Liza O'Connor interviews Tompa Lee from the Triumph of Tompa Lee, by Ed Hoornaert

Today I’m interviewing a very special person – Tompa Lee, the protagonist of The Triumph of Tompa Lee by Ed Hoornaert, the final volume of The Trilogy of Tompa Lee.

Liza: Welcome, Tompa, and thanks in advance for responding to my questions.

Tompa: You're welcome in advance then.

Liza: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Tompa: Why do you want to know? Is this a maggoty damned trick? If it is, I—

(Ahem. Sorry for this interruption. My author, the guy who writes me, just told me to cool it with the attitude and answer politely. If I don’t, he’ll invent even more disasters for me. But I warn you in advance, ‘polite’ is a foreign language I don’t speak well.)

Thank you so very, very, very much for asking, kindest, gentlest sirs and madams and alien sentients. My name is Tompa Lee, and I’m a ravishingly gorgeous twenty-four-year-old seductress who—

(Ahem. My author again. He says to answer truthfully, as well as politely, and without sarcasm. The man is never satisfied.)

Truthfully? I’m okay-looking, if you like short, flat-chested orphans with great survival instincts. I escaped the worst ghetto on Earth by diligence, hard work, and larceny—mostly larceny—and clawed my way into Earth’s Space Navy. When I got to planet Zee Shode, the intelligent natives first tried to kill me, then proclaimed me a goddess. Stupid of them, right?

But one of the natives, an old, working-class guy named Awmit, became my friend.

I never had a friend before.

Never.

Liza: I can't imagine why not. What is your role in the story?

Tompa: I’m the title character, so obviously I’m the heroine. Let me clue you in on something: you do NOT want to be the title character of a science fiction adventure novel. Problems, problems, endless, life-threatening problems.

The bit about becoming a goddess happened in another book—I’ve endured three novels’ worth of disasters—but since each book is a separate disaster adventure, you can start with the latest. That’s The Triumph of Tompa Lee. I adore the title but abhor the problems I’m expected to triumph over.

Liza: Now that I understand. What is your favorite hobby?

Tompa: You’re kidding me, right?

I know the word hobby, of course. I’m very smart, even though my schooling ended when the orphanage was destroyed when I was twelve. Someone like you probably sneers at someone like me, self-educated and without a degree. Well, screw you with a cactus, Jack.

Hobbies are the stuff that gordos (rich fat cats) do to keep themselves from getting bored. Told you I knew the word. Thing is, I’ve never had the luxury of spare time.

I guess you could say my hobby is staying alive.

Liza: Other than staying in live, what is the challenge you’re trying to overcome during the story?

Tompa: Because I’m a so-called goddess (hah!) the most powerful organization in the Galaxy is determined to squash me. Yep, the Galactic Trading Council. They think I’m getting uppity and threatening their monopolies.

The book opens when an alien from the Council projects himself into my bedroom—while I’m getting dressed, the pervert!—and orders me to commit ‘honorable’ suicide. After I refuse—of course I refuse!—they hire a bounty hunter who kidnaps Awmit and Ming. (Ming is a brave, handsome, talented Space Navy undercover agent who wants to marry me. Him I don’t refuse.)

So now I have to search the ruins of an alien city, alone, and rescue Awmit and Ming before the bounty hunter kills them. Or me.

I told you—problems, problems.

Liza: Don't envy you. If you could make one wish, what would it be?

Tompa: Peace and quiet on a cute little terraformed moon I’ve been told about. And no more cockroachy disasters and sequels!

Liza: Yeah, I wouldn't count on that happening. There may be no ends to your sequels. Now let's find out about the book.

Title: The Triumph of Tompa Lee

Author: Edward Hoornaert

Genre: Science Fiction

Tompa Lee—orphan, anti-social loner, and homeless street meat—has clawed her way up to the stars. There, on planet Zee Shode, she finds the galaxy’s greatest treasures: friendship and love.

Happily ever after? Not if the Galactic Trading Council has its way. The Council rules by divide and conquer, and Tompa commits the unforgivable crime of forging an alliance between humans, Shons, and Klicks.

The Council hires Lily Kilsing, earth’s most feared bounty hunter, to deal with her. Kilsing lures Tompa to a deserted alien city by kidnapping her fiancé and her best friend.

Aided only by the voices of dead people, can Tompa outsmart the huntress, or will she be forced to sacrifice her own life to save her loved ones—and the future of the Shon race?

