Aurora Springer's Blog, page 87

eBook Free for holiday 11/28-11/29 - Captured by the Hawk

Will Captain Black Hawk win Kat’s heart in a romp through the galaxy?

Follow the adventures of interstellar spy Grey Kat and space pirate Black Hawk in fast-paced action, mystery and romance. Grey Kat is an undercover agent with the dual identity of Mistress Trina Sligo, wealthy daughter of the Solarian Ambassador to the Emperor’s court. When Kat escapes with secret codes from the Emperor’s spaceship, she is captured by Black Hawk, renegade captain of the Rogue Star. What secret does he hide under the black mask over his face? Another mystery surfaces when Kat is given his wife’s cabin, with its contents untouched since her mysterious death. Black Hawk persuades Kat to assist in his next piracy attempt, which plunges them into a series of mishaps as they dodge pursuit and destroy several spaceships. Will they evade the Emperor’s troops? At the same time, Kat struggles to discover the tragic secret in Black Hawk’s past before she suffers the fate of his unfortunate ex-wife.

FREE 11/28-11/29  Excerpt:
Two armed men escorted her to a large cabin. A tall man stood by a table displaying galactic charts. Strikingly, he was clothed entirely in black. He wore black leather boots, black gloves, and even his face was wrapped in folds of black cloth, exposing only his piercing green eyes under a black turban. She stared at him curiously. Sexy outfit, she mused. But, why did he cover his face?  Was it a cultural obligation, or was he hiding some hideous deformity? He scrutinized her small figure with equal intensity. He saw a slim woman with alert tawny eyes and brown hair, wearing coveralls of a nondescript brown. He spoke in a cool, dispassionate tone, “My men say you are the cunning thief who stole secret codes from the Emperor’s Revenge. Where are the codes?” She stared back in silence, tilting her chin in defiance.  “I am the Black Hawk. You are on my ship, the Rogue Star, and utterly in my power. I recommend you tell me what you know.” His deep cold voice sent a shiver down her spine. “Ain’t got nothing!” Kat whined like a dock rat.    

Science Fiction & Fantasy Saturday - Let's continue the story

Here we go again with snippets from our stories. 


Snippet from short story:Continuing from last week, we follow the adventures of Violet and Taranis, the Psi Master.



They jumped out of the side doors and walked toward the blue-hued trees, towering in vivid contrast to the dim yellow of the low clouds. Violet admired the colorful flowers of the vines draped over the tree branches. The dark understory paths beckoned to her with their promise of mystery in the shadowy interior. Her senses reveled in the teeming denizens of the jungle, the tiny sparks of small creatures and the hungry stab of large predators.Taranis halted at the verge of the forest in front of a dirt track, leading into the interior. Violet stood next to him, and gazed at his stern face framed in straight black hair as he bent over the detector strapped over his shoulder. As usual, he exuded power and authority. During three days together, she had seen nothing of his vaunted psi powers. One of the three-winged vultures swooped down to examine them. The Psi Master glanced up, warned by the black shadow over him. Violet said, “It is just curious.” He stared at her, green eyes thoughtful, “Can you sense the thoughts of the vulture?” Violet blushed under his scrutiny, “Yes, I am an empath.”“Interesting!” he commented and returned to his perusal of the detector as if her ability was unimportant.

Please return to SFFSat for the other snippets.Comments are welcomed.

FREE eBook 11/21-11/22 A Tale of Two Colonies

FREE 11/21-22: Fight for freedom! Fight to survive! Sultry Tiger Lily flees grimy Earth, fights alien monsters, meets her match: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFY8A5Q 
Description 

Four hundred years earlier the great spaceships had departed from Terra to colonize distant planets. Few ships reached their destinations; their sporadic signals waned and disappeared. No one knew whether the colonists survived. Now, construction of a new generation of hyperdrive ships was scheduled at one every five years. Planet Delta was selected as the next target for survey because the arrival of a brief signal suggested the descendants of the colonists were alive. Tiger Lily longs for freedom. In her fight to escape the subterranean slums of Terra, Lily competes to join the scout team selected for the next spaceship along with a new set of prospective colonists. Their mission to discover the lost colony faces the challenges posed by the voracious predators of the planet. In the mountains, they encounter Conley, a grim warrior who longs to escape the confines of his isolated valley. Has Tiger Lily met her match in this tortured warrior? But, where is he leading them? Danger lies ahead, and conflicts between humans and aliens. Can they ensure the safety of the new human colonists, or must they retreat to Terra?  

