Saturday Sampler - Mirror Reformed by K.G. Stutts

“So an alien race of unknown origin, strength, and power is coming our way. We’ve defeated them before but have no clue how we did it and we all died in the process.” Seth gave two thumbs up. “Awesome.”

The final book in KG Stutts’ sci-fi romance trilogy, Mirror Reformed, launches today!

Blurb:

The ISC's most dangerous foe, the Synth, is threatening Earth. Mack, Maddie, and their team scramble to come up with a plan to defeat them one and for all. As the planet's safety is in jeopardy, the team will have to put it all on the line, or give their lives in the process.

Excerpt:

“Because they’ve done it before, and this is the team that stopped them.”

The team stared blankly at their former commander, trying to comprehend his words. The statement echoed in Maddie’s mind, making her hands shake.

“That’s insane,” Seth blurted out after several quiet minutes.
“Remember my warning. What I said is hard to believe, but it’s the absolute truth.” Charlie looked unabashed at the group’s disbelief.
“Charlie, what’s going on?” Maddie asked.
“Most of you know the story of how the ISC was formed,” Elizabeth began.
“Right. A young Charlie created a communications device that reached the Isgurd,” Mack stated. “We formed our first alliance with them.”
“Correct. The rest of the story has been classified.”
“Rest of the story?” Maddie looked over at John who looked just as confused as she did.

Charlie pulled up a video on the monitor and pressed play. The screen came to life as a young boy wearing wire-rimmed glasses and sandy blond hair falling in his eyes smiled and cleared his throat.

“My name is Charles Westlake. I am thirteen years old and I’m from Charleston, South Carolina. I created an intergalactic communications device that made contact with an alien race known as the Isgurd. I have recently been visited by a group of people from the year 2015. They came here to prevent an aggressive alien race known as the Synth from killing me, stopping my meeting with the leader of the Isgurd, Balise, and taking over Earth. This group was led by Jackson Gray, but my main contacts were Maddie and John Brooks. The team successfully defeated the Synth here in 1965. This message is to be preserved in case the Synth returns.”

The team stared at the monitor long after the screen went black.

“How … how did all this happen?” Mack finally broke the silence. “Going back in time and fighting a race no one has heard of? I mean, Charlie, honestly—”
“That’s not the pressing issue,” Maddie interjected sheepishly.
“Exactly, Maddie.” Charlie nodded. “We need to come up with a plan and fast.”

Maddie turned bright red when Mack turned and glared at her for the interruption. After a moment, though, Mack relaxed into a reassuring smile.

“How much time do we have?” Jackson asked.
“Judging by current speed, they will be here in four days,” Elizabeth stated.
“Four days isn’t a lot of time,” John muttered.
“Charlie, you said we defeated them before.” Maddie chewed on the inside of her cheek. Charlie nodded. “How?”

The former commander instantly broke eye contact, looking down at the floor. Even Elizabeth wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“I see,” Maddie solemnly said.
“See what?” One of the guys, Chris, asked.
“None of us made it,” Seth replied.
“Ah.”
“Well, that’s certainly comforting,” Jackson gravely said.
“Do we have a plan?” Mack asked, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

Elizabeth and Charlie exchanged glances before turning back to the group. The look on both of their faces made Maddie’s heart drop into her stomach.

“Nothing? You’ve got nothing?” David sputtered out the question.
“How did we do it before?” Chris asked.
“We’re … not sure,” Elizabeth admitted.

Buy links:

Buy directly from the Distinguished Press website! http://Store.DistinguishedPress.com

Visit the event https://www.facebook.com/events/1469418863323056/ to get a coupon to purchase this in the format of your preference for $.99! That’s 80% off the regular price.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S9ZZ43G
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/510764

Author bio:

K.G. Stutts is the author of two sci-fi romance series as well as several romance stories. She has a degree in massage therapy.

When she's not weaving words, she enjoys reading, playing RPGs, hockey, wrestling, and football, and is a big sci-fi nerd. Currently she resides in North Carolina, USA with her husband, Brad.

