I'm sharing snippets from my Middle Grade/YA science fiction adventure, Rescuing Mara's Father. The narrator is Mara, an almost 15-year-old girl who lives in a mining outpost on the Outer Rim. This snippet takes place right after last week's, which ended with: He rarely talks about my mother, who died giving me birth. When I used to ask about her, he would get such a pained look in his eyes I always backed off. This time, I can’t let the opportunity pass. “Please, Father, tell me about her.”
Please excuse the creative punctuation, necessary to keep this within the guidelines. It's also edited from the original.
He doesn’t say anything, and disappointment settles over me—just like
before. Then, he turns around, “She was tall and slender with hair as dark as
midnight and eyes as green as a mountain meadow. You look very much like her—your
skin is not as fair as hers, though. She would not go outdoors without covering
up for fear of burning,” He smiles, warmth and love shining from his eyes, “She
hated freckles.”
“I hate them, too.”
He chuckles, “Not enough to stay indoors. Your mother cared deeply for
others, as you do, but she would not have risked her life in combat. Learning
was important to her. She would not have been pleased with your attitude in the
classroom.”
Rescuing Mara's Father is available in digital format at:
Available in Print: Amazon
3 friends, a hidden starship, a quest
Her father is gone! Taken by the Queen of Compara’s agents. Mara has to rescue him before the Queen tortures and kills him.
Instead of the kind, loving father she’s always known, he’s become demanding, critical, with impossible expectations—not just as Father but also as the only teacher in their frontier outpost. Mara would rather scoop zircan poop than listen to another boring lecture about governments on Central Planets. Give her a starship engine to take apart or better yet, fly, and she’s happy. Now, he's gone.
Never mind, they’ve had a rocky road lately.
Never mind, Father promised she could go off planet to Tech Institute next month when she turns fifteen, where she’ll learn to fly starships.
Never mind, she ran away because she’s furious with him because he reneged on that promise. Father is her only parent. She has to save him.
Along with her best friend, eleven-year-old Jako, and his brother 15-year-old Lukus, Mara sets off to find her father. An old spaceport mechanic and her mentor seems to know why the Queen captured Father. In fact, he seems to know her father well. But, does he tell her everything? Of course not. He dribbles out info like a mush-eating baby. Worse, he indicates he’ll be leaving them soon. And Lukus can’t wait to get off our planet. Mara’s afraid they will all leave her, and she’ll be on her own. Despite her fears, she has to rescue her father.
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