#Clone Succubi #Assassins & Felinoid #Aliens Coming Atcha!

Woo hoo! So, on top of yesterday's announcement about my Louisiana #zombies being contracted to Lycaon Press (think Warm Bodies meets Supernatural, but cuter), I can now tell you I've signed my SciFi romance novella Tethered with Breathless Press. This was my entry to the SFR Brigade blurb contest back in 2012. Yep, it's been waiting its turn in the limelight for a while. With a genetically enhanced clone who can walk through walls and a scarred Terran diplomat on the verge of a mental breakdown the only two people standing between humanity and a race of aggressive feline aliens, Tethered was the first story I wrote away from the characters featured in Keir and Gethyon. And now I finally get to share it with you!

Look Out, The #Zombies Are Coming! #YA #undead #supernatural #romance

In case you missed the announcement over on Spacefreighters Lounge yesterday, I've just signed a contract with Lycaon Press for my YA paranormal romance that I wrote during NaNoWriMo, working title RIP. Now, I can guess what some of you are thinking. Zombies and romance?! Eww?! What is Pippa thinking?!

Some of you already know about my zombies, and how they aren't going to be all Night of the Living Dead or World War Z. I was pretty set on not writing the cinema portrayal, and went back to investigate the whole brain-eating myth. I'd come across zombie stories that weren't like that, and after asking around on Facebook I learned that image actually started with George A. Romero's film Night of the Living Dead. That's not what Houdoo zombies are like. In fact, anyone familiar with Terry Pratchett's zombies (Reg Shoe from the Nightwatch books, Baron Samedi in Witches Abroad and Windle Poons from Reaperman) know a bit more about that original kind of zombie. The brain eating, mindless monster is a more recent kind of thing, and not what I was aiming for.

There is a touch of horror in the story - it's a paranormal with undead characters after all - but I promise you it's sweet, dark and tortured, but not ewww. Well, not much... :P Can't wait to see it unleashed!

Why I'll Never Buy a Google Device ever again

I don't usually post stuff about technology, or about my family, but I needed to get this off my chest and maybe forewarn a few parents. I'm not a huge fan of tablets. I have my Nokia Lumia Windows smartphone that I adore, and a slow but serviceable notepad computer. Right now we have an old and not altogether working main computer for the household, although that beats the totally dead one we've had since July. But back in August last year my eldest was approaching 11 and secondary school. We decided to get her a tablet to do her research and homework on, something she could use. After discussion we decided on the upcoming new release of the Google Nexus 7 over a Kindle Fire, simply because as an author who has done some self publishing I'm very aware of what an all-consuming monster Amazon is becoming. Buying a device totally tied to their store made me slightly twitchy (and yes, I have a basic Kindle. My works are mostly digital so I need an ereader. Hubs has a Kobo and I don't like that either).
From day one, I've hated the Nexus. I'm not very tech savvy. I can work my way round my computer and smartphone well enough, but my philosophy with tech is mostly to push buttons until something works. Not so easy with the tablet. To start with, you had to sign in with a Google account to even get started. Foolishly I used a secondary gmail account I'd set up to handle a blog hop last year. What I didn't know was once you'd signed in with that, you couldn't change it later. Even when I'd set up eldest with her own gmail account. Sigh. The constant pop ups from the Google Play store are a PITA. Doesn't bother eldest too much as she automatically hits close or skip, but I found it rather disturbing to see "Wanna chat with Hot Chicks?" popping up when I went on there, despite the content settings apparently on "suitable for all". O.o
We had odd problems with it freezing, not charging, or apps suddenly quitting. Since those last were free I figured you couldn't expect perfection. Then we had a weekend where it wouldn't charge at all unless I sat and held the charger cable in place. I was all set to return it...except it magically went back to working by Sunday evening.
But Tuesday morning I went on it to browse Facebook, before signing out to play a couple of quick rounds of Tetris Blitz. I'd played one game before the inevitable autoplay video popped up. And I was horrified. I recognized the opening. I'd seen it a few late nights on TV, and I'm talking about ones shown after 11pm. This was a graphic video about sexual assault and rape, and it was playing on my 11yo's tablet. Worse, it gave no option to skip, and even when I tried to close it, it wouldn't. The entire thing played out, about a woman being forced to have sex by her abusive partner.
Now, sexual assault is an important issue, but this is so NOT appropriate as an unavoidable autoplay on a device popular with even very young kids, and during a game that I'd let my 5yo play! This should not have been on there. And while you might say that I should have somehow had more control over this, I think it's wrong. My smartphone came with a content lock on it already. Why the hell doesn't this tablet?
I've already said I'm not tech savvy. They say there's no excuse for ignorance, and I damn well could have done more research. But how many other non-savvy parents might hand this over to their kids? Surely all these kind of things should come with a child lock on that is down to adults to remove for themselves, like I did with my smartphone? My kids are growing up where nearly everyone has a phone that can surf the 'net, where tablets and computers are everywhere. They are way more likely to spend time with technology.
You can bet I've done my research now. I've downloaded a parental control app, disabled downloads, and put locks on anything that might result in my child being exposed to that video again, or others like it. I've complained to Google. I will never recommend this device to anyone. And when it dies, I will never buy another. Yes, I might have been able to prevent that video getting on her tablet if I'd looked into it sooner. I'm not perfect. But I still think Google should send these out with content locks already installed.

