Pets in Space Anthology 4 with Veronica Scott.

Listen up, pet lovers. Veronica Scoot is here to talk about the new Pets in Space anthology. It releases October 8th. Veronica, Tell us how Pets in Space came to be?


Thanks for having me as your guest today!

About four years ago, my author friend Pauline B. Jones and I started a fun project we call Pets In Space® and invited some other science fiction romance authors to join in. We put together an annual collection of all-new stories featuring action, adventure, romance and a pet of some sort involved in the story. Sort of like “Lassie in space”. (Not the racier kind of ‘pets’ you find in some steamy fiction!).
The idea was to find new readers for SciFi romance and to support a worthy cause with a portion of the royalties. Now in our fourth year, we’ve hit the USA Today Best Seller list twice. thanks to our wonderful readers.
Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space® authors have donated over $7,100 in the past three years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans and first responders.
10% of all pre-orders and the first month’s royalties of Pets in Space® 4 will again go to Hero-Dogs.org. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Pets in Space® 4 today so together we can continue to assist this worthy charity!
I pre-ordered my copy on Amazon

Here's a full list of links to Buy platforms 
Pets in Space® 4 Anthology Blurb:

For a limited time only! Pets in Space® 4 is proud to present 13 amazing, original new stories! Join the adventures as today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors take you on a journey to another world. Join New York Times, USA TODAY and Award-winning Bestselling authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Tiffany Roberts, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Donna McDonald, Regine Abel, Alexis Glynn Latner, JC Hay, E.D. Walker, Kyndra Hatch, and Cassandra Chandler for another exciting  Pets in Space® anthology. Get the stories before they are gone!

I always set my Pets In Space® stories on an interstellar cruise liner and have had all kinds of pets from a cat to an eagle to an alien blend of a tribble and a red-tailed panda. This year my pet is an alien ‘dog’, named Charrli. Here’s a bit more about my full-length novel in the anthology:

STAR CRUISE: IDOL’S CURSE (The Sectors SF Romance Series)

An unusual bequest….

Juli Shaeffer, the Nebula Zephyr’s cruise director, receives a mysterious bequest from the estate of a longtime passenger – a lump of rock taken from a reef on the planet Tahumaroa. Legend states anyone who steals from the ocean gods will be cursed. The passenger’s will requests the rock be returned to the beach so his heirs won’t be affected by the bad luck he believed he’d incurred. Juli doesn’t believe in superstitions and she agrees to carry out this small favor on the ship’s next stop at the planet in question.

Until the rock disappears from her office…

When the rock disappears and reappears in various locations around the ship, and seems connected to a steadily escalating series of mishaps, Juli turns to Third Officer Steve Aureli as the only one she feels she can trust. Along with Steve and his elderly Aunt Dian – a passenger aboard the Nebula Zephyr for this cruise - she investigates the strange series of malfunctions plaguing the interstellar luxury liner. Steve and Juli enlist his Aunt Dian’s dog, Charrli, a retired Sectors Z Corps canine, to help them track the missing rock as it moves about the ship.

Juli and Steve must find the rock, hang onto it and transport it to the planet’s surface before the alien idol’s curse turns deadly. The attraction between the two of them grows as the threat to Juli becomes more and more focused. Can she carry out her task while he keeps her safe from the alien curse? Will the capricious alien idol bring them good fortune…or disaster?

Here’s a quick excerpt when Juli meets Charrli: A groundcar swerved smoothly into the emergency lane and came up behind her. She prepared to tactfully refuse whatever offer of help the driver might make but to her complete astonishment, Third Officer Steve Aureli got out of the driver’s seat.  He was in civvies rather than the CLC uniform but looked as tall, broad-shouldered and handsome as ever. She was rendered speechless by the unforeseen arrival of the one man she most wanted to see and the tension left her body in a rush.

“Juli? I thought I recognized you—what’s the problem?”  He gave the smoking car the side-eye as he walked to join her.

“I’m glad to see you,” she said. “What a coincidence. I had Ship’s business to take care of in the city business district so I picked up a CLC car at the spaceport but it’s sure turned out to be a clunker.”

“Heading back to the spaceport?”

“Yes, although I’ve missed the shuttle to the ship by now.” Juli winced as a few droplets from the sky hit her cheeks. “Oh wonderful, and now it’s going to rain.”

