Cover Reveal for Pets in Space

Cover reveal

Nope, I'm not in this one, but some awesome authors and writer friends are! Please make sure to add this collection to your "gotta buy" books for fall!

Pets in Space

Out October 11th, 2016

Even an alien needs a pet…

Join the adventure as nine pet loving sci-fi romance authors take you out of this world and pull you into their action-packed stories filled with suspense, laughter, and romance. The alien pets have an agenda that will capture the hearts of those they touch. Follow along as they work side by side to help stop a genetically-engineered creature from destroying the Earth to finding a lost dragon; life is never the same after their pets decide to get involved. Can the animals win the day or will the stars shine just a little less brightly?

New York Times, USA TODAY, Award Winning, and Bestselling authors have nine original, never-released stories that will capture your imagination and help a worthy charity. Come join us as we take you on nine amazing adventures that will change the way you look at your pet!

10% of profits from the first month 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.

A MATE FOR MATRIX: CYBORG PROTECTION UNIT

By S.E. Smith (New York Times/USA TODAY Best Selling Author)
Matrix Roma is a member of the elite Zion military Cyborg Protection Unit. Matrix gets more than he bargains for when his cyborg partner, a hybrid Wolfhound named K-Nine, goes missing and ends up finding a mate for Matrix in the middle of a deadly mission on an unknown planet called Earth.

STRAY

By Susan Grant (New York Times Best Selling, USA TODAY, and RITA Award Winning Author)
Interplanetary Marine Lt. Lukas Frank has a lot in common with a street dog named Bang-Bang; they both started off as scrappy orphans fighting to survive—and beat the odds. Things change when Bang-Bang leads Lukas to starpilot Capt. Carlynn Riga. The tough war hero learns what it means to surrender — his heart. Lukas’s struggles with PTSD threaten to tear the three of them apart, but nothing threatens them more than when Carlynn goes missing on a mission. Can a scarred marine and his unlikely canine partner find Carlynn and bring her home, or will he lose everything he’s finally found worth fighting for?

SPARK OF ATTRACTION

By Cara Bristol (USA TODAY Best Selling Author)
Memory: intact. Cognitive function: enhanced. Emotion: erased. After becoming a cyborg, Captain Dante Stone didn’t think he’d ever feel again, until a traumatized young woman and a ball of synthetic fur named Sparky helped him to love.

STAR CRUISE: STOWAWAY

By Veronica Scott
Cargo Master Owen Embersson is shocked when the Nebula Zephyr’s ship’s cat and her alien sidekick, Midorri, alert him to the presence of a stowaway. He has no idea of the dangerous complications to come – nor does he anticipate falling hard for the woman whose life he now holds in his hands. Life aboard the Nebula Zephyr has just become more interesting – and deadly.

THE REAL DRAGON

By Pauline Baird Jones
Emma Standish didn’t think her day could get any worse. Her dad is marrying his boss, her dragon suddenly came back talking and typing, and it’s her fault the Earth, or at least ten square miles of Texas, is going to be destroyed. That’s what happens when you forget something very, very important. Luckily for her, she’s got the love of her life that she can’t remember and her dragon by her side. Who needs to worry when you’re having a day like this?

STARDOG

By Laurie A. Green
Navigator Taro Shall has a mission no one wants – find a way to eradicate snakes on a starship. He never expects to find the answer to his problem in a charming street vendor named Adini. His already unusual mission becomes more complicated when he suddenly acquires an adorable StarDog that soon sweeps him and Adini into the maw of a brewing insurrection.

SPIKE

By Alexis Glynn Latner
Young Roboticist Ten Jaxdown has to deploy, and possibly sacrifice, the swarm of investigative robots that he has invented and cares about more than anything else in the star system. It may be the only hope for those depending on him and his robots to save them. Yet, even as frantic preparations for the unprecedented deep-space rescue mission are set in motion, it could all be threatened by sabotage.

Anastasia Steed is an intrepid young mission designer. She steps forward with an idea that can improve the odds of the mission. Neither she nor Ten expect the assistance they receive from a very unusual pet. A pet that will bring together two alienated human beings who didn’t realize they needed each other. Can Ten and Anastasia discover who is behind the sabotage, save the mission, and discover what is evolving between them? With a little bit of unusual help, anything is possible.

SPACE RANGER

By Lea Kirk
Graig Roble is the Senior Commander of security for the Guardian Fleet. His expertise as a weapons specialist and combat master is his world, what he was born to do – or so he thought until he finds his resolve and focus inexplicably wavering. Even returning to his position aboard the Atlantis can’t save him; if anything, it has left him questioning his own motives. He never thought that could happen until he met Simone Campbell.

