Maria Hammarblad's Blog, page 40

Come back here, you pesky little comma!

When I first came to the US and signed up for an English class I was pretty confused. The punctuation rules here are completely different from back home. Which makes sense, since Swedish and English are completely different languages, hahaha.

Luckily, my teacher took her job more seriously than I did, and drummed some basic rules into the heads of her students. I'm not saying I always do it right - I tend to sprinkle in many more commas than most people would find appropriate - but I have the advantage of knowing that there are rules.


The first rule is easy. 
If you see an -ing word, look out for a comma.

Some sentences with -ing words are too short for a comma, of course. Like... "I should be writing."

In a longer sentence with an -ing word, there should be a comma.

Examples:
"When signing up for the class, Maria thought she'd have to re-work her schedule."
"I ran towards the fire, waving my arms in the air."

The comma isn't always right by the -ing word, but it's there.


The second rule will probably stick in my head well after I grow old and forget my own name. 
These words come with a comma:
And, Or, Nor, For, But, So, Yet.

The word "and" is tricky, because it doesn't always have a comma, but it often does. The other ones should always have a comma.

The rules about "and" are:

When it's used to separate an element in a series (three or more things) it should have a comma. This is sometimes called the "Oxford Comma."
When "and" is used as a conjunction, I.E. to connect two independent clauses, it should come with a comma.


The third rule is about subordinating conjunctions.  
The what and the what? A subordinating conjunction is a word that connects a main clause to a subordinate clause. Oh, don't look so scared, it's not as complicated as it sounds. These are words like:

 Because, Before, After, Although, Unless, Until, When, As, Since, While, Which

There are more of them, but once you get the feeling for it, you don't really have to think about it any more.

Example: "Maria wrote the blog about commas, because she was so tired of people skipping them."
The word "because" ties the two parts of the sentence together. Note that the comma goes before the word because, not after it.


One more rule. =) 

Use a comma with parenthetical elements.

What does that mean? Easy. "Maria's cell phone, which she mostly uses to check her e-mail, fell to the floor."


Besides these basic rules, commas are used to avoid confusion. 
Examples:
Outside the lawn was cluttered with fallen leaves.
Outside, the lawn was cluttered with fallen leaves.

Another good example that has been going around the Internet is:
"Let's eat Grandma."
"Let's eat, Grandma."


Piece of cake! =D

SFR Brigade presents...

It is time for a new issue of the SFR Brigade presents. So, what is this again? I'll post a snippet from one of my scifi romances below, and you can click here to check out excerpts from more science fiction romance authors!

Today, I'm sharing a snippet from my upcoming novel Operation Earth, to be released August 11 by Desert Breeze Publishing.
______________________________

Ryan leaned back on a kitchen chair. He weighed it on the back legs, so far Rachael thought he'd topple over, and watched her under his lashes.

Did he think it made him seem mysterious?

In her eyes, he looked like a stubborn eight year old.

"I'm going to be honest with you. We're joining the resistance, and we think you should come with us. Your family is far away, and there's no one else to take care of you, right?"

The words, "I'm twenty-eight years old," balanced on her lips, but she managed to withdraw them. Asserting her independence would only serve to convince him. 

Melissa filled in, "I was absolutely terrified at first, but once we made it to the first meeting, everyone was so nice. Well-organized too."

Ryan took over, "We should all stand together. Help each other out. Show these mothers you don't fuck with America."

Melissa scolded, "Ryan dearest, watch your language. And you mean Earth."

The way they bounced the words between them made Rachael feel like a spectator at a tennis match. Melissa broke the illusion through bending over the table and putting a hand on hers.

"What my husband means to say, dear, is that people on this planet need to unite. We're taking it back."

Rachael wanted to pull her hand away, but forced herself to sit absolutely still. They were probably right, and she should be both willing and able to fight. She just didn't want to. What if all the newcomers were like the guy in the store. She couldn't shoot him.

"I have to think about this..."

