Taste of Kiwi

I’m visiting The Romance Reviews today and answering questions about my dark side. You didn’t know I had one, did you?

House of the Cat received a Reviewer Top Pick from Night Owl Romances. ” House of the Cat was a fun and erotic story that will have you coming back for more by Shelley Munro.”

Romance Reviews Today reviewed Tiger By The Tail – “Erotic exploration and engaging characters make TIGER BY THE TAIL a captivating story, whether you’ve read the previous books or not.”

Congratulations to Heidi who is the winner of my newsletter members only contest for July. All you need to do to be eligible to win future prizes is sign up for my newsletter. A signup form is at the top right of my blog.

I’ve completed edits for Resisting Tamaki, a sci-fi romance, for Ellora’s Cave. I should have a release date for Resisting Tamaki very soon. Edited to add: My release date is 1 October.

It’s Friday the 13th today. Do you think Friday 13th is unlucky? Is it unlucky for you?

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
~ Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today’s teaser is Forbidden Love, a sci-fi romance by Kaye Manro

He was an alien; she knew it, though she didn‟t know how he came to be here or why. A sexy alien from who knew where, right here, right now, lying on her exam table.

page 13, Forbidden Love by Kaye Manro.

Blurb:

They are Galaxies apart so different yet so much alike…

Dr. Maya Belle knows reptiles. While she is in the desert researching habitats, a sudden burst of sand engulfs her. She can’t believe what stumbles out of a massive dune.

While on a survey mission over the planet Terrain, T’Kon crashes his spacecraft near Maya’s desert home. He cannot remain on this primitive warring planet for long. He must repair his craft and leave as quickly as he came.

When lust stirs between them a sultry unbidden passion hotter than the desert sands seizes them, and changes everything. Will Maya abandon her world for her alien lover? Or will T’Kon set forth without her forsaking their powerful forbidden love?

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The theme this week is friendship. Quite a few of my stories deal with friends and friendship, but today I’ve chosen an excerpt from Fallen Idol. This is a m/m story about a man who has fallen in love with his best friend. There was no future for a relationship and they drifted in different directions. This excerpt shows their first meeting in a long time.

Fallen Idol by Shelley Munro

His palms were sweaty so he wiped them on his black trews. Rafi laughed at himself, his nervousness at seeing Roberto again. They’d been friends since they were kids growing up in Melbourne and had met at the education center. Roberto hadn’t cared about the color of his skin or about his mother’s racy reputation.

They’d liked one another immediately, having a lot in common. One of them more so than the other, Rafi thought with a wry twist of his lips. He’d fallen in love with Roberto while his friend had fallen in love with Fifi Da Groux and gone out on the Sex Idol circuit with her. Roberto had broken Rafi’s heart and hadn’t even known it. They hadn’t seen each other for two years, but Rafi had thought of Roberto every day since they’d said goodbye. Sap.

“Nah,” he muttered, shaking his head to negate the thought. “Just goes to show you I have good taste.” And was weird for talking to himself.

Rafi entered the apartment foyer, wrinkling his nose at the scent of overcooked vege rations and scorched soy meat. The interior wasn’t much better than the outside. Rundown and only suitable for those on the lower income scale. Rafi couldn’t understand why the great Roberto Azam was living here when he could afford so much better.

Roberto. Rafi pictured the man he loved. Tall and golden-skinned. Broad shoulders. A slim waist that tapered down to a tight butt. Rafi imagined stroking his hands across Roberto’s golden skin and shivered. His cock chose that moment to react to his lusty thoughts. Ah, but Roberto was worth it. His muscles rippled when he moved and Rafi knew his friend didn’t go in for body sculpting salons and artificial stuff. Those hard muscles were a combination of good genes and honest exercise in his father’s warehouse when he was a teenager.

Rafi thumped on the button to call the lift but nothing happened. Shrugging, he searched for a stairwell to reach Roberto’s flat on the fourth floor. As he climbed the stairs, Rafi thought about the amount of fuel he’d need to fill his spaceship for the trip to the outer territories. Anything to help his erection subside and save embarrassment. Roberto didn’t know how Rafi felt about him, and Rafi intended to keep the status quo. All he needed to do was get through this visit. Masochist that he was. Roberto was his friend. He was happy with Fifi. Rafi needed to accept that and move on with his life.

After climbing the dark stairwell, he exited on the fourth floor. There were six apartments on each floor. Rafi stalked down the wide passage toward number four, anticipation and apprehension skipping around inside him. Hell, seeing Roberto again was going to put him back at square one, ripping the scars from his wounded heart. But the idea of not seeing him—that was even worse.

