Orlando Tragedy

I didn't turn on the news yesterday until 11pm. So horrifying. My heart goes out to everyone touched by another senseless shooting rampage.

In light of that, my previous post must seem thoughtless. Or heartless. Definitely the former. Prayers for our country. Some people staunchly defend the right to bear arms. But weapons in the hands of the mentally ill, the deranged, the fanatics? How do we defend that? Is it worth it?

My Turn at #ParanormalRomantics

Last week, I redirected you to a blog I was visiting. This week, it's my turn to post on Paranormal Romantics blog. I hope you'll pop over there and see what I have to say about Science Fiction Romance. SFR captured my heart long ago. And it still has me in its clutches.

Did you stop by last Friday? I started a new theme Who's For Dinner. My visitors will tell you who they'd invite for dinner--real or fictional, living or dead. I started with Joss Whedon. Stop by this Friday to see who Patricia Kiyono would love to have dinner with.

Until next time, have a great week. Some flowers in my garden.

Saturday Sampler: Trouble By Any Other Name by Lori MacLaughlin

TITLE: Trouble By Any Other Name

Sequel to Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble

AUTHOR: Lori L. MacLaughlin

RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2016

GENRE: Fantasy

******

About the Book:

Tara Triannon is no stranger to trouble. She's yet to find an enemy her skill with a sword couldn't dispatch. But how can she fight one that attacks through her dreams?

With her nightmares worsening, Tara seeks answers but finds only more questions. Then her sister, Laraina, reveals a stunning secret that forces Tara to go to the one place Tara's sworn never to return to. Her troubles multiply when Jovan Trevillion, the secretive soldier of fortune who stole her heart, is mentally tortured by an ancient Being intent on bending him to its will. And worst of all, the Butcher — the terrifying wolf-like assassin she thought she'd killed — survived their duel and is hunting her again.

Hounded by enemies, Tara sets out on a harrowing quest to discover the true nature of who she is, to come to grips with the new volatility of her magic, and to defeat the evil locked in a centuries-old trap that will stop at nothing to control her magic and escape through her nightmares.

Excerpt:

A gust of wind shook the stable, scattering rain across the straw-covered floor. Tara started, shivering in spite of the warmth within. She'd gotten lost in the fire again, drawn toward sleep by the mesmerizing flames. Sensing her weariness, the creature from her dream began to tug at her mind, trying to pull her into the dungeon. Warning chills crept over her skin. She shook her head and sat up straighter.
"You need rest," Jovan said softly. He pulled blankets out of the saddlebags and wrapped one around her shoulders.
"Thanks." Tara drew the blanket closer around her. "I dread it more each time."
"So do I." His hands clenched. "It's infuriating. I can see what's happening in your dream, but I can't help you. I can't do anything. I'm useless to you."
She covered his fists with her hands and raised them to her heart. "No, you're not. It's your strength that sustains me and keeps me going. It's your voice that brings me back." She leaned forward and brushed her lips across his. "I need you." She kissed him again, felt his arms slide around her, drawing her to him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she settled in his lap, her body pressed close to his. He deepened the kiss, pulling her closer.
"I can keep the dream away for a while," he said.
"Mmmmm, please do," she murmured.
She pulled his shirt off over his head and let her fingers play over the hard muscles of his back. His lips traced a path down her neck.
She arched against him and moaned low in her throat. "That feels so good. We need to do this more often."
He laughed and continued his trail of kisses.
She cupped his face and lifted his eyes to hers, held his gaze for a moment. "Thank you for being here — for staying with me."
He caressed her cheek. "Until my last breath, I will be with you."
Their lips met again in a tender kiss. He leaned back, drawing her with him. His mind touched hers, and she opened to him, let him flow into her like a river of molten fire. Locked in each other's arms, they made love until finally, their energy spent, they fell into an exhausted sleep.

Buy Links:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBooks

Author Bio:

Lori L. MacLaughlin traces her love of fantasy adventure to Tolkien and Terry Brooks, finding The Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara particularly inspirational. She's been writing stories in her head since she was old enough to run wild through the forests on the farm on which she grew up.

She has been many things over the years – tree climber, dairy farmer, clothing salesperson, kids' shoe fitter, retail manager, medical transcriptionist, journalist, private pilot, traveler, wife and mother, Red Sox and New York Giants fan, muscle car enthusiast and NASCAR fan, and a lover of all things Scottish and Irish.

