The Gods of Probabilities @Liza0Connor

Xenophobia – the future of racism.

Definition of Xenophobia – An Unreasonable fear or hatred of strangers from other lands/countries/planets.

Original usage: 1905-from the word Xenos, meaning strange added to Phobia, meaning fear. Together they mean fear of strangers.

Current/Future usage: 2300 – Fear of sentient aliens, especially those who do not resemble a humanoid form.

In The Gods of Probabilities, Captain Zousan discovers a great deal of his crew harbor xenophobic attitudes. This comes to light when Pane is given the critical position of Shepherd for the planet Zepwick, which is vitally important for the success of The Path of Light.

Pane is the result of one of the Gods getting frisky with an orangutan species on the planet Hooweet in the Triangulum Galaxy. As the dominant intelligent life on the planet, they drove about in three-wheeled helio cars that could also fly short distances. Their young people loved to go dancing and swinging ‘til the break of dawn, then head off to battle at the break of dawn. They were warring with the other tribes, much like humans do, so Zousan sent one of his crew down to teach them to live in harmony. Taking on the rallying cry of “Make Love, not War” the sub-par God evidently followed his own advice. Nine months later, Pane was born. Normally, God genes dominated over the DNA of the native partner, and they always came out looking like… well, Gods. The men were handsome and strong, the ladies beautiful and svelte.

But not this time.

This suggests that Pane’s DNA proved stronger and better than the DNA of the idiot God that Zousan had sent to the planet. He would like to know exactly who he sent to the planet, only the computer refuses to tell him. 

Despite Pane’s excessive fur, short bow legs, and a grey muzzle jutting from his brown furry face, Zousan thinks him an excellent Shepherd, the best he had in fact. Pane had great empathy for his charges, excellent problem-solving skills, quick to give others credit for their ideas, diligent, focused, hardworking and never resented questions or suggestions. While disturbing in appearance, he handled his charges to perfection.  Zousan only wished he had more like Pane. But Pane was unique, both in his abilities and his hideous features. And his presence had brought to Zousan’s attention that he had a serious xenophobia problem. Even knowing they might destroy The Path of Light by their actions or inactions, other crew members will ignore his requests, even if they were signed off by his supervisor Athena. Zousan is constantly having to intervene because the Xenophobes on his staff send Pane’s Highest Priority requests down to the bottom of a hundred yearlong queue.

Finally, he threatens to send all Xenophobes home through the next black hole they pass. SANS SHIP!

While this quelled the obvious signs of Xenophobia, nothing has altered the hearts of his crew. The Gods who were Xenophobes yesterday are still Xenophobes. They’re just more careful about it.

And the problem isn’t just with the Gods. The large contingency of humans in space, while claiming to follow The Path of Light, in truth walk a darker path, plotting to kill all other sentient lifeforms in the all the multiverses. I’m sorry to say, but some things never change.

The Gods of Probabilities

By

Liza O’Connor

 Blurb

The Gods require a time shifter to ensure the Path of Light reigns during the final collapse of possibilities. To speed the process of finding an Oceanic with the specific talents needed, God DNA is induced in several batches of Oceanic eggs, resulting in a generation of brilliant tiny blue Oceanic children.

One charming boy named Drogan has the ability to manipulate quantum reality in ways that will strengthen the Path of Light. The only trouble is that his gift runs a high probability of killing him and wiping out the Path of Light for good.

While the bureaucratic Gods will try to assist, in Quantum all possibilities not only can, but do happen, so the future is never certain.

Sales Links

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About Author
Liza O'Conner has exceeded 50 novels. 
Yep, she loves to write stories in many genres: 
Contemporary,
Sci Fi
Paranormal
Western
Historical
and a few youth books too.

Social Networks

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

Liza’s Multiverse Blog

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

Surviving Sojourn @Liza0Connor

Pane is the product of one of the Gods crew mating a sentient orangutan during an era when Zousan sent his fellows out to teach sentients not to kill each other. The crew called it the Make Love Not War campaign.

And it resulted in a great many baby Gods.

Normally, the God’s DNA overwhelms the other species resulting in pure God DNA in the offspring.

Except, on occasion, it turns out the sentient creature will have stronger, better DNA in some sections of the DNA strand resulting in a mix-breed rather than a pure God. That is how Pane came to be.