He turned the corner and came to a halt. A pyramid of empty vroom flasks littered the passage outside number four. Rafi frowned and strode to the door. Vroom was a rough liquor produced on the planet Marchant. People became addicted to it if they weren’t careful. Eyesight was affected. In extreme cases blindness occurred along with lack of coordination and muscle wastage. The muscle melted away, replaced by excess fat. Rafi checked the pile of bottles again and shook his head. Surely this pile didn’t belong to Roberto. He knocked on the door.

“What the hell do you want?” a masculine voice demanded. “Go away.”

Rafi pounded a little harder, a tiny grin playing across his lips. Roberto’s voice. Familiar, it brought back memories. The husky growl still made his cock jump with anticipation. Rafi’s grin died. Friend’s box, remember? Roberto wasn’t interested in him in that way and all the wishing in the world wouldn’t change the facts.

“Go the fuck away!” Roberto’s rough voice rumbled through the door, slightly slurred but definitely recognizable.

Rafi shuddered at the abrasive texture of his friend’s sexy reply. He’d never met a male who turned him on so quickly with just a word. After taking a deep breath, Rafi knocked again.

The door flew open.

“I told you before, man. I have nothing left. You’ve taken everything.”

Rafi gaped at his friend. He was still tall and dark, but the bronzed god from his memory had vanished. Roberto was pale as a ghost. An overweight ghost. His muscles had disappeared, sinking into inches of blubbery fat. The sight of Roberto’s bare chest and protruding gut made Rafi faintly nauseous so he glanced at his friend’s face instead. His dark hair was long, scruffy and lank as though it hadn’t been washed for weeks. And his face—hell, his beautiful face was bloated and puffy. One bloodshot blue eye scowled at him while the other was black and almost swollen shut. Roberto’s jaw was swollen too, and when Rafi studied his body again, he noticed bruises. Someone had bashed his friend and done a pretty good job of it.

“Roberto,” Rafi said. He stood in the open doorway, uncertain for once in his life. He still didn’t know where to look. Didn’t Roberto have some clothes? That belly…it… Hell! It needed camouflage. Really badly. Rafi stared with fascinated horror as Roberto’s belly jiggled when he inhaled.

His crew would have gaped with open mouths if they’d seen their captain appearing so indecisive. In the past, the two men would have exchanged a quick hug and clapped each other over the back. Rafi would have savored the moment as he usually did. He’d imagined the feel of Roberto’s arms around him from the moment he’d decided to look his friend up between trips to the outer territories. Instead, there was awkwardness. Rafi didn’t know what the hell to do. It was difficult looking at that blubber, but touching it?

He shuddered inwardly and continued to hover outside the apartment. Part of him wanted to leave, to run away, but no, he couldn’t do that. He refused to run away. His legs remained firmly planted outside the apartment while his mind told him to deal with it. No matter what, or how he looked, Roberto was still his friend.

“Rafi?”

Rafi tensed and steeled himself, forcing his real feelings deep so nothing showed from the outside. “Yeah, man. I stopped by the Gratham Apartments. One of the security men said you’d moved here.” Not bad. His voice had sounded calm. Even.

“I don’t suppose you’d leave if I asked you?” A tinge of shame colored Roberto’s cheeks and his gaze slid away to stare at the floor.

Rafi forced himself to look his friend in the face. He was so…so… Hell, he reminded Rafi of a bloated whale. His gaze flitted across Roberto’s face before darting over his friend’s shoulder to study what he could of the apartment. Another heap of opaque vroom flasks lay beside a wooden chair. The apartment was filthy and offended Rafi’s nose. Soy dog wrappers littered the cheap plastic table. An open suitcase lay on the floor and the contents were strewn across the grubby gray floor in haphazard heaps. Rafi gave a cautious sniff before frowning. The smell could be coming from Roberto. He wasn’t certain, but whatever the source, it was disgusting.

Rafi straightened and forced himself to look Roberto in the face again. “Why would I leave? Roberto, I came to see you.” Roberto was his friend, and he was a friend in need.

Purchase Fallen Idol from Ellora’s Cave or Amazon Kindle.