Melissa squeezed her hand.

"Just don't think too long, dear. We're taking the bus at five." 
______________________________

The best part of my day :-)

I always found mornings pretty bleh, but lately that has changed. My days usually start with my youngest dog jumping up in bed, poking me with a paw. It's like a when a human tries to shake another human awake, but he does it with his cute little foot. I pet him a little and tell him to go back to sleep. Then, my Princess Bonnie comes up and rolls over so I can rub her tummy.

These few minutes in the morning are so wonderful. I'm still too sleepy to worry about everything I have to do, or any other problems that might lurk, and for a little while, there's just peace and doggy lovin'. If I could choose one perfect moment in time where I'd like to stay forever, that would probably be it.

Princess Bonnie napping on my pillow

Only a couple of weeks left...

No, I'm not talking about a book release - it's bit more than two weeks left until the release of Flashback  (June 21). I look forward to it, though. This countdown goes to something that might be less interesting to people in general, but it's a big deal to me. In two weeks, I'm done with my Bachelor's degree in Business Management.
I was a bit worried when I started; going back to school at my age is kind of a big deal. Not to mention going back to school in a different country with a different language and completely different habits. I've done okay. Thus far I have one B - in statistics and it really annoys me - and the others are all As. Getting an A tastes like Accomplishment.
Looking back, I can't believe I made it this far. Having a daytime job, full time school, writing, and home and family is like standing on a big ball in a circus juggling sharp knives. Now, I'm counting down the last few projects, and I feel happier and more relaxed than I have for a long time.
I have all these ideas of what I'm going to do with all the free time I'll get when I no longer have to spend early mornings, evenings, and weekends doing homework. It's just imaginary, of course. Once I get there the other areas of life will expand and suck it up, but it's nice to daydream. :-)
Deep inside of me there's a tiny crazy person. She's completely insane. She's already jumping up and down, waving her arms, shouting, "You know what? Enroll again and get that English degree you always wanted." Maybe... Maybe after taking a break. I could pick away at it one class at a time instead of barging through life at full speed. We'll see.
For now, I look forward to the first weekend when the semester is over. I'm going to sit in the yard and read a book. =D

New excerpt from Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor!

I've been talking about the book Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor these last few days. Here's one more excerpt for your reading pleasure!


Any chance you’d be willing to go to a different doctor to get another treatment on your face?” “I really like Dr. Grey.” “I know, but we can’t take the chance. You’d visit a doctor in Montana after office hours.” “Does he have the equivalent experience and skills as Dr. Grey? Because I already have nightmares where I’m blind and irreparably scarred.” “He won’t touch your eyes. He’ll just work on the cheeks.” “And if I’m scarred, causing little children to scream at the sight of me, will you still love me?” She expected him to flounder with his response because it required him to actually admit he loved her, something he’d refused to do. To her shock, he replied at once. “Absolutely.” “No hesitation?” “Nope.” “So explain why you’ll love me without hesitation if I’m hideously scarred, but won’t even kiss me when I’m just ghoulishly tattooed?” “Simple. Dan wouldn’t mind if I’m the only man in the world who still thinks you’re beautiful. But as long as millions of better alternatives exist, Dan would never forgive me for stealing your future.” She hated it when he nailed the truth. If she were really seventeen, she would agree a hundred percent. Sighing heavily, she muttered, “I’ll see the doctor.” “He’s not going to leave you scarred, Cass.” “I hope not, but if he does, I’m holding you to your word.” “You have it.” She smiled at the turn of this conversation. “So you think I’m beautiful?” “Inside and out,” he replied. “We need to change the conversation now.” “Why? I like this conversation.”

Curious yet? I'll add the blurb again, just in case you've missed it ;-)
Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen-year-old girl named Casey Davidson.
When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts: One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Given this second chance at life, Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey—the frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.
Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the “new math” she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.
As determined as Cass is to turn this life around, Old Casey’s enemies are just as determined to end her life. She has no idea whom she can trust, but she knows she’ll never survive going it alone.