Inspirations for Intelligent Aliens

Many authors and fans of science fiction love aliens. My aim is to inspire writers with ideas from weird aliens in fiction and from the perspective of a scientist with a life-long interest in the diversity of life on our planet. 
Weird biology fact: We have traces of viral DNA in our genomes.
First, what are aliens? Aliens are intended to have inhuman characteristics. I will use broad categories of humanoid, animal based and other. 
Davros & DaleksIn Science Fiction Romance, human-like aliens are common, since a degree of physical compatibility may be desirable, although not essential. Humanoids predominate in video media, partly because they are easier to represent. Consider Dr Who: even the exterminatingDaleks are mutated humans in a robotic shell. 
Animal-like aliens are also common, and many resemble people in fur. Felines are popular, such as the lion-like Hani of C.J. Cherryh, Anne McCaffrey’s Hrubbans, and the Kzinti of Larry Niven.Dragons are clearly related to reptiles and fall into the category of animal-like aliens.
One early example of non-humanoid aliens is described in the War of the Worlds (1897) by WG Wells. 

Piers Anthony in his Cluster series created a variety of non-humanoid sentient aliens. He used the unifying theme of aura as a means of communication and exchange of minds into different bodies. In Thousandstar (1980), a humanoid woman falls in love with an alien resembling a giant amoeba (my description). 
Weird biology fact: Insect metamorphosis mean that delicate winged butterflies with six legs are the adult forms of squiggly, voracious caterpillars with many legs and prolegs. 
Think of the myriad varieties of animals living in the sea. Many are spineless invertebrate animals such as jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and squid. 
Weird biology fact: squid communicate by changing color. 

Intelligent plant-based aliens are less common. They include Tolkien’s Ents, which are essentially walking, talking trees. Carnivorous plant-like aliens are popular, such as the walking plants with lethal stings from John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids (1951). 
Weird biology fact: carnivorous plants can move fast, but they cannot walk. On the other hand, some seeds fly!
Can you imagine intelligent bacteria? Bacteria, aka prokaryotes, can survive in extremely hostile environments, in soil, ice, boiling springs. They communicate via chemical messages and exchange pieces of DNA, like the genes for antibiotic resistance. Different bacteria can combine in a colony called a biofilm. What fascinating elements for novel aliens! 
Weird biology fact: the descendants of ancient bacteria live in your cells as the energy producing mitochondria. 
Aliens can include entities of gas or pure energy. Sir Fred Hoyle, the eminent English astronomer, disputed the Big Bang theory. His 1957 novel, The Black Cloud, explores the idea of an intelligent interstellar cloud. Aliens can be entities of pure energy, although they may be obvious of us.  

I hope some of these weird life forms will inspire you to create unique and believable aliens in your stories. 








Recent Novel:  Dragons of Vkani, Book II in series Atrapako on Eden
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS1EU6K/  This Science Fiction story is set on the two remote planets of Eden and Vkani. Peaceful Eden has an independent colony of Terrans and a small population of Atrapako. The alien Atrapako sport spiky crests, sharp claws, and scales covering massive humanoid bodies. Their scales come in one of four colors, representing their traditional class system. The happy family life of Sa Kamizan and Lucy Stannis is interrupted when the Space Traders bring a distress signal from his sister, Veela. They must travel to the hostile Atrapako planet of Vkani to rescue Veela, the Dragon Lady of Ravenak. The rescue teams encounter new friends and deadly foes in the hostile, barbaric environment where warlords wage battles amid ferocious sandstorms. In their search across the inhabited continent, Sa Kamizan demonstrates his prowess with a sword, while Lucy employs explosives, and, of course, the dragons, as they combat treachery by power-hungry Blues.  

Author Bio: 

In my "day job" I am a scientist, although I have composed stories as long as I can remember. This year, I achieved my life-long ambition to publish novels. My works include science fiction and fantasy with romance and a sprinkle of humor. I was born in the UK and live in Atlanta with my husband, a dog and two cats to interrupt my typing.
Website: http://AuroraSpringerNovels.blogspot.... Aurora SpringerTwitter @AuroraSpringerGoogle+ Aurora SpringerWattpad, Goodreads: Aurora Springer

Snippet for Science Fiction & Fantasy Saturday

Welcome to another Science Fiction & Fantasy Saturday with snippets shared by writers.
Snippet from new short story The setting and characters are related to those in my WIP trilogy.