Simone’s focus is on her home world – Earth. She thought her life was full with her research as a botanist. After all, she always believed that helping the people of her world become self-sufficient should take all of her concentration – except it doesn’t. There is one man that keeps pulling her attention, and her heart, away from her job.

Graig’s gift of a puppy to keep her company does more than that, it keeps him in her dreams. How can such a simple gift bring her comfort and make her long for more? Graig and Simone are about to find out that sometimes love can blossom from the smallest, furriest ties.

ESCAPE RUN

By Carysa Locke
Teegan’s job as a hunter is to track down the Talented, those driven insane by their gifts. She and Ember, her psychically gifted fox, have tracked dozens of people for Cole, the man who works to rehabilitate and recover these troubled souls. When one of Cole’s most dangerous patients escapes, Teegan and Ember are on a hunt that could prove fatal if she doesn’t keep her focus on her mission. Unfortunately, Cole is proving one distraction that might make this her last hunt if she can’t do that.

Can Teegan keep her heart and mind in the game long enough to save an entire planet’s population, or will her distraction lead to heartache – and possibly death for everyone?

Sign up here to get more information and make sure you don't miss this book!  

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Right character- wrong story

Sometimes you have an idea for great character in your book. Maybe you already wrote them in, maybe they're something that just popped up as you're writing (or plotting for you plotters ;)) and you think they are awesome!

Then they just seem to clunk around in your story. You know, like when your washing machine is out of whack and you get that thunk, thunk, thunk as it tries to get back into balance?

Yeah....sometimes writing feels like that. Sometimes READING feels like that.  Since none of us as writers want to do that to our readers, and as readers we don't want a good book damaged by that thunking noise, it is important to do a catch and release on those characters.

For me, it's usually more of a reduction of a character, and mostly minor ones at that. Since I am a serious pantser, I often don't know who is going to stick around for the long haul of my minor characters. The bigger ones are fine, primary, secondary- yeah--I KNOW them.

I just relocated one of my secondary characters.

Now, the character in question is from one of my unfinished books, an epic fantasy. She was an important character to the story (or so I thought at the time) but her section never really fit. Since that book is waiting with the other half-books (and two completed ones) for time to finish, I wasn't really worried about it. I figured I could save her somehow, make her work.

But yesterday she popped up in my head while writing The Sapphire Manticore (aka Book Four of The Lost Ancients). I had a type of character I knew was going to be in this book, but hadn't fleshed them out at all (pantser, remember?), then while working on the draft yesterday morning I started writing her voice...and it was the troublesome character from the unfinished Epic Fantasy!  

I think she'll fit much better here, and has already gotten to know the drunken faeries (apparently her long lost sister was semi-responsible for them meeting Taryn--but that's another story ;)).

So, if you have a character who you LOVE, but they just don't fit in that book--remove them, but hold onto them. They may just need to be relocated (although I'm not completely sure she didn't just relocate herself ;)).

#IWSG- Writing with a day job

Welcome to another first Wednesday of the month and the Insecure Writer's Support Group!  If you know a writer, chances are they are insecure-come join us!

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Today I'm talking about why having a day job can be very helpful for a writer. Now, first let me say, if I could afford to not have a day job-I would. Even with all the cool things I'm about to mention. I would be a stay at home writer in a heartbeat. But, that's not my situation--so I work and write.

Most writers don't make enough to support themselves and their families. Many of the ones who are stay at home writers have a spouse who can support them-or are receiving retirement benefits. Yes, this does mean that most of the fine folks you see in your favorite bookstore are not supporting themselves from the written word. 

But, that's not all bad.

I have come to realize how helpful my day job has been for my writing:

1) Stability- I work Monday- Friday, same 40 hours each week. I know how much money I'll get each month, and that I have health insurance. I KNOW what I need to do to be successful at my job. There isn't the guesswork of how much I'll make and if I'm doing something wrong.

2) Support outside of family-I am lucky in that I really have a great group of folks I work with. They may not understand my mad need to write, but they support it. My boss set up my very first booksigning/ book party, in the lobby of our office before hours. It was wonderful, amazing, and I will never forget it.

3) It uses another part of my brain. I've always been more right brained- my GRE scores were very high for verbal, average for math, but high for logic.My day job is extremely left brain- very much logic and math. It is so different from writing that it acts as a mental refresher. I'm excited to write in the morning before work, lunch time, after work, because it's so different.

I'm sure there are more, but this gets the idea across. My having to have a day job has actually made me a better writer. For those of you thinking you can't have a writing career while you still work a day job, I say GO FOR IT!  You'll have to work your butt off, it's akin to having two full-time jobs, but do it.

You'll be surprised at the results.

Happy IWSG day!

Comic-Con Brain

It's the first night of Comic-Con International, San Diego!  

