25 May 2012

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday



Read snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.com

Snippet from my WiPpet
The Girls From Alcyone II: Vengeance


This Week: Oh, it's so exciting! In this scene, a mysterious fighter craft plummets out of control toward the surface of a mysterious world (it's all very mysterious). Will the pilot survive this plunge to certain death? Who is she? What is she up to? I don't know!! 
  

The engines of the aging Junco fighter sputtered to life, only to die once again. Five more alarms sounded in the small cockpit. Brilliant ambers and reds blazed across the pilot's heads-up-display, very nearly blinding her in the process. The ground was rushing up quickly now, all too eager to greet the freely-tumbling fighter-craft.
"Shit," the pilot said.
"Did you try the choke?" an infuriatingly-calm voice said over the com. "Maybe we can give you a jump start—a good, old-fashioned push."
"Not now, Chloe—I'm a little busy."
"And no crashing my fighter. I'm not at all happy about what you did to my carrier."
"Yes, Chloe."
"If you crash, I'm going to make you go back to calling me Admiral—or Commodore. Er, something important sounding!"
The pilot rolled her eyes, unseen behind the shining and mirrored faceplate of her helmet. "I'll see you on the ground, Chloe."

24 May 2012

The Quality Times Blog Tour






















First of all, a big ‘thank you’ to Cary for hosting me on his blog today.
I’d like to introduce you all to Quality Times, star of my new ‘Quality Times’ series. She’s an English lass who’s a bit ballsy, a bit snarky and, most important of all, flawed.
She’s not some buxom, drop-dead gorgeous, kick-ass heroine who can handle a laser gun as easily as she can handle men. No, she’s mildly attractive (though, as that old chestnut goes, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’), can be stroppy and selfish, at times, and as you can find out from The Whispering Tombs novella, she’s not the best at piloting a space ship.
In short, and I suppose I’m directing this next bit at the males, as well as the females, Quality represents you and me. She’s an everyday person who just happens to be able to travel through time and space. A genius Timelord, she is not.
If she found herself face to face with a villain, she’d fight them purely out of the fact they’d start attacking her first. Self-preservation would kick in. In her mind, when she is faced with anything dangerous or scary, her inner thoughts read like this - ‘ohshitohshitohshitohshit’.
That’s not to say she’s a coward of Arnold Rimmer-like proportions (a character from UK sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf). After all, she does stand up to [SPOILERS] in The Whispering Tombs, but, let’s face it, most of us would be crapping ourselves if faced by some scary and deadly situations she finds herself in.
Here’s an example of another thing that many of us can relate to - speaking before thinking. Quality embarrasses herself here, much to the delight of her travelling associate, Tim.
‘What about the rest of the boxes,’ I asked, heading in their direction. The sweat on Qez glistened in the light.
‘We only really need the monitor and my little gadget,’ Qez explained. ‘If we do find anything, Tim and I can come back and get the rest of the stuff.’
‘Or I could help you,’ I offered, as casually as I could.
The hot blue humanoid grinned. ‘Thanks, but I wouldn’t want you to injure yourself,’ he replied.
‘Yeah, you want me fit for later, don’t you, you sexy... police siren.’
Oh shit, I’d said that out loud.
His dark blue eyebrows shot up in surprise, his grin disappearing almost as quickly. I wasn’t sure whether to try to talk my way out of the embarrassment or wait until we came across one of the tombs and put myself in it. Thankfully, Bob came to my rescue and began discussing some technical stuff with Qez. Tim wandered over to me, smirking.
‘Whoops,’ he said in a hushed tone.
‘At least I didn’t melt Barbie,’ I retorted.
‘Sorry, that doesn’t really compare. I mean, police siren? Okay, I get the blue reference, but is that the best you can come up with?’
‘I meant the other type of siren,’ I said, thinking fast. ‘Y’know, the mythical ones.’
He furrowed his brow, thinking. ‘What, the ones who seduce sailors and lure them to their watery deaths?’
‘Oh... shut up, Timothy.’
‘No, I don’t think I will. This is fun.’
To celebrate the release of The Whispering Tombs, I’ve giving away an ebook copy to a random commenter. All you have to do is comment and tell me which fictional character you can relate to, and why. The winner will be picked on the 3rd June, after the blog tour ends, and will be sent a coupon code for Smashwords, where you’ll be able to download the book in the format of your choice. Don’t forget to leave your email address with your comment.


