How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Pippa's Post

With three little monsters to cater for, the long school summer holiday in the UK usually features a lot of days out. This year we've been to several castles and watched some medieval jousting, went to an airshow at a nearby seaside resort, and spent a few days at the beach. The beach is one of our favourite places to hang out, and while the kids are crazy enough to venture into the chilly British waters, I tend to chill out in a chair and either enjoy the setting or spend a little time writing.

I'm so lucky with where I live. While going away on actual holiday might come too expensy to do, we have plenty of options for day trips instead. We live on the edge of the historical town of Colchester, full of old building, museums and a castle. Walk half an hour one way, and you're in the town centre. Half and hour the other way and you're out in the countryside and approaching our local zoo. Drive half an hour and you're at the East Anglian coast. It's awesome.

But writing science fiction romance often means my characters don't take the standard form of summer vacation that we might currently know on Earth. While in my debut novel Keir my leading characters take an unexpected break by becoming stranded a tropical island on an alien planet (hmm, wonder where the inspiration for that came from...), my short story Terms & Conditions Apply has a variety of races taking time out on a luxury spacestation.

“Welcome to Venus Ascendant, a Public Grade space station in the Andromedan Galaxy. With our open-to-all policy, any being in the universe can find their perfect R & R, romantic getaway or dangerous liaison at our purpose built resort. The on-board empathic AI Ganesa ensures that anyone coming to Venus Ascendant will find their heart’s desire, with suites that transform from luxurious boudoirs to sunset-lit beaches to dark BDSM dungeons. So come to Venus Ascendant and find exactly what you’re looking for!”

So I'm offering one person the chance to win Terms & Conditions Apply in whatever digital format they need as a little vacation in space. Just tell me where your dream vacation would be if you could pick from any time and place in the whole universe, and leave your email addy in the format name at provider dot com to avoid the spammers. One winner will be chosen at random - no email=no prize. Sorry!

There's also a rafflecopter giveaway for a $50 Amazon Gift Card, “Sponsored by Christina Cole Romance”. Please read the terms and conditions before entry, and good luck! To hop to the main blog post and find the other participants, just click on the image at the top of this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway