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

Summer Fun Blog Hop

I can't say I love the sun. I'm white skinned and red haired, so more than ten minutes out in the sunlight and I start burning like a non-sparkly vampire. :P 

But I much prefer the warm to winter's chill, and summer means one thing to my kids - the beach! They'd happily spend every day there, and it's a place that's provided a few good hours of reading time, or sparked plenty of inspiration. My local beach became the tropical planet of Metraxi in my debut novel Keir, and features in the sequel. So to celebrate the Summer Fun Blog Hop, I thought I'd share the opening of my as yet unpublished book two - Keir's Fall.

The ocean lay like a rippled sheet of platinum silk laced with diamonds, endlessly shifting in low, lazy waves. Keir stood poised above the water on a rocky ridge that curled out into the ocean. With a long spear raised in his right hand and his left arm stretched out for balance, he kept his eyes fixed on the glittering water below.

The rough edges of the rock scarcely registered against the calluses covering his soles as he braced his feet. Barefoot and bare-chested, the sunlight warmed his dark-blue skin beneath the runic lettering and mystic symbols that scrawled an endless legend over his torso. A gentle sea breeze stirred the odd tendril of black hair and the light fabric of his trousers, which were cut off just below the knee. He stilled his breath and held himself steady as telltale flickers in the blue water told him the moment was coming. Only his gaze shifted.

A shadow writhed in the depths and he struck, swift and sure, thrusting his spear into the sea. After a moment’s pause he yanked it back to lift his prize from the water and watch it squirm in tangled coils of steel, droplets falling from its scales like rain. The giant eel twisted itself in hopeless knots as it tried to wriggle free. 

I hope you enjoyed that! And if you want more of Metraxi (and Keir), you can check out the book by clicking on any of the links below the cover. In the meantime, I'm offering one lucky person my short scifi romance story Terms & Conditions Apply in whatever digital format suits you best. Just comment below with your email addy, and tell me why you love summer. Then jump back to the Hump Day Hook blog here to visit the others taking part. Good luck!

EXCERPT | Available at... Lyrical Press Inc. | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Amazon US | Amazon UK | The Book Depository |Book Strand | All Romance eBooks |