When she's not writing (or working), she can be found curled up somewhere dreaming up more story ideas, taking long walks in the countryside, or spending time with her kids. She lives with her family in northern Vermont.

You can find her here:

Website/Blog              Goodreads      Facebook         Google+          Pinterest

Who's For Dinner: Joss Whedon

I’m starting a new feature here. Who’s For Dinner? No, I’m not into cannibalism. LOL On Fridays, my guests will tell who they’d like to have dinner with. The person could be real or fictional, living or dead. It could be a dinner party with many guests or a single person.

 

photo: IMDB

Since it’s my blog, I’m going first. I’d like to have dinner with Joss Whedon. He’s a screenwriter, director, and producer, most notably for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron., Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And, my all-time favorite, Firefly (TV) and the spin-off movie Serenity. What I didn’t know is that he wrote the screenplay for Toy Story and many other movies and television shows.

photo: IMDB

 What would we talk about? I’d ask him why (spoiler alert) he killed off two characters in Serenity. That meant, if he ever brought back the Firefly crew, those two wouldn’t be in it. Unless he did a prequel series. But after fourteen years, I guess that’s not a possibility. For those of you who don’t know about Firefly, the science fiction adventure series lasted only fourteen episodes in 2002-2003 before the network killed the show. Then it became like Star Trek with an avid following.

Firefly’s appeal (to me and I’m sure to others) was the humor. Look how that humor shows up in his other shows and movies. More importantly to me as a writer of science fiction romance was the dichotomy of the worlds. Firefly takes place 500 years in the future with a central government (“civilization”) and on wild Old West-type outer planets. The firefly (a type of transport ship) was crewed by renegades who tried to avoid any contact with the government.

I would thank Mr. Whedon for his inspiration that encouraged the writing of my Outer Rim series. When I began writing The Pilot, my critique partner couldn’t believe I’d never seen Firefly. In fact, she gave me the Serenity DVD so I could see the similarities. Holy cow! I then found the DVD with all the Firefly episodes and I was hooked. Though late to the party, I became an avid follower of not only Firefly but all of his work. He is so creative and versatile.

Not to stay in the past, I’d ask him what’s coming up. Considering how prolific he is, I’d ask how he balances work and family. I will try not to fawn over him, but I’m sure I’ll act like a total Fan Girl and gush.

My Outer Rim series:

The Outer Rim series, standalone books in digital and printer editions, are available at most online retailers.

I hope you’ll come back next week. Patricia Kiyono will be here with her guest.

Visiting Four Foxes, One Hound

Instead of my usual Monday Morning Musing post, I'm a guest of my friend Patricia Kiyono at Four Foxes, One Hound. She asked me how the Outer Rim series came about. I hope you'll hop over.

Until next week, enjoy the beginning of summer.

Brother Mine by Jolie Mason

Jolie Mason's Brother Mine is now available.

Brother Mine by Jolie Mason

The Basics:

Title: Brother Mine

Release Date: May 31, 2016

Genres: Scifi Romance

Heat Level: Sensual Romance

Word count: 51, 977

Editor: AM Manay

Author: Jolie Mason

Cover Design: Hayley Faye, FayeFayedesigns

Blurb:

Mal Renata was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, but it never stopped her from becoming the voice of the Braxian people. As an activist fighting off mankind’s inevitable slide into cruelty and prejudice, she wants to stop the Scourge bill from becoming law, but how can she do that, if the bill’s supporters keep dying? Public outcry wants someone to pay, so she intends to give them someone.

Until she tracks down, Adame Sacha, a Braxian freedman and one of the notorious Brother Assassins, she thinks the brotherhood is her problem. Instead, she finds they may be the best allies she could hope for. Together, she and Adame search for those who are eager to profit from the suffering of the Brax, and they track their prey in a world where lives are held cheaply, but death is expensive.

They may be able to elude the dangers of his world for awhile, but they can’t run from the attraction to each other.  No matter what their differences.

Author Bio:

Jolie Mason lives, works and plays on the mighty Mississippi in the infamous New Madrid, Missouri. Coming home again has allowed her time to write and chase the dream she's always harbored in her heart, making people smile with fairytales.

