2016 SFR Brigade Summer Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2016 SFRB Summer Blog Hop! This is the Brigade's 5th Annual Blog Hop. I have been a part of the previous four, so wouldn't miss this one for the world, or other worlds, lol. ;)

As you may already know from your travels to other worlds before stopping by mine, this year's theme is "Other Worlds." 

I want to tell you about Bazin and Miaxa's homeworld of Beryll. Bazin and Miaxa are energy beings that use metallic bodies to contain their energy. Beryll is much the same way. It is a planet full of ionized energy. The planet itself is composed of metals; even the sea is metal, a liquid metal. The Beryllians utilize the metals of the planet to harness its energy for everything from recharging their mechanical bodies to powering their infrastructure. 

The following is an excerpt showing what the planet looks like:

***

They stopped at an overpass and looked out over the Mercury Sea. The silvery liquid metal rippled tranquilly against the horizon as the sky swirled with blue and violet ionized energy. The dancing light was reflected by the sea, and it was hard to tell where the sea ended and the sky began.

“I never get tired of looking at that,” Kiva said, turning to watch the equally beautiful lighting of the city. Each building was charged with contained electrons that traced patterns of color along the edges, smoothly flowing from one color to the next as they collided with nitrogen atoms.

Miaxa looked down, too anxious to appreciate the tranquility of the planet’s natural beauty, or the ingenuity in containing it. "Do you think they'll come to a settlement?"

***

Thank you for stopping by. I have reduced the price of my new release "Aliens in the Barn: 4 Short Stories of Mech Alien Romance and Misadventure" from $2.99 to only 99cents for the duration of the hop. Go check it out! <3

Blurb:

Four short stories of romance between Bazin and Miaxa, two alien beings from the planet Beryll. Finding themselves on a previously unknown planet, Earth, they grow fond of a human family. Cultural misunderstandings are a constant, the day-in-the-life misadventures of Bazin and Miaxa and their human friends.

Alexander Maddox has a special job with the government involving aliens from another world. The ones living in his barn were unexpected. Misunderstandings a daily occurrence, he is sure his resident aliens will be the death of him. A life in pieces collection of the Maddox family's everyday life with their alien residents.  

Aliens in the Barn:

--There’s a mechanical extraterrestrial living in Alex’s barn, but what will happen if the alien’s wife arrives? Wait, Bazin’s married?

Scared to Death:

--Beth has been married to Alex for over a year and he still can't make it home for dinner. Why do he and his coworker friend spend so much time working on that truck in the barn?

The Skellyd Hunters:

--With a core-bonded strength few understand, Bazin and Miaxa are Beryll's finest warriors. Sometimes they go a little too far and Andler is left with the consequences, for better or worse.

Meet Douglas Fir:

--Being human isn't easy with robotic alien residents misunderstanding the simple stuff. Alex can't imagine his family life without Bazin and Miaxa, however. Time to have them over for Christmas. 


Buy Links:

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Please follow the links below to read the next entry in the blog hop. Happy reading!

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Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for some great prizes! You can find the entry form here: SFRB Summer Blog Hop Giveaway! 

Starry Nights Blog Hop

Starry Nights

Hello everybody! I am literally moving from Alabama to Nevada right now, but there is no way I am going to miss the SFR Brigade's 3rd Annual Blog Hop. Funny, because I was moving during last year's blog hop as well. Oh, the military life. Hopefully there isn't a pattern here... Nah, we'll be in Nevada for a few years, at least, so next year I'll finally be stationary for this very awesome blog hop.

For this year's Starry Nights theme, I have an excerpt from my work in progress Fracture Series. There are a few snippets from this series throughout my blog. My story, 'The Stranger,' that was published in "Tales from the SFR Brigade" is set in the future of this scene. Without further ado:

Alexander Maddox walked into the barn, into a scene that he would never forget, on a night full of scenes that he would never forget. There, pinned against a support beam by none other than Bazin, was the mella; he couldn't remember her name to save his life. Her chest lay open with the same bright burning ball of icy blue fire he'd seen in Bazin's. She was emitting noises that sounded like whimpering and her body was shaking. Bazin was holding her wrists behind her back, his injured leg shaking against her as he struggled to keep his balance. His own chest was open, but, from this angle, Alex couldn't see his core. However, Alex couldn't miss the large humming cannon pointed his way.

"Maddox!" Bazin bellowed. "If you do not get out of here, I will shoot you where you stand!"