Buy links:

Website:  http://eahoornaert.com

Trade paperback

http://smile.amazon.com/Triumph-Tompa-Lee-Edward-Hoornaert/dp/1500464023/ref=la_B001K8HWVQ_1_1_title_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414812272&sr=1-1

Kindle version

http://smile.amazon.com/Triumph-Tompa-Lee-Edward-Hoornaert-ebook/dp/B00M5PZO22/ref=smi_www_rcolv2_go_smi?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Kobo version

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-triumph-of-tompa-lee

Nook version

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-triumph-of-tompa-lee-edward-hoornaert/1119986484?ean=2940046058673

Smashwords

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/455436

Liza interviews When Dark Falls by Pippa Jay

Today, we are interviewing a beautiful book from Pippa Jay called When Dark Falls.

Space Rep: That sounds really good can I bring it over now?

Liza: Absolutely!

Space Rep: It's soup!

Liza: Better not be...

Liza: Welcome When Dark Falls. May I call you Dark?

Book: Sure, why not.

Liza: I like your obliging attitude!

Dark: Yes, well when dark is falling you don't sweat the little things.

Liza: Gorgeous cover. Tell me about yourself. Your city appears to be burning.

Dark: The city is in trouble. Dark Technologies now runs the show.

Liza: It's never a good idea for a Corporation to take control of a city. They really aren't people, you know. They are profit machines. Any chance you have a superhero to kick their non-people asses?

Dark: Unfortunately, our guardian superhero, Blaze, has fallen. 

Liza: And no one cares?

Dark: Kadie Williams does, but she has her own problems. Every morning for the last few months she's woken up with cuts and bruises on her body and no idea how she got them.

Liza: That's weird. Is she thrashing about in her sleep believing monsters are attacking her?

Dark: Nope, she's not having nightmares.

Liza: Is she sleep walking and getting mugged?

Dark: There's no evidence that she's sleepwalking or any sign of a break in.

Liza: You thought burglars were breaking in to beat her up in her sleep. Man, this town must be really mean to even think that!

Dark: Well something's going on, and someone has been cleaning up after her.

Liza: Hmmmm a mystery. Didn't see that coming.

Dark: As just one of thousands of civilians conscripted to slave away in the labs of Professor Dark, she knew there'd be trouble ahead. But she never expected it to be so bad, or so personal.

Liza: What's she going to do?

Dark: Desperate for answers, Kadie looks to the new defender of the night, the only person who can hinder the total domination of Professor Dark.

Liza: What's his name?

Dark: It's a she: Nocturnelle, the mysterious vigilante superhero came from nowhere with her cybernetic sidekick Shadow, set on putting an end to the brutality of Dark's regime.

Liza: Then all is good now!

Dark: Not as long as his laboratories are working on a new secret super-weapon.

Liza: But we have Nocturnelle and Shadow.

Dark: That may not be enough to save the city of Nephopolis or Kadie.

Liza: Darn it! Open your covers so I can read more.
  

Dark: No marring the pages.

The roar of the cloudburner flaming into life woke her. The vibration as it powered up rippled through the building created a disturbance impossible to sleep through. No more being roused from sleep by the dawn chorus of traffic or a rowdy neighbor. Those days were long past. Everyone in Nephopolis woke to the sound of fire burning into the clouds, to cast a false darkness over the city. The shadow of Dark.

Kadie stretched...and froze. She stared at her left arm. A pattern of blue and purple covered her forearm, a harsh contrast to her otherwise pale skin.

She shuddered, turning her arm this way and that. Had she fallen out of bed? And if so, why hadn't she woken? She didn't remember catching it on anything yesterday that would have gone unnoticed and yet left such intense bruising. One day blurred into another now, but even so, surely she'd remember hurting herself that badly?

If I'd been conscious. She sat up and examined the bruise. It was the fourth injury in as many nights, and yet there'd been no dreams. No sign she'd left her bed in the night. Would she know if she'd been sleepwalking? After all, she lived and slept alone. 

Unless she was leaving her apartment to wander around in the corridors...

The idea made her stomach churn too much to consider it. Instead, she swung her legs out from under the duvet. Pale pink flannel pajamas clothed her, crumpled from a night's sleep but nothing more. Her bare feet revealed no signs of midnight wandering. What the hell had happened to her arm when everything else seemed so normal?

Liza: Now this sounds really good. Anything else you'd like to share?