While Zousan was worried when Athena took a liking to Pane—(He did not want furry grandkids), over time, he also grows very fond of Pane. He promotes him to top shepherd and constantly praises him for his fabulous ability to get sentients to cooperate with one another and solve their own problems. This is critical to the PATH of LIGHT's success upon the final collapse.

The contract Zousan signed severely limits the number of times Zousan or any of his crew can intercede to save the various sentients needed to save the Path of Light. So Pane’s incredible gift of persuasion, foresight, and genuine love for his sentients makes all the difference in their battle to ensure the Path of Light triumphs over darkness.

Over time, Zousan comes to love Pane like a son. He could not be prouder of his top Shepherd.

But the sentient computer Marybell senses her Pane beloved needs physical love, so Marybell suggests and Zousan acquires a Tea Cup Puppy that resembles Pane a great deal. When the puppy licks Pane’s nose, he licks the puppy and a love bond is set forever.

Ah, Puppy Love!

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

Zousan smiled as he turned from his monitor. “Marybell, I have a great wish to reward Pane for his extraordinary work getting the alien bias removed from the books so Drogan could return to Captain Longfellow’s service.

“He did more than that,” the sentient computer replied. “By not placing Drogan on the crew list, your father has been under the presumption he died and thus has made no further attempts to kill the poor fellow.”

Zousan had wished he’d known what an ass his father intended to be. Then he would have bothered writing a trillion rules to stop his father from cheating. But no, he mistakenly believed he and his brothers and sisters had been successful with their intervention and his father had realized he needed to stop controlling all of their lives. Given all the troubles his father had plagued him with, he worried what happened to Poseidon’s fishing trip and Hade’s desire for a warm climate. He doubted his father had played fair with them any more than he had with Zousan.

“What does Pane want more than anything?”

“To be woken with kisses,” she replied.

“I thought you loved Pane?” Zousan challenged.

“I do!”

“Then why did you suggest I find him another woman to warm his bed?”

“I suggested no such thing! I said he wanted to be woken with kisses.”

“And how do you propose we achieve the matter? I guarantee you no female on this ship will accept the job.”

“Well, I would, if I could, but I can’t. But I have found a cute little teacup poodle to do the trick.”

“There’s a planet with sentient teacups?” Zousan asked. He was definitely demoting whoever made tea cups sentient.

“Actually one your idiots did try to make sentient teacups, to prank you, but when he poured the hot water into the cups, I made it so hot the cups melted, spilling hot water all over the idiot.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“We weren’t on speaking terms back then. You preferred your interface.”

“That was a huge mistake on my part. One in which I’m most thrilled to have changed.”

“Thank you. I much prefer our current relationship as well.”

“So, back to the original topic. What type of Tea Cups are able to kiss Pane awake?”

“It’s a puppy. A very tiny puppy. So small, he’ll fit in a teacup. Which means Pane can keep him in his pocket so he doesn’t have to worry about the little fellow when he’s working.”

“Then let’s get him a teacup puppy. He’s more than earned those kisses.

Sales Link

Book 4 : Surviving Sojourn

Amazon

Book 3: Surviving Terranue

Amazon

Book 2: Surviving Outbound

Amazon

Book 1: The Gods of Probabilities

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.

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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

How to survive a new planet-- Liza's ten step program.

Now that you've survived going Outbound, 

you still need to survive you new planet.

Lucky for you, 

Liza has 10 steps to surviving your new planet.

Step 1: Know you before you go!

 If you knew how little the CUC knows about your new home, you would probably stay home and be eaten by your old neighbors. 

All the CUC checks for is 

1) Is the air breathable?

2) Is there a drinkable liquid that contains H2O?

3) Does the planet have at least one tolerable season?

As you'll soon discover, there is a great deal more you should have learned about your planet BEFORE you arrived. Since you are already here, we'll skip the 'don't come' step.

1) During entry onto your planet, stay in your cube. Entry into planets with an atmosphere can be result in a very bumpy arrival. If you aren't secured for entry, you can be seriously injured and in some universes there will be no Soul-bond of Three to heal you.

2) Upon arrival don't steal the medical and food supplies. It will just piss off the other people and get you in serious trouble.

3) Avoid cliffs where large rats gather. But if you can get the captain to blast the rats to bits, you're chances of survival beyond an hour looks better.

4) Don't go wandering off by yourself in search of fresh fruit. No one bothered to determine what wildlife might be wandering about looking for dinner.