“We can give you a ride,” he offered. “The side of this road isn’t a good place for you to be stranded, especially with a storm coming.”

A gust of cold wind buffeted her to emphasize his remark and she shivered. What happened to the hot sun of just a few hours ago? Peering at his sporty groundcar, she hesitated. “I don’t want to be a bother or ruin your date.”

He laughed. “No bother and it’s not a date. Remember I told you my aunt Dian was going to be a passenger on the next leg of the cruise? I picked her up this afternoon and I also have the use of the captain’s personal shuttle, so I can take you all the way to the Zephyr with us. Plenty of room in this rented car of mine.”

“Say no more, I’ll be thrilled to accept your help then. Let me grab my purse.” Heart unaccountably lighter because he wasn’t on a date, Juli fished her possessions out of the car, and went to climb in the backseat of his racy red vehicle, as he held the door for her. Hope never dies, I guess. Oh, Juli, get over this mad crush. Angry at herself for her racing pulse and the effect this man invariably had on her, she stumbled and Steve steadied her with one big hand. Her body tingled a little at the physical contact.

“I’m Steve’s Aunt Dian,” said the lady in the front seat, swiveling to study Juli. She extended her gloved hand.

Juli tried not to stare. Dian was elderly but wearing full, expertly applied makeup and her syntho hair was coiffed into a confection of pink and blond a trideo star might admire, accented with a glittery star-shaped barrette. Her pink and cream woven suit was by a high end fashion designer, or else a very good knockoff and she presented an altogether glamorous and retro picture. This is practical, stoic Steve’s aunt?  Juli detected no family resemblance although of course that didn’t mean much. “I’m so happy to meet you and glad you’ll be sailing with us.”

Next instant, a barking ball of golden brown fur sailed over the seat, landing in Juli’s lap with a thud. With a startled scream she tried to fend off the pet, which fortunately seemed intent on getting into her purse, rather than actually attacking her personally.

“Charrli, don’t be rude,” said Dian, snapping her fingers in annoyance. “No one asked you to do a search and destroy mission on Juli’s belongings. Get back here where you belong.”

Hand on the controls, Steve studied Juli. “Do you have a snack in your purse?” he asked. “Charrli’s a real chow hound.”

“What an inelegant way to describe my champion purebred miniature Deskaza dog.” Despite her offended protest, his elderly relative didn’t sound too offended. “I’ll have you know they’re a rare breed.” She snapped her fingers again and the doglike creature made one final attempt to open Juli’s purse before obeying his mistress’s command and returning to the front seat with a sniff. “I apologize for Charrli,” Dian said, cuddling him close so all Juli could see were the tips of his triangular ears and his intense brown eyes peering at her over his owner’s shoulder. “Although I must say you and he are obviously going to be great friends while we’re on your ship.”

Sounds like so much fun. I can't wait to read it.

Here's a list of the stories in Pets In Space:

MADAS’ FALLING STAR
Lords of Kassis Series
by S.E. Smith
Even an incredibly skillful warrior Princess needs help sometimes. Can Madas trust the strange warrior who fell from the sky with her life… and with her heart?

DARK GUARD
Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone Series
By Anna Hackett
A cyborg who’s vowed to keep his emotions and lethal powers leashed, discovers the one woman who can bring him to his knees.

ENTWINED FATES
The Infinite City Series
By Tiffany Roberts
Being separated by time and distance does not lessen the love Volcair has for the woman who captured his heart.

STAR CRUISE: IDOL’S CURSE
The Sectors SF Romance Series
By Veronica Scott
Two crew members of an interstellar luxury liner must join forces with a retired military canine to find a missing relic before the curse brings disaster for everyone.

CYBORG’S REVENGE
Project Enterprise Series
By Pauline Baird Jones
Can two almost human geeks find love while they fight against their old Master?

SPYDOG
The Inherited Stars Series
By Laurie A. Green
An agent must decide if he can trust the savvy female Rathskian warrior that crosses his path or if he should deliver her to his superiors.

NOTHING REMOTELY FAMILIAR
My Crazy Alien Romance Series
By Donna McDonald
Nothing is normal when Topper finds herself expecting again.

