Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Arrival: Titan by Liza O'Connor



A True dislike of Children
Captain Drake had given commands to his second to dump all the teens into space, only his Second never got the chance. Colonel Lancaster insisted the students provide their opinions on where they should land the ship.  Thus, their young geniuses’ deaths are delayed, since the captain cannot order them to be rounded up and tossed into space while Colonel Lancaster sits beside him at the helm. 

But why does he hate the teens?
It turns out the captain has a demon inside him, and the demon, which has taken over, hates the joy and happiness of children. In fact, their laughter causes him intense pain.


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
“Would you mind if I contact my scientists, so they might assist you in finding our landing site?”

Caesar huffed. “Do you think they are capable of providing any real help in this matter?”

“I am quite certain of it. These are brilliant scientists, even the kids.”

“Hold on! I don’t want the kids involved.”

“That’s not your say, Caesar. It’s mine. It is also my responsibility to ensure they behave. But when they give an excellent suggestion, and the other scientist and I agree, you will follow it. Treat them like adult crew members, because they are the reason we will succeed.”

“More likely the reason we will fail,” Drake grumbled.

“Just give them a chance, Caesar,” Lancaster softly, yet sternly, requested.

“All right, but on one condition. Stop calling me Caesar. You can call me Captain. You can call me Drake. You can even call me Captain Drake.”

Lancaster chuckled. “Drake it is. Now will you please open the com, so I can talk to my entire crew?”

“If you say ‘please’ to the kids, they are going to have you for lunch,” Drake warned.

“You’re going to have to share with me what sent you over the edge on teens. But right now, just open the com and prepare to be astounded.”

“I bet you a day’s ration of water they’ll be in hysterics,” Drake warned.

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Destination: Titan
Arrival: Titan
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Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Destination: Titan by Liza O'Connor



Prologue
Wearing a simple flowing robe, the old man stared out from his wrought-iron balcony to the quaint buildings below. “Is everything in place?”
“Yes, Your Holiness,” replied an eager young man in far more splendid robes.
“Failure is not an option.”
“We will not fail.  We have planned for every circumstance. Project Einstein will not succeed.”
“But it will not come back to us?”
“No, Your Eminence. No one will blame us for their demise.”
“How many back-up plans?”
“Seven.”
“Not enough.” His ancient hand quivered as it rested upon the metalwork. “Fifteen. I want fifteen plans, each certain to succeed without the blame reaching my feet.”
“I will see it done.”
The old man turned and studied his devotee. “You have doubts, Thomas?”
“It is not my place to doubt God’s work.”
“Earth is about to fall into an ice-age of such duration and frigid temperatures that nothing is expected to survive. So you wonder why God would wish to destroy one of our chances to continue mankind on a different planet.”
The man fell to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor. “Forgive me, Your Holiness.”
The old man walked around the prostrate body and returned to his red velvet chair with authentic gemstones cresting each upholstery tack. He sat with a heavy sigh. “It is better for the human race to die in its entirety than to survive without God.” He stared up to the arching ceiling painted with clouds and angels. “The time has come to choose eternal Heaven or Hell.”
The young man’s head rose. “Yes!” His face filled with joy and wonderment. “I understand now.”
The old man’s head wobbled, perhaps in a nod. “Then go, and see God’s will is done. Only Project Chosen can succeed. Project Einstein must be destroyed, at all costs.”

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

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Destination: Titan
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Sunday, January 20, 2019

Birch's Faith by Ceeree Fields



Birch's Faith ~ CeeRee Fields
 


Betrayal cuts deeper than a double bladed knife.

Trained warrior, Birch McKennery learned the hard way to never trust anyone. Until Zev. She breaks all of her rules and falls in love with him. His betrayal stabbed so deep that Birch fled instead of fighting for what she wanted.

Battle honed, Zev Gridnev has one focus - finding his parents' killers. Until Birch. He becomes infatuated with the sexy warrior, lost in her. Then she disappears like mist in the sunlight. At yet another loss, he closes his heart and pours himself back into his first obsession.

