Gearing Up For My First "Kon"

Just a quick mention...
This weekend, for all you local followers (and those willing to hop on a plane to venture down to 13ºN), I'll be attending my very first Con...or Kon.  AnimeKon kicks off this weekend and I'll be there with books in hand, and all the paraphernalia, selling, chatting, signing, and in general, grinning like an idiot.  So stop by the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (formally Sherbourne Centre) anytime this weekend.  If you don't see me, try under the table...I might be hiding.

Cheers!

Bengaria's War is Finished!

So it's finally managed to rain over here at 13ºN, and the lands have cooled moderately enough.  Oh, it's still hot and annoyingly so, but, a tolerable hot.  Anyways, just thought I'd make a little mention that over the weekend (well Friday, really) I managed to complete my work in progress, Bengaria's War.

YES!

Okay, it's still only the first draft and needs a lot more work done to it to polish it off and smooth out the rough edges before I send it off to my beta readers, but the point is, is that it's DONE!  And now, I simply can't wait to dive back into it and get started on the polishing.  Alas, the real world interuptus, and so I have to respond to it in order to survive in the real world...which really sucks...the work, not the real world, although, that's debatable.

Of course, as I typed up the last sentence and the last few words in Bengaria's War, I still couldn't decide how to end it.  You see, I've sort of come up with an alternative ending, and I may stick it to my beta readers and ask them which ending they would prefer.  Oh, the decisions!  Both endings are good (or will be, once I create the alternate ending) but that means I've cornered myself into a sequel...depending on which ending works better for people.  And, if the sequel version is chosen, then I've now got to come up with a convincing tale for it.

Anyways, we shall see.  Don't worry, I'll keep you in the loop...

Well, that's all for now.  If you're curious about what Bengaria's War is all about, click up on the WIPs tab on this site and check it out.

Cheers!

Six Sentence Sunday - June 19

It's Six Sunday again!  Thanks to everyone who drops by to read these tasty snippets and leaving wonderful comments.

For today's Six, I'll once again be teasing you with a little treat from The Master Key which is due out this July. (Sequel to The Lancaster Rule)

Josie still wasn’t accustomed to having automated droids around, especially those that looked all too human—waxy, artificial complexion aside. She returned a squint-eyed stare and gave Crocker—John’s wry sense of humour in naming the cooking droid after the legendary Betty—a wide berth before planting herself on a kitchen stool.

As you can see, Josie's isn't too fond of some things in the future...

In this second book of the trilogy, the heroine, Josie, now married to world president John Lancaster, and begins her new life in the future. But all is not idyllic as a dangerous man from her past returns as old enemies return to plague her life.
Revelations of Josie's past, three hundred years ago, surface and begin to unfold, every question she has ever wanted to know is answered. Events lead her to the Scrap Yard, a cybernetics space station where she must battle it out with her enemies.

For anyone interested in participating, click to Six Sentence Sunday, and follow the rules. You can also check out the six sentence reads from the other participants.

Tweet about it too, use the #sixsunday hashtag.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Six Sentence Sunday - June 12

Hello again!  Thanks to everyone who drops by to read these tasty snippets and leaving wonderful comments.

For today's Six, I'll once again be teasing you with a little treat from The Master Key which is due out this July. (Sequel to The Lancaster Rule)

In this scene, my protagonist Josie is "picking a fight" with Simon.  They share a special relationship based on witty remarks (mostly Simon) and insults (mostly Simon again).

“Josie,” Simon grumbled but obviously enjoying himself. “I’m not taking you to eat at some fast-food outlet. They serve nothing but poison in places like that—processed poison.”

“I don’t care. It’s my stomach! And Fried City is still around. That’s f*****g unbelievable.”

“What is this obsession with food?” Simon frowned.

“I do not have an obsession with food. And since when do you care about what I eat?”

Despite her fretful manner, she seemed touched to know that Simon cared by allowing a quick tug of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

In this second book of the trilogy, the heroine, Josie, now married to world president John Lancaster, and begins her new life in the future. But all is not idyllic as a dangerous man from her past returns as old enemies return to plague her life.
Revelations of Josie's past, three hundred years ago, surface and begin to unfold, every question she has ever wanted to know is answered. Events lead her to the Scrap Yard, a cybernetics space station where she must battle it out with her enemies.

For anyone interested in participating, click to Six Sentence Sunday, and follow the rules. You can also check out the six sentence reads from the other participants.