Terms & Conditions Apply - #Smashwords #discount #scifi #romance

Smashwords are having their Read an E-Book Week, which means lots of books in whatever digital format you might need at bargain prices! And one of the titles they'll be offering is my Silken Sands finalist scifi romance short Terms & Conditions Apply. You can find it discounted to $1.12 HERE.

And while you're there you can also pick up my scifi short The Bones of the Sea and the scifi romance anthology Tales from the SFR Brigade for FREE!

Eeep, I haven't blogged on my own blog for a while, have I? Hello! I hope you've been enjoying all the guest posts.

So, why have I been scarce? Well, I set myself a pretty heavy schedule of editing after churning out over 100K last year. And then things came up. Most of January and the beginning of February were spent polishing up my YA supernatural novella from NaNoWriMo and submitting it. I've had three rejections. My decopunk superhero story, my SciFi romance romance Tethered, and my cyberpunk short. My editor raised issues over my SciFi romance novella from the Venus Ascendant series. Currently the decopunk is subbed elsewhere, I have a request for Tethered, and I'm considering self publishing the cyberpunk. My paranormal short got the thumbs up from my editor, and is currently in edits. I've almost finished the winter solstice SF romance I want to release in November, although it has crept over the planned 10K and I'm still adding to it. Keir is STILL unavailable at this time. Still on the list for completion is an Easter SFR, a sequel to Terms & Conditions Apply, and a novel length sequel to my short story Imprint from the Tales from the SFR Brigade anthology. No wonder I haven't had time to blog!

Tuesday Teaser - Emblazed by CL Smith

Excerpt:

AJ sensed him there, standing wordlessly some feet in the distance, just like she always recognized his presence when he lingered near. She absorbed the comfort and happiness he brought her – not that she’d admit that out loud – before sighing and speaking. “It’s called making a bed, Julius. It’s pretty commonplace.”

He didn’t push away from the doorframe, instead leaning further against it while he continued to observe her. “Sweetheart, nothing’s commonplace when you do it.”

Hearing the grin and affection in his voice, she smiled, peeking at him over her shoulder. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”

He gazed upward to stare at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression, then returned his attention to her, his shrug carefree. “Both.”

She smirked. “Sweet talker.”

“Odd ball.” He finally moved from the threshold, unhurriedly advancing toward her. “You know, most people make their beds in the morning. Not ten o’clock at night.”

She snorted. “Yeah. I’m gonna make my bed as soon as I roll out of it at six AM. I wouldn’t be making it now if I didn’t have to wrestle the sheet back on four times a night.” Finally setting her pillow in its position, she turned to him with an unashamed grin.

He chuckled, his adoration plain, and brushed a lock of hair from her face. “You’re one of a kind, you know that?”

“Compliment or insult?” she teased again.

