Pets in Space is a brand new science fiction romance anthology in which I and eight other authors have stories about – pets in space!  You can get a free sampler of the first scenes of every story in the book at Instafreebie.   Release date for the anthology is TOMORROW, October 11!  We authors are trading blog posts . . . and here is why SFR author Lea Kirk wrote her story.

“What are you going to name her, Simone?”

“I think I’ll call her, Ranger.”

When the concept of the Pets in Space anthology was first proposed, I couldn’t resist jumping onboard. It seemed like a natural fit for me. I’m an author, and I’ve had dogs all my life—along with a couple of cats, at least a half-dozen rabbits, and more fish of more varieties than I can count. As I see it, pets and people are the perfect combo. Like Trigger and Roy Rogers, Lassie and Timmy, Wilber and Fern, Angry Cat and…. Well, never mind. You see my point though, right? Like most human/pet duos, authors benefit from having someone around to comfort us when we cry after a character dies, or to celebrate with us the moment we type “The End”.

As I began to write Space Ranger, my mental picture of the story’s puppy developed. Little, round, and red. Several breeds came to mind, the first being the Rhodesian Ridgeback. But like a wedding dress, I didn’t want to settle for the first one. For the better part of a week I vacillated between Ridgebacks, red Labradors, and Redbone Coonhounds. After much research, I finally decided to make my puppy a Rhodesian Ridgeback in honor of my one-time writing companion, Indy. She was a Ridgeback-Lab mix and one of the best dogs I’ve ever had. (No, we did not name the dog Indiana. She came with that name, but we loved it so much we kept it.) Here’s a picture of Indy playing with a puppy we fostered. I wish we had better pictures of her, but she always put on her “sad face” around cameras. I don’t think she liked having her picture taken.

I’m thrilled to have given my hero and heroine—who were secondary characters from my first novel, Prophecy—full closure, and to have their story featured in the Pets in Space Anthology. This has been an opportunity for me to work with eight other SFR authors I know and respect. Having my name on the cover with them is an honor. It’s also an opportunity to support an outstanding charity, Hero-Dogs.org. I come from a military family, and it means more than words can say to be able to help out this organization of dedicated people who provide service dogs to our military veterans.

Lea Kirk loves to transport her readers to other worlds with her romances of science fiction and time travel.  She fell in love with the show, and was even known to run through her parents’ house wearing the tunic top of her red knit pantsuit and her white go-go boots pretending to be Lieutenant Uhura. By nine years old she knew she wanted to be a writer, and in her teens she read her first romance and was hooked. She lives in California with her wonderful hubby of twenty-six years and their five kids (aka, the nerd herd).

You can find out more about Lea at her website, leakirk.com, or on Facebook and Twitter.