When Zev sees an armed figure darting from the exploding medical center, he acts on instinct and tackles the fleeing suspect. Only to discover the suspect is none other than the woman who disappeared with his heart ten years ago.

Forced together, Birch and Zev work to untangle the mystery surrounding the bombing of Kliendorf Medical and discover the plot to a war that began years ago with the murder of his parents. Now the web of deceit has grown to encompass the Mutants to the east, mercenaries, the military and the Brotherhood of Uriel. As they plunge deeper into danger, will Zev and Birch rediscover the love they both thought long dead? Or will it disappear like mist when their mission ends?

If you relish kickass heroines who take no prisoners and alpha males who stand by their chosen loves, you'll enjoy this new adult fantasy romance series.

Excerpt

They rode for hours. Zev had a love hate relationship with her slider. He hated how small it was, a dull ache had set up residence in his back at his hunched position. But he loved having Birch's body cradled against his.

Her voice broke through his musings.

"There's a good place up ahead to rest. Just go a bit slower." She pointed to the direction he needed to take. Following a few more finger points and shouted directions, he pulled the slider into a clearing.

The silence was deafening after the constant wind and dark rumble of the slider was gone.

Lifting the goggles to rest against the top of his head, he took his first look around. Gorgeous. Just ahead the full moon hung dramatically in the night sky, an awe-inspiring backdrop to the massive waterfall and glistening pool. The slight mist made from the falling water hitting the pool gave the entire area an otherworldly feel.

"This is one of my favorite places to camp," she said, climbing from the seat behind him.

He missed her warmth as soon as she slipped off.

Dismounting, he opened the panniers. "Why don't you go get cleaned up?"
She smiled, lifting her bandaged hands. "I need you to help me get these bandages off."

"Do I need to wrap them up again?"

"No, Dahlia said if I kept them wrapped today and didn't use them, then when we stopped tonight I could leave them off. I've just got to put the salve on once a day and do my exercises."

"Damn. That stuff works faster than the gel they used on me and Trevor during a riot we broke up once in Icaria."

"It's new. And even though it's amazing, it smells horrid." She laughed. "So, no sniffing."

"Just means I have to get closer." He teased and snagged her around the waist to scrape his scruff against her neck as he made exaggerated sniffing noises.

Another fit of laughter passed her lips and he couldn't resist the temptation. Leaning in, he slid his lips over the satin smoothness of hers. She opened to him on a moan and clutched his shoulder. It was a signal he'd have taken any other day, but today he wanted something different. Not rushed. And definitely not scraping along the itchy grass with no blanket between them and it.

"Bandages, bath and then we'll hide away for a little while, Birch."

She hummed, her eyes mysterious in the darkness. "Meet me at the waterfall?"

"Determined aren't you." He claimed her lips again and only separated them when he needed air. "No, those rocks are unforgiving. Now, if I could see into the pool I'd be trying that venue, but I can't so it's going to be our tent."

"Fine. Separate baths."

"Now you get it. Hold out your hands and let me get those things off. While you get your bath I'll put the tent up and while I get mine you can do your exercises." He kissed each fingertip before removing the next glove. It didn't matter that her hand stank, it didn't matter that some of the ointment stuck to his lips, what mattered most to him was seeing the healed skin. Still a slight pink, but beautiful. "We're going to need you as healed as possible if the situation gets dicey with your uncle."

She bent to grab her pack after her gloves were gone. "You're right. All the 'have to's' first then," Her eyes trailed over his body and she slicked her tongue across the bottom of her lip, "and then the 'want to's'."

Half hard from that display, he pointed at her. "Evil."

"At least you'll be thinking about me while I'm gone." She teased, sauntering towards the waterfall.

"As if I had ever stopped," he muttered.

After setting up the tent, he gathered firewood and dug a pit. The rest she should be able to handle while he washed away the dust and grime.

She rejoined him just as he finished stocking the fire pit with wood.

"Ugh! We got a ground tent?"

