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.

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The SFR Brigade Midsummer Blog Hop - Pippa's Post

Welcome to Starry Nights, the SFR Brigade Midsummer blog hop! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

...or right here. Stars are what bring our galaxy to life. After all, without the star our own planet revolves around, there'd be no life on Earth. I wouldn't be here right now. And according to Dr Carl Sagan, we are star-stuff.

"Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story? One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe."
Eleven, Doctor Who

I love that quote. Doctor Who is my favourite SF show, the one I grew up with, and one of the biggest influences in my writing. Most of my stories are set out amongst the stars, sometimes beneath alien skies, and sometimes in space itself. And in my SciFi romance short Terms & Conditions Apply I pay homage to possibly one of the most cataclysmic events in the universe - the death of a star.

"The door glided open and Marie stepped through, to find herself in the heart of the nebula. She squeaked and Soren grasped her arm in reassurance. The floor of the room was a burnished silver disk beneath the heavens. Crimson and gold light, woven in twisted strands of fire and strung with stars, formed a gauzy canopy overhead. As the door closed, the illusion was complete. They hovered in the fiery remnants of a long dead star. In a shroud of scarlet flames between them and a void full of shadows and distant pinprick suns."

EXCERPT | Available at...  
B&N | ARe | Amazon US 
| Amazon UK | Smashwords |

And if you'd like to win some stellar prizes and out-of-this-world stories, here's your chance! To enter, simply fill in the rafflecopter below. All prizes are available internationally (there are no cash or other alternatives - if you can't accept those on offer, please do not enter).

1^st  $100 Amazon or B&N gift card plus 42 ebooks - Tales from the SFR Brigade, Heart of Stone, Her Cyborg Awakes, Anja's Star, Silver Strife, Corwint Series 4 Book Gift Pack, Earth's Requiem, Alien Blood, Starwoman's Sanctuary, one book from Jessica E Subject's SFR backlist (ONE ebook title out of the following: Alien Adoration, Alien Admirer, Alien Lover, An Unexpected Return, Another Night Another Planet, Celestial Seduction, Crash Landing, Hey Santa, His Alien Virgin, Made For Her, Never Gonna Let You Go, Never Gonna Desert You, Never Gonna Say Goodbye, Satin Sheets in Space, Sudden Breakaway, or Unknown Futures), LodeStar Series Books 1-3 (Stark Pleasure, Creed of Pleasure and Captive of Pleasure), Reunion trilogy, Terms & Conditions Apply, Wreck of the Nebula Dream, Starheart, Kuralon Rescue, A Matter of Trust, Earth's Blood, Roman's Gold, Wolf Born, The Marann, Nightfall, Unrequited, Butterman Time Travel Inc., Legend Beyond the Stars, Hathor's Legacy: Outcast, Removed, Midwinter Crisis, Shlyer: Finding Home, Boyfriend's Brother, Surviving the Trap, Captive, Tower in the Woods, Catching Red, Underlighters. 

2^nd $50 Amazon or B&N gift card plus 33 ebooks - Tales from the SFR Brigade, Heart of Stone, Her Cyborg Awakes, Anja's Star, Silver Strife, Corwint Series 4 Book Gift Pack, Earth's Requiem, Alien Blood, Starwoman's Sanctuary, Tangled In Time, Terms & Conditions Apply, Escape from Zulaire, Lana's Comet, Heart's Bounty, Glad Hands, Nikolai, The Trial of Tompa Lee, The Tribulations of Tompa Lee, The Midas Rush, Prime Obsession, Daughters of Suralia, Morning Star, Hey Santa, Tower in the Woods, Catching Red, Underlighters, Alex Wales:Promise, Recast trilogy (Wither, Clash, Shiver). 

3^rd  3 separate winners each receive $25 Amazon or B&N gift card plus 12 ebooks - 3 separate winners each receive Tales from the SFR Brigade, Heart of Stone, Her Cyborg Awakes, Anja's Star, Corwint Series 4 Book Gift Pack, Hey Santa, Tower in the Woods, Catching Red, Underlighters.

As for my stop on the hop, you can comment below and tell me your favourite SciFi show/film/character and email addy to win either a digital edition of my upcoming new SciFi romance Tethered (releasing 25th July) OR the newly edited re-release of my SFR Galaxy award winner Keir (release date TBA). If you can wait that long, lol. 

Add to your Goodreads shelf HERE

Meanwhile hop along to the other participants, and see what gems they have on offer by using the Inlinkz list below, or jump back to the main Brigade post by clicking the Starry Nights graphic at the top of the post. Happy travels!



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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!

Valentine #scifi #romance #Giveaway

To celebrate the approach of Valentine's Day, Lyn Brittan has organized a scifi romance giveaway to get you in the spirit, and I'm offering a digital format of Terms & Conditions Apply as part of the bundle. Here's a snippet -

“Perhaps I can be of service?”
Marie stared at him…at it. She’d heard about the VA avatars but never been so close to one. She’d learned from the space station’s blurb that the main AI took the form of a young Indian woman called Ganesa, spoken of with as much reverence as the bronze-cast deity behind her. This particular avatar had been crafted into a ruggedly handsome, if stereotypically human, male. Thick blond hair left a shade too long framed his face perfectly; darker brows arched over eyes the most glorious shade of deep blue she’d ever seen. He was broad shouldered and athletic, and the thin, snug-fitting one-piece in gray outlined the well-defined musculature of his torso in a way no doubt intended to draw attention and tease the imagination of potential clients. A shapely hint of what lay beneath without full disclosure, like the metallic foil used to cover chocolate treats. Also a complete contrast to the man she’d hoped to see, and all too perfect to be real.
“I don’t need your service, thank you very much.” She jumped up and tried to shove past him, but the dense composition of an avatar meant she only jarred her arm and had to sidle past in an embarrassingly servile fashion. He made no attempt to stop her, and she headed blindly down the nearest access corridor.
Tears blurred the curious faces as she passed them. She wasn’t sure where she was going or why. A starship home perhaps, or to the quarters Jaisen had booked and that no doubt held her meager luggage at this moment…
Someone caught her elbow and steadied her as she swayed with indecision. “I really don’t think you want to go that way.”

So, want the chance to win one of four scifi romance ebooks or a paperback omnibus? Simples! Just fill in the rafflecopter below. :)

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Disclaimer - Giveaway ends February 13 at 12:00 AM EST. Open internationally. Warning: content possibly not suitable for minors under the age of 17. eBooks and Digital Prizes will be sent electronically via email. Other prices may be sent U.S. Postal Service or similar service. Winners will be selected on or before 2/123/2014 by Random.org and be notified by email. No purchase necessary. By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to participating authors. We do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting winners.

A New Venue (for a not so new story)

I have to say, 2014 has started with a bang...and not in a good way. Between exploding and dying technology, starting with the loss of my phone before Christmas and ending with my machine machine coming to a noisy end on New Year's Day, it's been an expensive start. And a mixed one on the publishing side too. Some of you may (or may not) have noticed that my debut scifi romance novel Keir has now vanished from all retail sites (except for possibly the print version on B&N). If not, you might have heard the wailing on Facebook and/or Twitter about it. I'm not going into details about that now. Suffice to say, I have no idea how long Keir will be unavailable at this moment in time. No, I'm not happy about it. There are just some things over which I have no control.

BUT, on the plus side and thanks to a crash course in advanced formatting and uploading to retail sites while helping with the SFR Brigade anthology over the autumn, I have had one bonus. Yesterday I uploaded an updated version of my scifi romance short Terms & Conditions Apply to All Romance Ebooks. And to celebrate this small but significant step for me, I've reduced the price by a third to $1.01 until the 23rd of January. You can pick it up HERE in pdf, mobi (Kindle) or epub (Nook/Kobo) formats. Or gift it to a friend (one of the things I love about ARe!). And when you're done, I'd really appreciate a review if you could spare a moment just do do a line or three about what you thought of it. *smoochies*

And while you're over on the ARe site, why not grab Tales from the SFR Brigade too. It's FREE! :)

Plus, pop back in a few days when I am doing a HUGE giveaway. ;) (Psst, it's for something that right now you just can't buy).

Falling into Romance - Love Among the Stars

I love to write and read romance set against the background of exotic worlds and alternate timelines, be the lovers human or otherworldly, or both. I want characters to explore their relationships and each other as deeply and intensely as they explore space. And my aim? To assimilate as many readers to the genre of scifi romance as I can!

Picking just one of my favorite SFR books to share was HARD! But I chose Unknown Futures (f/f erotic SFR) by Jessica E Subject, one of my top scifi romance authors whose stories are always must-reads, and this is one of the sweetest (and at the same time deeply sexy!) of her works. The back story to the first character Jewel absolutely broke my heart, and I was desperate for her to get her Happily Ever after. Flavia, too, was a strong character, resisting her own desires to give Jewel a chance to have the date of her dreams while longing to be that person. This story had me in tears, but for all the right reasons. The whole will-they, won’t-they tension throughout kept me on the edge of my seat.

Blurb:

Attacked as a young adult, Jewel is left scarred and alone. She applies to the 1 Night Stand service, believing no one can see past her appearance to love her. But she doesn’t expect to be sent to a space station where her date could be any number of unusual alien species.

Flavia left everything behind to be one of five humans working for the Space Service space station. Extremely homesick, she is excited to learn she will be a guide to a woman from Earth visiting the station for a couple days. She is immediately drawn to the petite woman, seeing past her scars to her true inner beauty, stirring unforeseen desires.