Alex backed up, shocked to see a weapon, even more so about the prospect that Bazin would actually shoot him.

But the mella. What was going on? Actual concern for her kept him from going too far. Suddenly, he remembered her name.

"Um, Miaxa?" he swallowed.

"Get out!" they both yelled in unison and Alex could not oblige fast enough.

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Alex ran out of the barn and shut the door, leaning his forehead against it as he couldn't imagine his night getting any crazier.

"What's going on?" Lynn's voice came from behind him, and he jumped high in the air.

"Lynn! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He raised his head towards the sky, the winking stars surely mocking him.

Lynn ignored him. "I want to meet her."

"You can't right now…um...I think he's about to screw her," Alex stated matter-of-fact.

"What? Can they do that?" Lynn tried peaking through the cracks in the door, apparently ignoring his crude statement in her curiosity.

"I…I don't know, but he threatened to kill me," Alex said excitedly and described what he saw. They went silent as they heard noises coming from within.

"It sounds like he's killing her," Lynn said worriedly. "What should we do?"

888888888888888

It was Ander who answered the phone. "Alexander Maddox," he exclaimed in greeting. "We have been looking for you. We have been trying to locate Bazin."

"Well, he's here," Alex said and before he could get anything else out…

"He's there? Kelyan was getting worried that the new arrival might be a Skellyd that he couldn't handle, possibly broadcasting a Gathon signal to lure us into a trap. Why didn't he bring him here? Where is he now? We need to speak with him."

A who? Why would they be luring them into a trap?

"That's why I'm calling. I think we need your help. Bazin said the new arrival's name is Miaxa..." and Alex launched into the story of his day and how they are now out in his barn and his concern. Miaxa could be dead already.

There was silence on Ander's end.

After some length, Alex finally asked, "Ander, are you still there?"

Alex heard a whooshing sound and then, "Yes, well, that explains why he has not been answering our calls." Another moment passed, another whooshing sound. "So, why do you need our help?"

"You never said he was armed," Alex said. "He threatened to kill me."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear you say that," Ander commented. "But don't worry. He would never harm any of you."

Alex wasn't really worried about Bazin harming him or his family. He knew Bazin better than any human. It wasn't the threat that worried him; it was the fact that these aliens had weapons. So many questions rose to the surface that he didn't know where to start. Were all of them armed?

"And he's not hurting her, Alexander Maddox," Ander continued, completely oblivious of Alex's inner struggle.

"I keep telling you guys that you can just call me 'Alex.'" With the current circumstances, Alex decided now wasn't the time to push about the weapon.

"He's not hurting her, Alex," Ander repeated. "They are both in considerable pain due to the amount of time they've been separated and they need to join."

"What? What does that mean? Do you mean they're having sex in my barn? My grandfather built that barn!" Of course, he and his wife had defiled it a time or two, but that was beside the point.

"They cannot have sex, Alexander, er, Alex. We are not like organics. We lack the organs for such a function," Ander said. "As far as their reaction upon first contact…That is very interesting."

"Interesting? You mean, you don't even know?" Alex couldn't believe it. Not only did he not understand them, but it seemed there were things they didn't understand about themselves.

"Coremates have never been separated this long before, so it's new to us too. I will record your accounting and then ask them more at another time. But for now, you had probably better give them some space. Those two are about as trigger-happy as a couple of Skellyds."

"Yea, I gathered," Alex retorted. "Are you sure they're not?" There was silence on the other end. "I'm just kidding, Ander. I don't even know what a Ske-lad is."

End Scene.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Since I'm moving, I don't have any prizes to offer. The only thing I can offer right now is a free book, which is always free and also part of all the main prizes: "Tales from the SFR Brigade."  There is no requirement to comment here, but you are definitely welcome to say something if you'd like. Entry to the grand prize is via Rafflecopter below. The prizes this year are amazing!

Thanks again!




　
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The SFR Brigade 2nd Midsummer Blog Hop - Out of this World

 

Welcome to the second SFR Brigade blog hop! The theme this summer is 'Out of This World.' I love this theme because I love daydreaming about other worlds and the beings that inhabit them. I wonder what those beings could be like, what they're made of, whether or not they think and feel, what their culture would be like.

There are a lot of movies out there that have aliens from outer space coming to Earth and immediately killing us. Sometimes we know the reason, sometimes we don't, but I always come away from those movies feeling like something is lacking. They rarely tell us much about those aliens.