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below:

Mari Carr
Shelley Munro
Vivian Arend
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd
Emma Petersen
TJ Michaels
Lauren Dane
Eliza Gayle

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The theme for this week is secondary characters. I enjoy writing secondary characters because they’re allowed to do and say all the things the hero and heroine can’t. In fact, I think they have all the fun parts. My excerpt today is from book two in my Talking Dog series, Never Send a Dog to do a Woman’s Job. The heroine’s family are worried about her new job squiring an alien around New Zealand, and now that they’ve managed to get him alone, they’re giving him the third degree

Never Send a Dog to do a Woman’s Job by Shelley Munro

They stowed his bags and piled into a vehicle called a land something or other. Luke and Killer took the passenger seat and Richard drove. Alex was hemmed in the rear, a potential target between the bodyguard and the explorer. The only weapon he had to protect himself with was an Earth jacket.

Alex clicked the seat belt into place and cast a sardonic glance at each of the Dalcon women who flanked him. Time for the attack to begin.

“I told you,” Janaya stated in a hard voice, “to make sure you had travel inoculations before you left Dalcon. I told you of the consequences.”

“You informed me of the dangers of bonding and made it clear what would happen if Lily was coerced into a bond with me. I listened to everything you said, but there was a problem. I’m allergic to fodo quills.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Luke demanded, his bronzed face darkening with anger as he glared from the passenger seat. Killer punctuated her displeasure with a low, hair-raising growl.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Hinekiri said, breaking the sudden tension. “He needed Lily, so he didn’t mention his allergy. This business venture of yours must be real important to you.”

They didn’t know the half of it, Alex thought. If he’d stayed in the palace for much longer he’d have lost every brain cell. And insanity wasn’t the done thing for a prince. No telling what indignities the King would have forced on him in the nature of a tonic-fix.

“I’ve invested a lot of time and money,” Alex said in wry understatement. Not to mention run away from home, dodged his bodyguards and spent a fortune on the Driscoll witch spell to disguise his looks. Money well spent since none of them seemed to recognize him as Prince Alexandre. The old crone who’d sold him the spell had assured him he would appear the exact opposite in appearance. Dalconians would see him as dark and plain, the exact same reflection he saw whenever he looked in a mirror now. It had taken a little getting used to seeing a stranger, but he had grown to love the anonymity. Alex considered conducting a test of sorts to ease his agitation but gave up the idea. He didn’t want to call attention to himself any more than necessary. “Why did you give me an introduction letter if you didn’t trust me?”

“We had second thoughts,” Janaya stated with quiet dignity. “And we wanted to pick up some fishing gear. Besides, you told us you had the inoculations covered.”

“The medical man prescribed pills.”

“Then why didn’t you take them?” Janaya muttered, spearing him a look of distaste. “If my sister-in-law must bond with a Dalconian then at least he should have a few looks going for him.”

Hinekiri reached past him to slap Janaya on the leg. “Manners! I’m ashamed of you. The male can’t help how he looks.”

Alex wanted to chuckle and cheer out loud. Proof that the spell was working. “Don’t worry. I’m used to it. Looks aren’t everything.” He just wished that everyone else didn’t put such stock in his looks. “And I took the pills. I’m still taking the pills. I’ve no idea why they’re not working. Lily seems pleasant, but I don’t wish to bond with any female.”

Hinekiri took hold of his chin and stared deep into his eyes before looking at Janaya. “If you ask me the male’s telling the truth.”

“That’s it then,” Janaya said. “I’ll have to shoot him.”

“I haven’t done anything.” Alex felt his face heat with anger. “I want to do research for my business. I’m not looking for an Earth woman to mate with,” he gritted out.

Richard pulled up on the side of the road with a screech of brakes. “I can’t concentrate on driving with you sniping at each other. You’re acting like children. If you can’t behave in the backseat, I’m gonna put the lot of you out and you can walk to Sloan.”

Stunned silence met his announcement.

“Looks like rain,” Luke said cheerfully.

Richard speared a glare at his son. “One more smart-ass comment and you can go with them.”

Purchase from Ellora’s Cave or Amazon Kindle

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the trail below:

Mari Carr
HelenKay Dimon
Eliza Gayle
Shelley Munro
Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
Shelli Stevens
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd
Jody Wallace
TJ Michaels

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I’ve received some excellent reviews recently, both from Whipped Cream Erotic Romance.

Soldier of Fortune – The plot of this book was really exciting, believable and well done. It was packed with thoroughly described, high action and never got boring. And I liked how the team, after many trials and difficulties, came to be eventual friends and stood strong amongst all of the fighting. And, just to add icing on the cake, the sex was smoking hot!