DOOM
Xian Warriors Series
By Regine Abel
A genetically engineered war machine finds love with the human doctor who may be his only chance of survival.

WINTER’S PRINCE
Starways Series
By Alexis Glynn Latner
A scientist looking for a genetically engineered unicorn and a historian seeking the right question find each other in an interstellar amusement park full of dangerous games.

HEART OF THE SPIDER’S WEB
TriSystems: Smugglers Series
By JC Hay
The last thing Sheri needs is a brooding, brawny smuggler watching her every move, but his help is all that stands between her and a crime lord’s wrath.

THE PRINCESS AND HER BODYGUARD
Alien Animal Rescues Series
By E.D. Walker
A kidnapped princess and her bird companion must rely on the exiled guard who loves her to help them.

INTERRUPTING STARLIGHT
After The Fall Series
By Kyndra Hatch
The human composed a song in his heart, a pull he couldn’t ignore, a draw that demanded further exploration.

IMPORT QUARANTINE
The Department of Homeworld Security Series
By Cassandra Chandler
A simple house call to care for a sick animal turns a young woman’s life upside down when she discovers the ‘house’ is really a spaceship!

All Buy Links: https://www.petsinspaceantho.com/books/pets-in-space-4/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WCQF358/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WCQF358/

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07WCQF358/

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07WCQF358/

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/pets-in-space-4

Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/pets-in-space-4/id1476281234

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pets-in-space-4-s-e-smith/1132911108?ean=2940163094325

GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/S_E_Smith_Pets_in_Space_4?id=jXuoDwAAQBAJ

Author Bio and Links:

USA Today Best Selling Author

 Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!

 She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the official audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”

Newsletter Signup: https://us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2a337b96e2ee1ee1250004b9d&id=7462393c9e

Blog: https://veronicascott.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Scott/177217415659637?ref=hl

Thank you for being here, Veronica and for letting me know about Pets in Space® 

Happy reading and a happy week to all of you.

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Time Travel At Its Most Charming Caroline Mather's Time Series #giveaway.

I asked Caroline to do a blog post afterI read The Time Table last year,  She wanted to wait till book two was out. And today I’ve got her. And I have a giveaway at the end of the post.

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My review of The Time Table

I love time travel (and write time travel), and this sounded like an interesting read. The Time Table exceeded my expectations. A series of short tales with one connection. A pool table fashioned in the 1600’s from a standing stone that occasionally creates time pockets. Caroline Mather deftly weaves four charming stories together, leaving room for more. I’m following her because I really want to read the sequel. Surely there will be a sequel? Five stars.

Please welcome Caroline Mather

Susan asked me about “time travel gone wild.” 

            The initial unifying image was the Table itself. There isn’t a single story line, or a single era. A former work colleague was a competitive pool player: a random comment made me wonder what might happen if you fell towards, or onto, a pool table, and went through.     

            As the stories progressed, there came the standing stone.  How do you travel back in time before billiard tables came to be, some time in the 1600s?  Except that we have a character in The Time Table who both went forward in time and emerged from a stone circle. I don’t know if slate is a good material for standing stones:  geologically, slate is like petrified mud.  However, it’s a good material for a billiard table slab. 

            As the series evolves, we have several moments when characters travel, or communicate, other than through the Table/stone circle.   There are other fantasy series which use more than one means of travel:  two classic examples would be J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.  The challenge with world building is simply to keep your world coherent.

            The third volume will have a longer range in time than the first two: after that, we’ll see.

Publishing first

            I met Debby Gilbert of Soul Mate at the New Jersey RWA conference in the fall of 2016.  I had just finished The Time Table, and I knew it was a bit quirky.  It is time-travel romance, but it’s a novella-length group of interlinked short stories, and it’s right on the edge of sci-fi/fantasy.  And…a billiard table? I’d pitched the book once or twice and gotten really strange looks.  Debby just looked a little thoughtful and said, “Send it to me.”  No promises, of course.  I don’t think we talked for more than a few minutes.

            When she emailed me a few weeks later to green-light it, I was both thrilled and stunned.  I’ve had non-fiction work published (mostly articles in reference books, different name, nothing to do with time travel), and a little self-published fiction (three parts of The Time Table first appeared under a pseudonym), but this series is now the first fiction with a serious publisher.