“Compliment.” He smiled, cupping her cheek. “Definitely a compliment.”

“Sweet talker,” she repeated, standing on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. Wrapping her arms around his neck, his circling her waist, she dove into the moment, reveling in the wonderful sensations only Julius incited. Safety. Warmth. Passion. So many more she couldn’t quite put a name to, the combination too heady and consuming to adequately decipher. It was simply a Julius effect, and its wonder had no equal in her life. Gradually breaking away, she knowingly lifted an eyebrow. “You didn’t come here just to make fun of me over my bed-making habits.”

“Maybe I came up here just to kiss you.”

“If that were the case, dear Julius, you wouldn’t have waited until I kissed you.”

Narrowing his eyes, he barely restrained his smirk at her forwardness and how well she’d grown to understand him in their time together. “You have a point.” He stepped back from her embrace, grasping her hand in his. “Come on. We have a mission.”

“A mission?” Her brow furrowed, though she made no move to retrieve her palm from his, following him in confusion as he neared the hallway. “At ten o’clock at night?”

“I believe we already covered the time in this conversation, AJ.” He made a clucking noise with his tongue, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “You really need to keep up with matters a bit more.”

She glared at the back of his head, lips thinning despite her vexing boyfriend’s inability to see her from his location. Realizing the futility of her frustrated efforts, she clenched the fingers he clutched, smiling in accomplishment at his grunt of discomfort. “Yeah, we covered it, but in household chore way. Not in a mission way. What could we possibly have to do this late at night?”

He sent her an amused glance – one she deemed condescending, particularly after the physical hint of her annoyance  – while tugging her through the doorway. “You do realize it isn’t ten o’clock everywhere, right?”

“Of course I realize that! I’m not a moron!”

“I never said you were…”

She growled, steeling her feet against the floor and prying her hand from his. “You didn’t have to. Your little grin said it all for you.”

His stare revealed sincere bewilderment – maybe a speck of frustration as well – and his arm dropped to his side. “So let me get this straight. You’re angry at me… because I smiled at you?”

Her eyes widened in fury, one finger raising to point at his chest while her left fist braced against her hip. “Don’t try to turn this around like I’m crazy!”

He scrunched his forehead, gaze traveling up and down her form while he held his hands out, as if silently offering his evidence.

She groaned, unhappy, turning away from him to rein in her irritation. For several seconds, she simply scanned her room, livid exhale after livid exhale falling from her lips, but the attempts did little to calm her turmoil, Julius actually flinching when her focus again landed on him. “It’s the grin you used. It’s the same one that was on your face when you drove into New Mexico, and I was surprised the facility was stationed here. Like I’m the dumbest person in the world and your number one source of entertainment.”

Instantly, his expression softened. “You can’t possibly think that I think that way?”

She just glared at him.

“Look, I’m not gonna lie.” He approached her, smiling tenderly. “You do amuse me, but not because I think you’re stupid. You’re… animated. And quirky. But not stupid. And I get it’s late, and no matter what time zone we’re entering, it’s ten o’clock here and we’re handing over sleeping hours, but Nicholai insists we need to go now.”

She kept pinched eyes on him, but her posture loosened a bit.

He laughed, reaching for her hand once more. “See? Animated. I can pretty much watch the wheels in your head turn.”

“Does that make you my mental stalker, too?”

Processing the playful edge of her words, he kissed her knuckles and led her into the hall. “Trust me, sweetheart. I have no desire to wander through your mind. I can’t imagine all the weird things I’d encounter.”

She tilted her head to the side, smiling. “Compliment or insult?”

Smirking over his shoulder, he caught her eyes with his. “Insult.”

 

Blurb:

After all the preparations, Nicholai’s warriors stand on the threshold of warfare, the demons entering the realm in battalions and the world unknowingly depending on the army’s success to continue intact. But the battle is only the beginning of deadly struggles, and the soldiers will soon realize how little they know, how many things are at stake, and how much they have to lose.

Love, hate, hope, despair, anguish, joy… The journey is a gauntlet of emotion and combat, threatening their resolve as much as their lives.

