Saturday, September 23, 2017

Meet him on Europa? Snippet for #WeWriWa #SciFi Adventure & Romance

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories.

I’m posting snippets from my WIP set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa.

Current Tag line: What alien creatures lurk under the ice crust of Europa?

Here are the next few lines of Chapter one. Dr. Nikki Bell is traveling to Europa to study the alien life in the ocean. Alarms rang on her spaceship and she has raced to the lifepod. Nobody else is there.  
It’s not a final version and any suggestions will be especially appreciated.
I’ve altered punctuation to fit.

A groan from Roy, and negative shakes of the head from the other two confirmed her suspicions: they were the only ones to reach this lifepod.
Clamping down her fears, Nikki took charge. She pointed at Alita, “Get Roy a pain killer and find a bandage for his arm; he’ll need help with his suit.” 
“What about Karl? Can’t we wait?” Alita whispered.
She silenced Alita’s faint objections, “Karl is probably in a lifepod in the next section. We’ll meet him on Europa.” Once they launched from the ship, their target was obvious. They were close to their destination and the lifepod had enough fuel to reach Europa.
“Does anyone know what happened to the ferry?” Petris asked.

Blurb
Dr. Nikki Bell’s plan to discover intelligent life in the oceans of Europa hits a rocky start when her spaceship crashes on the icy surface. Seconds before she blacks out, she spies a man’s face in the water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the submarine Station, nobody believes her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger saved her life, Nikki searches for him while she explores the ocean and its alien inhabitants. 
Kiron Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a remote outpost to redeem his family’s honor. He never expected to find an attractive Earther woman close to death. He violates the prime policy by rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he strives to warn her about his hostile leaders.
Nikki’s second meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s perilous oceans. Can they overcome deadly aquatic predators and their people’s antagonism to forge a new alliance?   
          Book 1 in a new series – I’m still debating the name.

My promotion starts on Monday
 Cat

FREE 25-26: Grand Master’s Cat: Short Prequel to the Grand Master’s Trilogy
When Grand Master Griffin investigates a wrecked spacecraft, his efforts to rescue the survivors lead to feline disruptions of his plans.

As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments.
Please return to www.wewriwa.com to sample the works of the other writers. 

 Mt Books



22 comments:

  1. I'm really enjoying these snippets, I have a feeling she might not be quite as confident as she makes out about Karl's safety though.

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    1. She wants to calm Alita. Not everybody will survive.

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  2. That last might be a good question. If the ferry was attacked, they're at risk in the life pod.

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    1. Interesting idea. This is a regular ferry trip and they don't expect an attack.

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  3. So many questions, and they won't know the answers until they get to Europa. Very intriguing! :)

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  4. The urgency of their need to flee in the life pod comes through clearly!

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  5. Can't wait to read this, seems like a classic high stakes scifi adventure! Enjoyed the snippet...

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    1. It's drama at every turn. I'm just smoothing out a couple of chapters near the end.

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  6. From the tagline, this seems like the kind of SF story that, if it were made into a movie, would be a horror flick. One little suggestion: could she spare a fleeting thought for her lost crew members? I know there isn't time for a big memoriam, but even a little care for them (at some point, if not here) might make her more sympathetic.

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    1. She does a little later during the flight to Europa. Also, Alita accuses her of not caring about people, and we learn why she damps her emotions.
      Some people react to disaster by cracking jokes.

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  7. It's rough when you've got to get to your destination, but you don't have your full crew or any backup.

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    1. The lifepod can make it. They'll see the damage to the ship shortly.

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  8. Uh oh. I wonder what happened to the ferry too.

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  9. Hopefully Karl is where he's supposed to be!

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    1. Not everyone will survive. This story has several deaths in accidents, and a murder.

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  10. This is so interesting, as all your books are, Aurora! I'm in the middle of reading the rest of the Grand Master's series. Working my way through until I read your other books as well. Europa sounds exciting to say the least.

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