Category Archives: Science Fiction Romance

Science Fiction Romance

Pets in Space Guest Blog by Cara Bristol: Spark of Attraction

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Pets in Space is a brand new science fiction romance anthology in which I and eight other authors have stories about – pets in space!

We authors are trading blog posts . . . and here Cara Bristol tells us about her story.

 

Memory: intact. Cognitive function: enhanced. Emotion: erased.

After becoming a cyborg, Captain Dante Stone didn’t think he’d ever feel again, until a traumatized young woman and a ball of synthetic fur named Sparky helped him to love.

Spark of Attraction is a science fiction romance between the captain of military warship and a young woman, an archivist for New Utopia. Aliens attacked the New Utopian settlement, killing most of the colonists. As the nearest spaceship, the Crimson Hawk responded to distress call and rescued the remaining survivors.

Miranda’s sole possession is a cute-as-a button robotic dog named Sparky. He has electrically charged teeth and bites the captain when Miranda first meets him. The romance is short and sweet with a touch of heat and an HEA, but the ending is suspenseful and action-packed. I guarantee readers will be surprised.

If you can honestly say you are not surprised by the ending of Spark of Attraction, email me at carabristol50 (at) yahoo (dot) com and tell me what happens at the end of book, and I’ll post a picture on my blog of me dressed as an alien. (Note these restrictions: saying the hero/heroine end up together does not count as “the ending.” Spark of Attraction is a romance; there’s going to be an HEA. That is not the surprise. This challenge expires Oct. 30, 2016.)

An excerpt from Spark of Attraction, Pets in Space

 “Sparky, no!” Miranda grabbed her robotic dog and tried to pull him off the captain. This was awful. Stone would airlock him for sure. “Release, Sparky, release!” she cried, but the companion-model robot hung on. “Let go!”

The captain bent, and gripping the dog’s upper and lower jaws, began to pry its mouth open with his bare hands.

“Don’t hurt Sparky!” He was all she had left, and the captain could break him, dislocate his jaw.

“Hurt him?” He peered up at her. “Might I remind you its teeth are imbedded in my leg?”

She reached under the collar for the power switch on the dog’s nape. He jerked, released the captain’s ankle, and fell over. Still. Silent. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized, wringing her hands. “He’s programmed to protect me, and he perceived you as a threat.” Maybe if she’d explained at the start her dog was a canine artificial intelligence model, all of this could have been avoided—but at the captain’s edict, she had panicked.

She scooped him up and clutched him protectively to her chest, stroking his soft synthetic fur. He looked and acted so lifelike, sometimes she forgot he was a robot. They’d have to eject her from the ship before she’d allow them to remove him. If they put him on a pod, how could she be sure she’d get him back?

He hadn’t been bothering anything.

Well, not until he bit the captain.

If Stone’s eyes had been cold before, they were positively flinty now. She’d never seen such a dark scowl.

Blood stained his pants leg, and he pulled it up to reveal a lacerated ankle. For all its small size, the K9-500 had a jaw like a vise and sharp metal teeth. If the bot had attacked a human, the damage could have been severe. Rumor had it Dante Stone was a cyborg, a computer-enhanced human with biomimetic parts. She’d heard cyborgs were immune to pain and practically indestructible.   cara_illo

“I’m sorry,” she repeated. “It doesn’t hurt much, though, right?”

“Of course, it hurts!” he snapped. “Why would you think it doesn’t?”

“Don’t you have those nano thingees?”

Her fellow colonists were staring, watching the interchange, waiting to see what would happen. Would the captain toss her into the brig? Airlock poor Sparky?

USA Today bestselling author Cara Bristol has written more than twenty-five books, which include two science fiction romance series: the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance cyborg series and Breeder.

You can contact Cara at carabristol50 at yahoo dot com. To learn more about her books, visit her Website or subscribe to her newsletter.

 

Science Fiction Romance

Pets in Space Guest Blog by Lea Kirk: Why This Story

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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.

lea_indy-and-myrtle2

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.

 

Science Fiction Romance

Pets in Space Guest Blog by Laurie Green: How to Create the Perfect Mascot

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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 October 11, so this month, we’re trading blog posts . . . and here is how SFR author Laurie Green invented the pet.

 

When I first hopped onboard the Pets in Space Anthology, I already had an idea brewing for the “pet” element of my story. I’d been kicking around the concept of a future heroine having her own space companion, a ship’s mascot that I affectionately dubbed “space weasel.”

I saw space weasel as an evolved version of a weasel/mongoose we know today. Her job on the ship would be to eradicate any sort of pest that invaded, because let’s face it, the infestation of a starship—an enclosed biosphere contained within an infinite vacuum–could lead to some very bad things!

As I began to develop the story, I realized the creature would have to be more than just a space weasel. I’d need to carefully assemble an eradicator-extraordinaire.

So how do you “build” a superior starship exterminator? One that can infiltrate a vessel’s hidden spaces to tackle rats, mice, gophers, snakes, grasshoppers, wasps, tribbles…well, maybe not tribbles—cuteness overload! But seriously, what DNA ingredients could be mixed and matched by an ambitious biohack to create the perfect pest eliminator?

Hmmm. Let’s take a closer look at that.

Yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata), also known as the red meerkat. Wildlife animal.
Yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata), also known as the red meerkat, Wikipedia

First off, maybe incorporating the attributes of the space weasel is a pretty good idea. The bravado, quickness and natural venom-resistance of a mongoose [ info link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose ], for one.  Mongooses are fierce hunters of the Herpestidae family, best known for protecting households in India from the deadly cobra as made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s much-loved short story Rikki Tikki Tavi from The Jungle Book. They also actively hunt rats, scorpions, frogs and lizards. Definitely a prime candidate for a ship’s mascot, don’t you think? Some mongooses grow to three feet long (though half of that is tail) and would be too bulky to chase down pests in some of the smaller conduits and ducts of a starship. We need DNA from one of the smaller foot-long species to whip up the ideal creature.

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Least Weasel, Wikipedia

Next up, the quick and nimble weasel [ info link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel ]which are also closely related to ferrets, mink and otters. With their long, slender bodies and smaller 6-8 inch size, they can follow small prey right into their burrows, and are also big consumers of rodents. I think we’d definitely want these qualities combined into our pest terminator.

We’d also want loyalty and trainability traits so they could work side-by-side with the crew and obey commands. This mascot would definitely need to be part–and maybe a lot—canine. But not all canine phenotypes would be well-suited for shipboard life. Some are too large. Some were bred to do very different things. Though many are hunters, their specialty is fowl. What sort of canine genetics and body type might work best folded into mongoose and weasel DNA? That answer was literally right at my feet. Dachshund! Dachshunds were bred with short legs and long bodies so they could pursue badgers and rabbits down into their burrows. Since two of the miniature long-haired variety are a big part of my life, they loaned not only some of their DNA to the mix, but also one of their names.  🙂

Last, but certainly not least, we’d need to include some traits to make for a very easy-care animal. After all, this girl is going to live on a spaceship. It’s not like she can be taken out for a walk! She’d need the natural instincts to be litter-trained along with the superior predatory skills of a house cat. Our last ingredient is feline DNA.

And now we have the perfect creature. A loyal, affection, easily-trained, nimble, venom-immune, superior vermin hunter who is small enough to fit comfortably on her master’s shoulder or invade the infrastructure of a space vessel in search of trouble.

We have a StarDog!

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StarDog drawn by Nyssa Juneau

 

 

About the Story StarDog

Navigator Taro Shall has a mission no one wants – find a way to eradicate snakes on a starship. He never expects to find the answer to his problem in a charming street vendor named Adini. His already unusual mission becomes more complicated when he suddenly acquires an adorable StarDog that soon sweeps him and Adini into the maw of a brewing insurrection.

Laurie A. Green is a three-time RWA Golden Heart® finalist, an award-winning author, and a science fiction romance enthusiast who founded the SFR Brigade community of writers, which is now nearly 900 members strong.

Website:          http://www.laurieagreen.com/

Facebook:        https://www.facebook.com/Laurie-A-Green-139849829386292/

Twitter:           https://twitter.com/SFRLaurie

Twitter Handle:           @SFRLaurie

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Science Fiction Romance

Guest Blog by Carysa Locke: Why Pets in Space is a Project Close to My Heart

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Pets in Space is a brand new science fiction romance anthology in which I and eight other authors have stories about – pets in space!

Release date is October 11, so this month, we’re trading blog posts . . . and here is how one SFR author came to this project.

carysa-locke-blog-post-1I grew up on a farm. We raised our own beef, I was actively involved in 4-H, and grew up in and around livestock and horse barns. I enjoyed all animals, but horses were my biggest love. Long before I had my own, I rode them every chance I got. At my best friend’s farm down the road, at my Aunt’s house up in Washington, at every fair I could con my parents into taking me to. (In the picture with this post, I am riding my Aunt’s horse. I begged and begged to be allowed to on this visit. I still remember the joy I felt when they said yes.) I read every horse book I could get my hands on, and I was obsessed with The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley.

In some ways, my love of horses is what drew me into loving books, and what set me onto this path to becoming a writer. That love has never gone away, and although it has been many years since I’ve ridden, I still find horses to be among the most majestic animals on this earth. My dream is to retire to the country one day, on another farm. Maybe a little less and busy than the one I grew up on, but still a place with dogs, cats, chickens, maybe a few goats. And horses, of course.

Animals have made their way very into my telepathic space pirates universe in a big way. I have an entire planet populated with animals called kith, who are every bit as intelligent and talented as their human sidekicks. When the opportunity to join the Pets in Space anthology came along, it was right up my alley. The perfect project, really. The hard part came in deciding which of my imaginary pets would make the cut to be included. I hope you all enjoy reading about Ember and her human, Teegan, as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Anything that can be done to raise awareness for rescue animals, or to aid organizations that train animals to be companions for humans in need, is a great thing to be a part of. I’m proud to be involved with Pets in Space, and so excited to share my story, Escape Run, with everyone.

Here is a small teaser, introducing part of my universe:

Colonies grew into independent worlds with politics of their own. Empires rose and fell. Wars broke out between systems. Humans enhanced to be more were drafted as soldiers. Some empires turned to cloning to boost their numbers. Others relied on biotech that made people more than human. And the Talented were created: humans biologically enhanced with powerful psychic abilities that made them gods on the battlefield. Men and women designed to kill with a thought, to hunt specific targets, and find them anywhere in the universe.

But eventually, all wars end.

Carysa Locke is the pseudonym for writing team Carysa Locke and MaLea Holt, two best friends who have been creating imaginary worlds together for more than twenty years. The worlds they write in exist first as roleplaying games, where much of the bare bones of world building and character development take place. Carysa is a high school English teacher, and MaLea helps support families with special needs children. You might say, they work as super heroes in their day jobs!

www.carysalocke.com

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