Social Media:

Facebook.com/KGStutts

Twitter.com/KGStutts

Kgstutts.blogspot.com

KGStutts.com

A Goldilocks Planet

Remember the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”—how a little girl wandered into a cabin in the forest and found porridge that wasn’t too hot or too cold but just right. Same with a chair that wasn’t too big or too little but just right. And a bed that wasn’t too hard or too soft but just right.

credit: NASA

Since March, 2009, the telescope aboard NASA's Kepler spacecraft has been searching for “Goldilocks” planets—those that, like Earth, are capable of sustaining human life. Last week, Kepler added eight more exoplanets (planets that revolved around a star other than ours) to the already more than a thousand already discovered. Can you imagine? A thousand planets that could be habitable.

So what criteria do scientists use to determine a “Goldilocks” planet? It needs to be far enough away from its sun that liquid water would exist. To do that, it must receive as much sunlight as Earth—too much and the water boils away as steam; too little and the water freezes. Two of the most recent exoplanets discovered are the most similar to Earth.

Kepler is confirming what science fiction writers have assumed all along. There are worlds where life exists. What that life looks like is up to our imagination. So far. Like many s/f writers, my stories feature human-like beings as the main characters so readers can identify with them. Minor characters are another story. (pun intended) They could have fur, be short and squat with very large feet, or have scales. Each is a product of their home world. However, I don’t have “creepy” characters. No slimy, dripping Aliens. (bad pun, I know) Despite how they look, they all have one thing in common. Intelligence.

In many science fiction stories (movies and books), the characters are able to travel large distances through space. In my Outer Rim series (The Pilot, The Chameleon), my characters are out on the frontier of space. To get there from what I call the Central Planets, they use spacecraft capable of faster-than-light speed.

For us here on Earth, traveling to even one of the exoplanets discovered by Kepler is impossible. We haven't managed to travel to our nearest neighbor, Mars. Yet. But think about the huge advances made in our lifetime. In less than sixty years, we’ve gone from launching a small satellite into space to a man walking on our moon, to landing a robot on Mars. What could happen in my grandchildren’s lifetime?

I see s/f as hope for the future. That’s why I don’t write stories about the end of Earth. Some day, probably not in my lifetime, science fiction will be reality. We’ll travel to those exoplanets and either meet those inhabitants or establish colonies there. The possibilities are amazing.

If you’re interested in learning more about Kepler and its discoveries, here are some links.

http://kepler.nasa.gov/

http://earthsky.org/space/astronomers-find-8-new-planets-in-goldilocks-zone?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=979f93e008-EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-979f93e008-393789881

http://news.yahoo.com/1-000-alien-planets-nasas-kepler-space-telescope-164450730.html;_ylt=A0LEVrx34LNUsMIAWA8PxQt.

What do you think? Could these planets be inhabited by beings like us?

End of Lonely Street by Alicia Dean – Plus an Awesome Giveaway

My friend Alicia Dean is here today to share her new release. She is a real Elvis fan as you can see. 

Here's Alicia to tell you about "End of Lonely Street."

I’m excited to share my latest release from The Wild Rose Press on what would have been Elvis’ eightieth birthday. ‘End of Lonely Street’ is a Vintage Romance Short Story set in 1957, in the era when Elvis first burst on the scene. Like my heroine in the story, I am a diehard Elvis fan. (As you probably figured out, I took the title from a line in Heartbreak Hotel, which was Elvis’ first million selling record).

Check out End of Lonely Street and enter to win GREAT prizes…

GIVEAWAY: - Entries accepted from January 8, 2015 through noon on January 22, 2015

Three prizes –

Elvis Gift Basket including DVD, CD, plus more

$25 Amazon Gift Card

$10 Amazon Gift Card

First place winner has first choice, second place winner has second choice, third place winner receives remaining prize.

   

Rafflecopter Code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Blurb:

Can she let go of the past, before it destroys her future?

All Toby Lawson wanted was to go to college to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher and to be free of her alcoholic mother and the painful memories of finding her and the guy Toby loved kissing. But when her mother nearly burns the house down, Toby must put her dreams on hold and return home to care for her. The only time she isn’t lonely and miserable is when she’s listening to her heartthrob, Elvis Presley. His music takes her away, helps her escape from everything wrong in her life.