BLURB
Meet Quality Times, just your average 21st century woman who happens to own a shrinkable time machine. Along on her intergalactic adventures is Tim, a self-confessed sci-fi geek who takes everything in his stride.
In 'The Whispering Tombs', Quality and Tim are residing at the luxurious Baala Haven Resort, on an unpronounceable planet, when they're invited on a quest to find ancient hidden treasure by a wealthy alien archaeologist. Reaching the caves of Azrokaran, however, loyalties are tested to the very limits as those within the group reveal their true colours.
A light-hearted mix of science fiction, adventure and humour.
(British spelling) 
BIO
Gayle Ramage is a writer, living in the Scottish lowlands. She would love to grow her own TARDIS if only to go back in time to find out if her ancestors were as mad as she is.
LINKS

20 May 2012

My Interview With Patrick Stutzman

Today I'm posting my interview with Patrick Stutzman, fellow contributor to Science-Fiction Fantasy Saturday, and author of the newly released novel, Alone On The Edge.


First, let me congratulate you on the release of your new and very entertaining novel, Alone on the Edge. I know you're not new to writing, but if I'm not mistaken AOTE is your first novel. So, how does it feel to have your first novel 'in the can,' as they say, and out in the public eye? Was the experience what you thought it would be, or chalk-full of scary surprises?

Thank you! My first thought on my novel being published is, “It’s about time!” I started writing AotE back in 2009 and started looking to get it published since the latter part of 2010. I know that some people had tried for a lot longer than a year to get their book published. Despite all of that, I am glad to finally have the book out, so other people can read and hopefully enjoy it.
Making my first independent book available to the public was a bit scary. One never knows how people will accept it. Will they like it? Will they think I’m a hack and laugh me out of the business? These thoughts probably run through any new author’s head, but I know they were in mine. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the people that had read it actually liked it.
I just found out you are actually an award-winning writer (you won the ENnie Award for your work on the Star Wars: Clone Wars Campaign Guide Sourcebook). This is pretty cool on many counts; just the fact that you're involved with anything Star Wars, not to mention that you're listed in the Star Wars Wookiepedia. So, do tell, how did you get involved in writing guides for Star Wars gaming, and how does it feel to be an award-winning writer?
Dumb luck, to be perfectly honest! I went to Gen Con 2005 to whore myself to any gaming company that would take me as a freelance game designer. I was accepted into the freelance pool for Wizards of the Coast and The Game Mechanics. I found out later that the game lines produced by Wizards (d20 Modern, d20 Future) were not producing any more materials, so I started to lose hope. But, I received a call in May 2007 (Yes, I had to wait almost 2 years!) from my liaison stating that she had a new assignment for a new version of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. I couldn’t accept it fast enough!
As for being an award-winning author, I don’t feel any different. The Clone Wars Campaign Guide was only my second book. And even though my name is on the cover, I was working along with game-designing superstar, JD Wiker. I am under the impression that the book won the award due to his talents, not mine.
AOTE has a very interesting premise - a lone woman, trapped on a space station for years with only a computer for company. What kind of challenges did this present to you as a writer?
The biggest challenge I faced with writing using that premise was making sure that she didn’t go insane from being by herself for an extended period of time. I had to make sure that the computer could provide enough social interaction for her to satisfy that basic psychological need for her. At the same time, I had to limit what the computer could do. I can’t make it too easy for her!
Well, we now know you've written for Star Wars, but have you ever written for any other mediums (film? TV? Comics)? If not, is this something you've ever considered?
To date, I have not written for film or TV. I have written a couple of plays in the past and took a workshop in writing screenplays for the Star Trek franchise, so writing screenplays shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. If the opportunity presents itself, I wouldn’t mind giving it a shot.
What was the first thing that drew you to Science Fiction? Have you ever considered writing in any other genres?
Like many science fiction writers/artists nowadays, my first exposure and attractor to the genre was Star Trek. You can blame James T. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the entire crew of the Enterprise for getting me involved.
Funny that you should mention other genres! I have written some fantasy pieces in the past and wouldn’t mind doing so again. I also have a scifi/horror story waiting in the wings.
Now that you're writing your second novel, which did you find easier, writing the first or the second?
Technically speaking, I’m currently working on my third novel, but who’s counting? Comparing the first and second books, the second one was a little more difficult. My main character is out of her element, so I had to determine how she would react. Also, I introduced several characters in it, so I was juggling about a half dozen more personalities while writing it. Fortunately, I have experience as a dungeon master!
Last question. Like me, you've chosen to go the self-publishing route. Was there ever a time you considered releasing AOTE through a regular publishing house? I'm always curious about this, because I know, in my case, that I never even considered sending out my MS to anyone. Self-publishing just seemed like the best possible route. 
In fact, my first choice was to try to release AotE through a regular publishing house via a literary agent. I wanted to try to get my story out to as many people as I possibly could and figured that going that route was my chance of doing so. Every agent and publisher to which I presented my book rejected it, which was odd to me since everyone I know that had read it absolutely loved it. With no other option beside shelving it and running the risk of it never getting public exposure, I decided to self-publish.
Looking back and knowing what I know now about the publishing houses, I wonder why I didn’t consider self-publishing sooner. Sure, I don’t have a lot of exposure, but that may come with time and a little more PR work.