5) The T.Rexes are NOT friendly.

6) The giant bears are NOT friendly.

7) The saber-tooth lions are NOT friendly.

8) Have the blue bull you brought & Saran befriend the other sentient species on this planet. Don't introduce yourself, the bulls in charge aren't friendly either.

9) Once you befriend the local sentients, first thing, ask about their seasons because three of the five seasons will bake, freeze and pummel you.

10) Beware the 1%ers who came with you. They will try to take over the colony and make you slaves.

This makes you wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to fix our planet, doesn't it?

Great News!

All four of the Multiverse Series

 will be 

99 cents between 12/16-12/22

This is probably the only time

 I will offer each book for so little.

so buy them cheap while you can.

I've got new sci-fi books to create.

The Multiverse Series ends.What? You haven't read it?

A mere four months ago I began publishing my humorous, Sci-Fi Soap Opera, The Multiverses as my Sci-Fi debut.

I published a book a month and may I say that is a far bigger task than I ever anticipated. But I know how hard it is for authors to break into Sci-Fi, so I hoped by publishing all four in short order, you would recognize my commitment.

First came book one, which was actually written fourth because all my critters adored Drogan and wanted to know more about him. So I wrote his story and it became book 1. And early on, it was named Drogan and had this cover. Only I had several issues.
1st) Drogan is just a little fellow in most of the story.
2nd the cover, while cool, doesn't match with the rest of the covers, and 3rd) I decided to bring the Gods to the forefront so my readers could see how hard getting anything done actually was, and so you can laugh at them, because they're funny, while the sentients are usually desperately trying to survive.

Now out front, the Gods demanded the first cover, since they are Gods and all and you get to meet them. This caused a great deal of re-writing since I had originally  written them in the background. However, one critter had complained it made everything too easy. Ha! It was anything but easy. Especially with the contract Zousan signed. It pretty well guaranteed Zousan would fail and horrid father would win.

Win what? you ask. Zousan insisted the universe would be better with happy people who cared about each other and strived for the better of all instead of solely caring about themself. He calls his effort The Path of Light.  

Cronus, Zousan's father, prefers to have slaves who do what he says or be punished. He calls his efforts The Path of Darkness.

Needless to say Zousan doesn't like his father in the least. I mean the man literally ate the four siblings before him.  Okay, not literally, although the Greeks claimed it so. They evidently were prone to exaggeration or the Gods who stopped at Earth were. Not sure which.

So in book 1 we meet the Gods and these adorable cute little water humanoids who are going to die a horrible death unless they figure out how to leave Earth and find a planet with clean water to live in.  (In case you are unaware, humans have tossed all sorts of toxic substances in Earth's oceans.)

But not to worry. A lazy God induced God DNA into several batches of hatchlings resulting in brilliant little blue Godlets. This one is Drogan and he has the ability to locate parallel 
universes and enter other dimensions.
Now, if only he can use these skills to get off Earth and onto another planet.

Okay, let's be serious. The Gods are going to help a great deal to get this done. In fact, they use a great deal of their allotted saves in book one.

In book 2, we wander over to the human's dimension of Earth and meet some very unusual characters. We have one of the nicest humans you'll ever meet, Saran, her dead soul bond, Tarmara, Tarmara's husband, Dmitri and a giant Blue sentient bull who declares this is NOT his planet and he has lost all patience with it.

When Dmitri marries Saran the two humans & one spirit combine souls and becomes the first three bonded soul that has ever existed.  There are prophecies all over the place about this being, yet oddly, the God Zousan has no idea who wrote these prophesies.  One of the many oddities, hinting the Gods may not be alone out there managing the multiverses.

After a great deal of trouble and several deaths, some of which got undone when collapsing universes the colonists land on Terranue.

Looks lovely, right? Shame no one spent much time investigating the planet beyond determining it had a tolerable climate (at the time they arrived) had breathable air, and no other sentient  had built anything that resembled a house. 

Turns out Terranue has T rexes, giant bears, saber-tooth lions, and three seasons (out of five) that will bake, freeze and pummel to death humans. 

Fortunately, the blue bull that came along who name is Blue declared himself king of the planet and all that lives upon it. Turns out there are blue bulls already on the planet and the only place the humans have a chance to survive is to live in their valley. Thus, the humans and Sargon become allies.

However that doesn't mean all the humans who entered the ship were good. While some were what you'd call demonically evil, others are self-centered creatures.  