Will their training and ties be enough, or will the complications and the forthcoming evil forever cripple the world’s last hope of survival?

Emblazed - http://www.amazon.com/Emblazed-Division-Chronicles-Book-Two-ebook/dp/B00IEHTT4O/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392239535&sr=1-2&keywords=emblazed

Here is the link for Essenced, Book One of the series. This is FREE right now!

Essenced - http://www.amazon.com/Essenced-Division-Chronicles-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00E83O344/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1392410191&sr=8-3&keywords=connie+l.+smith

Author's links:

Blog/Main Site: http://clsmithbooks.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CLSmithBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clsmithbooks

Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/conniel0194/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7257320.Connie_L_Smith

Love and Tentacles - guest post by @ShonaHusk

My Decadent Moon series features lots of aliens and no humans. While I mention a few really odd aliens, because I write romance the ones I focus on are humanoid.

But I was very careful not to make them too human, or human with something weird for no reason. So when I give my heroine spots and slightly webbed fingers it’s because her home world is marshy (I actually spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of creature would have evolved to become sentient on a marshy planet).

Giving the hero tentacles wasn’t just some cute idea that would titillate readers (okay it might have come from a discussion about the possibilities of what a hero with tentacles could do, but there had to be reason for Filid to have a Medusa style head of tentacles).

Does my love of biology and genetics show when I’m creating new life forms, probably, but it’s fun to think about how they developed and what kind of society and environment they must live in. How did their world make them what they are? After all they are a product of evolution on their planet.

I’d had the idea of a hero with tough white skin (and I mean truly white) for a while. An alien where their skin wasn’t that sensitive to touch, but what if they had another sense instead like telepathy?

For me it was only a short leap to telepathic tentacles. They are a sensory organ like ears or eyes. Sure they can be used for other things…the story is an erotic romance after all, but I had found a reason for them to be there. And also realized that a society where you could your neighbors’ thoughts would be very different to ours. What happened to those who didn’t have the ‘right’ thoughts?

Like all super powers though there had to be limits. If the hero could read the minds of his own species how far did that talent work on other aliens? If he could read the heroine’s mind that would be too easy, but letting him get a taste of her emotions without being able to understand now that had possibilities :)

Lunar Reunion proves that it doesn’t matter if you have spots or tentacles true love will always win.

~~~

Six years ago Filid made the mistake of falling for another officer in the Allied Planetary Military.

He walked away before they both did something they'd regret. Yet he can't get her out of his mind, even now.

Silva has never forgotten Filid, but he is the last person she expects to see on the pleasure resort of Decadent Moon. This time she won't let him walk away without exploring the fantasies she had about being with him.

Filid wants more than one night. And this time he is determined to hold onto her no matter the cost.

Inside Scoop: Filid comes equipped with sexy tentacles that cannot be missed!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Reunion-2-Decadent-Moon-ebook/dp/B00ID8MAO0

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lunar-reunion

Ellora’s Cave: http://www.ellorascave.com/lunar-reunion.html

~~~

Three time ARRA finalist Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn’t looked back. Drawing on history and myth, she writes about heroes who are armed and dangerous but have a heart of gold—sometimes literally.

With stories ranging from sensual to scorching, she is published with Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing and Sourcebooks. You can find out more at www.shonahusk.com 

www.twitter.com/ShonaHusk

www.facebook.com/shonahusk

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/lySiD

#Cover #Reveal - Fatal by TA Brock #zombies #YA #paranormal #supernatural

Synopsis:

First love can be brutal. Sometimes it can be Fatal.

Grayson Patch hasn’t been human since he was seventeen years old… and that was nineteen years ago. When he rose from the dead, he had no memory of his former life. Grayson desperately wants to recapture his lost humanity. And he’s been told that there is one person in this world who can save him from his current fate before he begins to decompose. One person, whose life must be sacrificed for his.

Cori Abbott has a million things to worry about. She’s the new girl in a school that’s a fraction the size of her old one. Her antisocial tendencies are crippling her ability to make new friends. And then there’s the recent, sudden death of her father, the only man who ever understood her. The last thing Cori wants is the attention of a strange, withdrawn, and consistently angry guy who seems to hate her for no apparent reason. A guy she can’t stop thinking about.