A forest stretched from the rippling ocher seas to the horizon on the uncharted planet of Janus. Violet swung the flitter in a wide circle and descended to land on the narrow stony verge between the trees and the olive green ocean. Above, voracious native vultures soared with a third wing raised like a huge sail.   Psi Master Taranis sat beside her, intent on the detector he had invented. His pursuit of the ancients who had once ruled the galaxy had led to this uncharted wilderness. The silver band around his brows was the sole indication of his superior rank of psychic power, acquired in a combination of inherited talent, rigorous training and artificial enhancements. The faint scar above his left ear suggested one of the ubiquitous com inserts, but she had no idea if he had other implants. After three days of travel in his company, she had become inured to the electric hum of his radiated power. She had not anticipated her acute attraction to the lean athlete with the strength and agility of a man a third of his reputed age. “Did you get a clear reading, Psi Master?” Violet said with the deference of her inferior status. She was merely the hired help, a security guard, and was not sure why he had chosen her. Still, he paid well, and she had been intrigued by the opportunity to guard one of the rare psi masters. Her own native empathy was a low status, maligned and misunderstood talent. The Psi Master replied slowly, “Yes, the signal is strong.” He glanced at her and waved to the forest, “Our target is somewhere in the middle of the forest.” 


Your comments are welcome.      Please return to SFFSat and read the contributions of the other authors 

Flash fiction - Jungle Magic

Violet was fascinated by the jungles of the small uncharted planet they were surveying. Despite visiting many exotic planets she had never explored a true jungle. Now, they stood at the verge. The blue-green trees of the jungle towered overhead and the dark twisty paths beckoned to her, hinting at the promise of the moist green depths of the shadowy interior. She looked up at Taranis and asked hesitantly, “Can we travel through the trees? It looks wonderful with the shadowy tracks weaving beneath the tall trees and the tangle of bright flowering vines.” His face indicated amusement at her enthusiasm, and he checked the screen on the detector strapped over his shoulder. “The signal for the artefact comes from the interior of your jungle. So, our choice is either fly over the jungle or walk through it.” She loved flying with him, but the enticing paths would reveal the living denizens of the planet. “Please, Taranis, I’d prefer to walk.”
He gestured for her to precede him along the track visible through the vines. She smiled in delight and stepped forward, sparing a glance at the colorful flowers. . Bunches of bananas hung from the narrow-leaved vines. No, they were not the familiar fruit of Earth, but an oval banana-colored fruit ripening in the orange sun. She halted just before entering the shade of the trees as a shrill cry echoed from deep within the jungle. She placed her fingers on the cold handle of the laser at her belt. “Don’t worry, Violet! We are alert and armed.” She nodded and strode under the drooping canopy of vines bearing bright clusters of pink and yellow flowers. The light dimmed as they marched further down the track and raindrops showered from the tree tops. Violet shivered in the gathering gloom, although her insulated suit was waterproof and kept her body at a comfortable temperature. They continued walking through the steady drizzle. The track threaded between the wide boles of gigantic trees, their tops hidden from view. Tiny winged animals flitted across their path like pale moths with two triangular wings joined at a hairy sphere. The flowering vines gave way to other plants. Clumps of blue blades sprung from the soil and fans of white clung to purple tree trunks. Violet looked from one side to the other as she walked, intrigued by each novelty. She relished the damp earthy scents released by the rain, and the sigh of winds gusting high above the trail. Taranis strode silently at her heels, intent upon reaching their target, the ruins from the ancient civilization. Grey and purple mosses festooned the tree trunks as they moved further into the dank interior. A faint chittering sound became audible, and Violet looked uncertainly at her companion. He merely shrugged. They walked on, alert for any sign of danger. The rain stopped and they saw light ahead. Shafts of sunlight struck through the upper canopy of leaves, half blinding their dark adapted vision. The trees thinned and the trail led into a brightly lit clearing. Violet circled in wide-eyed wonder, gazing at the profusion of flowers that bloomed on low shrubs around the edges of the open space. A movement caught her eye. She saw an animal hanging from a tree. The small grey animal clung to the branch with its six legs and a long swishing tail. It had three golden eyes on a round head and its body was covered in tiny scales. Violet stretched her hand toward the animal, as she sensed its strong curiosity and mild hunger. It cocked its small head and stared at her, radiating good will. She swung back and asked Taranis, “Please, can you fetch some bananas to feed it.” He lifted one of his dark eyebrows in a typical mocking gesture, “Bananas from Earth? How much power do you wish me to expend on feeding monkeys?” “No, of course not!” she said, wondering if he could really teleport fruit from a distant planet. “I meant the banana-like fruits growing at the edge of the jungle. Did you notice the yellow fruits?”  A bunch of the oval fruit appeared in his hand. He bowed theatrically and offered the bananas to her. She grinned, “Thanks!” and stretched her arm holding out one of the alien bananas to the scaled six-legged monkey. It jumped to her feet, accepted the fruit from her hand, and leaped back to the safety of the branch. She heard it chitter, calling its friends to the feast. Five other monkeys scampered into the clearing, waving their tails high in the air. She tossed fruit to them. Taranis watched her with a smile twitching on his lips. The alien monkeys finished devouring the fruits and five of them scuttled into concealment of the blue-leaved trees. The remaining animal stared at the humans, blinked all three eyelids and trotted through the open space. It paused at the edge of the clearing and looked back. “It wants us to follow,” Violet whispered. “Are you sure?” he asked in disbelief.“Come on!” she said and strode off in the direction of the lone monkey. It led them further, past moss-coated tree trunks and into another open space. In the middle of the area, they saw the grey stone walls of a ruin draped with vines hanging from the tall trees.  “We have found the remains of the oldest civilization in the galaxy,” Taranis breathed in awe. “The monkey, as you aptly called it, led us here,” Violet reminded him. She had never told him of her ability to sense minds, although he might have guessed her secret. It seemed a small talent, unlike the awesome power he could command. He swung to face her, “Violet, you are a remarkable woman! I should trust your instincts.” She blushed at the unexpected warmth of his compliment. He flicked his fingers and revealed a purple flower in his hand, which he offered to Violet. She accepted his gift and gazed at the five petals like a giant violet with a green center matching her eyes. “Will you pin it in my hair?” she asked, handing him a hairpin. He turned it around as if he had never seen one. She indicated where she wanted the flower, and he clipped the violet to her dark locks. She looked up, smiling her thanks, and reddened at his expression. He bent toward her and she slipped her arm around his neck. His kiss was the best gift of all.