Are you a “plotter” or a “pantser”?  

            It’s a combination.  I don’t have everything plotted in detail:  if a character’s action surprises me and the plot takes a different turn, I’ll go with it.  It does mean that there are some questions left unanswered until a later installment.  There’s an unanswered question in the first section of The Time Line.  However, several sections of this volume are answering questions set up in The Time Table.  That said – if a story arc carries over more than one book, the author does have some responsibility to make sure that the pieces will fit together.

            One of the things I love about the Time Table series is that I get to read up not only on British history but also on contemporary theories of physics, time travel, precognition, and so on – and then to throw it all aside if necessary. Even if the details aren’t in the stories, the world I’m building really is founded on what may or may not be possible.  A good example would be the restoration of the Table in The Time Line: my partner and I spent an afternoon touring a truly amazing facility where billiard tables are made and restored – and then I had to work around those practicalities because the Time Table has a vortex! 

Current WIP is part 3 of the series:  Time Pieces, due out late in 2019.  There are some challenges in that volume:  one character is seriously annoyed because he’s in love with a someone who keeps going into the past and spending time with his forebears.  (Teaser: that plot line is first introduced in The Time Line.)   Several characters also travel without going through the Table – that also occurs in The Time Line – but, given where/when they’re each traveling in Time Pieces, it may be a bit more difficult to get them back again.

Advice for new writers just starting out:

            Just. Do. It.  The story only you can tell may or may not be one that propels you to the best-seller lists the first time out, but it’s your story.  Read a lot, write a lot, and just keep showing up.  If you wait for inspiration before you sit down at the keyboard, it may not come. The Muse needs to know where to find you, and you need to keep honing your skills while you’re waiting. 

            That said – there are times when you’ll find your inspiration somewhere else, and some of it may simply be in your memory or some unrelated comment.  Celebrate those memories and discoveries:  the sources of creativity are endless and enlivening.

My favorite pastime other than writing is one I can’t do at the moment: I love the experience of flying a small plane, even in the bumpy air of summertime over the northern New Jersey hills. I became interested in learning to fly because of a non-fiction project I was working on some time ago. I managed to log about fifteen hours, although I never soloed because life kept getting in the way. Even if I never get back there, I’ll always have that flight time.

And…when you’re not in the air or at the computer? 

            I’m hanging out in northern New Jersey, in an old apartment building on a busy main street, with far too many books, a great coffee maker, and a traveling Hero.  If you move back to your childhood town, be prepared for the possibility that it, too, has changed:  as the late, great Stephen Hawking said, “We are all time travelers, traveling together into the future.” 

Where can we find you?

            The Time Table series is published by Soul Mate Publishing and is available on Amazon Kindle.  The Facebook page “Writer Caroline Mather” is under construction: if you get over there and it’s still got pots of paint on the floor and sheets over the furniture, please be patient!  

The Time Table blurb and excerpt:

Jeremy Finch loses billiard balls. One stormy night, his billiard table disgorges a person known to the house’s future owner.  What?

Tony Finch disappears while playing billiards in the 1850s. He reappears in the early 21^st century through an ancient stone circle. What?

Is it the billiard table? The standing stones?  Are the Finches just prone to time-travel, or is this about true love? These intertwined stories explore the future-and-past of The Time Table

Excerpt:

The clock struck midnight as Jeremy Finch lined up his shot and sighted carefully along the billiard cue. Outside, a chill spring rain lashed against the windows.

            He choked back an exclamation.

            A young man’s crumpled figure in a pale shirt and dark trousers materialized on the billiard table as if he had come out of the felt. Without disturbing the balls scattered across the surface, he rolled over and tumbled onto the floor then crouched on his knees. Sheet-white and dazed, he met Jeremy’s eyes across the shadowed room.

The Time Line blurb and excerpt:

Returning to her own time via the Finches’ billiard-table, Cara McCrae came up short. She must find another way to travel the last five years. Now she finds herself in the middle of a casino floor, faced with a possessive man, and possessing experience that makes her a “conductor.”

Why did the “time table” fail? Can it be restored? What of the man who made that final “jump” with Cara? These intertwined stories follow the future-and-past of the next generation from the Time Table.