Will Cori break through Grayson’s cold exterior and find the human within, the boy who can love and understand her like no other? Will Grayson sacrifice Cori to rid himself of his undead curse, even if it means losing her forever?

Bio:

T.A. Brock lives in Oklahoma, where Zombies do not thrive. When not immersed in the world of fantasy writing, she enjoys spending time with her big girl, baby boy, and hubs. Some of her favorite things are coffee (specifically with cream, sugar, and chocolate), music (especially something with a good beat), books (especially paranormal), and Tennis. She despises raw meat and therefore is exceedingly glad she's human.

Twitter - @TA_Brock
Blog - http://ta-brock.blogspot.com
Goodreads - TA Brock

Special Guest Post - Dan Wells (author of #YA #dystopia Partials)

Trying to restrain my desire to go full on fangirl here but please welcome author Dan Wells to my blog, with a guest post about his Partials trilogy. The final book is releasing on the 11th March this year, and I can't wait!

I did a weird experiment with the Partials Sequence, and now I want to ask you guys two questions:

1)    How much time passes over the course of the first two books, PARTIALS and FRAGMENTS?

The answer is fairly easy to track, since each book follows, more or less, the course of a single pregnancy: first Madison, then Isolde. It's not a full eighteen months, because there's some overlap there, but it's close. Let's say sixteen months? Well over a year, at any rate.

Now, the tricky question:

2) How much does the weather change?

Huh. If you're like most readers, this probably never crossed your mind, but there's that timeline thing I mentioned. Well over a year has passed, in New York, so we should have seen a bit of all four seasons, right? The weather in the beginning of Partials is kind of rainy and chilly, and at some point we should also see a hot summer, and snowy winter, and falling leaves in autumn, and all that business. Why don't we? Is Dan just a horrible writer who doesn't know how seasons work? Or is something else going on here?

To date, only one reader has ever brought this question up to me, and she was the editor assigned to translate the books into French. She emailed me a quick note to ask why, if so much time had passed, it hadn't ever snowed or even gotten cold, and could she maybe add a sentence that mentioned it, just for her own sanity? No, I told her. This is all part of the plan. Big things are afoot, and it will all make sense in book three.

When you write science fiction or fantasy, there are two ways of describing an unfamiliar world: there's the info dump, where you just come right out and tell people what's going on, and there's what fantasy author Jo Walton calls "incluing," which is where you just leave clues and breadcrumbs and rely on the readers to pick it up for themselves. As an experiment, in Partials I tried a third method, which I'll call "just not talking about it either way." I don't know if that was the best way to do it, but it's been fascinating to watch people read the books and not mention it. Weather isn't something we tend to think about in books: the weather is either described right there on the page, or it doesn't exist. We default to an average day in the back of our imaginations: not a lot of wind, but maybe a breeze; sunny without being too hot; partly cloudy, with a chance of darkness toward evening. So what happens when the entire world exists in that state of average weather? You never have to mention it, and then you never do, and then readers never think about it...and then you look up and realize it hasn't changed for almost a year and a half.

The world Kira and Samm and Marcus live in has no winter--no snow, no cold, no nothing--and it hasn't had one for decades. They haven't had snow in so long, in fact, that people Kira's age have never even seen snow in person. It's not a part of their lives in any way, so they never notice the lack of it, and since they never notice it they never mention it to the reader. It's not really "climate change" as we use the term today; in RUINS, when it finally becomes an issue, somebody points out that they haven't had a real winter since certain weapons were used in an old war almost forty years ago. Those weapons, whatever their (still secret) nature, changed the ecosystem in ways that nobody was ready for.

And why am I mentioning all of this? Why do people start talking about it in RUINS? What did I tell my French translator to wait for? Let's just say that a world without winter is a Problem, and this is a world where people try to Solve Problems. The last time they tried this they ended the world--who could possibly try to solve this one, and what's going to happen when they do?

