SFFSat - June 01

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday (SFFSat) is a place where a bunch of us post snippets from our written works and also shoot the breeze a little. And before I get ahead of myself, thanks and appreciation as always to those who stop by and leave fantastic comments.

Well, I'm back. I took a much-needed break so I could sort through that old confounded WIP, Bengaria's War. I just completed the 4th draft (still not quite right) but it needs a little bit more with the beginning. Anyone up for a beta read?

Anyhoo...here's a snippet from it, in Chapter 25, where you have the Nezu Commander, Thrater, mulling over some pressing thoughts. (In case you're wondering, the Nezu are a race of people who separated from the rest of civilization because they're a disagreeable bunch to begin with, and in doing so, progressed and advanced in leaps and bounds. And now, Ryn as queen to one of the star systems, is trying to unite them with her lot since they have a common gripe with one person, Sibur, from another star system whose being the typical bully).

In this scene, Commander Thrater is with a rogue Nezu called Commander Risar, whom he refers to as the relic...

           

But this was the Nezu way, how it had always been. How they had always been.

The alliance would change all that, it would have to. They couldn’t be expected to hoard their knowledge; they would have to share. While it sounded good in theory, was it even practical in reality? With a sinking feeling, Thrater knew if he didn’t change his way of thinking, the alliance would never work.

And this relic from the past, who had had to live among the common people—Outsiders—had shown him this. How shameful. Risar and his rogues knew how to live among others; he had conformed to their ways, adapted. They had to in order to survive.

If you are interested in participating in next weeks SFFSat, just click HERE, and follow the rules. Sign up is open every Wednesday - and if you're on Twitter, use the #SFFSat hashtag.

Cheers!

SFFSat - Feb 16

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday (SFFSat) is a place where a bunch of us post snippets from our written works and also shoot the breeze a little. And before I get ahead of myself, thanks and appreciation as always to those who stop by and leave fantastic comments.

Today, I'm going to share a snippet from a new WIP, a short story spun off from the full-length (completed but undergoing tweaks) Bengaria's War. This short is titled, Bengaria's Promise, and follows the life of the main protag, Ryn Bengaria. Some of you may remember her as I shared a few snippets from BW already.

Ryn is now Ambassador (quite a step down from being Queen, but she wanted it so). While en route to the main planet to oversee an Alliance Treaty, she is intercepted by the relative of an old adversary, who wants her dead. Meanwhile, in this scene, Ryn and her bodyguard, Aiya, are forced to land on a derelict docking platform. Aiya, ever the suspicious Nezu (the name for the feared Nezu Colonists - long story) suspects their shuttle captain of underhanded deeds...

            Aiya leaned closer. “How well do you know of this Captain Garrak?”

Ryn drew her mouth into a line. “He was approved by Captain Amis. I trust Amis with my life.”

“Anyone’s loyalty can be bought.” Aiya leaned back and directed her glare into the cockpit.

The shuttle made a sharp jerk, bringing a gasp from Ryn. She gripped the armrest and gritted her teeth. She hated space travel.

If you are interested in participating in next weeks SFFSat, just click HERE, and follow the rules. Sign up is open every Wednesday - and if you're on Twitter, use the #SFFSat hashtag.

Cheers!

SFF Saturday - March 3

Today's SFFSat will be the final little snippet from my work in progress, Bengaria's War. Next week, I'll showcase another WIP...not sure which one just yet.

Bengaria's War is a tale set way into the future, where man has colonized star systems, wages war to steal other Systems, grow cabbages and sword fight, shoot energy guns and fly Nezu-class warships...while drinking tea.

The tale centres around, Ryn Bengaria, the daughter of a farmer who finds herself married to a King and at the brink of war as the evil Regent Sibur tries to steal their System.  Along the way, they encounter the Nezu colony.

In this scene, we have the unscrupulous former Regent, Xin Sibur.  He sits pondering his devious plans when his aide disturbs him...

“We are in position, sir.”  An aide’s dull monotone interrupted his thoughts.

“Are we still in the clear?”  Sibur inspected a snag in his fingernail.  He preferred not to make eye contact with his subordinates; they might consider it as being friendly.  “How much longer?”

“Yes, sir.  Xale’s sensors haven’t detected us as yet—the shroud is working.  One hour, latest.  The governor usually takes an early dinner on her terrace.  We can drop our team in directly overhead and take her.”

“Excellent.”  Sibur stood, straightening his jacket with a sharp tug.  “Alert me when it’s done.”

