Edward Hoornaert's Blog, page 63
December 16, 2016
SFR Brigade Holiday Showcase, day 3
The year in review + a Xmas present for you
2016 was very productive. I had three new books come out, tied for the most ever, and I sold another that will be out next year. Over the next few days I’ll be showcasing each book, so stop by each day for contests, discounts, free snippets, and more.
Escapee, released April
Future Love, released July
Newborn, released November
Book three in the Alien Contact for Idiots series — and the focus of today’s post
Want to sample one of these three books? Everyone who signs up for my mailing list during the showcase will get the book of their choice in the e-book format of their choice by December 20. So sign up now!
Newborn
She was born to kill
[image error]Jo Beaverpaw is born fully grown, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny. Namely, to kill her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her programmers want her to live a few hours, kill, then die.
But something goes wrong.
Darby Lapierre has the thankless task of protecting the surly fugitive, Jo’s target, while she recuperates from gunshot wounds. It’s hard, but not impossible for a skillful bodyguard like Darby.
Until, that is, Jo shows up at the private hospital after an accident. Beautiful, naive young Jo knows nothing about life and love, and wants Darby to teach her. Just until she’s well enough to attack her Destiny, of course.
And then Darby will be in the way . . . .
Newborn is available at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iTunes
Kobo Books
Smashwords
SFR Brigade Showcase Participants:
Be sure to check out the other great writers taking part in the SFR Brigade Showcase.
1.
Lea Kirk
11.
Jess Anastasi
21.
Melisse Aires
2.
Pippa Jay
12.
AR DeClerck
22.
Michelle Diener
3.
Carol Van Natta
13.
Dena Garson
23.
Shari Elder
4.
Liza O’Connor
14.
Carmen Webster Buxton
24.
E.M Reders
5.
Jolie Mason
15.
Imogene Nix
25.
C.E. Kilgore
6.
Aurora Springer
16.
Christina Westcott
26.
Diane Burton
7.
S. A. Hoag
17.
Michelle Howard
27.
Athena Grayson
8.
Pauline Baird Jones
18.
Siren Allen
28.
Misa Buckley
9.
Veronica Scott
19.
Tess Rider
29
Kaye Manro
10.
Greta van der Rol
20.
Kyndra Hatch
December 15, 2016
SFR Brigade Holiday Showcase, day 2
The year in review + a Xmas present for you
2016 was very productive. I had three new books come out, tied for the most ever, and I signed a contract on another that will be out next year. Over the next few days I’ll be showcasing each book, so stop by each day.
Escapee, released April
Future Love, released July
A collection of science fiction stories — and the focus of today’s post.
Newborn, released November
Want to sample one of these three books? Everyone who signs up for my mailing list during the showcase will get the book of their choice in the e-book format of their choice by December 20. So sign up now!
Future Love
[image error]A spaceman wins the woman of his dreams … but it’s too late. A crook invents a new form of pornography … but it teaches him about love, not sex. A man pursues his beloved beyond death … but finds only the evil in his own heart.
The short stories in Edward Hoornaert’s Future Love probe how the future will make today’s romance seem simple and tame by comparison. Think that’s not possible? You have much to learn…
If you crave stories that deal honestly with love’s potential for heartbreak and redemption, you’ll adore Future Love.
Amazon
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK
Amazon Australia
Apple iBooks
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords
Kobo
SFR Brigade Showcase Participants:
Be sure to check out the other great writers taking part in the SFR Brigade Showcase.
1.
Lea Kirk
11.
Jess Anastasi
21.
Melisse Aires
2.
Pippa Jay
12.
AR DeClerck
22.
Michelle Diener
3.
Carol Van Natta
13.
Dena Garson
23.
Shari Elder
4.
Liza O’Connor
14.
Carmen Webster Buxton
24.
E.M Reders
5.
Jolie Mason
15.
Imogene Nix
25.
C.E. Kilgore
6.
Aurora Springer
16.
Christina Westcott
26.
Diane Burton
7.
S. A. Hoag
17.
Michelle Howard
27.
Athena Grayson
8.
Pauline Baird Jones
18.
Siren Allen
28.
Misa Buckley
9.
Veronica Scott
19.
Tess Rider
29
Kaye Manro
10.
Greta van der Rol
20.
Kyndra Hatch
December 14, 2016
SFR Brigade Holiday Showcase, day 1
The year in review
From a personal point of view, 2016 was a year to forget. Dental work that interfered with my oboe playing and jeopardized my hold on first-chair status. Health issues for both my wife and myself. And then of course the monumentally unpleasant presidential campaign.
From a professional perspective, though, 2016 was very productive. I had three new books come out, tied for the most ever, and I signed a contract for another that will be out next year.
