My Books Are Available in More Stores!

That's right. Earlier this month, after being with Kindle Unlimited for well over a year, I decided to cancel my exclusivity with them and branch out into different stores.

So I've updated my book links tab above. You can now find where all my books are sold there, which for now include Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks, Indigo and Angus & Robertson.

Wish me luck!

Cover Reveal - GREENSHIFT

To celebrate the cover reveal for Greenshift, the e-book will be temporarily 99 cents at Amazon!

A tale set within the world of Ambasadora.
Mari's rare eye color makes her a pariah within Upper Caste society, which is why she prefers plants to people...except David, the former Armadan captain who shuttles scientists around on a refurbished pleasure cruiser.
But someone else is interested in Mari and her distinctive look--an obsessed psychopath who tortures and murders women for pleasure.
When the killer chooses Mari as his next victim, the soldier inside David comes alive, but it is Mari who must fight for her own life and prove she isn't as fragile as the flowers she nurtures.
Greenshift by Heidi Ruby Miller
Cover Art by Bradley Sharp
Foreword by Dana Marton
Space Opera/Science Fiction Romance paperback coming from Dog Star Books in August 2013

SFR Brigade 2nd Midsummer Blog Hop - "Out Of This World"

Welcome to the 2nd Annual SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop. This is my first time participating and the theme this year is Out Of This World.

To celebrate, I will be gifting an EBook copy of The Lancaster Rule from Amazon Kindle (US). Please leave your email address in the comments section for your chance to win. You'll then need to sign into the Rafflecopter at the end to say you've commented to be entered for the Grand Prizes. See the details on the that at the end of the post. Good luck and have fun hopping along!

I thought I'd share with you a little bit about world building. For The Lancaster Trilogy, I tried to keep it very realistic. It's set 300 years into Earth's future and in getting there, we've had a few global wars and economic crashes. Catastrophic events hinder the march of progress, and this is what I used to keep things more or less believable. So, no transporters like Star Trek and hyperspeed space jumps are still being tinkered with.

In the Lancaster world, the setting/architecture and culture remain pretty much the same with -- of course -- lots of new cool advanced looks and changes. Basing things on past events and history, 300 hundred years, while it may sound like a long time, isn't really that long when it comes to Earth's history. A lot of things still remain the same (with some changes to speech, culture, trends, technology, medicine, etc). But we've basically only made huge leaps and bounds within the last 80 years or so. Using this as a basis, jump 300 years forward, throw in a couple of world-crushing wars and events, progress after rebuilding takes a little time. That being said, the beauty of writing science fiction is that you can make up some cool stuff -- like gadgets and weapons and amazing scientific discoveries.

In The Lancaster Trilogy, you'll find the world is ruled by one man. The capital city of the world is called the Citadel, nestled in the Swiss Alps. The citadel is a monstrosity of a place, shrouded in the mountains, dripping with high-tech security and surveillance. The weapons on the Lancaster world range from cool stuff like krima sticks, pulse guns and snare guns 3's. You'll also find incredible flying cars, mega shuttles, space crafts and space stations.

At the heart of it all, the human race while they may advance, remain pretty much the same at their core. I used this as a basis for the tale and tried to bring out the character's story, using my protagonist, Josie, to be the catalyst that brings everything out and together. A fish out of water, a 300 year old relic who entered a stasis pod and wakes up to a changed future. What a story!

The Grand Prize for the 2nd Annual SFR Midsummer Blog Hop are:
1st Prize - $150 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (winner's choice) and an ebook bundle.
(currently Ghost in the Machine, Bayne, Recast Book 1: Wither, Recast Book 2: Clash, Alien Adoration, Switched, Reckless Rescue, Wreck of the Nebula Dream, Keir, Terms & Conditions Apply, The Key, Marya, The Iron Admiral, Sasha's Calling, Trouble at the Hotel Baba Ghanoush, Winter in Paradise, Once Upon a Time in Space, The Telomere Trilogy, Winter Fusion, Blue Nebula, Demential, Wytchfire, Maven, Fires of Justice, Interface, Girl Under Glass, Breakout, Stark Pleasure, The Plan, and Starburst. Bonus books - Ghost Planet, The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and Deception, and Games of Command).

2nd Prize - $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (winner's choice).

3rd Prize - three $25 Amazon or B&N Gift Cards (given to separate winners and their choice).

And don't forget, you MUST leave a comment with your email address AND sign into the Rafflecopter to win the prizes.
To win the Kindle copy for The Lancaster Rule simply leave a comment and I'll select a random winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Remember, to increase your chances, hop along to the other blogs listed below.
Good luck!

Cheers!

VOTE FOR ME!

The link for voting has gone LIVE! So click on over to Long and Short Reviews, scroll down to THE ETERNAL KNOT, and click the button, then click the VOTE tab.

Thanks in advance for your vote. It is much appreciated!

Cheers!

Next Big Thing Blog Tour

I got myself tagged!
I've never been any good at running, or anything requiring quick responses...unless a cockroach is involved.

But as tagging goes, this one's a good thing. I got nabbed by a fellow writer, Cary Caffrey, who got himself tagged last week. See what he had to say about that right HERE.