Excerpt:

            Dane laughed. “Cara, when we met in Halkin Street – before we jumped – you said that you had dreamed me. Did it happen often?”

            Cara shook her head. “Not often. Yet I knew there was someone out there, someone challenging and vibrant, and that I would not be a plaything.” She ran one finger over the patterned stone countertop.

            “Correct. You’re not.” Dane watched her, his voice quiet and grave.

            “Thank you.”

            “You’re welcome.” Dane drained his coffee cup. “What is it that interests you?”

            Cara blinked again.

            “Since you refuse to be kept, or a trophy,” Dane prodded. “Yet traveling time distances – years, centuries – does not faze you.”

            “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Cara demurred, “and clearly I wasn’t dressed for it.”

            Dane’s eyes danced with mischief. “Please tell me that you were not out comparison shopping.” At her incredulous look, he added, “Well–Edgar, Gareth, me—”

            Cara blushed. “I wasn’t shopping.’

 Caroline, thank you so much for this post.

My review of The Time Line

I continue to be charmed by Caroline Mather’s writing, BUT you really need to read the Time Table first. Part of the story is a continuation of characters introduced in the first book. Some of the characters are new. And the door to the sequel is wide open. When I finish a Time Table book, I feel as if I had a cup of Earl Grey and a cucumber sandwich served with the very best butter. Read The Time Table and then sample part two, The Time Line.Caroline Mather: The Time Table series

            The Time Table (vol. 1, May 2017)

            The Time Line   (vol. 2, Feb. 2019)

            Time Pieces       (vol. 3, late 2019)

Caroline is giving away two copies each of the ARC's for The Time Table and The Time Line. The ARCs are PDFs which can be read on any reader. I suggested this because I would love to see her have more reviews of these delightful books. Both books are novella-length. If you are interested and would be willing to review one or both, please enter below.

 Happy reading.

           

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The Marquess and the Midwife and Alina K. Field.

      Award winning author Alina K. Field writes Regency Romance. Right now, her Christmas novella, The Marquess and the Midwife is on sale for 99 cents and yes, I am going to give you an excerpt and if you like it, you can hop on over to Amazon or Kobo or Nook or Apple and pick up a copy. I will put all the different buy links after the excerpt.

Alina is the author of the 2014 Book Buyer’s Best winner, Rosalyn’s Ring, a 2015 RONE Award finalist, Bella’s Band, and a 2016 National Reader’s Choice Award finalist, Liliana’s Letter, as well as her latest release, The Marquess and the Midwife  She is hard at work on her next series of Regency romances, but loves to hear from readers!

I love firsts, so tell me about the moment when a publisher told you they wanted to publish your book.

When I opened the email from the publisher and read that she wanted to buy my Christmas novella, I had all the palpitations, head-spinning, heart-thumping, and tingling that my characters experience, LOL!  

If it isn’t too nosy. How about the first time you kissed your true love?

Our first kiss (actually, kisses) came after our first date where my husband got the full experience of  my extreme awkwardness. He took me to a super-nice restaurant, the kind of place completing lacking in paper napkins--not a paper napkin to be seen, not even under the cocktail glasses. The first course was soup, which made my nose run (am I the only one who has that problem with soup?). I had no tissues, my true love had no handkerchief to offer me, and my sleeves weren’t long enough, requiring a quick trip for some TP. He kissed me anyway after that, and has kept kissing me for thirty-seven years.

But of course, every time I eat soup he rehashes that story!

Other than your own, who are your favorite (heroes/heroines/writers) in your genre?

I absolutely love the characters and stories created by Loretta Chase and Joanna Bourne.

What is the most exciting moment, so far, in your writing career?

I think it’s a tie between receiving the Book Buyers Best award for that first story I sold, Rosalyn’s Ring, and holding my first indie published print book, Liliana’s Letter, in my hand.   

What is your favorite pastime, other than writing?

I love watching historical dramas and British police procedurals on television.

How do you motivate yourself when inspiration takes a vacation?

When I’m feeling uninspired, I find it helpful to delve into some research, do some blog post writing, or do something physical like walking the dog or even cleaning house.  

Any advice for new writers just starting out?

Read, read, read, in your genre. Find and join a writers’ organization for your genre, and keep learning. Write your stories from beginning to end, as opposed to reworking the first three chapters a million times. You don’t really understand what you can accomplish until you finish a manuscript. Get feedback, but watch out for the mojo killers.  

