Welcome
to the SFR Brigade May Showcase!
For this month’s showcase and near the third
anniversary of my indie author career, I’ll return to an older book, A Tale of
Two Colonies. The idea for this story was conceived a couple of decades ago,
although I did not complete and publish the book until 2014. This tale about colonization
of an exoplanet with glimpses of different dystopia is now available at several
retailers.
Blurb
Fight for freedom. Fight to survive - For
refugees from an overcrowded Earth, dreams of a better life on an alien planet
transform into a terrifying battle for survival.
Nothing will stand in the way of Tiger
Lily's dream of escaping the
subterranean slums of Terra and visiting the stars.
She enters the fierce competition for a place in the scout team on the next
spaceship to the remote planet of Delta, where an earlier colony disappeared.
Before the ship departs, the arrival of a mysterious
message from Delta suggests that the descendants of the first colonists may
have survived.
A risky mission to seek the lost colony
exposes the scouts to unexpected attacks, and they encounter a grim warrior in
the isolated valley. Has Tiger Lily met her match in the tortured man? Is he
leading them to safety or further danger? And who are the real rulers of this strange
world?
Here is an excerpt
with the heroine on the dystopian Earth she will soon leave.
Lily strode through the
grimy subterranean passages to her tiny room, flushed with the success of her
performance and indifferent to the hunched figures of the silent passersby. She
ignored the group of five ragged youths lounging idly at the corner, until they
moved deliberately in her direction.
“Out alone!” one man
jeered, clearly believing her to be vulnerable.
“We’ll give you a good
time!” another man called with vulgar intentions, reaching out to grab her arm.
She swiveled rapidly,
punching him below the belt. He collapsed with a moan.
Two others advanced
angrily on her. She leaped at them, aiming a vicious kick. Her target crumpled
in agony, clutching at his groin. The third man hesitated, unluckily for him.
Her fist thudded against his jaw and he sagged to the ground, unconscious.
One of the two youths, who
had hung behind well out of the action, shouted, “Watch out! It’s Tiger Lily. I
saw her fight in the arena.”
The other man called,
“She’s big trouble! Let’s get out of here!”
On the new
planet of Delta, her scout team meets the hero and hostile natives.
While the others were
resting, Lily wandered off to examine a rocky outcrop where she had caught a
glimpse of red among the rocks. When she reached the outcrop, nothing was
visible. She paused and stared up at the forbidding grey sky.
Suddenly, her leg was
pulled from under her. Screaming, she toppled to the ground. Huge chitinous
jaws trapped her leg, dragging her toward a red gaping mouth. She twisted
around, wedged her knife between the jaws, and wrestled the blade from side to
side, trying to loosen the grip on her leg. A needle-like tail arched down
toward her helpless struggling body.
In a rush of air, Conley leaped and
slashed his sword through the menacing tail, catching the severed end in his
other hand. Standing astride the crumpled body of the dangerous creature, he sliced
through its narrow neck.
Lily sighed in admiration. He looked magnificent, like
a tall, medieval knight brandishing a heavy sword.
My latest release:
Pre-order for $3.99 and releases on May
15th
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