So, the rules are simple and the questions never change, just the answers. And to keep the tagging momentum going, I've decided to hit up the fabulous JC Cassels. So you can check back with her next Wednesday.

So, here we go...

What is the working title of your book?
It will be called To Catch A Marlin, followed by the working title, so something like this: To Catch A Marlin - The Marlin Strikes Again. At the moment, I'm collecting and sorting through some ideas for some short stories involving my character, Jax Marlin. Her debut was this past October when the full length book, To Catch A Marlin, was released.

Where did the idea for your book come from?
It just sort of came together organically. Initially, I wanted to write about a bumbling detective who accidentally solves cases (Inspector Pedroni). Jax Marlin's character (the baddie..ish) came about from various cartoon drawings I'd done over the years (I'm also an artist) and she just sort of morphed into one, becoming Jax. Then I decided to combine the two and fling it out into the wild future, complete with space pirates and debauching settings!

What genre does your book fall under?
Well, I'd say Science Fiction Romance. Heavy on the action and adventure, seasoned lightly with romance, humour, and great characters. So I've been told. It may even be labelled as futuristic or even detective thriller.

Which actors would you chose to play in your movie rendition?
Ever since I watched The Lovely Bones, I've always sort of pictured Michael Imperioli as Inspector Pedroni (he even has his first name! That was purely coincidence, though). It's just the low-keyed manner Mr. Imperioli portrays in the movie (forget his role in Sopranos), plus there is an intensity coming off him which makes his character convincing. For Jax, that's a hard one. She has so many sides to her (having been born from a combination of different characters I played around with) that her image is like a melting pot of faces. She's cheeky, sexy, dangerous and very lethal. She's a combo of cool sophisticated badassness like Lara in Tomb Raider, kickassness like Seline from Underworld and Alice from Resident Evil and even some calculating connivingness like Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. As for actresses, well think from Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha and Crouching Tiger fame) to Keira Knightley to Emma Watson...and yes, even Anne Hathaway. (Somehow, I just can't see her as Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale or Milla Jojovich).

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
What wouldn't you do to catch a criminal?
Wait, that was one line. How about this: In the tail end of the the 24th century, a sexy vigilante is pursued by a determined inspector, taking them both of a wild, rollercoaster ride from Earth to space and then some.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
At the moment, I am with two publishers and will stay with them (Champagne Book Group and Ring of Fire Publishing). To Catch A Marlin and its subsequent series will be represented Ring of Fire.

How long did it take to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The full length for To Catch A Marlin took me a good eight months. The first fours month taking up the first draft stages, the last four with the second ad third drafts. The short stories, including this current one I'm working on, they usually take about a good, solid month.

What other books would you compare this story to?
Wow, that's difficult. While I write mostly SF-based stories, I love reading a good mystery right along with an epic fantasy or adventure tale. I guess To Catch A Marlin, like the other books I've written, is a combination of, and what I'd like to see in a story.

What or who inspired you to write the book?
Uhm...I guess it's from books, movies, events, people. Everything around me.

What else about the book might pique the readers' interest?
Captain Taris - space pirate, loveable 'uncle,' and such a loveable scallywag! He's got spin-off story written all over him.

Don't forget to stop by JC Cassels next Wednesday!

Cheers!

Featured Today at Kaye Manro's Blog

Just to let you know, I'm doing some shameless promotion today at Kaye Manro's Blog.  So stop by and find out about the Lancaster Trilogy.

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!

Six Sentence Sunday - July 10

Six Sunday again!  What a busy week it's been - what with the release of The Master Key and all.  Woohoo!!  So, to keep shouting out its release, here, once again, is a snippet from it.

“My instructions are to deal directly with you. Should you not cooperate, or prove not to be who you appear to be, I am to kill the cook and anyone who interferes.”

“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with any of it.” Josie spoke for the first time, steel in her voice. She flicked a glance to Mrs. Patel, who stood rooted in a corner, pressed up against a bookcase to their right, and staring wide-eyed at the man.

“That is the point. Innocence sometimes can be such a burden.”

Oooh, wonder what will happen next!  Why don't you check out The Master Key... Hey, did I mention its up on Kindle too?

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

If you want to know a little bit more about The Master Key, here's a little non-blurb:
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.

for stopping by!!

RELEASE DAY for THE MASTER KEY

It's RELEASE DAY at last!

THE MASTER KEY makes its maiden voyage into the world today.

Stop by my publishers, Champagne Books, and check it out.  If you have a Kindle, just give it a few days for it to appear on the Amazon site.

Cheers!!

Six Sentence Sunday - July 03

It's Six Sunday again!  I missed out last Sunday mainly because I clean forgot!!  Oopsie.
Thanks again 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 MONTH!! Tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken (Sequel to The Lancaster Rule)

Xiang, the messenger, a fifty-odd year old mentally retarded man had been detained, questioned, found insensible, and sent to the clinic’s head trauma unit for observation. No one could’ve guessed that in two days time, he would be found dead in his room from a slow-working poison.

Hmm, wondering how Xiang got himself mixed up being a doomed messenger?  Why don't you check out The Master Key, out TOMORROW from Champagne Books!!!

If you want to know a little bit more about The Master Key, here's a little non-blurb:
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!!

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 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.