Over the next few days I’ll be showcasing each book, so stop by each day to qualify for a free book.
Escapee, released April
A science fiction retelling of the classic movie, The African Queen
Future Love, released July
A collection of stories. Like all my work, there’s plenty of romance and humor.
Newborn, released November
SFR Brigade Showcase Participants:
Be sure to check out the other great writers taking part in the SFR Brigade Showcase.
1.
Lea Kirk
11.
Jess Anastasi
21.
Melisse Aires
2.
Pippa Jay
12.
AR DeClerck
22.
Michelle Diener
3.
Carol Van Natta
13.
Dena Garson
23.
Shari Elder
4.
Liza O’Connor
14.
Carmen Webster Buxton
24.
E.M Reders
5.
Jolie Mason
15.
Imogene Nix
25.
C.E. Kilgore
6.
Aurora Springer
16.
Christina Westcott
26.
Diane Burton
7.
S. A. Hoag
17.
Michelle Howard
27.
Athena Grayson
8.
Pauline Baird Jones
18.
Siren Allen
28.
Misa Buckley
9.
Veronica Scott
19.
Tess Rider
29
Kaye Manro
10.
Greta van der Rol
20.
Kyndra Hatch
And remember to claim the present of your choice by signing up for my newsletter.
December 13, 2016
Robert J Sawyer and the Order of Canada
“It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s Dr. Hentzle’s reputation. . . . Some say she should get an Order of Canada, and you know what that means, eh?”
– from Newborn
[image error]
The order of Canada
Jo Beaverpaw, the assassin clone in Newborn, has no idea about the Order of Canada. You probably don’t either. No reason you should, unless of course you’re a Canuck, in which case shame on you for not knowing!
The Order of Canada is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the Canadian government — and this year it was given to (drum roll, please) a writer.
Not just any writer, but (trumpet fanfare, please) a science fiction writer.
[image error]
Rob’s the one on the right (Photo by http://www.singularityweblog.com)
Not just any science fiction writer, but a man I consider a friend and mentor, Robert J Sawyer.
Rob got the award for “accomplishments as a science-fiction writer and mentor and for contributions as a futurist.” He’s the first person ever to be admitted into the Order for work in the science-fiction field.
Cool fact: Rob can (and does!) officiate at citizenship ceremonies. Hmm. Could he make E.T. a citizen, do you think?
Visit Rob’s blog, which has been running a super long time.
Check out Rob’s latest and greatest, Quantum Night.
Learn more about the Order of Canada.
Rob’s kind words about The Trial of Tompa Lee:
Ed Hoornaert is a marvelous writer: a terrific, engrossing storyteller and a consummate stylist.
December 11, 2016
This Christmas, you can help
If you spend any time in spaces where authors hang out, you know a lot of authors are struggling with finances or health or both. Why is this? Well, when life gives you lemons, writing is one of the few things that you can continue to do.
This promotion is about helping those authors. The SFF promotion site will collect donations in the month of December and distribute them to authors who are doing it tough*. Money will be given in packages of $250, because this will cover publishing benefits, such as a licence to Vellum (book formatting program) or a professionally designed cover.
The books in this promotion are all priced $2.99 or up. They are listed here because the authors have made a donation. You can show your appreciation by buying the books (or simply because they’re awesome books!)
You can help more than just authors, too. For every copy of Newborn and The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station sold during this promotion, I’ll donate $1 to the local food bank.
Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!
December 10, 2016
Effing Feline says “Let your cat write!”
Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior / Sunday Snippet posts on Mr. V’s behalf. Click the pic for info.
My pet human, Ed Hoornaert, is incredibly lucky that I, Effing Feline, write these blog posts for him. He tried writing the other day after a hiatus due to various ills, and look what happened to his hand:
Yes, folks, typing is dangerous! So all of you writers out there:
Get a cat.
Feed it well.
Pet it.
And teach it to type.
And now another cat-selected excerpt from Newborn. Maybe the last one. Maybe not.
An important aspect of the book I’ve neglected is that Jo Beaverpaw, our heroic alien assassin, is actually a Native American from the future. In this scene, we see how the arrival of Jo’s futuristic nation, Kwadra, has affected today’s aboriginal people. (Edited slightly from the published text.)
Rob was slow-spoken at first, but his words gained speed like an avalanche. He told me how much he owed Kwadra, and how depressed and downtrodden his people had been. Now that Kwadrans were bestowing unimaginable technology from the future, Indians everywhere felt new pride.
“I’m as good as any White.” He jutted out his chin as though daring Darby to disagree.
“From what I’ve heard, Rob, you always were,” Darby said mildly. “Good fisherman, smart mechanic, and bound to be a good father.”
