Saturday, January 11, 2020

A Capable Woman - Snippet from ALARIK #SciFiRom for #WeWriWa



Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories. Find a new author and sample their work. Enjoy!

     I’m back after the holidays, which for me included a week in Savannah and a bout with the virus that’s been circulating through my family.
     This weekend, I’m continuing snippets from my new SciFi Romance story, ALARIK, book 4 in Taxyon Space. Earlier snippets were in Alarik’s pov, and I’m continuing with his first sight of the heroine. Phoebe Wong works in a farming complex on Mars. After Phoebe’s brother called to warn her that he was being hunted by Martian gangs, she decided to flee the planet. She has joined a group of colonists bound for a distant planet. Alarik is also on the run, as you can read in this earlier snippet - https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2019/12/alien-signals-discovered-snippet-from.html
    In this scene, Alarik, aka wealthy mining magnate Rick Kent, has been invited to observe the colonists at a training center. Everybody wants a piece of his fake asteroid of rare metals.  
     Phoebe is teaching the young colonists how to handle sheep. Sheep are a novelty. Mars only recently permitted such livestock due to the expense of feeding them.
[Please excuse the addition of semicolons to fit into 8-10 sentences.]

     One of the small sheep, a lamb, butted the legs of a girl; the child backed away, moaning in fright.
     Her face bright with laughter, the woman picked up the lamb and spoke to the youngster.
     As she cuddled the animal, her warm smile and graceful figure evoked Alarik’s admiration. A capable woman, she seemed at home with the farm animals and the children. With a pang of regret, he remembered a certain girl in his homeland; Elissa often held her tame luma in the same manner. A sweet girl, now beyond his aspirations; her parents had begun to seek another triad match even before he and Baswin had left for Earth. By now she must be united in a hexath.
     Pointing down, he asked, “Who is that woman?”
     “The one with the lamb? Phoebe Wong; she was recruited because of her veterinary experience.”

 Alarik


Blurb:
Two people fleeing their planets discover a shared destiny.
     When an alien spacecraft crashes on Mars, the repercussions sweep throughout the solar system and endanger the fragile new alliance with the Warrish mermen.  
    Alarik Kenton Tallis, First of his Triad, is forced to infiltrate human society on Earth as a spy to insure his injured brother receives proper medical care. But when his transmissions are detected, he must flee the planet.
   On Mars, Phoebe Wong, a veterinary scientist with dubious family connections, is desperate to escape the underworld gangs terrorizing the domed city. She jumps at the chance to join the colonists bound for a distant exoplanet.
    Their paths intersect on a space ferry bound for the outer planets. Trouble created by the mysterious spacecraft pursues them to Jupiter. Will they find the answers in the oceans of Europa, the hyperspace gateway to the stars protected by three diverse species?

You can preorder the book at: Amazon and Kobo 
(I plan to release it by the end of this month.)


 Europa

You can start this series for 99c
Europa, Book 1 of Taxyon Space99c at:  Amazon  iBooks  Kobo  B&N

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.

Find a catalog of my published stories HERE.
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18 comments:

  1. Very super story. Fascinating in many ways.

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    1. Thanks. It has several threads and scenes on Earth, Mars, the space ferry and Europa.

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  2. As a child, my family raised chickens. I like being around animals, but, unfortunately, that wasn't the way my life worked out. I liked the descriptions of the animals and their caregiver. It invokes feelings of peace.
    ~Cie from Naughty Netherworld Press~

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    1. Thanks. We have two cats and two dogs.
      Yes - the calm before the call to action!

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  3. He seems to appreciate women who are good with animals.

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    1. He appreciates her skills, which will become important later.

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  4. When animals like sheep are just being introduced to a world, someone with vet experience becomes a hot commodity.

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    1. Yes. It's not so easy. She'll find many of the prospective colonists are scared of these animals.

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  5. I like the background information, not too much, not too little.

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    1. Thanks. I scatter hints that Alarik likes women, although as a spy on Earth he must hide his gills.

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  6. Some things are universal, I gather from the snippet, which I very much enjoyed!

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    1. The first hint of attraction, although she doesn't meet him until the next chapter.

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  7. As an animal lover this grabbed my attention! I can understand how people who've had no contact with animals, even small ones, would be quite nervous of them. This scene really came to life for me!

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    1. Thank you. I appreciate your knowledgeable perspective.

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  8. Nice juxtaposition of memory and present interest to bring her to his attention.

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    1. Thank you. A hint of backstory and a foreshadowing.

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  9. Adding a vet to the story adds interesting possibilities for including animals. How cool that would be--to get to introduce animals to a new world!

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    1. Well, it's not so simple. They'll transport frozen embryos, but can't revive animals until they have enough grain to feed them.

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