Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Starquest is available now!


My romantic fantasy/futuristic novel was released last Friday and is currently No 2 in the Faery Rose line of The Wild Rose Press. I am so thrilled that this book, which I loved writing and means so much to me, is finally out there!

BLURB:

When Jestine Darnell is rescued from her sabotaged starship by the crew of the Destiny her only objective is to complete her mission and keep her promise to save a world from slavery. Love is the last thing on her mind. However, she has not counted on losing her heart to Kerry Marchant the ship’s second in command, who makes his distrust of her painfully obvious, despite the chemistry between them. The completion of her mission has consequences that neither of them could have foreseen.

Enter Dahll Tarron, who becomes involved in a long and dangerous quest to find the Destiny. Fates become intertwined, perils shared, culminating in the realization that sometimes love may be so close that there is a danger it will not be recognized until it is too late…

EXCERPT

In this excerpt, Jess has been rescued from her stricken ship by the starship Destiny and is trying to fit in as one of the crew:

Kerry, by contrast to the rest of the crew, was something of an enigma to Jess. She noticed his attitude toward her becoming increasingly cool. Quietly spoken, often taciturn, he was clearly possessed of a brilliant mind. Although slow to volunteer information, if she asked a specific question relating to either the Destiny or Metisa, he became completely involved with the subject, explaining simply but precisely. However, she could not persuade him to talk about himself, which naturally made her all the more curious about him. She frequently felt his scrutiny as if he were waiting for her to give herself away, although she could think of nothing she had said or done to arouse his suspicions. This was not the only thing about Kerry she found disturbing.

She was coming to know the ship almost as well as she had known her own vessel. A skilled pilot herself, she was happy to tackle many of the routine operating tasks, plus some of those that were not so routine. Despite his aloofness, she found herself learning a great deal from Kerry. She observed the way he handled the ship, the instructions he gave to the computers. It seemed like second nature to him.

On one occasion, at Jon’s direction, she was perfecting a complicated navigational manoeuvre with the manual controls, under Kerry’s supervision. “She’s a large, powerful ship,” he said, “and needs handling with a delicate touch. Too much pressure and you would lose her.” Jess glanced at him, frowning. Perhaps the ship wasn’t the only thing that needed delicate handling. He placed his hands lightly over hers to guide them, and to her embarrassment, she felt her heart thud uncomfortably against her ribs and a blush of colour burn her cheeks.

“This is exactly the position these controls need to be in relation to each other, when the readings here, and here, correspond to the coordinates already set.”

To her relief, he appeared not to notice her unease. For a moment, his eyes met hers. She saw they were no longer expressionless, but alight with the pride and enthusiasm he felt for the ship. She looked away quickly to concentrate on the data in front of her, forcing herself to ignore the feelings stirring deep within her. She felt privileged that he and Jon allowed her to handle the controls, and determined to make the most of the opportunity to pilot the immense starship, without any distraction. Besides, she had a mission to accomplish. She had enough to worry about; she didn’t need added complications. She thought of the blaster hidden in her cabin. All the crew had free access to the ship’s arsenal, and because there was no one else on board the ship, there was no reason for stringent security. She’d found it relatively easy to take the gun when no one was around, but she knew if its loss was discovered she would have to act very quickly.

TRAILER


To add the icing to the cake I received the cover for the sequel 'Children Of The Mist' currently in edits, on the same day. It's exactly as I pictured this particular scene and I'm thrilled with it.

The talented Tamra Westbury designed all three of my covers.




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