Daughter of Discord
Things are hotting up as the new year swings in. I wish I could say the same for the weather! If you’re currently suffering in an area with subzero temperatures and heavy snow, stay warm and stay safe.
Here in Taiwan the winter monsoon has started. It rained for three days straight before stopping for a couple of hours this afternoon. Now it’s started again.
Not that I have time to be gallivanting around outside. I have far too much writing to do. I’m hoping to finish Daughter of Discord, book 1 in my Star Mage Saga by the end of the month. Apologies if you’ve been looking for snippets on my blog. I was going to post the opening paragraphs but they’re quite controversial and they may be entirely different by the time the book comes out.
Daughter of Discord is turning out to be my darkest book yet, and I’m thinking of retaining the current opening because it signals something of that darkness to the reader. However, it’s worrying to me on another level when I wonder where I get the ideas! But nothing that happens is gratuitous or only for readers’ morbid enjoyment.
When Daughter of Discord goes up for preorder at the end of the month, the prequel, Star Mage Exile will go live on Amazon. As I note at the bottom of this ship’s bulletin, this prequel will be free to you, so there’s no need to order it. If you have by mistake, you can cancel and Amazon will refund your money. You can read some snippets of that book here.
Before Star Mage Exile goes live, I want to add a great sci-fi book description. I need your help choosing the best of the three I’ve written. Please go here to choose your favourite.
But before you go, check out the book suggestions and reader giveaway on offer this week!
S.M. Schmitz and Lisa Blackwood have brought out an exciting new release called Vengeance, and Jonathan P. Brazee is dropping the price on Gladiator, book 1 in his awesome Women of the United Federation Marines series, for just 48 hours.
Vengeance
When rogue AIs steal everything that matters most, the only thing left is vengeance.
As the flagship of the Spire Empire, Vengeance is a legendary AI whose broken heart has proven his greatest battle yet. But his new telepathic link, a little girl named Hayley, finally teaches him to love again—until rogue AIs attack her planet and level her home in a storm of fire and destruction. Vengeance is left with only one hope in his potentially immortal existence: the chance to avenge his innocent link.
Twenty years later, a young engineer joins his crew, and he’s inextricably drawn to her. But the closer he tries to get to her, the harder she pushes him away. Olivia Hawthorne risks everything—her friendship with her telepathic sisters and even her life—to assume a new identity so she can serve aboard Vengeance. After suffering at the hands of rogue AIs, she should be wary of trusting one again, even her old friend. And yet, she can’t seem to stay away from him. But when rogues raid Spire colonies, Vengeance and Liv must learn to overcome the fears shackling them to the past. Because if they want to survive, they’ll have to seek vengeance together.
Pick up your copy here.
Gladiator
United Federation Marine Lance Corporal Tamara Veal catches the attention of recruiters who nominate her to serve as a Single Combat Specialist. Gladiators, as they are better known, are genetically modified human champions who meet Klethos d’relle in the combat ring when the Klethos issue a challenge for a human world. Win, and the planet stays in human possession; lose, and not only do they lose their lives, but the world as well. With the Klethos much more advanced and militarily powerful, able to defeat humanity in an all-out war, the challenge ring is the only way to retain at least some of the worlds of man.
While life as a gladiator is full of celebrity status and the gratitude of humanity, it comes with a heavy price. Not only is there the real risk of death in the ring, if a gladiator survives that, the “Brick,” or Boosted Regeneration Cancer, will claim her life within a few years.
Lance Corporal Veal, who has found a home in the Marines, has to decide whether to accept the nomination. She would have to leave her brothers and sisters in the Corps, be assigned to the combined human gladiator course, and undergo extreme genetic modification that will leave her almost unrecognizable from the woman she was before. Becoming a gladiator will enable her to serve humanity to a far greater extent than anything else she could do as a Marine grunt, but at a tremendous personal cost.
Download a copy here.
What’s Coming Up?
Lots and lots of work is what’s coming up for me. Did you pick up your free copy of Night of Flames? The first book in the series will appear in June in a box set organized by M.D. Cooper. Then book 2 will appear one month later, and book 3 one month after that!
I’m also writing a book set in his universe, as well as finishing Daughter of Discord! Arghhh. I try not to think about it. I’ll need your help writing another sci-fi book description.
On top of all that, Chinese New Year is approaching along with our family holiday. Never mind. I’m lucky to be doing what I love.
Happy reading!
P.S. Did I show you the cover art for Daughter of Discord? You can see it here.