Noah Rivers has always loved Toby, but no matter what he says, and even though she knows her mother initiated the kiss, and that he didn’t kiss her back, she can‘t seem to get past what happened. He soon realizes that the true problem lies in Toby’s belief that she’s not good enough for him and in her fear that she will be just like her mother.

What will it take to prove to her that she deserves to be happy, and that he would give anything to be the man to make her dreams come true?

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Mapleton, Tennessee, November, 1957

Toby Lawson closed her eyes and shut out all sounds of the diner, except for Elvis Presley’s voice. He was crooning about how she was the only one for him…no matter where he went or what he did… he’d spend his whole life loving her…

Rough hands landed on her waist and shattered the fantasy. She caught a whiff of hair tonic and too much cologne, and she snapped her eyes open. Wes Markham’s hateful face replaced the image of Elvis’ beautiful, crooked smile and smoldering blue eyes.

“Let me go.” She gritted her teeth, keeping her voice low. If her boss, Mr. Winstead, knew there was trouble on account of her, he’d explode. He’d barely let her have the job in the first place. Everyone in Mapleton knew the Lawson women were trouble.

“Come on, honey. If you like that hip swivel, Presley ain’t the only one who’s got it. I got it too.” He released her with his left hand so he could run it over his slicked down hair and gave her a big-toothed, wolfish smile. “Only we’d be naked.” He shot a cocky grin over to his two companions—Chuck Stenson and Billy Garfield—who were leaning against the jukebox making kissing and whooping sounds.

Toby gripped his right wrist with one hand, tightening her hold on the utensils she held in the other. “I said let me go. Now!”

“Aw, be a sport, Green-Eyes.”

The bulge of his pelvis pressed into her abdomen, and she gasped in shock. Nausea tightened in her esophagus. “Wes Markham, I’m warning you…”

She shoved against him, but he didn’t budge.

He pulled her tighter. “Your momma’s a whole lot friendlier than you are. They say the apple don’t fall far from the tree, so how’s about you cut the pretense and we go someplace quiet? Winstead won’t miss you for a few minutes.”

Her cheeks heated. She didn’t dare look around. No doubt the customers were watching, listening. Elvis had stopped singing and everyone in the place could hear what he’d said about her mother. It wasn’t like they didn’t all know, though. Constance Lawson hadn’t exactly kept her escapades a secret.

Toby clenched her teeth and brandished the utensils. She spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “Release me this instant, or I swear, you’ll be pulling this steak knife out of your eyeball.”

He held her gaze for a split second, then gave a laugh that was somewhere between nervous and furious. “Sure, sure. Okay.” He released her and stepped back. “I was just foolin’ around anyway. I got better things to do with my time than waste it on a used up chick like you.”

Muffled laughter rose around her. Oh God, she could crawl into a hole.

“How about you apologize to the lady, then beat it?”

Toby whirled at the male voice. Noah Rivers stood behind her, looking handsome and sharp in his police uniform—even with his dark hair in the military buzz cut. Her knees weakened, and tingles swept over her skin. She swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat. She’d heard he was back, but hadn’t seen him until now. And what a time to have a reunion.

*** 10% of all of Alicia Dean’s net royalties for End of Lonely Street will go to

The Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation http://www.graceland.com/epcf/  ***

Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00QQO3BK0

B&N Buy Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/end-of-lonely-street-alicia-dean/1121006997?ean=2940150002807

(ON SALE FOR ONLY $1.00 through The Wild Rose Press)

The Wild Rose Press Buy Link: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_176_145&products_id=6029

Bio:

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. She has three grown children and a huge network of supportive friends and family. She writes mostly contemporary suspense and paranormal, but has also written in other genres, including a few vintage historicals.
Other than reading and writing, her passions are Elvis Presley, MLB, NFL (she usually works in a mention of one or all three into her stories) and watching her favorite televisions shows like Vampire Diaries, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Haven, The Mindy Project, and Dexter (even though it has sadly ended, she will forever be a fan). Some of her favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Sharon Sala, Jordan Dane, Ridley Pearson, Joseph Finder, and Jonathan Kellerman…to name a few.

Find Alicia here:

Website: http://aliciadean.com/

Blog: http://aliciadean.com/alicias-blog/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008364070487

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/aliciamdean/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/468339.Alicia_Dean