Tweet about it too, use the #sixsunday hashtag.

Thanks for stopping by!!

My Guest - A.R. Norris

Today, I have with me A.R. Norris, a relatively new writer in the thick with all things related to Science Fiction Romance.  I met her in various group-loops and forums, all concerning this sub-genre (and she's mentioned me in one of her many blogs...sweet!) and discovered her unrelenting passion for writing, and her ever-questing mind for anything SF-related and beyond.

On June 15, her first published SFR book, Duty and Devotion, by Desert Breeze Publishing will be unleashed upon us. 

Let's get to know her...

TKT: So, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started writing.

AR: I'm a married mother of 4 and live in Napa, California. I love it here and couldn't imagine living anywhere else in the world. How I got started writing? Oh boy, that's a long, long journey starting from elementary school. But, I will say I put it aside when I became a mother and started making a life together and raising kids. Over the years my husband encouraged me to pick it back up, but finally several years ago he said, "AR, you're not fully happy. You have to start writing again." I've never looked back...or been as fully complete as a person.

TKT: Wow, mother of four!  Don't know how you manage to even write.  Okay, so, why science fiction?  Or, what we now slot ourselves into, science fiction romance (SFR).

AR: I really can't help it. When I imagine stuff, it's always set in space or on an alien planet. I never think of a story in normal settings.

TKT: I quite agree...  How do you go about creating your worlds?  What inspires you?

AR: Most of my stuff comes from dreams, but the triggers are probably from the science magazines and sites I haunt. I'm always on sites such as MIT's technology review or Popular Science.

TKT: A self-proclaimed geek!  Yes!!  You’re a first-time published writer; tell us a little about your journey.  I’m sure, like the rest of us, it was a long and arduous trek.

AR: Once I did pick writing back up I pulled up an old story, dusted it off, realized it was crap, and completely rewrote it. I found a great critique site and learned I wasn't as good as I thought and started to learn the craft in earnest. One of the best things I could've done was set aside my novel and learn how to write through short stories and flashes. It taught me on a small scale about story structure, plotting, and character development. 3 to 4 years and a whole new manuscript later, I found Desert Breeze Publishing.

TKT: Recently there’s been a huge jump in the number of SFR books and writers—a lot of them women.  I’d like to think that we bring a certain feminine touch to our stories, making them not so hard-core tech oriented.  What are your thoughts on it?

AR: Oh completely! I love SF but by the late 80s/early 90s I put it down. The genre had been leashed, constrained, and limited to the point where it was pretty much nothing more than a lecture. Romance breathed a new life into the genre and brought the fiction and story back into the science. The human element was brought back in and I couldn't be happier.

TKT: Okay, nosy question time.  When you’re not writing, and not minding the family (four kids, right?), what do you do to just chill?

AR: Oh...you mean there's time to chill? LOL! The two older are in high school and the 2 younger are boys and now at that age where they're nothing but daddy shadows...so I find I have more free time than I'd like. Most of the time I read, but I do love a good game of pool, hiking and taking photos.

TKT: Pool?  Hey, maybe we could hang some day and shoot some!  I love a good game of pool.  Anyways... In the real world, what do you do?  And how does that help you—if it does—when you put on your writer’s hat?

AR: Ah yes, the real world. I work as a project manager for a hospital. I've merged the project manager side of me with the writing side so I have great time management skills with my novels. Having access to the hospital I also tap my coworkers for clinical stuff all the time.

TKT: Tell us a little bit about Duty and Devotion.  How you came up with the idea, etc.

AR: Duty and Devotion is a science fiction romance set in the distant future and follows two sisters raised in the safety of Earth's Domes after they are drafted into war. The major themes of the book are keeping family bonds and finding romantic love during the chaos of war. 

Older sister Nettie heads off to space pilot training for war. There she discovers her true strength and also that love sometimes is hidden in a friendship and grows slowly. Younger sister, Rinny, goes to Mars for surface combat training and learns to try new experiences and stretch who she is beyond expectations. She learns that knowing who you are and who you love means nothing if you’re not willing to fight for it…even to the death.

The idea came to me through a dream, then stalked me until I started writing it out.

TKT: Sounds good.  I think my To Be Read pile is going to grow.  And finally, if you could pick one SFR or SF writer to spend the day with shooting the breeze, who would it be, and why?