Rob grinned again, and I sensed he didn’t do that twice in one day very often. “So that means I’m better than any White now.”
We dropped him off on the outskirts of the village. After inviting me to visit his newborn daughter any time, any time at all, he sauntered toward a rusty, single-wide trailer as though it were a castle and he, its king.
Effing Feline here again. This excerpt makes me wish Ed had written about the arrival of a nation of technologically advanced cats from the future. Maybe then I’d get the respect I deserve!
Be sure to visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday posts.
Newborn
She was born to kill
Jo Beaverpaw is born fully grown, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny … which is to kill her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her life is pre-programmed and straightforward – until she meets the sexy bodyguard of her intended target.
If you’re intrigued by the idea that the Schwarzenegger-assassin in the original Terminator could’ve been a bad-assed (yet petite) female, don’t miss Newborn.
Find Newborn at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iTunes
Kobo Books
Smashwords
November 28, 2016
Journey to another World
Great books by:
Susan Grant
Aurora Springer
Jessica Subject
S.M Schmitz
Liza O’Connor
Jolie Mason
Sabine Priestly
Diane Burton
Veronica Scott
and many more!
Last but not least, Ed Hoornaert’s newest release, Newborn, is on special for only 99c during the Science Fiction Romance Brigade’s special promotion. Check it out — and lots of other great books, as well.
Newborn
She was born to kill
Jo Beaverpaw is born fully dressed, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny. Namely, killing her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her programmers want her to live a few hours, kill, then die.
But something goes wrong.
Darby Lapierre has the thankless task of protecting Jo’s target while the woman heals from gunshot wounds. It’s a hard job, but not impossible for a skillful bodyguard like Darby.
Until, that is, Jo shows up at the private hospital after an accident. Beautiful, naive, young Jo knows nothing about life and love, and wants Darby to teach her. Just until she’s well enough to attack her Destiny, of course.
And then Darby will be in her way . . . .
Get Newborn and lots of other great reads during this special promotion by authors of the SFR Brigade.
November 26, 2016
Effing Feline’s heroic scratching
Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior / Sunday Snippet posts on Mr. V’s behalf. Click the pic for info.
I, Effing Feline, have orders from my pet human, Ed Hoornaert, to show some of the romance in Newborn, Mr V’s newest science fiction romance. Personally I loved last week’s excerpt, about the salmon run. The thought of all those fish was enough to make me swoon. But he who buys the cat food picks the tune, as they say in Scotland.
And so another excerpt from Newborn. Jo Beaverpaw, has been programmed to kill her alien nation’s number one fugitive, then kill herself. When an injury forces her to outlive her planned lifespan, she becomes attracted to Darby Lapierre, the fugitive’s bodyguard.
In this snippet, Darby has helped Jo practice walking. They are outside, near a woodshed.
I pictured Darby shirtless, sheened with sweat, whipping an axe through the air and then down with controlled male violence, the kind of violence that built rather than destroyed. And then I pictured him catching his breath, still shirtless, smelling flagrantly, gloriously male.
I felt a little breathless. Against an outside wall, a slab of wood rested on cedar rounds, forming a rough bench. “Can we rest here?” I asked.
I turned around, preparing to sit—and we ended up face to face, his arm around my waist. We both paused; I raised my face, wanting…
Wanting what? Something I hadn’t been programmed to want, but desired regardless. My lips opened.
Effing Feline here again. I can really identify with Jo’s heroic image of Darby. It’s much the way I picture myself while scratching at my scratching post.
Be sure to visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday posts.
Newborn
She was born to kill
Jo Beaverpaw is born fully dressed, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny. Namely, killing her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her programmers want her to live a few hours, kill, then die.
But something goes wrong.
Darby Lapierre has the thankless task of protecting Jo’s target while the woman heals from gunshot wounds. It’s a hard job, but not impossible for a skillful bodyguard like Darby.
Until, that is, Jo shows up at the private hospital after an accident. Beautiful, naive, young Jo knows nothing about life and love, and wants Darby to teach her. Just until she’s well enough to attack her Destiny, of course.
And then Darby will be in her way . . . .
Find Newborn at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iTunes
Kobo Books
Smashwords
Newborn will be on special for only 99c during the Science Fiction Romance Brigade’s upcoming cross promotion. Check it out — and the other great books, as well.
November 19, 2016
Effing Feline gives thanks
Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior / Sunday Snippet posts on Mr. V’s behalf. Click the pic for info.
I, Effing Feline, am looking forward to the U.S. Thanksgiving next Thursday. I can’t wait for that first bite of mince-mouse pie! But my pet human Ed, aka Mr Valentine, insists that the holiday is a time for giving thanks for our blessings, so here goes. I’m thankful for:
Being a cat.