Here’s the link to the full review for Soldier of Fortune

House of the Cat is an amazing thrill ride of adventure, quests, lost heritage and found love. Extremely well written love scenes spice up a solid and exciting plot line. I was gripped from the first chapter and entertained non-stop until the final and very satisfying happily-ever-after. Ms. Munro knows romance and she’s proved it again with this engaging and fast paced story. Not only am I putting this book on my keeper shelf, I can’t wait to tell all my friends. It rocks!

Here’s the link to the full review for House of the Cat. It received a Best Book rating. Woohoo!

Tiger By The Tail, book nine in my Middlemarch Mates series, has a release date of 9 July. Check out the blurb and an excerpt on the Tiger By The Tail book page.

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My special guest today is friend and fellow sci-fi fan, Kaye Manro. Forbidden Love is Kaye’s debut book, and it’s doing really well. If you’ve been following Kaye’s Forbidden Love tour, you’ll know she’s discussed some really interesting topics. This is her last tour stop, and she’s talking about world building. Over to Kaye…

Thank you for inviting me to be your guest today, Shelley!

World building is such an interesting subject, and I’d like to talk about just how I created my science fiction environment in my short erotic SFR Forbidden Love.

While world building is important in all genres of fiction, it is doubly true for science fiction. The process involves detailed back-story that may never end up on the written page!
In science fiction, as well as science fiction romance, (SFR) authors tend to spend a lot of time on world building. In the created worlds especially those involving space travel the process usually starts with designing the star and solar system in which the planet resides.
Here’s an example from my own world building experience. When I created the premise for the Forbidden series (book one is Forbidden Love, which recently released at Red Rose Publishing) I wanted an astounding species with touches of reptilian DNA. For that, I needed the proper environment for them to exist. Their planet needed to be atmospherically disruptive and wild, a little like Venus but able to sustain life. While in opposition, I wanted the species to be an ancient and peaceful but advanced culture, capable of traveling across galaxies by way of hyper-jumps through invented event horizons.

I had a vague idea of what I should call this world, and those red-orange colors kept popping into my mind. I created the name for the planet by combining words like orange and ascorbic because it reminded me of vitality and virility. I melded the two words and Asconage was born.

As I pondered, what Asconage might be like, visions of its solar system came to mind. Asconage is a desert-like world, and I needed to create an extremely arid environment. This planet, painted in russet, ginger, and mauve with an indigo-purple and hued red nighttime sky, orbits two suns, one near and one far. The binary system makes intense heat possible without causing a total planetary meltdown. This is the main reason why T’Kon’s species developed along the evolutionary path it did. I hope this gives you an idea of how everything ties together.

I wanted T’Kon’s race, though extremely technologically and physically advanced, to have archaic beliefs and laws governing the people that preserve the purity of their species. In Forbidden Love, that’s exactly why T’Kon has a hard time coping with his attraction to Maya, the heroine. She is from a human species on an Earth-like world known as Terrain. T’Kon is an explorer and scans Maya’s world for possible contact when his spacecraft crashes into the Terrain surface.

Truly, Forbidden Love came alive only after I had spent time developing the foundation for which I based this story and that is world building. Here is how the story actually unfolded–

Forbidden Love is a futuristic sci-fi erotic romance. Yes, there is space travel at FTL (faster than light). But there is also lots of sexy sensual exploring between the hero T’Kon and the heroine Maya, who hail from different galaxies and evolutionary paths. Rules on T’Kon’s planet forbid interspecies mating. But when he crashes his spacecraft on Maya’s world close to her desert home, what else is he to do but let this lovely alien tend his, umm, injuries?

Here is a little taste of Forbidden Love:

Something cool and clammy grazed her arm, causing a shiver. He sat on the edge of her exam table, his face no longer tinged with the pale blueness she observed earlier; rather, a deep russet color washed him.

Maya stared at the alien awake and alive, his lean muscles tensing as he stretched. Slanted sliver blue-flecked eyes peered at her holding a puzzled look, a haunting icy glare.

“I—I’m Dr. Maya Belle,” she cleared her throat. “I found you hurt in the desert near here so I brought you to my lab—my home.” She squinted and sucked in a mouthful of air. “Who are you? It’s a foregone conclusion you’re not from this world. Where do you come from?” She tilted her head. “Do you understand me?”

Suddenly his thoughts tumbled into hers.

“I am on a peaceful mission. My cloaked spacecraft malfunctioned and crashed into your planet’s surface. You do know where it is.” She sensed his uneasy pause and then, “You will take me there.” It sounded too much like a commanded to her.