What's that? You're wondering where you can see more of Liza and where you can find the book? Right here:   Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor

Interview with Troy Mason from the book Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor!

Today we are interviewing Troy Mason, Cass Davidson’s security specialist from the book Saving Casey written by Liza O’Connor. Welcome Troy!
 Maria: Troy, can you explain how you came to be responsible for Cass’ safety.
Troy: I’m the head of security for Astervac. Dan Davidson is the CEO. One day, he receives a text message saying his daughter is going to be gang-raped when she leaves school.
Maria: That’s serious.
Troy: If true, absolutely.
M: So you didn’t think it was a real threat?
Troy: Honestly, I thought Dan’s daughter sent the message to upset her father. He has a heart condition, and from my perspective, the kid was doing everything possible to drive him into an early grave.

Maria: Were you able to prove she sent it?

Troy: No. The text message came from a burner phone. So I accompanied Dan to the school.  When we arrived, we learned Casey, or Cass as she now wished to be called, had gotten into trouble on her first day back at school and had to stay for three hours of detention.  The principal invited Dan and me into his office to discuss the matter further.
Maria: I imagine the principal was concerned.
Troy: *snorts* Outraged is more like it. At Cass. He insisted the only problem in his school was Dan’s daughter.
Marie: Did he say what happened?
Troy: According to Mr. Davis, without provocation, Cass assaulted a fine young man with a stellar reputation. He warned Dan he was fortunate the boy had chosen not to file charges.
Maria: Wow, she really is out of control.
Troy: I’m pretty good at reading people, and I sensed the principal was less than honest about the assault. I asked where it took place. He said on the front steps. I’d noticed surveillance cameras when we entered the school, so I asked to see the video. He insisted he had no video, but he glanced at one of the wall cabinets, when saying that.
He continued to lecture Dan about Cass’ impossible behavior until he received a call requiring his presence somewhere else. Dan rose to leave, but the man insisted we stay, that he’d just be a minute. Again, I sensed something off with the guy.
While he was gone, I checked out the cabinet, located the security camera monitor, pulled up the morning video and watched Cass’s assault from two different angles.
Maria: And?
Troy: She definitely kicked the kid in the groin, but to me, it looked like self-defense.
I suggested to Dan we should forget the principal and locate Cass. He agreed. We located the detention hall and waited by the door. Good thing, too. The principal had given us the wrong time she’d get out. She would’ve left the building while we sat in the principal’s office.
Maria: I’m not liking this principal.
Troy: Nor I. When Cass came out of detention, she looked shocked to see us.
I knew at once she hadn’t sent the text message, and when we left the school, I was very glad I’d come.  The entire football team waited for her.
Maria: What’d you do?
Troy: Fortunately, most of them left when the D-hall teacher, who accompanied us, yelled at them. Only two of the boys remained. The clear leader was the kid she kicked that morning. That jerk did everything he could to get Dan to lose his cool and hit him. Hell, I wanted to hit him. The kid left no doubt Cass’ safety was in serious danger. If they couldn’t get her today, then they’d get her tomorrow.
Maria: I imagine Cass was frightened to death.
Troy: Cass showed remarkable calmness, even grabbing hold of her father to ensure he didn’t go after the jerk taunting her. Honestly, she impressed the hell out of me.
Maria: How so?
Troy: Beyond keeping her dad safe, once we got to the limo, instead of breaking down and crying, she declares it’s her best day ever. At first, I’m thinking she’s gone off the deep end. Then she shares her day, focusing on all positive things that happened instead of crying about what might have happened.Once we got to Dan’s house, I spent a couple of hours with Cass, trying to understand how this could be the crazy kid who was trying to send her dad into an early grave.
Maria: And how’d you make out.
Troy: Dan had told me when Cass woke up in the hospital this time, she no longer seemed broken and angry. He’s right. The young lady I met impressed me. She’s smart, funny, confident, and determined as hell to turn her life around. When Dan later asked me what I thought of her, I told him whatever was wrong with Cass was gone. The young woman I met would turn her life around and a year from now he’d be bragging about his daughter so much we’d be sick of hearing it.
Maria: You fell in love with her that day, didn’t you?
Troy: *sighs* I did. But I was 30 and she was 17, so nothing happened.
M: Did she love you?
Troy: Our attraction was mutual. She later declared us soul mates. I never believed in that shit, but from day one, we got each other. While neither of us was perfect, we were perfect for each other.
M: Except for age
Troy: An impossible barrier. And not just because she’s jailbait. That would resolve itself in six months. The problem was and would continue to be she’s Dan baby girl, and he would never forgive me for stealing her chance to love someone her own age.
Maria: So you plan to find someone else to love?
Troy: No. I’ll love her ‘til the day I die. That’s the problem when you find your soul mate but for some reason it doesn’t work out. There’s no second choice. No one else will do.
Maria: And there’s no chance you two will get together in the future?
Troy: I don’t see how, but a part of me still hopes…However, right now, I need to focus on keeping her alive.
Maria: You mean from the boys at school?
Troy: No. Her problems have escalated at this point, but I can’t go into that.
Maria: Then let’s focus on the book. According to the reviews, it’s a ‘can’t put down’ novel.
Blurb:
Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen-year-old girl named Casey Davidson.
When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts: One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Given this second chance at life, Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey—the frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.
Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the “new math” she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.
As determined as Cass is to turn this life around, Old Casey’s enemies are just as determined to end her life. She has no idea whom she can trust, but she knows she’ll never survive going it alone.

