Golly, I've been Naughty

 So my latest release had a nude couple covered by plants and strategic arms. NOT. ENOUGH. It got dinged on FB. So, as the owner of a gazillion stock photos(and always looking for more) I made a new one! 

It's much darker, not sure if I like it. Dark seems to be 'in' for covers. No monster though. My hero is a handsome humanoid with a few lizard scales. Note the high necklines, lol. Take that, FB!

Pardblood will be compiled into a book soon, hopefully by Mother's Day! Freebie for Newsletter Friends and Melisse Aire's Lair, wide elsewhere. Eventually I will put it in Kindle Unlimited.

 

The Pard feline aliens are planned for two more books in the Far Stars Series. One is Eloped on an Alliance World. Two University students of mixed alien ancestry travel to an Alliance World for a competition and become refugees. Their homeworld is a Shen colony, and the Shen don't care much for mixed races. An Instalove romance. My hero is Pard but knows nothing of his family, which is a bit of a problem! 

The other book with a Pard hero is Acacia's romance (she is a character in Stranded on Grzbt). No title yet,(uh, Acacia's Story is the WIP) but Acacia is on the bridge crew of her ship and gets swept up in a massive alien slaver raid on Earth.

An excerpt from Pardblood!

 Pardblood is the scifantasy romance I've been sharing on my newsletter. It is almost ready for publication!

Excerpt: 

“May I see Jax’s inheritance documents?” Prenna asked.

“Certainly. I will copy them to a secure tablet and bring it tomorrow. I doubt your personal tablet has the type of security required. But here, let’s sit on the sofa and I will show you the highlights.”

She sat next to Dahr and he increased his screen size.

“Jax has inherited the Starlighter line in addition to the Starfire inheritance from his father. Since our relations with Parda are so precarious right now, it will take a while to find out about the inheritances. I do believe he may own significant holdings on Parda. There may be old family documents on Parda you might enjoy reading, Madam.”

He tapped on the screen. “Your sister tracked her Pardblood when she married Starfire, but no information is now available. Just the record that she did an inheritance test and history.”

He brought up a chart, an inheritance document. “This is the best we could find, and it is incomplete. But it is possible Jax Starfire is heir to the T-h-r-o-n-e of Parda,” he spelled with a glance at the boys, whowere too engrossed in the animal story  to pay any attention to the adults.

“I realized this at the bank when the account manager handed me documents of ancient holdings on Parda. You could be a duchess, also, according to what we know of the Starlighters.”

“My grandmother was a schoolteacher and her mother was a maid.”

“A maid who eloped with a high ranking Parda diplomat. A Starlighter.”

He looked at the giggling Maxen and Jax. “There may come a day when your Parda inheritance could be important. For instance, we know that the Starfire clan is of high importance in their world. So was Starlighter. Lumina chose a path of isolation in recent years, but I think those politics are waning. Our worlds were stronger when we were united.”

She frowned in thought. “Do you plan to travel there? To Parda?”

“I plan to investigate such a journey. It is not something to rush into.”

The boys were suddenly paying attention to the adults, not the vid.

Maxen grinned. “I want to, Mom. We could go on a spaceship!” Jax nodded his head vigorously.

Dahr smiled at the boys. “I will see what we can do. I have to promise your mother any journey would be safe.”

The boys nodded, eyes shining. “Wow, and we get to live in a castle too!” Maxen said, eyes huge.

“Indeed.” Lord Vhirandal grinned. “With hunds and dragos.”

 

New Release!

 About six weeks ago I had an accident and tore up some stuff and strained a quad. A couple of days in the hospital and I was sent home with a brace and a walker. So discouraging after two knee replacements! I was about as mobile as following a knee replacement, too. I am much better, but still using a cane.

I decided to put off the edits on my upcoming release until I could concentrate better. Did I mention we had a whopping huge blizzard with over 30 inches of snow?

Finally! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2LTMSPS

 This romance takes place on the planet Jewel, the one my couple flee from in HER CYBORG AWAKES!

A Bit About Ursa

 Ursa is my heroine in the upcoming book, Her Rogue Cyborg. I thought I'd introduce her.

My release was delayed because I blew out my knee the weekend  before last. I don't need surgery, but do need to rest it. I was at the final picky edit stage and just didn't feel mentally sharp!

 

 

Excerpt:

 Ursa opened up her tablet while she waited for a ficvid to start. Her stomach roiled and she swallowed hard. Acting up again. Soon she might have to retreat to her pod, with the small toilet. She nibbled on a salty snack, since eating seemed to help.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled out her tablet and opened the book, Pregnancy in the Modern Age.

 
“Congratulations! You have chosen to experience one of the most profound biological activities in all of human experience. In this age of artificial wombs, you have made an honorable, almost noble, decision to carry a baby to term.” 

Ursa decided to carry the embryos of her fallen friends herself instead of using a birthing womb. That way she could afford the deluxe colonist land package in an optimum location. Her neos would be raised in a small agricolony with fresh air, outdoor activities, and home-grown food. 

It was expensive, taking all of her considerable combat bonuses as a Striker in the Alliance Guard, but she liked the idea of living somewhere with fresh air and sunshine. Living in a dome on New Prague wasn’t appealing. She didn’t want to work in manufacturing. Or try to survive on the New Prague rainforest continent, though she had considered it. It would have worked if it was just her, but she would have two infants to raise.