If you're interested in participating in next week's SFF Saturday, stop by their sign-up blog which is open every Wednesdays.  And don't forget to follow the rules and use the #SFFSat hashtag.

Cheers!

SFF Saturday - Feb 25

Once again, I bring you another snippet from my current work in progress, Bengaria's War. This is a story set way into the future, where man has colonized star systems, wages war to steal other Systems, grow cabbages and sword fight, shoot energy guns and fly Nezu-class warships...while drinking tea.

The tale centres around, Ryn Bengaria, the daughter of a farmer who finds herself married to a King and at the brink of war as the evil Regent Sibur tries to steal their System.  Along the way, they encounter the Nezu colony.

In this scene, we have Ryn and her former weapons master, Til, in relaxed conversation...

    “And I’ll bet your mother always had good reason to clobber you.  I can just see you as an unruly child.”  Ryn affected aloofness, but her mood had shifted—at last—enough that he saw her relax.  “Always up to no good.”
    Til grinned.  “I had a fabulous childhood, as one does on a huge tea plantation.”
    “And I bet it was a misspent one filled with mischief.”
    “Adventure,” he corrected solemnly.
    “Is there a difference?” she blinked back pretending to be shocked.
    “Huge.  Adventure means I didn’t get half as many clobberings as when I did mischief.”
    Ryn laughed loudly.  It made her entire face light up, even bringing some colour back to it.  “You’re too silly, you know that.”  Then, she slid out of the armchair, dropped to her knees, leaned forward, and kissed him.

If you're interested in participating in next week's SFF Saturday, stop by their sign-up blog which is open every Wednesdays.  And don't forget to follow the rules and use the #SFFSat hashtag.

Cheers!

SFF Saturday - Feb 18

Still with the WIPs...I bring you a snippet from my current work in progress, Bengaria's War. This is a story set way into the future, where man has colonized star systems, wages war to steal other Systems, grow cabbages and sword fight, shoot energy guns and fly Nezu-class warships...while drinking tea.

The tale centres around, Ryn Bengaria, the daughter of a farmer who finds herself married to a King and at the brink of war as the evil Regent Sibur tries to steal their System.  Along the way, they encounter the Nezu colony.

In this scene, we once again meet Commander Thrater from the infamous Nezu colony.  Ryn and her former weapons master, Bur'et, now her advisor, have boarded Thrater's ship for an informal meeting...

But, Thrater admitted as he watched, unless he was mistaken, Bur’et had managed to capture Ryn’s capricious attention.  It made him feel like a brutish ogre in comparison.  Perhaps their first meeting didn’t go as well as he’d imagined it would.  Perhaps pretending to be a brutish ogre like their legend suggested might not have been the ideal way to go.  Social decorum with outsiders was truly confusing—they seemed highly offended with touching.  Did they not know that a mere touch was enough to relay a multitude of questions and answers, which the mouth was incapable of speaking?  Ah, her mouth, it had been simply too irresistible to ignore…to sample.

If you're interested in participating in next week's SFF Saturday, stop by their sign-up blog which is open every Wednesdays.  And don't forget to follow the rules and use the #SFFSat hashtag.

Cheers!

SFF Saturday - Feb 4

This week, I bring you a snippet from my current work in progress, Bengaria's War. This is a story set way into the future, where man has colonized star systems, wages war to steal other Systems, grow cabbages and sword fight, shoot energy guns and fly Nezu-class warships...while drinking tea.

The story centers around my protagonist, Ryn Bengaria, the daughter of a farmer who finds herself married to a King and at the brink of war as the evil Regent Sibur tries to steal their System.  Along the way, they encounter the Nezu colony.

In this scene, Ryn sets eyes for the first time on the Nezu...

Commander Thrater walked in, unhurried, flanked by two others. They were similar in appearance, dressed in muted black and silver, clad in moulded armour, which enhanced their chests, shoulders, and their forearms and legs. Each wore black gloves with burr-like protrusions along the outer wrists, knee-high boots in similar fashion. Across their hips, weapons she’d never seen before draped from their belts, along with tadra blades and odd-looking objects that caught the light.

From Ryn’s vantage point, with the sunlight filtering through intermittently, they looked to her like ancient warlords returning from a battle, proud and stoic. With their purposeful stride, which sounded like steady drums beating in the silent hall, they lazily swept their gazes around them as if marching through a crowd-filled street. The only thing missing was the roar of cheers and the proud prancing of their equally heroic steeds.

If you're interested in participating in next week's SFF Saturday, stop by their sign-up blog which is open every Wednesdays.  And don't forget to follow the rules and use the #SFFSat hashtag.

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!

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.