AR: I should probably pick Isaac Asimov or HG Wells, who were my idols and reason for my SF passion...but truthfully, I'm not sure how much we'd get along in person. I have a sinking feeling they'd constantly converse about theories and physics. If I were really going to hang out with someone in the SF world, it'd be Linnea Sinclair. She seems like a SF geek that wouldn't get stuck in a boring thesis-like conversation.

Here's a look at Duty and Devotion:

EXCERPT

The transport ship was packed. Nettie felt like she was going to suffocate, or go crazy from all the noise, sweat, and bodies. The bunkhouse on Callisto had been noisy, but she could always escape from it. Here, she was stuck. She shoved her way through to the restroom and cursed when she spotted the line.

"Your mom knows you talk like that, Ice Princess?" James asked in humor from behind her.

"Who do you think taught me?" she replied, but felt the guilt of the lie. "Oh, shut up, Northman."

He punched her arm and then leaned in. "You're extra grouchy. You wanted on this trip, remember?"

Nettie shrugged. "Yeah, I just forgot how packed these rides could be. I can't wait for our turn at patrol."

He laughed, a full rich sound that warmed her body. Taking her upper arm, he guided her through the paddock and up a flight of stairs. After a few turns they entered a small, empty conference room. In the corner was a private restroom.

"You're a saint, Northman. Just a saint." She rushed into it.

Afterwards, she headed to the door. He stood in her way.

"Come on, Northman." She gently nudged him, finding his body taut. Peering keenly into his bright green eyes, she felt a stirring. "What are you about now?"

He brushed his hand along her cheek, leaving a tingling trail along her skin. Her body spiked with need. Her vision blurred, her heart raced, and her legs weakened.

"What do you want me to be about?"

I can't do this. Nettie panicked as the attraction piled on with all her other tumultuous emotions. "Hey, Northman. I'm a mess right now. It's not a good idea." She ended on a whisper.

He nodded and grasped her shoulder. "You've had it a little rough."

James pulled her toward him and when she thought he'd kiss, he hugged instead. This, she sighed and leaned into him. He rubbed her back with one hand and held onto her with the other. After a moment, she pushed away and smiled shyly. "You're full of surprises, Saint Northman." When he smiled, she slipped by and they headed towards the main room again.

"I won't always be a saint, Ice Princess. There will be a time, soon, when a hug won't be enough... for either of us."

If you'd like to know a little bit more about AR, you can find her here:

Blog: http://sci-fiadventures.blogspot.com/

Book Link: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-174/AR-Norris-Duty-and/Detail.bok

Well, I guess there's just one last thing to say, and that's thanks AR for being a sport and stopping by to be my guest.  Come on peeps, show AR some love and leave a comment.

 

And So Begins June...

Well, May sort of came and went in a mindless blur - for me, that is.  I know, I complain about the wretched heat all the time, but I can't help it.  Its to blame for almost everything, like a handy excuse to pull out when needed.  In this case, however, it's not an excuse, but the truth.  May was a blistering hot month, filled with mugginess and still air that it infiltrated into my brains and festered - among other things, but we won't get into that.  But, I did manage to hack out chapter after chapter of my current work in progress.

And yesterday, on the last day of the month, I received my edits for The Eternal Knot from my editor.  So, while there's "no rush" for me to attend to them, I am unable to keep my hands off it and have already begun to scour it.  Not bad, as edits go...in fact, really good, so far.  But I shouldn't get myself bogged down with it, since next month draws near and the release of The Master Key is on schedule.

So, my plans for this month?  Let's see...
I've scheduled a few exchange blog posts with some writer friends, and I'll be sure to inform you of the dates.  Next on my list is creating a book trailer for The Master Key.  Of course, I've no idea what to do yet.  Sigh...this heat, you see.  Makes the creative juices grow sluggish.  I know, excuses, excuses.  Also on the plate is getting some printing done, like flyers and more bookmarks, all geared for July when I attend my first "con."

And somewhere in between all that, I foresee the completion of the first draft of my WIP, Bengaria's War.  I think I'm more excited about that than anything else.  It's been a whole year since I completed the last book (okay, the first draft, cause I actually completed the final draft late last year).  And it's been a whole year since my mind was swamped with Lancaster stuff.  It's a refreshing change to be neck-deep in Bengaria's world.

But I've digresses as the treacle syrup in my brains gets runnier...

Look out for June 10, as I have fellow SFR writer A.R. Norris over for some nosy questions.  Her very first published book, Duty and Devotion, is due out June 15.