Tamsarandem (the famous soul-bond of three) has two children, both of which had to be grown in a day since they are born with all the memories and knowledge of their three parents. Trust me, no one with an adult mind wishes to be stuck in a baby's body for years and years.

At the end of book three they send their one day old baby off with the captain of the Outbound ship as a member of his crew. 

Not to worry. He's been aged to a 21 year smartass. 

Sojourn had been certain he was meant to be a great leader, but he seems to spend a great deal of time in the brig.

Then in one day he's promoted from ensign to lieutenant to captain, making him the most clueless captain ever.

Book 4 is considered the best of the series. There's lots of love, battles, humor, danger.... So if you want to read it first, you can, and it will make total sense.


Then you can go back and read the other books while I write the first book of the next series. The series is called The Search for Sentients.  A great deal of the prior cast will show up on Admiral Sojourn's kickass ship along with new sentients.

Here are three covers I've made based on the main stories for book one.  Which do you like best.

Can't wait to write it!

Meet Second from The Gods of Probabilities by Liza O'Connor

Meet Second

Second lost use of his name, Kraton, when he became second in command of a second rate ship run by a second rate captain. 

He’s been pissed from the moment the Big Boss gave him the assignment. “I know I promised you a captain’s seat and you will get it, just as soon as Zousan fails at this task. Don’t worry. You’ll be in the captain’s seat in no time at all.”

No time at all?  Kraton…scratch that…Second had been waiting over 30 billion years and despite the losers on this ship, Captain Zousan was actually succeeding at his task. Nor would Second sabotage his efforts. To be honest, he enjoyed working for Zousan far more than the Big Boss. Thus, over the last billion years, he tried to be the best Second ever, and Zousan showed real appreciation for his efforts. That had never happened with the Big Boss.

Over time, Second won his captain’s trust and his duties expanded until he basically ran the ship. No one was happier than him when they rebuilt the ship so it could carry a much larger crew.  He was well aware that the original ship had been built to fail. And while they tried to remove all the fail points when precious Athena came on board, Second never trusted they had succeeded in finding all the bugs in the software. To be certain no problems were transferred over to the new ship, the new computer was organically grown.

When he informed Zousan of the change, the captain nixed the idea, forcing Second to admit they had already built and paid for organic computer. The Big boss would have demanded it stripped out and taken the cost out of Second’s pay, but Zousan just asked for a compromise. 

“Can you build a normal computer interface for me?”

Yes, he preferred Zousan a great deal over the Big Boss.

The Gods of Probabilities

By

Liza O’Connor

 Blurb

The Gods require a time shifter to ensure the Path of Light reigns during the final collapse of possibilities. To speed the process of finding an Oceanic with the specific talents needed, God DNA is induced in several batches of Oceanic eggs, resulting in a generation of brilliant tiny blue Oceanic children.

One charming boy named Drogan has the ability to manipulate quantum reality in ways that will strengthen the Path of Light. Only trouble is that his gift runs a high probability of killing him and wiping out the Path of Light for good.

While the bureaucratic Gods will try to assist, in Quantum all possibilities not only can, but do happen, so the future is never certain.

Sales Link

Amazon

About Author

Liza is a multiple genre author of 15 novels. A Late Victorian Series, The Adventures of Xavier & Vic, plus a spinoff, A Right to Love, is an ongoing series.    A Long Road to Love is a humorous Contemporary Disaster Romance series (5 books). She has two single books. One is a humorous, bad boys contemporary novel with ghosts, called Ghost Lover, the other is Untamed & Unabashed, a spinoff from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Now, she’s rolling out her Science fiction series (with romance & humor) called The Multiverses. The first four books are slotted for last half of 2015.  In addition she hopes, if she hasn’t dropped from exhaustion by then, to re-release a sometimes humorous/suspense thriller called Saving Casey. It’s the story of a middle-class old woman who dies and wakes up in a trust-fund teen’s body with no choice but to turn around Casey’s life, despite the many bridges the teen has burnt.

Liza would love to know: What’s your favorite genre?

Social Networks

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

LIZA O'CONNOR

Investigate these sites:

The Multiverse Blog

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

Tara Quan talks Humor

(Liza thinks space towels are inherently funny)

Today, I've invited over an expert in Humor and Romance. As you know, 80% of readers think I am hilarious, and the other 20% thinks I'm not funny in the least. So I invited Tara Quan to share her take on humor. 

