SFRB Blog Hop: The Unexpected

Welcome to the Science Fiction Romance Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop! This is the first ever blog hop that I have participated in, so I'm pretty excited. It also happens to be the Science Fiction Romance Brigade's first ever blog hop, so excitement all around.

I have a short story for you, or the beginning of a longer one. One thing that surprised me about the theme of the hop, summer solstice, is that a story popped into my head and now seems to be taking over my thoughts. I think this blog hop has inspired a book! I like where it's going in my mind and I've been taking tons of notes and already have a rough outline. Of course, it could be a dud, but I'm having fun with it either way.

Let me know what you think. Plus, there are two grand prizes to be given away in a drawing:

First prize: A Kindle Touch or Nook Touch

Second prize: a library of science fiction romance titles from over 20 authors (most likely ebooks with one print anthology), and an Anabanana Gift Card.

In order to enter the drawing, simply comment on as many blogs in the hop as you'd like (mine included). For every comment, your name will be placed in the drawing for the awesome prizes. If you comment on every blog included in the hop, your name will be placed in the drawing 37 times. That's pretty good odds! So, enjoy the read, comment, and you can be the happy owner of a new Kindle Touch.


Home base for this blog hop is the Science Fiction Romance Brigade website, found here: http://sfrcontests.blogspot.com/. The names and links of all the participants are down below. Check them out, comment on their posts, and gain more entries for the drawings! The drawing will be held on June 24th and the winners will be posted on the SFRB website.

Enjoy!

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A commotion in the corridor jolted Anda awake. She could hear yelling, but she couldn't understand a syllable of the high-pitched Mudgian language. What sounded like a siren blared in the distance.

Anda got out of her makeshift bed and headed to the door to take a look. When she stepped out into the hallway, she saw several Mudgians heading in the opposite direction. A Mudgian she recognized suddenly zipped past her.

"Ikan," she called his name and he turned around. "What is happening?"

"Nokon passed out," Ikan paused for a moment, apparently thinking. "He passed out due to what you humans would call 'heat exhaustion.'"

"Heat exhaustion?" Anda said.

"It is unseasonably hot," Ikan explained.

Anda looked out of a window at a frozen expanse. The landscape was frozen, frozen solid. Everything she laid her eyes on was frozen. The buildings themselves looked to be made of ice, or maybe it wasn't ice. It actually looked colder than ice; snow would be too warm for this place. Beyond what appeared to be a city of frozen skyscrapers was a frozen expanse as far as the eye could see, what she could see of it anyway. She suspected it was frozen beyond all that as well.

They told her it was the summer solstice, which didn't make any sense. It didn't look a thing like summer out there. She had been cold during the long journey from Earth and was looking forward to a warm summer sun. There wasn't even a sun to be seen, except a distant star that gave off about as much light as a full moon on Earth.

The place was a freezer. How that fact wasn't included in the brief puzzled her. She had imagined that it would be a swampy, mud-covered planet, especially with a name like 'Mudgeon.'

Heat exhaustian seemed about as unlikely as her growing a second head.

"But, your planet is..." Anda hesitated, unsure if what she might say would be impolite.

"Frozen?" Ikan finished for her.

Anda smiled sheepishly, "Yes."

"I have never been outside of the ship on Earth. It is very very close to your sun. You practically live in your sun," Ikan rambled.

Anda couldn't stop herself from laughing a little. "It's not that close to the sun."

"I beg to differ," Ikan stated. "It is so hot on Earth that our first explorers to there vaporized when they stepped off of their ship."

Vaporized? Was he serious? She simply stared at him.

"That is why Mudgians wear protective suits when we are there," he continued. "The suits keep the right environment for us, but we can't stay outside of our ships for long, even in the suits."

Okay, he was serious.

Anda really didn't know what to say about that and Ikan seemed to be glued to his spot in the corridor, staring at her as she stared at him, so she asked what had been on her mind since she left Earth.

"Ikan, why am I here?"

All Anda knew was that she had been summoned to Mudgeon for the Summer Solstice Marriage Ceremony. Mudgians only got married one day a year on their planet, so it was a big celebration for everyone. Someone always knew somebody who was getting married and it was a planet-wide holiday.

Anda didn't know why she would be invited to such an event. She wasn't getting married. She didn't even have an intended to marry. Furthermore, she was human, not Mudgian, and she didn't know a single Mudgian that was getting married. Why she would be anywhere close to the planet during the solstice was a mystery to her.

"They didn't tell you before you left?" Ikan asked.

She shook her head.

"Oh, well, the summer solstice is the only day we marry on our planet."

"Yes, I know that, but why am I here?"

"You're here to get married, of course," Ikan said, as if it was the most obvious conclusion that she should have made already.