SFR Brigade Showcase

Welcome to the second Showcase for Science Fiction Romance Brigade

Today I will highlight my first novel The Lady is Blue, published 6 months ago.
Description:The human colonists on Eden welcome alien refugees in their crippled spaceship. The alien Atrapako sport sharp claws, and scales of four colors covering massive humanoid bodies. The intrepid Dr. Lucy Stannis, a secret agent of Terra, initiates a lively friendship with the captain of the Atrapako spaceship, the deceptive Blue, Sa Kamizan Veedak. She learns the aliens have a mating phase. In the conflict between the races, Sa Kamizan learns to question his allegiances. Meanwhile, Lucy strives to unravel the Atrapako secret in time to engineer a peaceful solution.  

Quote from 4* review: "The ending was a good surprise. I kept wondering how the writer was going to make a sexual relation work between the two. "  Your Challenge - Can you discover the secret of the Atrapako before Lucy does?   The eBook is free this weekend 11/8-11/9/2014.  Lucy's opinion of Sa Kamizan changes during the story, as shown by her statements: 
After first meeting:  She sipped her drink thoughtfully.  “I talked with a big, blue Atrapako called Sa Kamizan Veedak.  He has a forceful personality, although I believe he was trying to be friendly.” 
 Friendlier:
“Nothing happened, Colin. At least, not what you are imagining.” She blushed. “I don’t think he can outside the mating phase.”   

Aliens take control of colony:Lucy turned pale and shook with anger. “He is a vile, hateful, deceitful reptile!”  
Friends again in secret. Throw them off the scent: She looked around at the eager faces, and enlarged on her theme, “Another little problem is their scales. Have you felt them?” Most of her audience shook their heads. “The surfaces are rough with jagged edges. Can you imagine kissing coarse sandpaper?” Her grimace of distaste was reflected in other faces. 
Pheromones kicking in:She shook her head despondently. “Yet, I have never seen him show such passion. I am overwhelmed.” 
Scene of some meetingsWell, they got together, but how? She smiled, “You’re the one I love!”   


Please return to read the other Showcase contributions. 
 

Snippet for SFFSat from A Tale of Two Colonies

Welcome to the writers' group Science Fiction & Fantasy Saturday, and read snippets from other authors.