Unfortunately, Jewel is there for a date which Flavia hasn’t been told about. Can she contain her lust and simply show her a good time? Or will she let her desire lead them into an unknown future?

Find out more about the book and Jessica's writing here.

And to celebrate the Fall into Romance, I'm going to gift a digital copy of Unknown Futures, plus I'll also add a copy of my hot, award winning scifi romance short - Terms & Conditions Apply - to one person who tells me their favorite romantic setting in their comments and leaves their details in the rafflecopter (your email will ONLY be used to contact you if you win, and nothing else). There are bonus points for ticking any of the other options in the rafflecopter entries). This contest is open internationally from September 13, 12:00am EST (Friday) and will end on September 21, 11:59pm EST. I will draw my winner the following day, and announce it here on my blog and via my Facebook page.
 
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Want more? Tales from the SFR Brigade - a 175 page anthology of eight scifi romance shorts in flavors to suit any romance reader - is totally and utterly FREE to download, in any digital format. Just click any of the retail links below the cover. Then you can hop over to The Galaxy Express here to find more free SFR reads.

WEBSITE | GOODREADS |Available from...
| SMASHWORDS | B&N | Kobo |

Don't forget to visit the other blogs taking part in the hop by clicking the button below! You will need to register with TRR to do so, but this is simple AND free!

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 |

A Surprise in the Post

The last couple of weeks I've been taking a walk after dropping my little monsters at school, because the doctor told me to get some gentle exercise for my bad back. Wednesday I got home to find that dreaded red card from Royal Mail on my doormat. My stroll had meant I'd missed a delivery of a package because 'it's too large' and so it would be 'waiting for you at your local Delivery Office'. Sigh. By 'local' they mean right across town and not on a bus route, and with no parking options and in the most horrendously difficult place to drive to. So, I decided to ask for it to be redelivered, and planned to stay home to receive it.

But I was confused. The post-person had noted 'PHOTOS' on the card. I wasn't expecting any photos. Hadn't ordered any. School photos of the little monsters come home in their school bags, and in this digital age most photos from family and friends come via email or Facebook. Hubs hadn't ordered anything either. What the heck was it?!

So I sat at my computer and waited. My usual postie is a lovely lady who would leave any packages tucked out of sight for me rather than send it back to the depot (the guy who fills in for her sometimes is a stickler for the rules and doesn't bother to be helpful), but I left a note to leave the package if I didn't answer, just in case. However, I saw her walk past my window and she waved the envelop at me. It was big, for a photo. Even more bewildering!

It had come in a padded envelope, with both my real and pen names on the outside. It had come from the US. But I was none the wiser from the envelope, and couldn't get it open fast enough. And I was surprised by the contents.

My first award certificate! Yay! I hadn't expected one at all, and since the winners and finalists were announced back in April, receiving it now came as a bit of a shock. But a wonderful one! It has got a little bit battered in its travels, but that'll flatten out when I frame it. With thanks to the Gulf Coast Chapter, Romance Writers of America. You just made my day. :)

Contest Win - Terms & Conditions Apply

A Science Fiction Romance Short

Okay, so just in case you missed it, my sfr short Terms & Conditions Apply placed in the Gulf Coast RWA Chapter Silken Sands Self-Published Star Award, scoring a 2nd in the short story category. Woo hoo! To say I'm chuffed is an understatement. This is the first contest I'd entered T&CA for, so I was shocked to final. A small part of the kudos must go to friend and fellow SFR Brigader Misa Buckley for her anthology idea that sparked the story, and to my editor and cover designer Danielle Fine for her stellar work on this short. Cheers!
 

Terms & Conditions Apply - JABBIC Contest

Terms & Conditions Apply needs your help! My cover is up in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranomal category of the contest here. It does take a little time to go through the entries to reach mine (30 ish) but I'd truly appreciate it. Thank you! xxx
And if you have a spare moment, please swing by the YA category and show Renegade and Witch Way to Turn some cover love too.

Goodbye 2012!

This year has been unbelieveable. It doesn't seem real looking back to see how much things have changed in those twelve months. So what were the highlights? Here we go...

My debut novel Keir was published by Lyrical Press Inc. on the 7th May, and I celebrated nineteen years of marriage on the 8th. Keir's been receiving good feedback overall, and I'm very pleased with it. :)

Outcast. Cursed. Dying. Is Keir beyond redemption?

For Keirlan de Corizi--the legendary 'Blue Demon' of Adalucien--death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand. But Quin has secrets of her own. She's spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends' counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius.  When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin's home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again?

Just two weeks later I finally saw my favourite band (and part of the inspiration for Keir) - The Rasmus - live for the first time, and saw them a second time less than two weeks ago. This time I had a front row view and it was AWESOME!!!