The first thought that went through her mind was the absurd one: she was going to be a popsicle on her wedding day. In retrospect, her next thought should have been her first, but she didn't bother analysing that in her shock: they couldn't make her marry someone she didn't love. And certainly not a Mudgian.

Why would a Mudgian even consider it? No alliances were needed. No business needed to be done. There was concern that the human race was dying out, but human and Mudgian physiologies were so different that reproduction was out of the question entirely. The only thing a human had in common with a Mudgian was that they were both bipedal. There was simply no reason for a human, Mudgian union at all.

"Your intended is being brought over now," Ikan continued.

Right at that moment, a door to their right swished open and in stepped a sight that nearly stopped her heart. She did a mental check to make sure her mouth wasn't hanging open. She had to make a conscious effort not to touch her chin to make sure. A thrill shot through the very core of her being, but she gave no outward appearance as to how this new arrival was affecting her.

The new arrival had black hair cropped close to a nicely-shaped head and an equally nicely-shaped square jawline. He did not appear to be military, but he had a commanding presence that exuded confidence. He was tan-skinned, wearing a sleeveless black tunic that accented finely tuned biceps. The tunic was zipped halfway, revealing a solid chest. His black pants were perfectly tailored. She could see that his legs were as muscular as his arms and chest and she imagined he had a nicely-shaped rear too.

Even being aware of all of that about him, she couldn't avert her gaze from his deep blue eyes. There was something about them. They didn't exactly look haunted, but there was a knowing look that both intrigued and frightened her.

He was tall, handsome, very masculine, and very very human.

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Overcoming Fears: Excerpt From Untitled Sci Fi WIP

I've noticed that authors give excerpts of their works in their blogs and then realized that I've never done that. I get a little antsy about sharing my work. Being super new at this, I never know what is too much to reveal, what is too little, or whether or not people would like what they read to begin with. Part of this author thing, I'm coming to realize, is overcoming our fears.

So, this post is me taking a step in overcoming my fears. I like to write about alien beings and what life could be like for beings not of our world. Being human, I can't really take the human element out of it (nor would I want to since my audience is, well, human), but the characters in the excerpt from this work in progress are metaloids, mechanoids, mechs...I'm still working on what to call them. Nothing about them is organic, but they aren't robots either. In fact, being called a robot by a human would be insulting to them.

The below excerpt is set in the Scrap Yards of Histerron, which is like a junk yard. Histerron is a Skellyd city (Skellyds are the 'bad guys' of the story, but being 'bad' or 'good' in the story is not really so black and white...I definitely explore the gray areas with each faction.).

Enjoy!

*****

Bazin saw them too late; two Skellyds. He jumped behind a pile of scrap metal, rolling out his arm-mounted cannon, waiting for the attack.

The attack never came.

He was beginning to think that, perhaps, they didn't see him. Bazin peeked out from his hiding place to see if they were still there; they were. They looked like they were lying low, waiting for something.

After a few more moments, it was clear that they hadn't seen him after all. He decided to sneak around them from behind to get the drop on them before they knew what hit them...

As Bazin came around them from behind, he stopped dead in his tracks. Dropping his arms down to his sides as he rolled his cannon back in its casing, he stood up, staring at them as he walked in front of them. His core sank at the horror before him.

They were two bonded Skellyds. They had been executed. They had probably been the only bonded Skellyds in the city, hiding it for as long as they could.

Bazin just stared at them, several emotions taking hold that twisted his core. He still hated them because they were Skells, but the single act that they would be frozen in forever gripped him...

They were holding hands.

The part of Bazin that was now buried deep within his being, but still existing, felt sad for them. They were all still Galtrons. If there was anything good about a Skellyd, it was eradicated now, reduced to nothing but the scrap the majority of the Skells thought it was. This is what bonded Galtrons in the Skellyd faction had to look forward to; to be unceremoniously killed and thrown out with the rest of the garbage.

Bazin reached out to Miaxa. He just had to feel her, to know she was there. She was still keeping him out about her true condition, but she was restless about something else he couldn't get a sense of. Even so, the minimal contact was comforting.

As Bazin stared at the clasping hands, he strangely thought of Zerra. This was her fate. Only monsters would turn on their own kind, leaving the ones they turned on to fend for themselves. As much as he despised her Skellyd ideals, he was forced to see her as a Galtron, as someone not much unlike himself. Zerra was mourning a loved one. He was mourning a loved one. They were suffering the same way, just a different situation for each of them. Bazin felt a tiny bit of sympathy for her.

"Appropriate to find you here," a sneering voice sounded from behind him.

The voice interrupted Bazin's thoughts and he cursed himself for lingering there too long, but he did not let on that he was utterly surprised at getting caught.