Now to the meat of the matter. Tell us about The Marquess and the Midwife

Once upon a time, the younger brother of a marquess fell in love with his sister's companion. He was sent off to war, and she was just sent off, and they both landed in very different worlds. 

Now Virgil Radcliffe has returned from his self-imposed exile on the Continent to take up his late brother's title and discover the whereabouts of the only woman he's ever loved. 

Abandoned by her lover and dismissed by her employer, Ameline Dawes has found a respectable identity as a Waterloo widow, a new life as a midwife, and a safe, secure home for her twin girls. Called to London at Christmas to attend her benefactress's lying-in, she finds herself confronted by an unexpected house guest--a man determined to woo her anew and win her again. 

But, is loving the new Marquess of Wallingford a mistake Ameline cannot afford to repeat? 

You get two blurbs because it's Christmas, dearest reader.

Excerpt 1: (441 words)

Ye gods, but her ladyship needed more maids, and a couple more footmen with both arms and both legs, at least for this type of fetching and carrying.

Ameline chided herself for being insensitive and balanced the steaming bucket. She set down the lamp momentarily to gather her skirts, along with the lamp handle.

A pair of men’s boots moved into view and the lamp bobbled. Fine boots they were.

She sighed, gritting her teeth. Lord Hackwell’s visits had unnerved his lady, and Ameline had counseled him to leave.

Very well, she’d thrown him out, once almost literally. He would wonder what she was doing below stairs. He might send for the accoucheur he was mumbling about, and his lady would not like it.

“I’ve just popped down to the kitchen for a word with Alton, my lord,” she said. “All is going well, except he’s a bit short on staff.”

“We have noticed that.”

The skin on her back rippled and she shivered. This wasn’t Hackwell—it was him.

Panic flared in her and her hands and ankles began to tingle. He carried no light. She let her own lantern dip lower and stepped to one side. What was he doing on the servants’ staircase in the middle of the night?

If he saw her, he would remember her, but he would not want to, unless he would think to befriend her again. Heat flamed in her.

She took in a breath. “Let me pass, Lord Hackwell,” she said.

“Let me carry that bucket for you.”

“No.” She forced in another breath, willing herself to speak calmly. “That is, no thank you. I shall send a servant for you when it is time.”

Footsteps scurried on the stairs. “Mrs. Dawes?” Jenny called, breathless.

Her heart raced again. She’d tarried too long in the kitchen. “I’ll be right—”

Heat touched her hand as the bucket came out. The lantern, too, lifted higher, and she looked up into the face of Lord Virgil Radcliffe, now the latest Lord Wallenford.

“Mrs. Dawes?” His eyes widened and then narrowed, and his lips curved down.

Anger spiked in her. “Lord Wallenford.”

He moved down to the step below her, putting them at eye level, and crowded her against the hand rail.

“Give me the bucket, sir. I can manage quite well without your help.” Quite, quite well.

“Can you, indeed?” he drawled, sounding just like his brother the day he’d sacked her.

Blast him. Blast the Wallenfords. Blast the Hackwells. “Alton has a bottle set out. Best go and fetch it.”

His lips quirked.

She gritted her teeth. “Give me the blasted bucket, Virgil.”

Excerpt 2: (Some sexual references, 574 words)

He released her and leaned back, and his shirt gaped around a starburst scar, corded and jagged right above his heart.

She gasped and reached to touch it, but he clasped her hand and pushed it away.

“Waterloo?” she whispered. “I’d heard you were wounded, but—”

“I survived,” he said in a tight voice.

Her lungs squeezed and her heart quickened. Had he? If so, it was just barely. He’d been stabbed or speared, or shot, and somehow, somehow, his great heart had carried on. This had been no minor wound. Virgil had suffered terribly.

“I want to see.” She pushed his hand away and grasped his collar. He grabbed for her hand, but she dodged him and ripped the fine cotton, rending the shirt down the front.

“Ameline—”

“You have a trunk full of shirts. I want to see.” She knelt before him on the sofa, yanked the shirt down his arms, and studied his chest. Small cuts marked his side and his belly, but the mottled scar was the worst. It would have taken months to fully heal a wound like this from the inside out. He should have died.

