Edward Hoornaert's Blog, page 27
September 10, 2019
She had to, because he was a cop #mfrwhooks
I’m continuing with snippets from Love thy Galactic Enemy, — which is now live!
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Yes, like Frankenstein’s monster, Love thy Galactic Enemy now stalks the e-readers of the world, spreading havoc (and a bit of romance) across the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy. All my hooks from this book have featured that beloved alien pet, the rat-like mizzet.
She glanced back, but the mizzet was gone. Just as well.
She stumbled over something. To keep from falling, she lurched to the left—
— right into the arms of a man.
He’d just emerged from an unmarked door. She would’ve fallen if not for his strong embrace, which was close to a full-body hug that kindled an utterly inappropriate feminine response. She didn’t look at his face. Too busy taking in the name on the broad chest of his hunter-green uniform.
Dukelsky Chief of Farflung Space Station Security.
A cop? The head cop?
Plark!
Her heart raced out of control as she evaluated him. Not as a man — his better-than-Bahadur body didn’t matter — but as an opponent. He was six-foot-four, fit, and a cop. Probably armed, too. She had zero chance of escaping him.
Her evaluation took less than a second. Acting disoriented, which required little thespian skill, she let P. Dukelsky help her regain her footing. His grip was strong, masculine.
“Are you all right ma’am?”
After a moment stretched thin by fear, she nodded. Her awareness shrank to the heat of his hands on her biceps and the narrow, inaccessible corridor behind him, which she feared she might never get to tread.
The two of them stayed like that for a second, though it felt longer. Then, as though suddenly waking up, he looked at his hands—pale, like the fruit of a scooda tree — against the dark of her arm. He let go. “I’m very sorry ma’am. Please forgive me.”
He was a polite cop, but still a cop. She kept her head down and nodded.
“You need to train your mizzet to walk beside you, not twining between your legs, Miss . . .” His voice trailed away, leaving her an opening to supply her name.
Lou didn’t want to, because he was a cop, but she had to, because he was a cop. Which name to use, though?
Be sure to check out the hooks by other great writers in the Book Hooks blog hop.
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
[image error]Minta, the reserved secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s forced to fend for herself until she can make contact with an elusive spy, Watcher, who can take her home. To avoid arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who spouts Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Neither does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life . . . but by the time he reveals to Minta she saved an enemy commando, it’s too late for his heart. Or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher — half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
September 8, 2019
Music Monday -The operation #MFRWauthor
I just had an operation on my shoulder. We tend to think of such things as modern, but not so! (Operations, not shoulders!)
The French bassist and composer, Marin Marais, had an operation nearly 300 years ago, in 1725 — and he wrote music describing it. As a subject for a tune, that’s . . . yuck!
September 7, 2019
Effing Feline covfefes #wewriwa
I, Effing Feline, am fwee! I am fwee of meddling Ed, who always reads my posts and criticizes and edits. I can, at last, be mice-elf!
Why am I fwee? ‘Cuz some guy named Sir Jury, or maybe Arthur, has scooped out Ed’s shoulder an’ he is too loopy to proofread.
Love thy Galactic Enemy will be available very soon — September 9. The heroine, currently calling herself “Lou,” knocks out a guy she thinks is an intruder, then discovers he’s an innocent (and seriously ill) new roommate.
He has taken a sleeping pill, which give Lou the courage to take the next step.
He shivered again and moaned. For a minute, the only sound was his labored breathing. Then he moaned again and shivered so powerfully his teeth chattered. He must’ve walked to the room through sheer willpower.
She sucked in a deep breath. The air wasn’t cold, not really, yet loneliness sucked all warmth from her bones.
Without letting herself think, she flicked off the lights, lifted the blanket, and crawled in beside her roommate. “Sorra,” she whispered, “I just…”
He didn’t respond. He wasn’t dead, though, just asleep.
Effing Feline here again. Okay, I have this straight now. Ed had arthroscopic surgery (though I don’t know the doc’s name . . . Arthur, maybe?). He always comments on evry one’s post butt may be late this weak. Remember, everyone:
Covfefes forever!
Be sure to visit the other great writers in Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.
[image error]
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
Minta Streave, the naive secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s must fend for herself until she can contact an elusive spy, Watcher, to take her home. To forestall arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who quotes Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Nor does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life. By the time he reveals to Minta that she saved an enemy officer, it’s too late for his heart — or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher, half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Love thy Galactic Enemy is available for pre-order, so reserve your copy now:
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
September 3, 2019
The rest was a dream #mfrwhooks
I’m continuing with snippets from Love thy Galactic Enemy, my September 9 SFR release — all of them featuring that beloved alien pet, the rat-like mizzet.
Lou, our heroine, is taking care of Finn, an ill enemy in a tiny flophouse room on Farflung Space Station, where she is trapped. She has also picked up a mizzet she names Brainless and a second mizzet, as well.