Confused, he looked from the tent to her. It was an everyday tent, similar to what everyone used except for the weird coils that snaked out under it. He'd assumed it was something Pop and Kael had designed to make it more comfortable. "I've no idea what that means. I took the tent that was in the corner of your room."

A bright smile replaced the scowl. "Oh, okay." Her eyes turned towards the fire pit. "I thought we were washing up, eating some of the hardtack and trailmix, then going to bed."

"We are, but you'll need to do your exercises in the morning and I won't be functional without coffee."

"I'll set everything up and we'll only have to light it when we roll out of bed," she said immediately catching on to his thinking.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he pointed to a small sack. 

"Everything Dahlia sent is in that. I'm off to get cleaned up. There's a shockgun in the tent if you run into trouble."

Birch smirked. "Oh, I'm not supposed to do the damsel in distress call?"

"You, my mist are not and have never been a damsel in distress." He turned and jogged to the water.


~Map of Amelorica~

~Buy Links~



~Author Bio~

CeeRee Fields currently lives in Groningen, the Netherlands with her husband and cat. Since she was born in Alabama and moved to the Netherlands, Dutch is not her first language which gets her into mischief in various stores around town when she tries to speak it.

She loves writing, building worlds that her characters can explore and break if they feel the need. Action, adventure, and love are her favorite things. And when stuff gets blown up who says the guy is the only one who gets to do it?


Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Surviving Sojourn @Liza0Connor


The trouble with Spirit Girlfriends…

If you read Saving Outbound, you know a tampered person blew up during interrogation, killing Captain Longfellow’s second in command, Cass. Sorry to say, Cass and the Captain’s last words were not ones of love. Fortunately, Tamara helps Cass learns how to manipulate molecules so Longfellow can see a faint hint of her and hear her voice, which allowed them to make up.
And yes, Cass remains as sassy as ever. Statistically speaking, sassy people remains ghosts far longer than gentle sweet people. For example, when Dmitri is obliterated in one universe, Saran dies instantly from the shock of losing him, and her spirit moves on in seconds. Without her anchors, Tamara disappears, having lost 2/3rds of her soul.  But still, she hangs on the longest, taking the time to realize how fragile they actually were.
If you don’t remember Tamsarandem dying, it’s because the Gods were able to secure a lagging universe and undo the situation (and brains are terrible recorders of facts.) (It’s in book 2, I promise)
In book 4, the sassy spirit of Cass goes through a great deal.  While she adores Captain Longfellow, his inability to touch her creates problems. She suggests he create a simulation program of her that he can touch, but oddly, his actions leave her less than satisfied.
Thus, she shares the program with Sojourn who can also see her. Having the memories of the Sargon bull Blue, Sojourn is an expert on pleasing the ladies. The things he does to the simulation program her makes Cass groan with pleasure, even though her heart belongs to Longfellow.
On occasion, Longfellow checks up on the crew’s simulation time. He discovers that Sojourn is booking far more hours than he’s allowed, and worse yet, the only simulation he’s using is the one Longfellow had created of Cass. He’d placed restrictions against anyone else using the sim and had hidden it among boring sims that no sane person would ever visit. Thus, he’s outraged by the situation.
He demands Cass to explain how Sojourn had obtained access to the sim. She provides a convoluted story that puts the blame entirely on Sojourn, when in truth, she had led him to the sim and given him the codes to get around the restrictions.
Longfellow had planned to promote Sojourn to Sergeant, today, but he’s scratched that off his to-do list.

Surviving Sojourn
By
Liza O’Connor
 Blurb
An alien species is removing human colonies from planets, but to where, no one knows. Sojourn, along with the Emperor’s daughter and their crew, must find this unknown species and negotiate a treaty before the Empire’s army declares war on all non-human races.
Those who do not follow the Path of Light would prefer to kill all the non-human sentient beings before they are even aware they are under attack.
 Matters turn bleak for the Path of Light when Sojourn’s ship crash-lands on Terranue before their journey even begins.