Dark: When Dark Falls is an alternative 1920s superhero romance releasing from Breathless Press 21st of November. Add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. Sign up to my no-spam newsletter HERE to stay up to date with releases, cover reveals, sales and giveaways for all my titles and more.

Liza: So tell me about your author.

Dark: After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include a YA science fiction novel—Gethyon—published through BURST (Champagne Books), a scifi romance novella—Tethered—published by Breathless Press, a YA paranormal romance—Restless In Peaceville—published by Lycaon Press, three self-published short stories (Terms & Conditions Apply, The Bones of the Sea, and Reboot), and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3^rd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2^nd place).

Liza: And for my followers prone to legal stalking, where can they follow you?

Dark: You can stalk her at her website http://pippajay.co.uk, or at her blog http://pippajay.blogspot.co.uk, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen

Space Rep: Finally! I've broken out of the Transporter. Someone shut me inside. *Glares at Liza*

Liza: Great to see you Space Rep. Go find us the buy links. This book sounds great.

Space Rep: Found them! 

Buy Links:

Breathless Press - http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=25&products_id=691

Web page to other links - http://www.pippajay.co.uk/#!when-dark-falls/cl15

Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space by H. Peter Alesso

Welcome Peeps. Today, we have H. Peter Alesso and his book Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space.

Space Rep:  Did he bring a prize?

Liza: A very nice one. $100 Gift card from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, winners choice.

Space Rep: Oh I want that. How do I win?

Liza: Well, Peter has a rafflecopter at the bottom of this blog, so click on it and follow directions. But first let's teleport  Peter over and interrogate him a bit.

Welcome Peter!  Looks like we've grabbed you from a wedding.

Space Rep: By his 'what the hell did I just do expression' I think it was his wedding.

Liza: You might be right. Better port him right back. I don't want an angry bridezilla after me.

Space Rep: Does that mean you need to interview me instead of him?

Liza: No need for acts of desperation. My teleporter was able to capture his intended answers to my questions.

Space Rep: That's cool.

Liza: Let's find out. <TELEPORT EXTRACTION: LIZA O'S STUPID QUESTIONS> 

Imagination question:

1)    Describe your spaceship and how you came to own it…if you do own it..

I use mental transcendence to travel beyond the mundane confines of Earth’s gravity. By using my knowledge of the planets and space environment I visualize my journey through space between the planets and beyond. This method of ‘teleportation’ develops a sense of great freedom and independence.

Scientific Question:

2)    Do you believe in Multiverses? (also known as parallel universes.?

Physics is one of the great intellectual accomplishments of the humanity. The success of the Standard Model and the verification of the Higgs boson consolidated our understanding of particle physics and astrophysics. The jury is still out on outstanding candidate models such as SuperSymmetry and SuperString theory that expand the three forces of the Standard Model to include gravity. The 11 dimension universe of SuperString theory offers a complex configuration with many attractive theoretical solutions. But stepping beyond SuperString toward Brand theory and a Multiverse is intriguing. However, with each mental stretch we find ourselves further from experimentally verifiable evidence.

That’s why science fiction should investigate this topic. Imagination is our sole instrument for investigation. And our judgment thus becomes our only form of verification - through inductive reasoning.

However, when dealing with ‘what is’ and ‘what may be’, we need to selective. Who knows if in the multiverse of possibilities, we have already settled this question?

<Space Rep: I think my head just exploded. >

Reader Question:

3)    Do you think humor has a place in Sci Fi?  What about romance?

Humor and romance are intrinsic to the human spirit. Each displays a vital aspect of each character in a story. The problem is that both human and romance are difficult to include in a complex story because they may require significant personality development to express and that may distract from the central arc of the action of the story. A strong writer should be able to engage both of these essential human characteristic within the context of his main story line.

Real Life Question:

4)    What event occurred in your life that has influenced your novels?

As an officer serving aboard nuclear submarines, my experiences in volatile and hazardous situations gave me an important appreciation of my shipmates and friends. I think this is reflected in the characters in my novel.

Writing Questions:

5)    What is your favorite part of writing? 

Science fiction novels provide wonderful adventures in unexpected places with unusual characters and strange circumstance. I’ve enjoyed them all my life including stories such as Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series and it inspired a story that I wanted to share. Midshipman Henry Gallant was the result.

6)    What part of your book was the hardest to write?