 
Somehow, she had assumed she would breeze through pregnancy. Her body was fit, strong and graceful, always capable of doing what she wanted or needed to do as a soldier. She had not expected the debilitating nausea and vomiting. The profound exhaustion. Having rarely had as much as a sniffle, she felt betrayed by her body.  Her mother had been Puregen, and Ursa had always been viewed as another New Prague Puregen. She had always thought she’d received her mother’s perfected genetics.
 

Maybe not.

Accidental Me

 

Last weekend I went out to get the mail and walked through my yard, looking for crocuses. The grass is full of sticks. I lost my balance and grabbed the fence. Thought the stairs seemed a little hard.

An hour later (we ate dinner) my knee swelled so much it shutdown my quad muscle and pushed the patella out of place. No standing or walking for me! Also, real pain!

Two days of anti-inflammatory IV meds, ice, and painkillers in the hospital, a PT modified a knee brace for me and I could walk the ten stairs to my house door with a walker.

My book, Her Rogue Cyborg, that I planned to release right before St Patty's Day, was in the final, picky read through stage. I decided to put it off for a week or two. One thing about walkers and canes— they are hard on old hands! And I am not feeling mentally sharp. Streaming movies, reading, and doing 'fun' writing (fiddling with story ideas) are within my capabilities right now.  One story idea is a bit of  The Golden Girls in space, lol.

Take care, everyone!

It Won't Be Long!

 Her Rogue Cyborg is with my editor, so it will be a March Release!  No exact date because I am still struggling with some stuff, but March!! Join my newsletter for the release blast!    https://sendfox.com/melisseaires

Blurb:

After ten grueling years in the military and losing her two best friends, Ursa just wants to raise her fallen friend’s children in peace. She and the twins she carries are on their way to New Allyn, an agricultural colony. But fate has other plans when she boards an old freighter. 

Two men of mixed Terran and Zh Cle’ heritage are arrested for smuggling, and one of them drops a data chip in her lap with a flirtatious wink. Rhys and his brother were mistaken for relatives and are released from custody. Rhys comes for his chip, which has family data on it, and helps Ursa, who is not handling the freighter’s gravity flux well. The freighter has unusual modifications, according to Rhys’ spy nanos. 

The ship leaves its planned route and crashes on a Seeded World similar to Terra. 

Ursa, Rhys, and his younger brother manage to escape in a transport ship before 

the crash and meet a group of young survivors. As they struggle to survive, their 

attraction to each other grows stronger and might be something deeper.

Cyborg Harvesters arrive to capture and process them into cyborgs. Rhys and others

 in their group are captured by Harvesters. Rhys believes he and others of 

Zh Cle’ ancestry are immune to the mind control methods used on cyborgs.  

Ursa hopes that is true, because she can’t see a way to rescue them. If she is captured, 

the cyborg processors will end her pregnancy, and they might just kill the smaller 

children. She is torn between using her military skills to rescue Rhys or     to hide the children somewhere safe.

 Will Ursa and Rhys find a way out of the chaos?  Or will they lose 

everything they've fought for? Find out in this thrilling sci-fi romance adventure.

Author’s Note

In Diaspora Worlds Book One, Her Cyborg Awakes, Sabralia and her cyborg Kaistril escape from a warlord’s stronghold on a planet named Jewel. It is remote and was never opened for colonization, even though it was Terra Formed by the Ancients, the Seeders. The rulers of New Prague are aware of it, but during the Gorvas war they do not send an exploration ship.  But others have restarted the Cyborg Processing Facility.

Her Rogue Cyborg CoverReveal -n-News

 Life has been a bit challenging. I caught covid in early December, even though I had all the shots. Not a great mix with asthma and the arctic blasts of wintertime. It lingered on. I spent Christmas night in the hospital. Finally, got put on antibiotics and got better (bronchitis).

My writing plans changed due to exhaustion. I also had a fall and hurt my back, so everything has been sooo slooowww.   

But I have been writing. I'm happy to say Her Rogue Cyborg will be heading to my editor next week!

I decided to start a side series for Diaspora Wolds because I have a number of stories started that feature Zh Cle' (pronounced zhuh clay')characters (lizard humanoids that can mate and bear young with Terrans. I am grouping these in a series called Diaspora Worlds: Tales of the Zh Cle'.

This story takes place after the Gorvas War. Ursa joined the New Prague Protectorate with a couple of friends. The three made a pact that if any didn't survive, the others would see that their banked DNA was used, and raise their child.

Ursa is the only survivor of the three. She later joined an elite military group, the Alliance Strikers. Now the war is over, she is using her combat bonuses to buy a farm package on a safe agricultural colony world. She also caries twins, one baby from each of her dear friends.

Rhys, undeniably attractive with dark auburn hair and a a smattering of gold ZhCle' scales on his neck is a simple math teacher, but his family is part of a notorious Zh Cle' Black market Trader Family, the O'Shadows. He declares he is no super genius, though his brothers and a sister are. Ursa is not sure what to believe.

The ship they are on goes suspiciously off course and then crashes. Rhys and Ursa band together with several teens and children to survive. The planet seems to be a wilderness until Cyborg Harvesters start taking survivors. They realize someone must be building their own cyborg army.

They learn the planet is called Jewel, once held by the notorious Warlord Sirn.  In Her Cyborg Awakes, Sabralia and Kaistril escape from this planet!

I decided to do some more feminine colors and the water lilies since my hero here is all by himself with a blaster. And clothed! Clues to readers it is a scifi romance!