Finn’s voice was stronger than before. This must be one of his lucid but weak periods. She tried to stifle a relieved grin, but only managed to make a lopsided smile she couldn’t quite hide. Just looking at his thin face and twinkling eyes made her feel good.
He yawned. It struck her as a weak yet healthy yawn. Since his eyes were open now, she ventured more questions. “What made you cry out?”
As though to answer her, Brainless flitted across the wall behind him, followed by the new, nameless mizzet. Being bigger, it couldn’t climb walls as nimbly; it needed to place each suction pad on his paws with care rather than speed. For a couple of steps it wobbled onward. Then the inevitable happened—it fell off the wall and landed on Finn’s stomach. Undeterred, it scampered after Brainless with the darting suddenness that made mizzets both fun and annoying. They could go from absolute stillness to top speed in a tenth of a heartbeat.
The two creatures reversed course, chasing from the foot of the bunk to the head. Then they leaped off and disappeared onto the floor. After a moment they scrambled noisily under the bed.
She couldn’t help it—the mizzet’s antics combined with Finn’s obvious improvement to summon a lighthearted laugh.
“Graceful,” he said through another yawn, “and a great smile to boot, and…”
And what? She stopped laughing.
“And you slept with me the other night,” he said. “Right? Just so I have it clear in my mind…you did it just to keep me warm, right? Not because you’re a hooker?”
“You use the words hooker and me in the same sentence again, pal, and I’ll scratch your nose a second time.”
He touched the end of his nose gingerly, as though every movement hurt. “I guess the rest was a dream.”
Uh oh. Her unprovoked assault could still get her into trouble. “What else do you remember?”
Be sure to check out the hooks by other great writers in the Book Hooks blog hop.
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
[image error]Minta, the reserved secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s forced to fend for herself until she can make contact with an elusive spy, Watcher, who can take her home. To avoid arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who spouts Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Neither does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life . . . but by the time he reveals to Minta she saved an enemy commando, it’s too late for his heart. Or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher — half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Love thy Galactic Enemy is available for pre-order, so reserve your copy now:
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
September 2, 2019
Music Monday Sixteen Tons #MFRWauthor
It’s Labor Day in the US and Labour Day in Canada, and with that in mind, here’s a song that always reminds me of my maternal grandfather. He was a coal miner. Though short, he was as tough as a bantam rooster. His last fist fight was when he was in his seventies.
August 31, 2019
Effing Feline wants to watch #wewriwa
I, Effing Feline, dislike television. At least the old-style sets had a warm space on top for a cat to curl up on. Flat-screen TVs, though? A pox on them!
And as for watching TV, I tried it once. I got myself all set to watch That Darn Cat. Ed told me that if the movie hadn’t been made by Disney, it would’ve been named for me!
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Darn movie is more like it. I’ll tell you the heinous details after this week’s commercial.
Love thy Galactic Enemy will be available soon — September 9. The heroine, currently calling herself “Lou,” knocks out a guy she thinks is an intruder, then discovers he’s an innocent (and seriously ill) new roommate.
She mentions a man named Garl, a spy and agent provocateur for her planet. She was his personal secretary until he abandoned her on Farflung Space Station.
One thing seemed certain: she’d be safe in the top bunk. Her ‘roommate’ would never be able to reach her.
Until he recuperated, that was. Nonetheless, she had to help him get better, right? Mostly because it was the right thing to do, but also because a rotting corpse in the lower bunk would mean cops, investigation, discovery, and imprisonment.
Patriotism hadn’t blinded her into thinking Proxima’s medicine was better than Civ Space’s, so the only illness he was likely to have was the manufactured disease Garl’s men had poured into TotCity’s water. Which meant she’d not only attacked him, she’d had a hand in making him ill.
Even if she wanted to be alone, she doubted another room would be available, given the hundreds of refugees flooding Farflung Station, but she would try . . . or maybe not, because he needed help. If she got another room, who would care for him while he was sick?
Effing Feline here again. You want to know what was wrong about That Darn Cat? It starred people, not a plucky feline! Yuck! Do you know any good cat movies I might enjoy more?
Be sure to visit the other great writers in Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.
[image error]
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
Minta Streave, the naive secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s must fend for herself until she can contact an elusive spy, Watcher, to take her home. To forestall arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who quotes Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Nor does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life. By the time he reveals to Minta that she saved an enemy officer, it’s too late for his heart — or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher, half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Love thy Galactic Enemy is available for pre-order, so reserve your copy now:
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
August 27, 2019
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes #mfrwhooks
The title of this post is a bit misleading, but I couldn’t help referencing Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band. If you don’t know what song I’m talking about, check out Monday’s blog post. Hint: It’s about kaleidoscope eyes.