Yes, that is the real entire name of this mega event, I sometimes forget that just saying "Comic-Con" might confuse some folks. For me, the words comic and con combined will always be THIS one. The big kahuna, the 400,000 pound gorilla, THE Con.

I've been going to this con for 24 years-yeah, I know, longer than some of you have been alive ;). To say it has changed in that time is an understatement.

My first year a coworker gave me a ticket, so I wandered down there. It had just moved to the convention center, but our center was a lot smaller then. I had no idea what I was doing, so just roamed around the floor for a few hours, bought stuff, then left thinking, "well, that was okay".

I didn't even realize there had been panels going on upstairs!

But I went back the next year, and so on. You used to be able to buy your tickets for the next year at the current con- in fact for many years, those poor folks at the "next year's badges" booth would get super excited when anyone came up!

However, the point of this post was "Con Brain" (and clearly it's already hitting me!). There is SOOOOOOOOOOO much stuff to see at this monster event that pretty much you just need to aim for your favorite 10% and hope for the best. (If you're a newbie- heed my words!)

Even with knowing I will only see a tiny amount of what I'd love to see (and all the planning in the world never helps me), my brain is already bouncing around like an escaped pokemon on speed. I hardly slept last night--in part because it's hot as hell and I don't have a/c--but also because I am so excited about Comic-Con! Like an 8 year old the night before their first trip to Disneyland.

Not only is this my annual mingling with my people, this is also my first year as a professional and my first year SIGNING my books at Comic-Con. My books will be mingling with all that insane energy!

Soooo, my brain is pretty much shutting down for the next few days. Hopefully it will stay aware long enough to get me home and back, attend panels I want, eat, to the bookstore booth for the signing, etc. But pretty much, I'm already fried :).

And so dang happy to be so!  If you're going- have a great time! If you see me, say hi, then wait a few minutes for my brain to come back ;). If you're not going to Comic-Con, what are some of your favorite geek events to go to?

Being SpongeBob

Creative types need to mentally refuel. Well, since I believe all folks have some creative aspect to their psyche--that means we all do :). We need to relax, explore, absorb, to restock that well of goodness known as our creative brain.

For me as a writer, one of those mental refuelling events has always been Comic-Con International, San Diego, AKA- the big kahuna. Now when I say always, I mean for over the last 20 years, so pretty much, a very long time. 

The energy at Comic-Con is unparalleled by anything I've ever felt. Even at other comic conventions, this one is the most powerful. Getting overwhelmed is a given, but so is absorbing a ton of varied creative energy. Writers (and yeah! I'm even signing this year- shameless plug- Thursday, July 21st at 11 am booth 1119!). artists, actors, directors, gamers, coplayers, you name it, and they are probably there somewhere. I end up exhausted, but also motivated creatively.

But this year, not only do I have CC, I also have Romance Writers of America Nationals this week here in town! Yes, I technically write fantasy, SF, etc...but I do have romantic elements and RWA is the BEST writing organization around. They know their stuff and they know how to support writers at all levels.

This will be my first RWA national Conference, but the variety of workshops look amazing. Lots of folks go to this to mingle and network, I'm kinda shy and that's not in my wheelhouse. I'm just going to be a giant sponge (hence the title of this blog- get it? Hehehe). I plan on absorbing all of the smarts crammed into that giant hotel, and steal them back home.

The best advantage? They are both local for me, so I can sleep in my own bed each night :). Sure, staying in the hotels downtown would have been fun, but I couldn't swing it. I realize not everyone is lucky enough to be near major events like these- but find somewhere, sometime, to go recharge. 

So for over a week, I am going to be surrounded by thousands of crazy creative and talented folks. I'll be watching, observing, taking notes, and absorbing.  So, if you're at one of these events and see a "Sponge-Bob" sitting in the corner, say hi :).

IWSG: Benchmarks and insecurity.

First off, welcome to another installment of The Insecure Writer's Support Group!  The first Wednesday of each month, writers from all over gather and share our fears- join us!

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html










Today I'm writing about writing benchmarks and the fear and terror that goes with them. 

I've been writing for a very long time, but just got serious the past 8-10 years. My world changed when I self-published my first book, The Glass Gargoyle, March 2015. Since then I've published the next two in that series, and the first one in my space opera series- Warrior Wench. That's four books in 14 months while having a full-time day job. I'm proud of that. Those books weren't slapped up there, I had a lot of professional help on them.

I've now had all four books at various times be on various different top 100 lists on Amazon. My sales are creeping upwards. (Yeah, not quitting that day job any time soon though. ;))

I'm moving forward. Slowly, but moving.

But I am constantly fighting fears, demons, and mental naysayers. 

When you're an independent author, you don't get the reinforcement the traditionally published authors do. No one is hanging out in your corner, handing you the water bottle and the mouth piece so you can go back out there and continue the fight(at least not professionally). The only shield we have against the horrific self doubt is us. 