Bio (taken from Amazon):

Dan Wells is the author of several novels for adults, including I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER, MR. MONSTER, and I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU. PARTIALS is his first book for young adults. He lives in Utah with his wife and children. You can visit him online at www.fearfulsymmetry.net

You can find all of his books on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

 

 RUINS, the final book of the Partials Sequence, releases on the 11th March and can be pre-ordered now.

Kira, Samm, and Marcus fight to prevent a final war between Partials and humans in the gripping final installment in the Partials Sequence, a series that combines the thrilling action of The Hunger Games with the provocative themes of Blade Runner and The Stand.
There is no avoiding it—the war to decide the fate of both humans and Partials is at hand. Both sides hold in their possession a weapon that could destroy the other, and Kira Walker has precious little time to prevent that from happening. She has one chance to save both species and the world with them, but it will only come at great personal cost.

There's also a bonus story - Isolation - available as part of the Partials Sequence.

Two decades before the events of Partials, the world was locked in a different battle for survival: a global war for the last remaining oil reserves on the planet. It was for the Isolation War that the American government contracted the ParaGen Corporation to manufacture the Partials—our last hope in reclaiming energy independence from China. And it was on these fields of battle that the seeds of humanity's eventual destruction were sown.
Isolation takes us back to the front lines of this war, a time when mankind's ambition far outstripped its foresight. Heron, a newly trained Partial soldier who specializes in infiltration, is sent on a mission deep behind enemy lines. What she discovers there has far-reaching implications—not only for the Isolation War, but for Partials and humans alike long after this war is over.
A powerful take of our world on the brink, Isolation gives readers a glimpse into the history from which Partials was born—as well as clues to where the Partials Sequence is heading next.

And you can read my review of book one here.

Please leave some comment love for Dan Wells! :)

Meet the #Author Monday - SA Check

Please tell us a bit about yourself:

S.A. Check is a Science Fiction and Fantasy author.  As a kid, he grew up on comic books, heroes and villains, conflict and cliffhangers.  He read which-way books, science fiction and fantasy series, and classic horror fiction.  While earning his degree in English / Writing from Penn State University, he was exposed to poetry and prose, Shakespeare and Albee, anthologies and world lit. 

Today he lives with his E.R. nurse wife and tween daughter in Southwestern Pennsylvania and enjoys all the small dramas that come down the path.  He’s active on several internet writing sites, an active member of Pennwriters author group, and contributed articles to local newspapers.  His short story, Tangled Lines, appeared in the charity anthology, Hazard Yet Forward, and he achieved his first published novel, Welcome to GreenGrass with Bedlam Press, an imprint for Necro Publications, the first of what he hopes are many tall tales of his to be told.

Visit his author profile over at Necropublications.com, his blog at sacheck.blogspot.com, Facebook, Google +, Goodreads, or shoot him a tweet @S_A_Check.

Tell us about Welcome to GreenGrass:

Welcome To GreenGrass is basically a story of loss and how people react to it.  It centers on family and friendships and the how the sun still rises even if not the star we’re expecting.  The relationships that we form and the domes we construct around ourselves in shaping our personal existences.  It’s only when we look outside of ourselves, whether by choice or circumstance, do we find that personal perceptions are deceiving and one man’s prison is another’s home.  The story focuses on the intrinsic values that everyone battles to define in their lives and how each action taken reverberates across society.

What inspired you to write this particular story?:

Simple.  This was the type of story that I would want to read.  I hope GreenGrass falls into the same genre classifications as the authors I grew up reading and who influenced my writing style and tastes.  It’s science fiction fantasy through and through and is a blend of so many of the books that have influenced me over the years.  I started writing the book years ago and it has drifted and morphed in a few different directions since then.  Some of the characters have been crawling around in my head since I was a teenager and finally made their way to the page.  The setting for the novel really allowed me to throw a lot of creative touches to the story while exploring different sections of the city and the whole process has been nothing short of a blast to create.

Please share a favourite snippet from your book:

Instead of a snippet, I thought I’d share the GreenGrass Newbie Survival Guide.  Enjoy!