Her vision blurred so she couldn’t see. But her hands, trained to examine a babe in the womb, they could see. She flattened her palms and set a course over the ridges knots, and hard ripples.

He surely had almost died. A world without Virgil, without his laughter, and his generally kind heart. He’d used her, true, as men did. It was in a man’s animal nature, wasn’t it? And she’d used him also, hadn’t she? Both of them grieving over his sister’s death, and comforting each other. And she was left with her girls, and things had turned out all right, hadn’t they?

Her hands cupped his shoulders and slipped over to his back. No scars there that she could feel. The ball, or saber, or…what else did men use to kill each other?…had not gone clean through. It had merely dredged a hole in his front and wreaked havoc inside him.

And nearly killed him.

She’d always pictured a wounded Virgil, binding up a minor slash and heading off to the Continent to charm actresses and diplomats’ wives, maybe taking a wife there himself, and bringing her back to breed pretty, cheerful children. Virgil, rich, content and happy.

How she’d wallowed in that vision.

The feel of the scarred skin melted away her resentment. Let him have that happy life with his marchioness and heirs. And perhaps, on a rare occasion, he could come down to Longview and visit his twins.

“Ameline.” Virgil’s breath touched her cheek.

Large hands cupped both of her hips.

Warmth spurted through her. Too late, she realized her error. She’d got too close again.

She pulled the sides of his shirt up, her gaze sliding over the rip and…

Right. He was fully erect. Of course he was.

Hot need shrieked inside her, and she battered it down and found her breath. “I apologize. My infernal curiosity.” She patted his shoulders and eased away.

His eyes had gone dark and feral, his lips parted like a hungry man ready to chomp down on a long-awaited meal. Inside, she melted more.

She took in a great breath. She must keep him talking. “How did the wound happen?” she asked.

His eyes shuttered and he yanked her hard against him, smashing his lips to hers. 

Interested? Got 99 cents to read it or gift it to someone? Here are the buy links

Buy Links

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2dZIMAl

Amazon

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-marquess-and-the-midwife

Kobo

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-marquess-and-the-midwife/id1167622013?ls=1&mt=11

iBooks

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1125068696?ean=2940156905331

Nook

What’s your current WIP?

I’m working on a really fun Regency series about a British spymaster tying up loose ends from the Napoleonic wars while getting his children married off. 

And finally, where can we find you?

http://alinakfield.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alinakfield

https://twitter.com/AlinaKField

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7173518.Alina_K_Field

https://www.pinterest.com/alinakf/

https://www.instagram.com/alinak.field/

..

Alina, thank you so much for being here. To all my readers, I wish you joy and love in this season of light.  I've already had a wonderful gift. Soul Mate has accepted my companion book to Time and Forever.  - It's a second chance romance, currently called Maybe This Time . But that will change. Too many books with that title. I will be holding a contest for a new title. Joy to you and yours and go get Alina's book - The Marquess and the Midwife

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Ryan Jo Summers on the Art of the Novella #Giveaway

My guest poster is Ryan Jo Summers. Her novella Glimpse Eternity will be released on Feb 23rd on Kindle for 2.99. Right now on pre-order, it's 99 cents. I  pre-ordered my copy.

 Most standard applications accept a novel as over 40,000 words; a novella as between 17,500 to 40,00, a novelette as having between 7,500 and 17,500 words. A short story usually has under 7,500 words and flash fiction is below 1,000 words. My preferred specialty are novels, anything from 60,000 to reaching well over 100,000 words. On the other hand, I also like shorter stuff.

I use shorts and flash to either recharge the creative batteries if I feel I'm in a slump or feel particularly moved by something. My 740 word flash fiction "Emily" came to me as a dream. "Wishing on Time", a couple thousand word short story began as a semi-autobiographical tale which gave me permission to 'murder' the woman my husband had an affair with and still let me play with my interest in time travel. "The Lesson" was my first short story, written in first person too, and it had been geared for a dog writing contest I did not win. None of these are published, but I periodically submit them to university English departments and the feed-back is encouraging.