Liza and Troy are kindly sharing an excerpt:
Upon settling down on the toilet, Cass noticed the floor to ceiling mirror facing her and screamed at the sight of the creature within it. Short black hair spouted about its head, black circles surrounded both eyes and fell like triangular knives down the cheeks. Black lips, stretched in horror as if in a nightmare. Pulling up her pants, she moved closer to the mirror.She was a ghoul, an honest to God ghoul! The door crashed open and her father stared at her, fear and panic clear in his eyes.She touched her face. “Please tell me these aren’t permanent.”His panic remained a second longer as her words filtered into his brain and then he pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry, we will get them removed—if you want to…”“If? Oh, I definitely want them removed,” she said. How can I turn around my life if I look like the walking dead from a low-grade monster movie?



SAVING CASEY BY LIZA O'CONNOR IS AVAILABLE AT THESE SITES: 

Bono Books     Amazon    Barnes&Noble
BIO:
Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog, Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. 
She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.


FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LIZA O'CONNOR &SAVING CASEY:
Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

Teaser: excerpt for Saving Casey by Liza O'Connor

Tomorrow I'm interviewing one of the main characters from Liza O'Connor's novel Saving Casey. I want to give a little preview of the goodness we're in for.

Let's start with the blurb:

Having been diagnosed with cancer, Cass Goldman decides to opt out of any futile medical care and end her life. While she has some thoughts on afterlife, she never expects to reincarnate into the body of a seventeen-year-old girl named Casey Davidson.

When she awakens in a hospital, Cass discovers two disturbing facts: One, she is now inside the body of a troubled teenager, and two, the former owner of this body committed suicide, but only Cass knows that. Everyone else believes Casey has survived, but suffered a complete memory loss. Cass has two choices: to take on Casey’s life and turn it around, or to confess the truth about her reincarnation and end up in a mental asylum. Given this second chance at life, Cass decides to take on the future life of Casey—the frightening ghoul-faced teen with short, black, spiky hair.

Every person around Cass has an ulterior motive and discovering the truth of Old Casey’s life is more complicated than the “new math” she is forced to learn in school. In addition, Cass has to contend with raging teenage hormones and the prior crimes of Old Casey, which she might not remember, but everyone else certainly does. However, her biggest frustration concerns her feelings for her father’s rugged security specialist who sees her only as a teenager and doesn’t want to explore the mutual attraction between them.