I feel that science fiction should be based upon actual scientific principles. I researched the technology included in the story and tried to project their development path into the next century. Genetic engineering is current an important topic in our society and humanity faced difficult choices as it develops over the course of the next century. In Midshipman Henry Gallant, genetic engineering plays an influential role in the background but it is cast against another important innovation that also may prove a future threat: Artificial Intelligence.

Downright Silly Questions:

7)    If you met an alien from outer space, how would  you explain what you  (as an author) actually do.

Communication is everything when contacting strangers. That makes science fiction authors essential to any scenario involving aliens.

I’m waiting for a call from NASA.

</END TELEPORT EXTRACTION>

Space Rep: Oh I love the cover. He reminds me of a young Horatio Hornblower.

Liza: He does! And I believe Horiatio was a midshipmen as well.

Space Rep: Ship's a bit different.

Liza: Significantly different.

Space Rep:  So what's it about?

Liza: Here's the blurb:

As the last star fighter in squadron 111, Midshipman Henry Gallant is on his way from Jupiter to Mars. With the United Planets' fleet on the verge of annihilation, he can expect no help as he passes through the asteroid belt and threatening aliens. With so much uncertainty about the aliens’ capabilities and intentions, analyzing the captured computer equipment in Gallant’s possession could prove crucial.

The fate of Earth could rest on the abilities of Midshipman Henry Gallant. Unfortunately, it is his abilities that have been much in doubt during his tour of duty. In an era of genetic engineering, he is the only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. His classmates and superior officers have all expressed their concern that he will not be up to the demands of the space service. Only bright and attractive junior officer Kelsey Mitchel has shown any sympathy for him. Now as his navigator on the last fighter in squadron 111, her life as well as a good many others, depends of Henry Gallant.

Excerpt

Gallant stood at attention inside the open hatch. Captain Kenneth Caine was seated with his back to Gallant while he reviewed Gallant’s military record on a computer tablet. Clean-shaven with close-cropped graying hair, Caine was solidly built with square shoulders and a craggy face.

From his short time on board, Gallant had already realized that the Repulse was an orderly ship and that Kenneth Caine was an orderly captain. Precision and disciple were expected. He was suddenly conscious of the fact that his tangled brown hair was somewhat longer than regulations allowed.

The cabin was sparely furnished, revealing a traditional stark military room. A desk rested in one well lit corner and held the single personal item in the room, a photo. It showed an attractive mature woman with a pleasant smile. It hinted of someone who had made a bad bargain – that of the lonely wife of a devoted space officer.

While the captain rapidly slid his finger across the tablet screen, flipping through the personnel folder, Gallant’s gaze wandered to the scene visible from the compartment’s porthole. The solar flare had subsided, leaving gigantic colorful Jupiter filling most of the view.

“Mr. Gallant, come in,” said Caine, finally turning to face the newcomer. “Welcome aboard the Repulse.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Gallant in a strong clear voice.

“What do you know of this ship’s mission, Mr. Gallant?”

“As flagship of the Jupiter Fleet, Repulse is required to prevent further alien encroachment along the Jupiter frontier, sir,” ventured Gallant cautiously.

“Quite right, as far as it goes. But you’ll find Mr. Gallant, that there are often more layers involved than may appear on the surface. As a United Planets' (UP) officer, it is your responsibility to find the additional shades of meaning that can affect the performance of your duties. What would you surmise is behind this frontier watch?” The captain’s reassuring voice beckoned a resolute answer.

Gallant spoke guardedly, at first, but then with growing confidence he said, “Well, sir, UP knows little about the aliens' origins or intentions. They appear to have bases on the satellites of the outer planets. Clashes with their scout ships have proven troublesome and Fleet Command wants to gather more intelligence. With so little known about the alien technology, it’s difficult to assess the best way to repel them. Nevertheless, this fleet is tasked with forestalling any possibility of an invasion of Earth by preventing the aliens from gaining a foothold in this sector of space.”

BUY LINK

Amazon 
(and everywhere else) 

A book trailer so fabulous I had to embed it!

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

As a scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of computer scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of six books. (Website www.hpeteralesso.com)

Contact: H. Peter Alesso

 alesso@comcast.net 

 www.hpeteralesso.com

Liza: To enter to win the fabulous prize that Space Rep wants, click on this Rafflecopter and follow instructions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To increase probability of winning $100 Gift Card, follow and obey commands at all tour stops

 http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/06/vbt-midshipman-henry-gallant-in-space.html

And leave comments because Space Rep, I and H. Peter like them.