The Rasmus at O2 Islington May 2012

The Rasmus at the Electric Ballroom December 2012

I received my first piece of fan art, from dear friend John Robson and from the skilled hands of Jonathan Moore. This was John's interpretation of the opening scene in Keir.

June saw the first SFR Brigade Blog Hop, organized (more or less) by me, and I'm hoping to repeat the event next year, with lessons learned from the first. :-P

 
In August I celebrated my --- birthday, and my daughter's tenth, taking her into double figures. It was also the month that saw me fly all the way from Colchester to Edinburgh to meet friends only known via social media before - Ian and Nicole - and to hear Ian play as part of Essens:1 with Per.

Love this photo!

August also saw me sign my second publishing contract, this time with Champagne Books for my YA scifi Gethyon, with the cover art talents of Misa Buckley. I now have an author page with Champagne, with the blurb for Gethyon here. My birth month also saw the print edition of Keir come out.

My youngest started full time school in September, allowing me to make writing a full time occupation, although health issues caused a problem. I became multi-published in November after self-publishing my second short story - hot scifi romance Terms & Conditions Apply - aided by the cover art and editing skills of Danielle Fine.

Shortly after this Dani tempted me into updating the cover to my first published work - my free scifi short The Bones of the Sea, once more putting her excellent talents to use.

So the question has to be, can 2013 only be better?

A very Happy and Healthy New Year to you all! What were the highlights of your 2012?

Six Sentence Sunday #66

Cover by Danielle Fine
 

Welcome to another #sixsunday post - thank you for your visit and any comments. I'm continuing with my latest release, a science fiction romance short - Terms & Condition Apply. Soren has corrected Marie's assumption that he's just a machine - more precisely a replica of a human with real memories. But his revelation that some avatars carry the persona of a criminal leaves her questioning further...

“Then what were you?”
He frowned and dropped his gaze. “I had a debilitating disease, one that was gradually crippling me. I was facing a slow, painful and humiliating death. My fiancée broke off our engagement so I chose voluntary euthanasia.” He paused and Marie, her chest tight at the pain in his words, leaned forward to touch her fingers to the back of his hand in silent sympathy.

© 2009-2012 Copyright Philippa J. Green All Rights Reserved

If you enjoyed that and want more, you can check out the blurb under the Available Now tab above. In the meantime, please check out the other fabulous authors participating by clicking on the banner below for the main Six Sentence Sunday website.


Six Sentence Sunday

Six Sunday Sunday #65

 

Hello! Welcome to another #sixsunday snippet and thanks for stopping by. I'm continuing with my sfr short story Terms & Conditions Apply - now available on Smashwords and Amazon - and Marie has just tried to give the avatar Soren his marching orders. But he wants to put her straight about her misconceptions over him first...

 

His comment sparked a sudden pang of guilt. “You mean you’re not just a machine?”

He gazed at her, as if considering the question. “We are artificial constructs, built to serve the AI, to be an extension of it and to ensure that everyone on Venus Ascendant is happy. But that doesn’t make us mere ciphers. Each of us carries memories from a real person, one who either chose this existence in preference to the many kinds of death they were facing, or as penance for a crime.”

 

 

© 2009-2012 Copyright Philippa J. Green All Rights Reserved

 

Eeek! So what did he do? Maybe I'll tell you next week. :-P

If you enjoyed that and want more, you can check out the blurb under the Available Now tab above or jump to the post directly below this one for another snippet. In the meantime, please check out the other fabulous authors participating by clicking on the banner below for the main Six Sentence Sunday website.

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday #55

Welcome to another #sffsat snippet! Thanks for stopping by and your comments each week. I have great news - Terms & Conditions Apply has finally released, woo hoo! As of this week you can get it from Smashwords or Amazon - it should be on Kobo and B&N in the (hopefully) not-to-distant future. So I'm continuing with the story this week, and Marie is trying to convince herself that Soren really isn't anything other than a mechanical copy of a man...

 

But what a gorgeous one, with all those sleek muscles bunching under the silver skinsuit and those waves of blond hair and those eyes…

Marie twitched, stopping her traitorous thoughts dead in their tracks as she seized her kavril. The heat of it through the glass seared her palms but she didn’t care. It gave her a distraction, albeit a painful one.

Soren made a sound of disapproval and drew her hands away from the glass. “Don’t damage yourself.”

She pulled herself free and curled her fingers against the stinging in her palms. “You have no right to touch me.”

“I’m not allowed to permit harm to come to any visitor here. Unless that is what they seek.”

BTW, after questions about it, kavril is the equivalent of coffee. A universe without caffeine just gives me the shudders! :-P

© 2009-2012 Copyright Philippa J. Green All Rights Reserved

  You can check out the other authors in SFFSAT by clicking on the banner below.