As determined as Cass is to turn this life around, Old Casey’s enemies are just as determined to end her life. She has no idea whom she can trust, but she knows she’ll never survive going it alone.


And... here's an excerpt! =)


Thornton entered with a tall glass of green tea and bowl of nuts and dried fruit. “Thought you might want some nutrients after your work out.” He set down the tray. “And for future references, there are extra slippers in the bathroom closet where you found the robe.”“Okay, now you’re creeping me out. Do you have a camera in the bathroom?”“Of course not! However, I do monitor the gym. Your father put a camera in after his first heart attack.”She had been about to take a sip of the tea when his words slammed her like a two ton truck.The next moment Thornton knelt at her feet, scolding her for her lack of shoes, all the while picking up shards of glass.“When did that happen?” Tears swelled in her eyes. She couldn’t lose her dad. Despite the terrible thing he did to Old Casey, he’d been nothing but wonderful to her. She needed him…damn it, she loved him. “Is he okay now? Is there something he should be doing but isn’t?”Her butler-parent checked her feet to insure she hadn’t been hurt.“Thornton, talk to me!”He sighed heavily. “It’s not my place to discuss this. Nor should I have said anything. Most remiss of me.”“I’ll keep your remissive moment a secret. Just tell me if he’s okay now.”Thornton sighed heavily and looked up, meeting her worried gaze. “Turning your life around is the best thing you can do for your parents and yourself, and that is all I’m saying on the matter.”“All right. If I ask Dad, I won’t mention this conversation. I have to look out for my butler-parent, too.”He actually smiled before standing up. “I’ll bring you another green tea.”“How about a diet Dr. Pepper in a can—since I’ve proven unreliable with glassware.”Another smile. What a great day!“I’ll see what I can do,” he said and left the walk-in closet.

If you want to see more, stop by tomorrow! You can also visit Liza O'Connor's blog and take a closer look at Saving Casey just by clicking on these friendly, colorful words. ;-)

The beginning of Touch of the Goddess

I don't have anything particularly intelligent to say today, so here's the beginning of Touch of the Goddess. Hope you enjoy it. =)