The benchmarks of "success" are difficult to define--well, not if you're a NYT bestselling author, supporting your family through your writing--but for the rest of us they are. I count every single book sold as a success--the big authors are counting in the thousands.

You work so hard to get a book out, then you watch the sales slow down, but it's okay, soon you have another book to come out, then those sales slow down. Reviews don't come. Or when they do come there are some real stinkers in there. Getting on lists is good- falling off of them is not so good.

Other authors around you seem to be doing so much better, and when you listen to them, you wonder what you've done wrong. Trying to figure out why sales spiked (a great feeling) or crashed (again-not so much) is a game that will drive anyone mad.

I'm at the point where I feel okay with saying I'm a writer. I'm not sure how to convince myself that I'm a successful writer.


(And yes, the logical part of my brain is saying to be proud, define my own success, enjoy what I've done so far- but sometimes my little fear-animal-brain just isn't listening ;)).

SFR Brigade:

ARGH!  I'm late getting this up. Blogger and I had a fight, and it mostly won :(.  BUT I did want to get this out there even if tardy. What is a SFR showcase you ask? Well, SFR stands for Science Fiction Romance and I think you all can figure out the showcase part :).  Once a month the awesome folks behind the SFR Brigade do a showcase of authors. Welcome!

Thought I'd toss out a snippet from Warrior Wench- since it fits the bill ;). BUT I also wanted to shout out to the great free reads available right now. Forty Authors, Forty first chapters- all free! The series is called Portals.  If you're thinking about finding some new books for your TBR pile- down load these! (From this link you can also find the other showcases for this weekend!)
http://sfrcontests.blogspot.com/p/sfr-brigade-presents.html

Enjoy the snippet!

The droid’s sharp rap on the door lead to muffled swearing in two different languages. Which told her two things: they’d found Deven, and he wasn’t gambling for money.

Her second-in-command had many appetites.

She stepped around the droid and added her own pounding to the door. “Deven, it’s me. Get your ass out here.” She paused, and added, “Clothed. Get your clothed ass out here.” Better to be safe. He preferred stark naked.

An increase in the swearing signaled his acknowledgment of her command. The door swung open and a curvaceous blonde stumbled out of the room, a dazed glow on her face. Obviously, Deven had been the one making the extra cash in this scenario.

 Her second-in-command was next through the doorway, looking as fresh as if he’d had time for an hour-long sonic shower before he dressed. Tall and exotic looking, Deven seemed to glow himself as he came out of the room. His standard issue flight suit looking like he’d had it been personally tailored to fit his body like a glove. He’d always been good looking, but he seemed different now. She shivered. Maybe absence did make the heart grow fonder. However, it certainly wasn’t going to make her break her rule about getting involved with a member of her crew. Or a telepath.

Deven’s sharp green eyes glinted with mild amusement at whatever he thought was going on in her head. Then he smiled and pulled his dark hair into a ponytail at his nape.

She hated him for always looking perfect. No matter the situation, Deven stayed calm, clean, and relaxed. Somehow she was sure he did it to piss her off. Maybe that anger could chase off whatever other unhealthy feelings were going on in her head.

“We’ve got a problem, a job, and a missing crew.” She didn’t wait for him to respond before she marched toward the casino floor.

She didn’t hear his steps, but the powerful presence at her side told her he’d caught up.

“You were supposed to be here two weeks ago.”

“Yes.” A two-foot-tall Jerlian in a permanently wrinkled suit, sloshed synth-cohol on her boots as he tried to hug her knees. Had Skrankle not already managed to ruin said boots, she would have seen how far she could kick a Jerlian on a low-grav planet. Instead, she took two steps around him and moved toward the exit.

“You didn’t call.”

“No, I didn’t. My being late has nothing to do with you or our next job. Can we move it, please?” She didn’t want to discuss her recent travels, and certainly not in the middle of a casino. Nothing had happened. She was just late. There just wasn’t a reason to talk about it. She squashed the tiny voice that said she needed to talk about it.

 “Vas saying please? Now I know something is wrong.” Deven pulled up short before the casino exit.

It would take a week to get off this rock if her entire crew decided to be this chatty about her private issues. “I don’t ask what you’re doing,” she said and held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. I’m not going to tell you what I was doing. We have a job and we have a ship. Do you want to earn some money on your feet for once or not?”

“Ouch, got me.” The smile he flashed caused two nearby women to swoon as Vas and Deven left the casino.

“Turn it down, damn it,” she hissed with a glance down at his bracelets. There were times he pulled a glamour that had to be esper powered, bracelets or no. He didn’t need it; he was freakishly good looking enough on his own. “I can’t have you jailed at this point."