What if you saw a door while heading to that final white light?  Would you take it?  What if you didn’t have a choice?

A GREENGRASS NEWBIE

SURVIVAL GUIDE 

Well, at least you made it this far, so you’re ahead of the curve.  Most Newbies never even make it here.  Don’t get too excited.  We put together the ten most important rules to help keep you alive.  Read them, follow them, and hope for the best!

DA RULES!!!

1)  Stay inside the human quarter!  We’re used as cheap labor for the enchanters and technologists.  Be careful or you’ll end up as a potion tester or spare parts for a cyber- enhancement.

2)  Maybe you were a heart surgeon, a computer programmer, or dealt with high finance back home.  Well, that’s all over.  The skills you worked a lifetime to achieve don’t mean squat here.  Trade in that micro-processor for a shovel and start forming the calluses you’ll need to survive here.

3)  Don’t mess with the dome!  You can’t puncture, tear, scratch, drill, burn, dig, climb, ram, or break it.  Don’t you think we’ve already tried that?  The only thing you’ll get is depressed and do you really need a mental illness added to your growing list of problems?

4)  There is no such thing as a Kreelog!  It’s a Newbie joke!  Don’t go into the enchanted woods looking for one.  Magic Kreelog nuggets do not give you special powers!

5)  We have no formal currency here.  The system is barter and trade.  Swapping gem stones for goods is the norm.  Learn the difference between glass and the real thing or Otot the toad trader will have a field day with you in the market.

6)  We have several recognized holidays here but only five major ones you need to know:  Founder’s Day, Red Rise (when the twin moons align with the sun), Peace Between Us Day (annual enchanter and techno summit), Harvest Jubilee, and finally Mazopleneticalamus (yeah, we just slapped a bunch of holidays together).

7)  We’ll feed you for the first week or so and then you’re on your own.  Start a garden or at the very least buy locally for the first few cycles (that’s weeks to you).  Not all food here agrees with our digestive tracks.

8)  If you can’t resist the urge to explore, and we strongly suggest that you do, at least stay off the streets.  Hit the human is a popular pastime with GreenGrass motorists and ending up as road kill just sucks.  If you need to get somewhere fast, try the hopper service.  They’ll talk your ear off but at least you’ll get there in one piece.

9)  There are over forty-three spoken languages here, not counting the slang.  Universal translators are all over but some things still do not translate well.  Try to avoid using spaghetti in casual conversation and definitely don’t use shenanigans – it won’t be pretty.

10) We run a twenty-eight hour day.  Here’s a quick breakdown.  Mornings are rises, evenings are settings, a week is a cycle, a month is a rotation, and a year is an annual.  Time moves slow here but get used to it, it’s all you have left.

Which comes first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?:

There really is no specific process for me with character creation.  It’s kinda natural and they could originate from any of those three.  Traveller’s personality came long before he had a name or look but Talyn and Bonz were probably first defined by how I pictured them.  I don’t name my characters until later in the process and that name may change multiple times before it’s done 

 

Any tips for aspiring authors?:

My favorite writing mantra is that you can never fail if you never quit.  It’s a pretty simple process that has worked well for me over the years.  That doesn’t mean it’s easy by any means and you have to enjoy what you’re doing and be patient.  Make friends along the way and truly enjoy the path every bit as much as the destination because it’s there in the stops and wrong turns and dead ends that you pick up the knick knacks and experience that you need when you finally arrive. Whether you get there on the expressway, the scenic route, or sometimes it feels the road takes you through parts unknown, remember we’re all following the same lines.

Questions for fun:

What super-power would you choose?:

Super-fast typing skills!  I’d like to be able to churn out a complete novel in a couple hours.  My head is filled with them but finding the time to get it  out and on paper is always the challenge.  There’s a lot of cool technology out there to help make the creative process smoother than it’s ever been but they would all pale in comparison to … the Typist! (Okay, the name definitely needs some work).