The man leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on a console, trying to pour himself one more drink from an empty bottle. Nothing came out and he squinted into it, seeking proof it was really dry. “Dammit.”He wasn’t particularly worried over the shards of shattered glass that spread all over the floor when it hit the wall behind him. He was worried about being out of whiskey. Drought would be a real problem. He rose to his feet on unsteady legs and made his way to a cabinet hanging on the wall. Damn this floor is unsteady. They don’t make them like they used to.At least he found more booze, and he cradled the bottle. “Hello sexy.”Talking to bottles might not be a good habit, but there wasn’t anyone around to hear him, so who cared.He started drinking when he left station TL52 earlier in the day. He had been paid well and carried nice new cargo that would pay even better. These were good reasons to celebrate. Especially since bad memories tended to seep into his mind, ruining any good mood. Using alcohol to chase his ghosts away seemed reasonable. The first drink was lonely in his stomach and wanted company by a second one, and so it went.As soon as he sat down, the proximity alarm blared. What the hell, space is huge. How can there possibly be someone out there?He braced himself for the collision, but remembered to protect the fresh bottle, just in case he’d survive.A moment later, a woman stood in the middle of the room. She crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow. “What did you do that for? Space is so big and you just had to run into me?”She glanced around the room and wrinkled her nose. “Oh my God, I’ve been rammed by a trash barge. I bet you have rats too.”It didn’t seem that bad. Sure he had some empty bottles, shards of glass, and plates with mouldy food, but there were worse places. “How did you… Where’d you come from?” Why was speaking so difficult? He tried again.“Oh, I get it, you’re a hallunication. Because I’m hrunk. Right?”At least the alarms fell silent. Maybe he died in the collision and this was either heaven or hell. I think I’m alive, but I’m not sure.“Oh you’re hrunk alright.” To his surprise, the unlikely woman giggled. “A drunk hunk, that makes a hrunk. What’d you do? Bathe in scotch?”Scotch? Sounds good. He took a swig and squinted at her. His eyes probably weren’t trustworthy; women always seemed pretty when he was drunk, and they usually turned out to be hideous the next morning. Still, this one appeared to be beautiful for real. She shouted at him again, nothing new there. Some nonsense about rats. It made no sense but he shrugged it off. All women were crazy anyway.Drawing his gun and pointing it at her was more difficult than it should have been. The weapon swayed from side to side, but it was probably her moving. “Stand still.”He attempted to rise from the chair to demand information, but doing so turned out to be too much work. Why is the stupid room spinning? Another drink might help. Maybe that’ll make her go away too, or at least be quiet.When he put the bottle down again, the woman held a hand out to him. “I’m Maria Callaway. It’s nice to meet you.”How is it nice to meet you? I mean me… He looked at the hand as if it was a peculiar artefact. Maria Callaway sounded like a name, but it was wrong. Her name ought to be sexy. The thought made him grin and gave a big enough boost of adrenaline to get to his feet.He should shake her hand, but when he looked at his right hand it held the precious bottle. He couldn’t drop that. The other held his gun. Why had he drawn his weapon again? Not important. Getting it back into the holster was too much work and he tossed it on a console. The hand looked like a fragile object he might accidentally break, and he took it carefully. “I’m Stephan. Stephan Forks. Uh, sorry ‘bout your ship.”  This time he realized he slurred. What way was that to talk to a beautiful woman? She should be in his bed and not on his bridge. He closed one eye, reasoning it might be easier to focus on her if he didn’t use both of them, and examined her slender body, pale skin, long black hair, and big green eyes. It was easy to imagine kissing those perfect lips and touching those perfect breasts… Yeah, she was probably beautiful for real, and not just because he was drunk. “So... what’s a ship like you doing in a woman like this?” It didn’t sound right even in his own ears and he grimaced, muttering, “ship, woman, what’s a woman doing in a ship... eh, who cares, too much work.”Maria answered dryly, “Yes, I’m starting to wonder that myself.”“Meh, you’re not real anyway.” He returned his attention to his old friend in the bottle. The walking and talking hallucination might go away if he ignored it. Strange how solid she seemed though.

Touch of the Goddess

Touch of the Goddess is the first book in The Goddess's Saga, and I seem to re-write it every year. In April every year. If I do it again in 2014, feel free to hit me over the head and say, "Enough already."

It's available in the Kindle store right now, and can be borrowed for free by Amazon Prime members. I'm working on the paperback, it should be available during the week.

Wrath of the Goddess and Return of the Goddess are also getting complete face lifts inside and out. They should both be ready later this year, so keep your eyes open.

This time, "Touch" got a new cover too. And a new blurb:

Drinking and flying is a bad combination. Stephan Forks learns this the hard way when he rams another ship in spite of the vastness of space. A moment later, a strange woman stands on his bridge, looking around with a frown. She's clearly a figment of his imagination. Nothing in his colorful past of smuggling and smaller crimes prepared him for people appearing out of nowhere.

Maria Callaway has carried more names and appearances than she can keep track of, and she's bored beyond belief. When she runs into Stephan, he seems to be an amusing pastime. He's interesting, disorganized, pursued by pirates, and handsome. A little too handsome, actually. Maybe she should leave?

Neither of them can foresee the chain of events set in action from their meeting. Adventure and danger go hand in hand during the upcoming days, and the collision resonates not only through their own lives, but changes the destiny of the world as they know it.

"Touch of the Goddess" is the first book in a series of three, mixing mythology, science fiction, and romance.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else.

I mentioned Babylon 5 in my post yesterday. I think it was this scene that sold me on the show. Delenn rocks!