Today, my special guest is Veronica Scott. Ever since I started reading Veronica's stories, I've been major fangirl. I've been looking forward to reading her story in the Pets in Space 2 anthology since I first heard about it. As soon as it was ready for pre-order, I one-clicked it. Right away I read Veronica's story. I loved it. I hope you enjoy her post about Karissa and Grant.
Thanks for having me as your guest today to talk about Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2!
May I squee a little bit more that the anthology recently made the USA Today
Best Sellers list? Hurray for scifi romance, right?!
Although Karissa, my heroine in the novella I wrote for the
anthology, is a rock star of the far future, she comes from a planet known as
“The Music Planet” because the inhabitants have evolved a lifestyle revolving
around traditional “Thousand Year Songs.”
This is how Karissa explains them to Grant:
“What’s the deal with these songs? Do generations of people
really sing the same tune night and day for a thousand years?”
She nodded. “Sometimes it’s the same song but more often
there will be new verses being written daily or weekly, and given to the choirs
and soloists. The musical variety depends on the funding and the purpose for
the song. But the music never stops, not for anything. There’s a story once of
a huge fire and the choir at that time moved outside and continued singing
while the building fell. Anyone can commission a thousand year song although as
you can imagine it takes massive resources, so typically only the most elite
families or temples will do so. I have heard of villages putting all their
resources into it, but the village was long gone and forgotten by the time the
song concluded.”
“A thousand years? People actually sign up to sing the same
song for their entire lives, and never hear the final notes? Their children
never heard the final notes? Why?”
She shrugged. “Why do human beings do anything? Why did the
people from Terra venture out in their generation ships before the hyperspeed
drives were invented? The songs are a part of the Calillia religion. Legend
says they bring the blessings of the gods upon the planet and the people. In
fact, it was gods who started the first songs, millennia ago. If you believe in
myths.” She gave him a shrewd glance. “Nowadays much of the planet’s economy is
based on the songs and supporting the needs of the singers.”
Pulling him with her, Karissa ducked into the back of a
large song temple, where the choir he’d heard was faithfully singing the chorus
and refrain of their life’s work.
“See this?” Karissa pointed at an elaborate, slow moving
device beside the door. “This was the style of chronograph when the song
started. It’s measuring how long they’ve been singing, and how much time is
left.”
“How long?”
She eyed the device. “Eight hundred years, give or take a
decade or two.”
**********************************
The songs are a key point in the plot, as it turns out. I
got the idea a long, long time ago from several bits of interesting trivia I
stumbled across. I was reading about clocks that were designed to run for up to
10,000 years. The first prototype of the “Clock of the Long Now” was actually
built in 1999. There are actually several clocks in different parts of Europe
built in the early 1300’s which still work, although they haven’t run
continuously for all those years. So it was an easy jump to creating timers for
my 1000 year songs. I also keyed a bit off the idea of the famous Oberammergau
Passion Play performed annually since 1634 by the inhabitants of the village of
Oberammergau, Germany. Since its first production it has been performed on
open-air stages in the village and is a composite of four manuscripts dating
from the 15th and 16th centuries.
Blurb for Star
Cruise: Songbird:
Grant Barton, a
Security Officer on the Nebula Zephyr, is less than thrilled with his current
assignment to guard an Interstellar singing sensation while she’s on board the
ship. It doesn’t help that he and his military war bird Valkyr are dealing with
their recent separation from the Sectors Special Forces and uncertainty over
their future, with their own planet in ruins.
Karissa Dawnstar is on
top of the charts and seemingly has it all – talent, fame, fortune and devoted
fans, but behind her brave smile and upbeat lyrics she hides an aching heart.
When a publicity stunt goes wrong, Karissa finds herself in the arms of the
security officer assigned to protect her – and discovers a mutual attraction
she can’t ignore.
Trouble continues to
plague the pair, driving a wedge between them and leaving Grant certain that
Karissa is in more danger than she realizes, from overzealous fans and her own
management. Grant is determined to protect Karissa whether she wants his help
or not. Can he discover the truth behind what’s going on before he loses
Karissa or is there someone else plotting to keep them apart – permanently?
Blurb for Embrace the Romance: Pets In Space 2:
The
pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets
in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance
authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you! Join in the
fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author,
Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King,
for stories that will take you out of this world! Join New York Times, USA
TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard,
Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine
Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they
share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!
10% of the first month’s profits go to
Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and
trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve
quality of life and restore independence.
Our website: http://www.petsinspaceantho.com/
Author Bio:
USA Today Best Selling Author, Veronica Scott is also the
“SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog. She grew up in a house with a library as its
heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica
thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of
books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a
National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud
recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job,
not her romances! She was honored to read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in
the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor
Sounds very cool!
ReplyDeleteGood luck and God's blessings
PamT
Thanks for having me as your guest today! And thanks for the kind words on the story - so happy you enjoyed it, Diane!
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure having you here, Veronica. Best wishes on the anthology. Congrats on Embrace the Romance making the USA Today bestseller list.
DeleteI loved your 1000 year songs and how the concept was woven into the story. Very, very cool!
ReplyDeleteYour story was awesome! And I loved the 1000 year song.
ReplyDeleteWow! This sounds so cool! What a lovely concept. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhat an intriguing idea! Does the singing ever pause, or just transfer from one person/choir continuously to the next? And do they rotate or alternate? Can you sign up for once or multiple times?? I think I might have to get the book!! :-)
ReplyDelete