 Now behave and read quietly, please.

On Humor and Romance

I’d like to thank Liza for having me over today. We ran into each other on Facebook, and I’m very excited to check out her little spot on the Internet.

Writing a post apocalyptic romance lends itself to some dark themes, but I’m a firm believer in humor. No matter how dangerous the situation, I try to find ways for my characters to make each other laugh. Liking someone is, after all, the basis of loving someone, and no relationship would last without the occasional giggle and smile.

I’ve read countless books that have made my heart ache, that left me in tears as I follow characters down torturous paths. What keeps me reading, what makes me root for the happily ever after, are the moments when those same characters manage to bring a twinkle to each other’s eye.

After all, without a touch of humor, their romance wouldn’t be quite as fun.

 And here's a bit of info about Tara's latest book:

Catching Red

Scarlet “Red” Ryding is on a mission. To prevent mass suicide, she must fulfill her grandmother’s evil wishes and return posthaste. With knives in hand, she dives headfirst into an abandoned hospital full of zombies. But after getting trapped within, she is forced to accept help from the world’s most dangerous predator—a man.

Covert Agent Marcus Woodsman received strict instructions against interfering in the affairs of nomads. As a spy for the Federal Military Agency, his mandate is to observe and report. But when he finds a little redhead caught in the center of a brain-eater swarm, conscience compels him to put his ax to good use. By the time he realizes this smart-ass scout comes equipped with a world of trouble, it’s too late—he would do anything to keep her safe.

As Red and her Woodsman work together to survive undead, brave a snowstorm, and bring down an evil cult, they learn to laugh, love, and fight for happiness. The second book in Tara Quan’s Undead Fairy Tales series, Catching Red is a post-apocalyptic thriller with a happily ever after.

Consolidated | Amazon | AllRomance | LSBooks | GoodReads

Scarlet woke to the delicious smell of charred venison and cooking fruit. The rusty feeling between her joints was gone. She rubbed her crusted eyes as she curled into a sitting position. For the first time in months, she felt energized and rested.

Her bed ended where the kitchen area began. Marcus stood in front of the wood-burning stove, his back facing her. Even with his neck bent and spine curved, his blond head grazed the low ceiling. He wrapped a thick cloth around his hand, lifted the cast-iron skillet, and turned in place. He plunked it down on the circular stone tray at the center of her small rickety table. Her first and only attempt at carpentry creaked but didn’t fall apart.

She lifted an eyebrow as she scrutinized the skillet’s contents—seared smoked venison covered with slices of dried apple. It was an interesting meal choice.

Perhaps in reaction to her quizzical expression, he turned his palms up and defended his creation. “The food store in your basement is a mess. This was all I could scrounge up.”

She frowned. “I packed and stacked everything in alphabetical order.”

His broad shoulders rose and fell. “Your system didn’t make any sense. You’ll have to explain it sometime. Either way, this beats the MREs I fed you during the snowstorm. Come on. Your breakfast is getting cold.”

She grabbed the worn quilt and wrapped it over her shoulders. She was about to lower her feet to the cold floor when she saw him shake his head.

He walked over to the foot of her bed. The length of his torso and arms easily spanned the small area separating the cottage’s sleeping and eating spaces. He leaned forward and grabbed the edge of the table with both hands. When he brought his elbows into his body, the piece of furniture with all its contents slid as if on wheels. It stopped a few inches away from the bottom edge of the mattress. He stepped around it, then pulled up the only chair, and sat.

Scooting over, she sniffed the food. The smell made her mouth water. “Why are you being so nice?”

“I’ve always been nice.” He used his knife to spear a piece of seared meat and raised it to his mouth.

Scooting over, she sniffed the food. “You only did it to get me to have sex with you.”

Tara Quan

Globetrotter, lover of languages, and romance author, Tara Quan has an addiction for crafting tales with a pinch of spice and a smidgen of kink. Inspired by her travels, Tara enjoys tossing her kick-ass heroines and alpha males into exotic contemporary locales, fantasy worlds, and post-apocalyptic futures. Armed with magical powers or conventional weapons, her characters are guaranteed a suspenseful and sensual ride, as well as their own happily ever after. Learn more at www.taraquan.com

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Private message to Tara.  Do not read if you are not Tara

Tara, I'll be keeping you for three days because some of my readers are zombies and it takes them awhile to show up.