 

If you could have three wishes, what would they be?:

1)      Endless supply of raspberry filled donuts

2)      Probably gonna need a lot of napkins

3)      Glass of milk

Coffee, tea or wine?:

                                                                     

Every few years I think my taste buds may have reached that magical milestone of maturity that I’ll find coffee appealing.  That hasn’t happened yet.  It’s awful.  I don’t like tea and haven’t had a glass of wine in years – so I’ll reference you to the previous questions answer 3 on this one.

What is your favourite book? (aside from one of your own!):

I don’t know about one favorite but there are quite a few that I hold in high regard.  My favorite sci fi / fantasy series?  Robert Asprin’s Myth series will always hold a special place for me in my reading life and really was the first series that I literally couldn’t wait for the next installment of to come out.  In other genres, I’ve read a lot of Dean Koontz and my favorite from him has always been Life Expectancy.

Favourite genre and why?:

Really, I love books that mix genres.  I grew up on comics and sci-fi, so they are my core reading preferences but I’ve read some really great historical fiction, horror, and essays recently.  Sci-fi and fantasy just open up so many doors to an author, allowing them to disregard convention and follow their imagination and take a look at society from alternate viewpoints.

Upcoming news and plans for the future?:

I’m hoping for a green light for another project for this year.  A new novel with a new direction and story.  I’d like to release a sequel to GreenGrass soon.  I’m halfway through my first middle grade novel and shopping around a few short stories, so 2014 is shaping up to be a busy year.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us!

Book blurb:

John Traveller never asked to be ripped from his life as a police detective on Earth. He definitely never expected to find himself trapped inside a patchwork alien city of magic and technology, locked down under an impenetrable dome. But when a high profile death rocks the citizenry of GreenGrass, Traveller is forced into the middle of a brewing civil war between the city’s two dominating factions.

Racing beneath the city’s twin red moons, on a search for a cloaked stranger, Traveller and his team consisting of a pacifist demon, a cast out demi-god, and a telepathic female, find themselves drawn into dark alleys and guarded secrets, facing bestial street predators, techno-assassins, amphibious conmen, and a vampire acting troupe. The answers they discover may save their new home or bring the walls of the dome crumbling down around them all.

Links:

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Welcome-GreenGrass-S-Check-ebook/dp/B00GXENS9W/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388622981&sr=1-1&keywords=welcome+to+greengrass

Barnes & Noble:   http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/welcome-to-greengrass-sa-/ check/1117506200?ean=2940149068029&itm=1&usri=welcome+to+greengrass

My Publisher:     

http://necropublications.myshopify.com/products/welcome-to-greengrass-by-s-a-check

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19267864-welcome-to-greengrass?from_search=true

  

Announcing the winners! February 2014

I'm proud to have been part of several giveaways over the last few days, and now I get to announce all the winners. Woot!

Firstly, as part of Lyn Brittan's pre-Valentine scifi romance giveaway, the winner of a digital format of my short story Terms & Conditions Apply is - Shelley H. The second winner for this title as part of the JA Garland/Champagne Books Valentine's Day Hop is Jean.

The winner of a digital format of my scifi romance novel Keir is Jody Faltys.
The three Goodreads print edition winners are Vanessa Nieto, Tiffany Webb and Teresa Kren.

And lastly, the Goodreads winner for an ultra rare print edition of Tales from the SFR Brigade is Christine Baldwin.

Digital winners have already been contacted regarding their choice of format, and their prizes will be emailed as soon as I hear back. The print winners will have been notified by Goodreads, and the books will go out in the post next week.

Congrats everyone, and happy reading!

A huge thank you to everyone who took part, but an especially massive one to Champagne Books for sponsoring the Love Struck Blog Hop, and to JA Garland for all her hard work in instigating, organizing and running the hop. Kudos!

A Valentine's Day Thank You

Today I reached a landmark. I hit 200 ratings on Goodreads for my books. I'm amazed! And highly flattered. When my debut novel released in May 2012 I certainly never expected so many people to read it, let alone review it.

So I want to say a huge, huge thank you to everyone who has bought my books, and a special thank you to all those who took the time to rate/review them, be it on Goodreads or elsewhere. It truly means a lot to me, and I appreciate every single one.

Thank you, and have a great Valentine's Day!

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