I want to know who the aliens are. I want to know what makes them do the things they do. My imagination has to fill those unknowns.

So, for my yet-to-be-published works, I write about aliens. Even more interesting to me, is that they have the capacity to love. Science fiction romance is a great fit!

My aliens have been torn apart by war. They are called the Gathons and the Skellyds. If war were black and white, the Gathons are the good guys and the Skellyds are the bad guys. Both are of the same species from the same planet, but have divided themselves into factions with those names. War, however, isn't so black and white and I love to explore what makes a being 'good' versus 'evil' and all the grey areas in between.

The Gathons and Skellyds are energy beings made of pure energy, called cores. In order to contain this energy core, they have to inhabit some sort of body. They cannot inhabit organic bodies, because the energy will burn up all organic components. So, they inhabit metallic bodies, full of wiring and electronic components to include computerized 'brains.'

They are able to survive as pure energy without inhabiting a metallic frame, but those that choose to do so can only communicate by joining with another energy being. This creates a permanent bond that some find undesirable. In fact, the Skellyds are against any type of bond and consider it a weakness to be destroyed. So, they take a humanoid shape in metallic bodies that are powered by their energy cores and their thoughts are saved in their CPUs. Those thoughts can be voiced through electronic vocal systems, such as speakers or vocal chords made of wiring.

These energy beings are capable of intense hatred, but also a deep love that can define them. Skellyds avoid the part of themselves that allows them to love. Gathons, however, embrace it.

By combining their energy cores, they form a permanent bond with a love on a level so deep that humans have a hard time grasping what it would be like. They become Love. Once that bond is formed, the couple communicates through the bond. Separation becomes painful and one bonded Gathon is usually never too far from the other. The bond strengthens them, but there is a catch that all Skellyds consider the biggest weakness of their kind of all: if one dies, the other dies soon after...

So many wonderful possibilities to explore with the Gathons and Skellyds. I can hardly wait to unleash them into the literary world!

If you're interested in SFR book releases, or science fiction romance in general, check out The Science Fiction Romance Brigade fanpage on Facebook.



Check out the posts of all the other participants. You can also find a list of their names on The SFR Brigade blog spot. They are out of this world!

1. Diane Dooley              15. Imogene Nix                        29. Anna Hackett
2. Kimber Vale                16. Rinelle Grey                        30. Tonya Cannariato
3. Maria Hammarblad     17. Veronica Scott                     31. T.C. Archer
4. Bookswagger              18. Reading Reality                    32. Sabrina Garie
5. C.E. Kilgore                19. Spacefreighters Lounge       33. Kyndra Hatch
6. Liana Brooks               20. Pippa Jay                             34. S.A. Huchton
7. Cathy Pegau                21. Melisse Aires                       35. T.K. Toppin
8. Misa Buckley              22. Pauline Baird Jones             36. Jo Jones
9. Yolanda Sfetsos          23. Sandra C. Stixrude               37. Liza O'Connor
10. Rachel Leigh Smith  24. Monica Enderle Pierce         38. Isabo Kelly
11. Greta van der Rol      25. The Galaxy Express            39. Nina Croft
12. Jessica E. Subject      26. Linda Mooney                     40. Cathryn Cade
13. Diane Burton             27. Aubrie Dionne
14. E.A. Hoornaert          28. A.R. Norris







Now for the prizes!

1st Prize - $150 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice) and an ebook bundle (currently Ghost in the Machine, Bayne, Recast Book 1:Wither, Recast Book 2:Clash, Alien Adoration, Switched, Reckless Rescue, Wreck of the Nebula Dream, Keir, Terms & Conditions Apply, The Key, Marya, The Iron Admiral, Sasha’s Calling, Trouble at the Hotel Baba Ghanoush, Winter in Paradise, Once Upon a Time in Space, the Telomere trilogy, Winter Fusion, Blue Nebula, Demential, Wytchfire, Maven, Fires of Justice, Interface, Girl under Glass, and Breakout. Bonus books – Ghost Planet, The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy and Deception, and Games of Command.)

2nd Prize - $50 Amazon or B&N gift card (winner's choice)

3rd Prizes - four $25 Amazon or B&N gift cards (given to separate
winners and their choice)

Enter to win (goes live at 00:01 Pacific Time on June 21st): a Rafflecopter giveaway. Good luck!

A comment is not mandatory for my post, but I'm interested in your thoughts if you'd like to share them. Have fun on the hop!