling me I was chosen over every other biochemist in the world because my favorite color is orange.” Tamara tugged at a strand of her short blonde hair. Maxwell’s eyes sparkled. “I love the way your brain tunnels in and isolates the key differentiator.”

“The fact I like the color orange should not be a key differentiator.”

Her mentor shrugged and paced the small, open space of the conference room. “Well, when all other things were equal, it became so. This project requires a top biochemist under the age of thirty, in excellent health, unmarried, with no constraints that would prevent traveling. There were quite a few scientists who met those requirements. Therefore, further differentiators were selected. The ability to work with teenagers dropped out all but two, and your clear preference for the color orange put you securely on top of the last remaining candidate.”

“But it’s a meaningless differentiator unless we’re going someplace that only has the color orange.” She fell silent as she considered that possibility. “Exactly how far will we be traveling?”

“Quite a distance.” His eyes twitched several times.

They only did that when he was conflicted, which told her she was asking the right question to discover whatever it was that he was under orders not to reveal. “Will we be traveling on Earth or away from it?”

The twitches intensified.

“Tam, I cannot tell you anything until you’ve agreed to go.”

“Jesus! We’re going to Titan, aren’t we?”

He removed his reading glasses and pressed his hand over his left eye to still the twitches. “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

Titan: Saturn’s orange moon. Forty percent the size of Earth and rich in life-supporting chemicals. Bedrock composed of ice, rivers and seas of liquid methane, and enough hydrocarbons to heat the Earth for a thousand years.

“What is the purpose of the trip?”

“I cannot tell you anything until you agree to go.”

“Well, I cannot give you my answer until I know if we’re going to harvest the hydrocarbons for Earth or if we’re going to try to colonize it.”

Max now had both eyes covered with his hands. “Tam, I cannot tell you. You will just have to use that brilliant mind of yours to figure it out all on your own.”

His response told her that something he’d said had provided the answer. She focused on the ability to work with teenagers. You wouldn’t take teenagers on a ship to harvest, but you would to start a colony. By the time they arrived, they’d be young adults possessing a full span of child-bearing years.

“I’ll go.”

Sales Link

Destination: Titan

AMAZON

All books are free for KU subscribers

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

Social Networks

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza’s Multiverse Blog

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

All the Many Books Liza has written

 

TAYRYM Galactic Defenders #4 by Jessica E. Subject

WHEN WRITING DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT

As an author, having a story planned out before you sit down to write it can be a great thing. Other times, it’s a burden and can cause the worst writer’s block. Why? Because sometimes the story just doesn’t feel right.

The next Galactic Defenders story was supposed to be JACE. I had the story plotted out. But when I went to write it, I didn’t like the plot. Not at all. And I didn’t know what to do to change it. So I put that aside and decided to write SCRYM. The original storyline had him going off to be a Defender with Gwenodyn following him there to enlist as well. And they’d fall in love and live happily ever after. But that felt too predictable to me. Too much like stories I’d already read and told. I wanted to write something different.

I had already established Gwenodyn as his best friend. And decided that Scrym was his nickname, not his real name. SCRYM = a shortened version of “Scram Tayrym,” which he’d heard a lot as a child. And she was usually with him. After all, they’d been friends forever.

So after deciding that Tayrym and Gwenodyn would be nothing more than best friends, I had to find a love interest for Tayrym. That wasn’t hard with a little inspiration from pieces of my world. Once I had that figured out, I went back to plotting. It came easy, and this time when I went to write TAYRYM, it felt right.

I still don’t know what I’m going to do with JACE. But once I figure out a plot for him that feels right, I will write it. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the “right” version of TAYRYM.

***

TAYRYM

Galactic Defenders #4

by Jessica E. Subject

Release date: October 29, 2018

Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, New Adult, Space Opera, Action & Adventure

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-988428-10-9

Editor: Kate Richards

Cover artist: Fantasia Frog Designs

Keywords: secret crush, gay, LGBTQ, aliens, romance, love, military, space travel, first love, new adult

# of words: 30,500

BLURB:

Tayrym has dreamed of becoming a Galactic Defender since meeting the infamous Bryce when he was just a boy. Finally an adult and awaiting the day cycle he is set to leave for training, Tayrym learns his long-time crush shares his affections. Now, he’s unsure whether he wants to leave, which dream matters more.

With the threat of being sent away for his sexuality haunting him, Guri keeps his feelings for his former classmate to himself. Even with a new progressive ruler on Hemera, he still hides his attraction to the young man. But when he catches the other shadowing him, Guri decides to take a chance. The only problem is, the man of his desire is leaving the planet soon. Possibly forever.

With obstacle after obstacle in their path, will Tayrym and Guri ever have a chance to be happy together? Or are they destined to fulfill their dreams light years apart?

EBOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J67S9CW

Nook – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tayrym-jessica-e-subject/1129721361

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jessica_E_Subject_Tayrym?id=3KxxDwAAQBAJ

iBooks – https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/tayrym/id1438581110?mt=11

Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/tayrym

Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/tayrym-gd

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42335503-tayrym

EXCERPT 

Gwenodyn sat on the very front bench and leaned forward, examining all the players. “So, let me figure out which one you have the hots for.”

She might as well have thrown him onto the field with that statement. Tayrym wanted to run and hide. Thank goodness most of the players were at the other end.

She nudged him. “I can eliminate one already. The guy who’s the net minder at this end is one of our teachers. If it were him, you’d find ways to stay after school instead of coming here.”

True. He didn’t dislike the teachers. They were only a few years older. But, they didn’t leave him with ylafats in his stomach the way his crush did.

“And I doubt you’d go for the two shorter guys on the other team. They’re cute.” She bit her bottom lip. “Really cute. But, not your type.”

How did she know his type when he’d just told her he was attracted to guys? Though she was correct, so far.

“That leaves the best players on each team, the one with the strong cheekbones who looks like he’s dancing across the field or the younger guy on this side who is determined to win even down a player. He used to be in our class, sat behind you. I think it’s—”

The ball rocketed toward them from center field. Gwenodyn wasted no time moving in front of him to catch the ball.

“Fornax Raw! What was that for?” Sol, the net minder-teacher, called to the other player on his team.

Guri shrugged in response, his gaze on Tayrym. Or maybe Gwenodyn. Most likely her. Tayrym didn’t stand a chance.

The one Gwenodyn had said danced across the field ran over to them to collect the ball and bowed. “Sorry about that, Princess.” Once he threw the ball back onto the field, play resumed.

“Well, I wasn’t sure before, but now I’m positive you like the guy who kicked the ball right at your head. Though, after that, I’m not sure why.” She pinched his cheek. “He could have ruined your beautiful face.”

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 could 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, listen to BTS, 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/

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