Twiggles the Dog. More specifically, for the fact that Twiggles has no tail, which is something I can always and easily tease her about.
Being such a smart, cuddly, all-around great cat.
Mr V, for giving me this writing gig even if he insists I talk about his writing rather than my beautiful fur.
Being meeee!
Cat food companies.
Being such a superior cat that I’m famous on the Internet — which I totally deserve, of course.
And now another excerpt from Newborn, Mr V’s newest science fiction romance. The narrator is a clone designed to kill her alien nation’s number one fugitive, then kill herself. When an injury (falling down a scree slope) forces her to outlive her planned lifespan, she flirts with Darby, a bodyguard, and worries whether she’s really a human being. But at night, the urge to fulfill her bloody Destiny nearly overwhelms her.
As the window of my room darkened toward evening, the need to seek my Destiny grew inside me until I wanted to run, to lash out, to strike. Yet all these outlets were denied my battered body. I needed to do something, though, anything, to assuage the guilt about postponing my Destiny. I rose and paced the room so fast my legs protested.
When I’d felt this compulsion before, I charged down the scree slope. With that warning fresh in my mind—and my bones—I tried to relax despite the impatience harassing me with the rude abrasiveness of a raven, squawking lesser birds away from a delicious rotting salmon. As though in a memory, I could picture that noisy bird of darkness. And not just the raven: a riverbank, fish guts, quarrelsome birds. And overriding everything, like a pink blanket covering an irritable baby, the stench of salmon swimming upstream even as their flesh rotted, compelled by nature to seek their death.
Just as I was compelled by my raucous Destiny.
Effing Feline here again. In anticipation of the holiday, let me ask: What about me are you thankful for?
Be sure to visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday posts.
Newborn
Newborn is a winner in the 2016 Pages From The Heart Contest of the From the Heart Romance Writers.
She was born to kill
Jo Beaverpaw is born fully dressed, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny. Namely, killing her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her programmers want her to live a few hours, kill, then die.
But something goes wrong.
Darby Lapierre has the thankless task of protecting Jo’s target while the woman heals from gunshot wounds. It’s a hard job, but not impossible for a skillful bodyguard like Darby.
Until, that is, Jo shows up at the private hospital after an accident. Beautiful, naive, young Jo knows nothing about life and love, and wants Darby to teach her. Just until she’s well enough to attack her Destiny, of course.
And then Darby will be in her way . . . .
Find Newborn at:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iTunes
Kobo Books
Smashwords
November 12, 2016
Effing Feline apologizes
Fart-Fueled Flying Feline, Effing for short, writes the Weekend Writing Warrior / Sunday Snippet posts on Mr. V’s behalf. Click the pic for info.
I, Effing Feline, must apologize. Not that I’m at fault, of course. Mr. V is. Several weeks ago, Ed Hoornaert (i.e., Mr V) had me write “Since Sunday’s a travel day, Mr. V will be late getting to your posts. But he’ll get there!”
Unfortunately, that was a lie. Instead, after taking two days, not one, to get home from Amsterdam, he went into hospital for a week, and since he got home he hasn’t written a single word or visited a single weekend warrior. He told me to promise he’d get around to you so this week, but I don’t know if you can trust him. He’s only human, after all.
Another excerpt today from Newborn, Mr V’s newest science fiction romance, Newborn. The narrator is a clone designed to kill her alien nation’s number one fugitive, then kill herself. When she accidentally outlives her expected lifespan, the gaps in her mind grow more and more puzzling.
Darby wrapped his hand around my elbow and helped me sit. I liked his touch. Not everyone’s hands sent the same feelings through me: Hen’s touch made me wary, Mary’s did nothing, but Darby’s…
You don’t know ‘ho, ho, ho,’ do you?” he said. “Santa Claus? Christmas? Or are you Jewish, like the good doctor?”
My mind spewed a wealth of details about Judaism and Christmas, supplying details but nothing of how people felt about, say, Christmas. Yet Darby looked at me expectantly, watching for my emotional response.
I tried smiling; it seemed to satisfy him, and because of that, my smile became genuine.
Effing Feline here again. Be sure to visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday posts.
Newborn
She was born to kill
Jo Beaverpaw is born fully grown, well-armed, and impatient to tackle her Destiny … which is to kill her alien nation’s most wanted fugitive. Her life is pre-programmed and straightforward – until she meets the sexy bodyguard of her intended target.
Newborn is the 3rd exciting book in Edward Hoornaert’s near-future romance series, Alien Contact for Idiots. If you The Terminator would’ve been better starring a bad-assed (yet petite) female, don’t miss Newborn.
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Apple iTunes
Kobo Books
Smashwords