Excerpt
(Sojourn)
“Ensign Sojourn on the bridge, sir.” Maybe the captain was going to promote him for the great job he’d done gathering the animals. He wanted that to be the reason he’d been called, but the last twenty-seven times he’d held such hope, it had ended with him being called down for one stupid thing or another. Most ensigns were promoted up or fired within their first six months. An outbound ship had no room for slackers. He’d been an ensign for a year now. Maybe his time had finally come.
Longfellow sat before an ugly bank of outdated monitors. Upon hearing Sojourn, he turned his swivel chair and glared at him.
“Is it your goal to be the oldest ensign in outbound history?”
All hope for a promotion shriveled and died. “No, but it seems to be my destiny. What have I done now?”
By the fire in Longfellow’s eyes, he wished he could take back his words that had clearly pissed off his captain further.
“Do not take that tone with me, Ensign. I am your captain!”
If he didn’t defuse this situation soon, he’d be sleeping in the brig tonight. “I’m sorry, sir. However, I really have no idea what I’ve done. I’ve been trying to watch my mouth and stay out of trouble. The moment I get off duty, I head for the simulation room. If someone is accusing me of something, I’d sure like to know what, because to my way of thinking, I’ve been a saint.”
His declaration seemed to agitate Longfellow even further. “Someone has complained, and it concerns the simulation which you have spent all your free time enjoying.”
A faint groan escaped him. Gods! The man knew about the special simulation someone had buried under the title Historical Assessment of Plant Life on Earth. It also meant a certain ghost had blabbed her stupid mouth. Damn Cass! Hot one moment and cold the next. No one could tell him she hadn’t enjoyed those simulations as much as he. So why the hell would she bring it to Longfellow’s attention? “You never said it was off limits‒”
Sales Link
Book 4 : Surviving Sojourn
Book 3: Surviving Terranue
Book 2: Surviving Outbound
Book 1: The Gods of Probabilities
All books are free for KU subscribers
About Author
Liza is a multiple genre author of 50+ novels. 
In this Science fiction series called The Multiverses you will find both romance and humor as humans try to leave earth and survive on a new planet.. 

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Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Surviving Terranue @Liza0Connor


To Wear real clothes or Not….

Sounds risqué, but in Tamara’s case, it’s more a question of practicalities.


Tamara is no longer corporal. She’s part of a three bonded soul, but she’s no longer technically human. Her human body was murdered six years ago. While she can manipulate billions of molecules, she only creates what she needs to appear human. A great deal of her molecules has to be used to create lungs, a throat and a great deal more so she can speak.

So why are clothes an issue?

To be honest, weaved clothing is a royal pain to re-create in detail, all those lines of thread crisscrossing, gathers, zippers, stitching... It’s much easier to drape real clothes over her life-like body. But there are times where real clothing is a liability.

Such as when she goes hunting with Colton. Real clothes carry a scent that other animals can smell. Tamara hadn’t even realized this problem because she can’t smell. While her form has a nose, it doesn’t function. That is way beyond her understanding of biology, and frankly not worth the effort to learn since during the three deadly seasons, most of the colonists don’t bathe. The last thing she’d want to do is smell them. They are annoying enough scentless.

Normally, when outside, especially when other colonists are not about, she won’t wear real clothes. She often won’t even create a body. If she’s doing manual work that requires a physical form, she’ll create the appearance of clothes, but if you look close, you’ll realize the fabric has no weave or stitching or tears.

Clearly women would notice this oddity, so if she’s going to be anywhere around the ladies, she has to wear real clothes. And she’s very hard on real clothes, so Saran, one of her soul-bonds is always having to repair the two jumpersuits Tamara possesses.

And the more tears the two outfits get, the more Tamara has to wear them instead of creating an outfit from molecules since there is no way she is going to memorize and duplicate the hundreds of small tears and stains her real clothes have aquired.

Also, if it’s raining, she needs to wear real clothes, because otherwise, she’ll come in all dry, which would be weird.