Yeah right, she thought and immediately tried to recant the notion. But it was too late. His icy gaze narrowed on her. Clawed fingers grasped a firm hold around her wrist. He emphasized one word. “Now.”

Bio for Kaye

As a romance author, I lean toward the adventuresome in my writing. I love science fiction and all the enticing quantum theories surrounding it. Where characters rush through outer space at Faster than Light speed, or teleport into another time, and even slipstream into an alternate reality. I like creating love scenes too with strong heroes, and captivating heroines. It just seemed natural to combine all these elements together in my stories and write (SFR) Science Fiction Romance.

Links:
Forbidden Love Buy Page ~ Kaye’s Website ~ Kaye’s Blog ~

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Although ereaders have been available for some time in America, it’s not easy to get our hands on one down here in New Zealand. We can’t purchase a Kindle in New Zealand (you can in Australia) and we can’t purchase a Sony reader even though we have Sony stores. (They don’t stock them)

It was a real surprise when I received a newsletter this week from Whitcoulls, our NZ bookstore chain, saying they were selling the Kobo eReader. They’re $295 each (about US$230) and take up to 1000 books. I tried one out when we went to the mall during the weekend and was actually quite impressed. Not that I’m going to purchase one – I’m hanging out for an iPad, which is due to hit here around July. (I test drove one in Waikiki and fell in love.) But I have to say congratulations to Whitcoulls for moving into the future!!

I’m still busy with edits, but I have two very special guests visiting me this week. Jane Beckenham will be here on 2 June and Kaye Manro is here on 4 June. I hope you’ll come and say hello.

What are you up to this week?

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“GET HOOKED!

What does that mean? Simply, we must write stories that grab readers at page one and never let them go. It’s not as easy as it seems. To start with, a stellar beginning/opening is vital these days, especially for aspiring authors if we want that coveted publishing contract.

According to statistics, editors/agents reject manuscripts before they’ve finished reading the first few pages. I wanted to know why. So I studied many books on the craft of writing and took several creative writing classes that addressed that very issue. I also read and researched multi-published authors’ books, trying to get the feel of what set them apart. Then I practiced, rewrote and practiced again hoping to get the words right.

Here’s a stellar ‘Get Hooked’ opening from Carved In Stone by Vickie Taylor (Berkley Sensation): Nothing reminded Nathan Cross he wasn’t human so much as an attractive woman watching his every move from across a crowded room.

Now doesn’t that make you want to read more? It does me. The book continues to be stellar throughout and never lets the reader down all the way to the end.

Our first goal as an author is to evoke an emotional response that hooks the reader. Les Edgerton, leading authority on writing stellar hooks says, “If you are able to capture the right beginning, you’ve written a small version of the whole story right there.”

How can we go wrong with that? The best advice I can give about hooking editors, agents and ultimately readers, is to write a stellar opening and then make sure the rest of your story lives up to that fabulous beginning.”

Kaye Manro
www.kayemanro.com

Kaye Manro’s science fiction romance FORBIDDEN LOVE releases at Red Rose Publishing on May 20, 2010.

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“I don’t know if my tip is unique or not, but when I’m writing, I keep what I call a tracking sheet on each book. Whenever I start a new chapter, I add in the chapter number and the page it begins on. This enables me to know just how long each of my chapters is and when I should start thinking about ending them. I keep that and a synopsis and a style sheet with character names and a few brief characteristics in separate files on my computer and update them as I go along. The style sheet helps me keep character names and spellings, (which are always hard to remember since I invent most of them) within easy access of my increasingly Swiss cheese brain so I don’t have to go back and scan what I’ve already written looking for the name or description.”

Visit Cheryl Brooks’ Website
Purchase a book from Cheryl Brooks’ The Cat Star Chronicles

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This week’s theme for Snippet Saturday is a fight. Instead of giving you a scene where my characters fight either physically or verbally, I’ve chosen a scene from House of the Cat where the ship is attacked by pirates. This is definitely a fight for survival!

HOUSE OF THE CAT by Shelley Munro

Camryn gave a gasp of mortified horror, her face flaming. “Get out of my head.”

“I—”

The wail of sirens brought a curse. Ry scooped her up like a troublesome parcel and dumped her on a chair. She’d scarcely settled her butt on it when Mogens leaned over and buckled her into a harness. He sat beside her and strapped in, his body tense while he surveyed the blackness outside the ship.