Blurb about the book: Alone On The Edge

After accepting a job as a robotic engineer that sends her to a mining station at the edge of explored space, Anna Foster finds that her position is not what she expects and must adjust to life as the only living being aboard, struggling to keep her sanity while a relentless computer lords over her existence. Through all this, she discovers a secret that could prove to be the key to her freedom.


18 May 2012

Science-Fiction Fantasy Saturday



Read snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.com

Snippet from my WiPpet
The Girls From Alcyone II: Vengeance
For those not familiar with TGfA, here's the premise in a nutshell: Taken from her home as a young girl, Sigrid Novak is one of a select and highly trained group of genetically (and bionically) enhanced girls. Both hunted and coveted (as a military asset and scientific curiosity), Sigrid and her friends have fled the Federation to make a new life for themselves on a secret and distant planet (a secret that, perhaps, won't stay secret for long). 



This Week: Continuing last week's snip, still at the pub, some navy-boys have just bought the girls a round of drinks when Christian spies another admirer.
  


"Looks like they're not the only ones who want to buy you girls a drink," Christian said. "Check it outvery hot package at four o'clock."
Sigrid had to crane her neck, frustrated as she tried to peek around the patrons standing in her way. And then she saw her—the woman from the promenade. The woman in green.
She was seated at a table, and alone. She had changed her clothes, but she was still dressed in green; tailored green jacket, matching skirt with warm woolen leggings, leather boots—dyed green, of course. Only her lips were of a different color, painted a brilliant, deep crimson. Her shoulder-length brown hair framed a pair of deep-set emerald eyes—eyes that were fixed directly on Sigrid. The look was penetrating, brazen.
The woman raised her glass, bowed her head.
"Now, I saw that!" Christian declared.
Apparently Suko had too. She half-rose from her seat in the booth. "Hey…!"

4 May 2012

Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday




Read snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.com

Snippet from my WiPpet
The Girls From Alcyone II: Vengeance
For those not familiar with TGfA, here's the premise in a nutshell: Taken from her home as a young girl, Sigrid Novak is one of a select and highly trained group of genetically (and bionically) enhanced girls. Both hunted and coveted (as a military asset and scientific curiosity), Sigrid and her friends have fled the Federation to make a new life for themselves on a secret and distant planet (a secret that, perhaps, won't stay secret for long). 



This Week: Continuing last week's snip, fresh from an afternoon in the shops, the girls hit the pub. Suko is about to place their drink order when Christian stops her.
  

"Hang on. You don't just order an ale, like it's a pail of water," Christian said. "We're in civilized space—they serve fourteen different kinds here."

"There are kinds?" Sigrid said, amazed.

"What about me!" Leta said, feeling forgotten. "I want one too."
Suko placed a hand on her hip, the other on her chin, tapping her finger and making a great show, as if considering what to get the girl. "Good question. What do you think, Karen? What does a girl like Leta drink?"
"Definitely a martini," Karen said.
Leta seemed pleased by that. "Sounds perfect—what's a martini?"

Suko spun on her heels, her colorful new dress twirling about her hips; Sigrid wasn't the only one taking note, as Suko's passing caused several heads to turn.
Even Christian sat up a little straighter. "Wow, you really can see her—"
Karen elbowed him hard in the side. "I know. You can't tell her, though—she'll be mortified!"