Jolie has been a fangirl to almost every scifi franchise out in her lifetime, and follows every possible scifi romance author out there. Nothing has ever captured her attention like scifi, and she's put all that day dreaming to good use.

She began publishing Home in the Stars in 2015, and has since added a novella series called the 47^th Lancers to that number.  Jolie is currently working on two brand new scifi series, including the Brother Assassins.

Author Contact:

Web site: https://joliemasonblog.wordpress.com/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Jolie-Mason/e/B00ZBCUB0Q/

Twitter: @Rwjoliemason

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scifichickjmason/

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14054623.Jolie_Mason

Goodreads Book Link:  unassigned at this time

Excerpt

 “Where's your boss?"

The brother before her nodded to the space behind her, and gracefully moved to stand, allowing her room to stand as well, though not as gracefully. "What the hell did you give me?"

"A simple sedative. That is all."

She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, well, it feels like a fifth of whiskey."

"I apologize for your discomfort."

Taken aback, she looked closely at the man. He towered over her and had the lean build of all his kind, but he was dressed as a freedman. Soft, comfortable jacket, trousers and the bands on his shirt that indicate he was not owned or allowed to be owned. There would be two tattoos on each arm underneath as well, to prevent his enslavement. It was a rare thing to meet a Braxian freedman.

"You are a most fortunate man. How long have you been free?"

Surprise jumped to his dark, blinking eyes. "Ten Standard, Suran."

Her lips tightened. "There is no need for sarcasm."

"Pardon?" A slight smile touched his lips.

"Does suran not mean 'most honored one'?"

"It does indeed. It is a term of respect."

She put her hands on her hips. "For royalty that no longer exist. I know sarcasm. I speak it fluently in multiple Languages. You just called me princess in a condescending tone and patronized me, thinking I wouldn't notice."

Get your copy of Brother Mine  

Are:  https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-brothermine-2034492-153.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Mine-Assassins-Book-ebook/dp/B01F4XKJ0S?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Ibooks:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1111079698

Kobo:  https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/brother-mine

#IWSG: Opportunities

It's the first Wednesday and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, whose mission is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts: Murees Dupe, Alexia Chamberlynn, Chemist Ken, and Heather Gardner!

When you get an email about an opportunity to promote your work, do you pounce on it right away and sign up? Or do you flag the email intending to return and forget until it’s too late? Like me.

Recently, I read the email and, despite nine million other things I needed to do—I immediately signed up for two (yes, two!) opportunities to promote my books.

The first opportunity came from Smashwords to their authors who write mysteries. Did I want to serialize The Case of the Bygone Brother on Wattpad? There would be extra promotion from Wattpad, as well as from Smashwords. How could I refuse? (Well, I could have by not responding.) I have several other books partially serialized on Wattpad, so I thought why not? The promotion started a week ago Tuesday. Since then I’ve uploaded eight chapters and gained thirty-nine followers. Thirty-nine doesn’t sound like many, but I’d be happy if a couple of them got tired of waiting for the next chapter and bought the book. Or once the book is finished and they liked it, they could purchase the next book in the series. Here’s the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/72359159-the-case-of-the-bygone-brother-an-alex-o%27hara

The second opportunity came from a group to which I belong, the Science FictionRomance Brigade. A couple of enterprising authors threw out the idea of making an anthology of the first chapters of sci-fi romance novels. They were hoping to produce two volumes—one sweet and one spicy. Almost overnight they had enough authors sign up for four volumes! Ten authors in each volume. What a lot of choices! A taste for readers to see what they like before buying. At the end of each first chapter, there’s a buy link for easy purchase. Best of all, each volume of this anthology, Portals, is free. My sci-fi romance The Pilot (An Outer Rim Novel) is in Volume 2, which was released yesterday. Portals: Volume 2 can be “purchased” (it’s free) at the following:

Amazon: https://amzn.com/B01G7RXDY4

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/por...

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/e...

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/po...

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/pr... 

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books...

The deal with Wattpad cost me nothing, while a small voluntary contribution helped with the cover cost of Portals. So for little money, I took the opportunities to get my books in front of readers. Will it pay out in the form of additional purchases? I hope so. But like most promotion, it’s hard to tell what works.

Click here to find others on the Insecure Writers Support Group Blog Hop. Or go to IWSG on Facebook to see who’s blogging today.