In this snippet from Love thy Galactic Enemy, my September 9 SFR release, it isn’t a girl with impossible eyes, but an alien pet — a mizzet.
She sucked in a deep breath. The air wasn’t cold, not really, yet loneliness sucked all warmth from her bones.
Without letting herself think, she flicked off the lights, lifted the blanket, and crawled in beside her roommate. “Sorra,” she whispered. “I just…”
He didn’t respond. He wasn’t dead, though, just asleep. His sleeping pill had done the job.
She edged closer. Brainless edged out from between them and draped itself over the man’s neck like a furry, friendly scarf. Only the mizzet’s eyes were visible, glowing dimly with multi-colored contentment.
The best thing about mizzets was their eyes. Although normally grey, the eyes changed color like a kaleidoscope when the animal was happy. The changes were subtle but mesmerizing. Furthermore, a layer of tissue behind mizzets’ retina—called a bright tapestry in Latin, or something like that—made them catch and refract light, no matter how dim, so they seemed to glow in the dark.
Brainless’s eyes glowed with contentment, and they changed color. Sky blue washed away to pale violet, which melted over several seconds into baby-toe pink…as though the mizzet were trying to mesmerize her into slumber.
It was working; she yawned. When she opened her eyes again, Brainless had hidden its face behind a paw and fallen asleep.
Although it meant nothing that the dumb animal trusted her ‘roommate,’ her galloping heartbeat slowed to a trot. After several breaths, Lou shifted closer until their bodies touched at the knees. She lay still and concentrated on his breathing. Slow and even. Each breath reminded her she wasn’t alone. Reassured her that tomorrow she might earn his forgiveness. Promised hope.
Be sure to check out the hooks by other great writers in the Book Hooks blog hop.
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
[image error]Minta, the reserved secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s forced to fend for herself until she can make contact with an elusive spy, Watcher, who can take her home. To avoid arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who spouts Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Neither does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life . . . but by the time he reveals to Minta she saved an enemy commando, it’s too late for his heart. Or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher — half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Love thy Galactic Enemy is available for pre-order, so reserve your copy now:
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
August 26, 2019
Music Monday LSD #MFRWauthor
Today, a flashback to my youth — the Beatles!
This song is a companion piece to a blog I’ll be putting up tomorrow evening. What’s the connection with kaleidoscope eyes? Come back tomorrow to find out!
August 24, 2019
Effing Feline tweaks his nemesis #wewriwa
I, Effing Feline, haven’t poked fun at my nemesis, Twiggles the dog, for a long time. Every drought must end, however! I’m about to tell you Twiggles’s most humiliating secret — after this message from my sponsor.
Love thy Galactic Enemy will be available September 9. The heroine, currently calling herself “Lou,” knocks out a guy she thinks is an intruder, then discovers he’s an innocent (and ill) new roommate. In the aftermath, he’s confused and half-delirious. He keeps calling her Freya.
He was sitting up now, but when his shoulders slumped his posture brought guilt crashing back. For someone who’d been the personal secretary to a spy and agent provocateur, she was ridiculously squeamish.
“I be so sorra,” she whispered.
His face scrunched into a frown. “Sorra? Where’d you learn to talk like that, Freya?”
Damn; between grogginess and guilt, she’d slipped into the casual dialect of her childhood. “Look who’s talking — jubjub bird, frumious bandersnitch?”
“Bandersnatch.”
“That’s what I said.”
Effing Feline here again. Now to humiliate Twiggles (chuckle chortle snort).
She often — are you ready for it? — takes CATnaps! I think that’s hilarious. Dognap means to steal a dog. Catnap, though, is exactly what Twiggles does throughout the day. That means she’s acting like a cat! Altogether now, let’s laugh at Twiggles!
Be sure to visit the other great writers in Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.
[image error]
Love thy Galactic Enemy
Abandoned to the enemy’s tender mercy
Minta, the naive secretary for a spy team that spread a man-made plague, leaves the planet too late — the team abandons her on the enemy’s space station. She’s forced to fend for herself until she can make contact with an elusive spy, Watcher, who can take her home. To avoid arrest, she nurses a plague victim — a gentle, whimsical man who spouts Lewis Carroll. But to know this enemy is to love him . . .
When Finn Shanwing falls ill, he doesn’t intend to hide that he’s a high-ranking commando. Neither does he intend to fall in love with the secretive nurse who saves his life . . . but by the time he reveals to Minta that she saved an enemy officer, it’s too late for his heart. Or hers. Also too late to escape the wrath of Watcher — half-human, half-machine, and both halves obsessed with her.
Love thy Galactic Enemy is available for pre-order, so reserve your copy now:
Amazon US – Canada – UK – Australia
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Apple iBooks
![[image error]](https://eahoornaert.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/twiggles-catnap-2.jpg){kind=link}