“What is it?” Camryn finally gathered the courage to ask, alarm swooping through her belly when the ship suddenly dropped. Her stomach followed, feeling as if it’d landed on the floor at her feet. “What’s happening?”

“Pirates,” Mogens said tersely, his attention on the porthole and instruments.

Pirates? Camryn craned her neck, watching the fast-approaching black ship with acute trepidation.

A violent explosion seared her retinas. Their ship tilted. A second explosion tossed the ship in the other direction, forces throwing Camryn against her harness. A squeak squeezed past tight lips. She glared at Ry, casting blame. His fault. All of it.

Hell, she was gonna die.

“Another black ship at Nor-nor-west,” the man at the controls said in a tense voice.

“I see him. Three total.” The captain sat totally at ease.

Why weren’t they firing back?

“Looks like Banio colors,” the warrior said, her blue eyes narrowed to angry slits. “How the hell did they know we were in this part of the universe?”

“Get ready to fire,” the captain said.

“Ready to fire,” the pilot answered.

“Ready to fire,” the warrior confirmed.

Camryn grasped the edge of her seat with a white-knuckle grip. Scared rigid, she closed her eyes to shut out the ships firing on them and almost immediately opened them again. A harsh sob jammed halfway up her throat.

“Fire.” Cat Man—Ry—finally gave the order.

The ship bucked. Camryn’s stomach divebombed south. Yesterday she’d have welcomed a reunion with Gabriel. Now, in the face of death, she learned she wanted to live.

Flashes of light detonated across the black depths of space. Had they hit the other ships? Blind from the bright flares, Camryn couldn’t see. One of the ships returned fire. Their pilot attempted evasive action but wasn’t quite quick enough. The ship tilted at an acute angle. Shook wildly. Alarms screeched. One of the aliens cursed.

“Fire in the hold,” Ry shouted. “Nanu and Kaya to the hold.” Two of the crew unbuckled and leapt to their feet.

“Come in, Indefatigable,” a mocking voice transmitted. “We have you, Monsieur Coppersmith. Surrender so we can claim the très bien bounty on your pretty head, no?”

“Fukk you, Banio. Fire!” Ry took over Warrior Woman’s gun.

Simultaneous shots rang out. A ship exploded in a fireball. Scant seconds later something clipped their ship, sending it into rapid rolls. The other crewwoman flew from her seat, belting into a fixed chair with a sickening crunch. She moaned.

Ry fired his gun again. “Yep, hold steady. Mogens sitrep on Jannike.”

Mogens unfastened his harness, grabbed his satchel and scrambled across the bridge to the woman.

“Camryn, man the gun,” Ry ordered.

“Me?”

“There’s no one else. When I say fire, push the black button.”

Camryn fumbled with the harness release. She teetered across the bridge with gangly foal steps.

“Buckle the harness.”

Another order. Damn, she didn’t want to die. Shaky fingers clicked the harness into place. When she stole a glance at Ry, his green eyes held approval. Calm confidence.

“Ready?”

Camryn licked her lips and nodded, the ball of nerves inside her stomach huge and bigger than any pre-race nerves. This couldn’t be any worse than killing aliens on a computer game. Surely? “Yes,” she said hoarsely. “Black button. Push on command.”

“Line her up, Yep. They’ll expect us to go for the stricken ship. Target the other first. Bloody mercenaries.”
Ry glared out the porthole. “On three, Camryn.”

Camryn gave her palms a furtive wipe across her trouser legs. She swallowed, wished for a shot of whiskey. Her knees quaked and she felt strangely disembodied. Just a game, she told herself. A silly kid’s game.

“One. Two. Three. Fire!”

Camryn’s sweaty finger slid across the black button, depressing it. The ship bucked, a metallic screech grating against her ears.

“A hit! Great shooting,” the pilot shouted.

“Once more,” Ry ordered.

The pilot lined them up. Ry shouted orders. Camryn fired. When she focused, after a huge explosion of bright light, not a single ship showed in the black vacuum outside.

“We got ’em, Captain,” the pilot shouted in jubilation. “They’ll think twice before they engage a frigate again. Long-range guns get them every time.”

Purchase from Ellora’s Cave
Purchase from Amazon Kindle

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below:

Shelli Stevens
Emma Petersen
Shelley Munro
Mari Carr
Lissa Matthews
TJ Michaels
Juliana Stone
Taige Crenshaw
Eliza Gayle
Elisabeth Naughton
Ashley Ladd
McKenna Jeffries
Lauren Dane

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