"Glimpse Eternity" is actually a novelette, weighing in at around 11,000 words (give or take a few with edits). This book began with me driving home Valentine's evening. It was dark, rainy and about midnight. In the center of a road cutting through a residential neighborhood was a complete bouquet of red roses-- dozen roses, baby's breath, ferns and cellophane wrapping. How could it have possibly gotten there? Lover's quarrel? That seemed so sad. The writer in me tossed scenarios around until one day, while up at my favorite forest hang out, I wrote the most probable reason as an opening scene. That scene eventually moved closer to the end of the story instead. In the meantime, I was struggling to come to terms with some physical issues and a friend suggested I write it out as therapy. So I created Kasey Griffin, the heroine in "Glimpse Eternity", gave her some devastating limitations and then gave her a love interest. Conversationally, her last name stems from my interest with mythology.

In my travels, I heard Melange Books was looking for Valentine's themed stories. In a moment of optimistic whimsy, I sent it in. Wonder of wonders, they wrote back, offering a contract. It had not been my intention, but I'm happy to see Kasey and Ben's struggles--and mine!--validated.

So how are all these different, beyond the obvious story length? First, how are they similar? Genre tends to be the same, whether they be romance, sci-fi, thriller, etc.. POV is the same. All the same grammar rules apply. Pacing is different, as you don't have as much time to hook, talk about and then end your story in shorter works. You have to plan more, having less space to catch loose ends or plot snags. Conflict is usually less in shorter works, though still always present. People fall in love in few pages, time moves differently. Backstory is usually abbreviated, if present at all. These are generalizations, of course, and there are certainly exceptions out there.

Writing shorts has inspired me to spread my wings with them more. While my heart lies with long stuff (80K+), novellas and novelettes can be fun. My current WIP is a novella, around 25-30 thousand words, about finding love in a dog park. It is also my first venture into romantic comedy. I'm finding it tough to face the complexities of conflict and tension while maintaining a light-hearted style and voice. 

Glimpse Eternity

Blurb:

         Kasey Griffin is determined to prove a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis isn't going to ruin her life or define her expectations. She is dedicated to her pregnant sister, her pets and operating her bookstore, 'The Next Chapter'. She has everything she needs to have a full and satisfying life--the daily challenges of her condition notwithstanding.

         Then hunky musician Ben Salem rolls into town. Ben's subtle charm quickly reminds Kasey she is more than a woman with a disease, she is also a woman with a heart. And Ben wants it.

         Will Ben still desire her once he learns the terrible details of her condition?

Bio:  Ryan Jo Summers is a North Carolina writer who likes to pen romances with a twist. Love stories blended as inspirational, with paranormal, suspense or time travel--or several at once. She also writes non-fiction for regional periodicals. Her dad is a songwriter and his aunt wrote poetry, so Ryan came by the writing gene honestly.

         Her hobbies include poetry, bird watching, houseplants and gardening, gathering with friends, hiking in the forest, painting canvas and ceramics, and working wiggly word find puzzles, mah johngg or chess.  She lives in a 1920 cottage with a menagerie of pets. She often daydreams of the shore and frequently uses water as settings in her stories.

Excerpt:
       It should not be this difficult, Kasey Griffin decided, taking aim at the nail head once more. Missing, she nicked her thumb again and dropped the hammer. Swallowing another oath, she sucked tenderly at her bruised thumb, cursing the wave of dizziness that lead to making this such an impossible task. Honestly, hammering a few nails in the wall was all she wanted to do.
      Well, not today at least. Temporarily admitting defeat, she returned the tools to the box and shoved them aside. Heading to the freezer, she withdrew a small bag of blended vegetables and a pint of ice cream. Sometimes chocolate chunk caramel ripple can have medicinal benefits.
  

Links:  
WEBSITE: www.ryanjosummers.com ;
BLOG: http:summersrye.wordpress.com  

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RyanJoSummers

FB:  www.facebook.com/pages/Ryan-Jo-Summers-author-page/312875648810797

ROMANCE REVIEWS:http://www.theromancereviews.com/mypage.php?location=ryanjosummers

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6604705.Ryan_Jo_Summers

Thank you for this lovely post, Ryan Jo. Love the excerpt. I look forward to reading Glimpse Eternity. Ryan is giving away either a PDF copy of Glimpse Eternity or a PDF copy of When Clouds Gather. - Winner's choice. Leave a comment to enter. Happy week, everyone.

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