If she plans to assist the men, she’ll leave the cave as a spirit then appear behind a large rock or tree, dressed for the day’s work. The men never notice her clothes have no weave patterns. Honestly, most of them want nothing to do with her. She is one bossy crew chief and has tossed a great deal of them to the ground for not obeying her commands.


Surviving Terranue
By
Liza O’Connor
 Blurb
 Leading a colony of frightened people to a new world is rarely easy. The human colonists of Terranue have as their leader, Tamsarandem, the only Soul-bond of Three that has ever existed. Unfortunately, some perceive the innate kindness in the shaman’s choice of leaders as a weakness, thus, challenges begin. From the moment they arrive on the planet, self-survival instincts take hold among the colonists, putting the survival of the colony at risk.

To survive, they must act for the good of the colony rather themselves, even when their natural instincts tell them to do the opposite. First, they must befriend the dominant intelligent life form on the planet, long-haired blue cattle, only slightly smaller than the blue bull Tamsarandem brought with them. Second, they must find a way to survive three of the planet’s five seasons. Otherwise, they’ll be baked, frozen, and pummeled to death. Third, they must protect themselves from the giant bears, saber-tooth lions, and T. rexes that roam their planet. But worst of all, deep within the planet, a seed of evil grows, waiting to devour every living creature on the surface.
Every day in their new paradise is a challenge to survive. Despite all the advantages the Gods have provided, success is neither easy nor certain, and people are rarely as good as they need to be.

Excerpt
Colton jumped a foot in the air when Tamara spoke directly behind him.

“At least now we know what the ship was shooting at. The captain probably didn’t like the T. rex being so close to the wagons.”

Her nonchalance upset him. “Dmitri drove the last wagon and would have been the most vulnerable.” Colton stared at her. “You do realize how vital you three are to this colony?”

She smiled.

“I ask, because I’m not sure you do. You take too many chances with your lives. The colony won’t last a week without Tamsarandem. So with all respect, I must ask why you didn’t stay on the rock.”

“You and I will travel often across these lands, so you need to know a truth that I do not wish to share with the others just yet. Thus, I require your oath of silence.”

“You have it,” he replied without hesitation.

“You do not need to worry for my safety. I cannot be harmed. I am here to protect you.”

Her words made no sense. “What do you mean you cannot be harmed?”

“This form you see is simply materialized ions.”

He scowled at such an absurd claim. Until she disappeared and reappeared five feet away. Colton narrowed his eyes and gripped his gun tighter. Dear Gods, was he losing his mind?

“You are frightened,” Tamara said.

He could hear the disappointment in her voice. “I’m pretty sure I’m suffering delusions since I know what you just did is impossible.”

She reappeared beside him. “I was once human, soul-bond to Saran, wife to Dmitri. I was murdered, and the bonds to both held me to them as a ghost. Once we joined into one, I became strong enough to create a corporal body that is warm to the touch. I can dress it in real clothes or create the illusion of clothes, as I have done today.

He reached out and touched her sleeve. “That’s the difference. Normally, I can smell the scent of soap from your clothes, but today you have no scent. And you leave no trail, but you are careless in your step. I kept wavering on whether you were an experienced hunter or not. When you failed to catch the scent of death, I concluded you weren’t a hunter.”

“You’re correct, but I can still help you, and I will keep you safe.”

“How? You don’t even have your gun anymore.”

She laughed, and instantly it reappeared in her hand. “It’s an illusion. I could easily kill most of the dangers on the planet, only...”

Her pause confused him. A great deal about her confused him. “Only what?”

“I am reluctant to do so because Saran is part of me, and she could not endure the taking of life. So I am here to keep you safe, while you do what is necessary to keep our people safe.”

“But you cannot be harmed?”

“Not even by the fifteen-foot grizzly at the edge of the woods.”

Sales Link
Book 3: Surviving Terranue
Book 2: Surviving Outbound
Book 1: The Gods of Probabilities
All books are free for KU subscribers
About Author

Liza is a multiple genre author of more than 50  novels. 
In this Science fiction series (with romance & humor) called The Multiverses
Social Networks
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

I've over 50 books now, in many genre's