FREE Saturday: A Tale of Two Colonies
Tiger Lily fights monsters on colony planet

Snippet:
Lily half turned, and began skidding down into a large hole that suddenly opened under her feet. She fell on her back, still sliding helplessly downward. Ming and Conley were trapped in the same capricious landslide. Ming had spread-eagled his arms and legs to slow his descent. He yelled urgently, “Get the ropes!” Conley caught hold of Lily’s right wrist, while he grasped his bared sword blade in his other hand. He held the sword so it pointed down between his legs. Lily wondered what fearful danger lay at the bottom of the hole. In an instant, she saw it and stifled a scream. They were funneling inexorably into a monstrous mouth ringed with jagged triangles of teeth. She struggled to grab her laser with her free hand. The awful mouth was only a few scant feet away. With a swift motion, Conley threw his sword into the gaping mouth. Simultaneously, Ming and Lily fired their lasers. A high pitched shrieking arose, and the convulsions of the monster scattered sand and rocks about them.


Comments are Welcome!Please return to SFFSat and read the other snippets.

Halloween Spiders on Colony Planet - FREE eBook Oct 31-Nov 1

Science Fiction - Sultry Tiger Lily fights monsters, seeks lost colony




   Free 10/31 to 11/1/2014 A Tale of Two Colonies
 Excerpt: Lily strode through the grimy subterranean passages to her tiny room, flushed with the success of her performance and indifferent to the hunched figures of the silent passersby. She ignored the group of five ragged youths lounging idly at the corner, until they moved deliberately in her direction. “Out alone!” one man jeered, clearly believing her to be vulnerable. “We’ll give you a good time!” another man called with vulgar intentions, reaching out to grab her arm. She swiveled rapidly, punching him below the belt. He collapsed with a moan. Two others advanced angrily on her. She leaped at them, aiming a vicious kick. Her target crumpled in agony, clutching at his groin. The third man hesitated, unluckily for him. Her fist thudded against his jaw and he sagged to the ground, unconscious. One of the two youths, who had hung behind well out of the action, shouted, “Watch out! It’s Tiger Lily. I saw her fight in the arena.”The other man called, “She’s big trouble! Let’s get out of here!” They dashed away, abandoning their injured comrades who lay groaning on the dirty floor.   Blurb: Sultry Tiger Lily fights to escape the subterranean sums of Terra. She becomes a skilled member of the team selected to search for the lost colony on planet Delta. The hero, Conley, is a grim warrior with a tortured past, who longs to escape the confines of the isolated valley on Delta. Their lives will intersect, as Lily finds love while seeking the descendants of the lost colonists amid the myriad of dangers posed by the native arthropod life in the mountains and jungles of Delta. Who are the real rulers of the lost colony: the hostile princesses or the unknown native inhabitants? Will the team succeed in their mission to locate the original colonizers and establish a new colony, or will they depart ingloriously for Terra?

Romancing Halloween

Romance with Paranormal Halloween Theme

To share my love of wizards and witches, here is an excerpt from my sweet romance novella, Rosemary's Quest. The eBook will be free on Oct. 25-26. 
Blurb: Rosemary cannot understand why she is bullied and taunted as a witch-child. She does not know any magic. Nor does she understand why no one else in her village fears the encroaching shadow of the evil king Kafkad. She runs away on a quest to destroy the evil king, escaping just before the shadows engulf her village. Rosemary seeks for the once famous, and now almost forgotten, White Wizard Strange. Is he still alive and does he have the power to destroy Kafkad? 
Snippet from the Book - their first kissThe clouds were stained a vivid red and purple against a sky of translucent turquoise as the sun sank perceptibly below the horizon. 
“Yes, it is splendid,” the wizard agreed. It was easier for him to see in the dusky light. They both stood staring into the west for some time, in silence. It grew colder and Rosemary shivered. He put an arm around her shoulders. She sighed and leaned her head against him. It seemed quite natural. She could hear his deep breathing. 
“Simon,” she said shyly, and he clasped her more firmly. She felt his lips brush her hair with a soft breath of purple.“Shall we go in now?” he asked softly. They walked back together and both were very happy.  When they were inside the door, Simon leaned down to kiss her. As their lips touched, Rosemary heard a violent crack and colors flared about them in greens and blues. “What is happening?” she gasped as they fell apart. “Oh, no!” he whispered. “It was the contact between our powers. We sent a vibration through the spirit plane.” “Will it happen again?” she asked. “I fear we must take care. It is dangerous! Kafkad will sense the disturbance.”   Oh no! Their kiss will alert the enemy. Yet another reason to get rid of Kafkad. Despite her lack of strong magic, Rosemary's ingenuity will be vital in the future battle.

A GRAND PRIZE will be given through Rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please return to the site and check the other contributions: BlogHop site Romancing Halloween