"You belong here with them," a Skellyd smaller than Bazin was saying as Bazin turned around. "You bonded piece of scrap metal."

Bazin saw that the mech was a scout. The scout kept talking, "There's a reward out for you. Deglan wants you dead or alive."

The Skell scout had, no doubt, contacted his comrades, but he was obviously too eager to collect the reward for himself rather than wait for them.

"So I've heard," Bazin finally spoke. This scout was going to be easy to take down, but Bazin knew not to let his guard down, nonetheless.

"Where's that pretty little coremate of yours?" The scout just didn't know when to shut up. "I'd love to make her acquaintance once you're out of the way."

Growling in disgust, Bazin didn't hesitate to roll out his cannon and shoot. The shot went right through the scout, the mech's image wavering as the energy was dispersed briefly, only to land its mark in a heap of scrap metal behind him.

The scout was making use of a hologram. No wonder he was so confident.

"A little trigger happy, aren't we?" the scout taunted.

Bazin knew how holograms worked. The real, solid, scout couldn't have been that far away. Bazin surveyed the area, taking note of every piece of scrap that could be large enough to hide a mech that size. Without hesitation, he began shooting everything that he had just scanned.

The scout was obviously tracking Bazin's progress as he blew up each and every single pile of scrap within visual range. The mech was forced to reveal himself, running out from underneath the next pile Bazin took aim at.

Bazin ran straight at him, grabbing the scout up by his arm, twisting it around until he had the mech bowing forward from the sudden pain in his hand. The Skell's CPU jack was easily accessible from this position and Bazin wordlessly went for it. The mech struggled harder as he realized Bazin's intentions, but it was all for nothing.

"You're nothing!" the Skellyd yelled helplessly as the connection was made.

Bazin wasted no time in plundering the mech's mind, recording what was useful, ignoring everything else. Bazin paused as one important piece of information presented itself. Leeda was at Histerron. He didn't question how the scout knew this. That was not important.

The scout tried to push him out as Bazin dug deeper along a line of code revealing something about the city of Histerron itself...and then he had it. Bazin was visibly startled when he found out that Histerron was actually a living mech. The scout was able to push him out then.

"Deglan will purge Galtron of your weakness!" he spat venomously, still trapped in Bazin's grip, but madder than ever.

The mech cried out when Bazin immediately crushed his hand. The scout may have been angry, but nothing could top the absolute loathing Bazin was feeling.

*****

Well, here I go, throwing this out for everyone to see. I haven't decided if this will be in the first book or the second. Things keep changing and evolving as I write and I find that Bazin's story may be better suited for a second book. I barely give a glimpse at Zerra, but her story may be the first book. Either way, I've certainly written enough for two books! LOL!

I'm also struggling a bit with what genre this would be in. It certainly is a science fiction and it certainly has romance in it, but I'm not certain if it would be categorized as a SFR (Science Fiction Romance). It mixes the two, but the more I read of science fiction and the more I read of romance, I get worried that it doesn't really follow the full expectations of either one. There is a happy ending, but the characters go through hell to get there. So maybe it does? I'm definitely confused by book categories and how one would know which category his/her book goes in.

This is definitely a learning process. :)

(Okay, I have no idea why the top part of this post is in small font and this last bit is normal font. Sorry for the small print, but I've been trying to get it all this normal size, but I can't seem to get it to work.)

Blue Galaxy by Diane Dooley

"Blue Galaxy" by Diane Dooley is a very enjoyable read. Even though it was short, it didn't feel short. I found that I liked that about the story. The story was fast-paced with no overdevelopment of characters and no unnecessary descriptions in the world building. In fact, there was just the right amount of character development and world building.

The science fiction element to the story is interesting and believable. I loved the sling shot method of traveling and the story behind the testing of that. I liked the air blast method of taking showers; it definitely makes sense that water would be costly. There were a lot of very good ideas like those that tickled my sci-fi fancy just right.

Then there's the romance side, which was very fun and definitely satisfying. You get to know Javan right off the bat. Sola is more of a mystery, and I don't want to give anything away, but she surprised me in the middle to the end of the book. What she did is certainly questionable but, for whatever reason, I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. Each one of them has a very good balance of strengths and vulnerabilities and I loved how they manipulated each other throughout the story. Again, it was very fun!

I would love to read more stories in this universe. I'm particularly interested in Destin Grady. There seemed to be more to him than what Javan thought of him. I've read the story twice now and my mind keeps wandering to what Destin's story might be...

I will definitely be reading more of Diane Dooley's work and recommend "Blue Galaxy" to anyone who loves a good romance with the bonus of it being set in science fiction.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Galaxy-ebook/dp/B004T4LQ9C