D. M. Burton: Rescuing Mara's Father

I'm amazed over and over again by the wonderful books available for young people compared to the number of titles I had access to at the MG grade level and especially science fiction stories. I don't usually include excerpts when I have guests on my blog, but this short one from Diane is too good to not include. Take it away D.M.

Thanks, Susan, for inviting me to share my new release, Rescuing Mara’s Father, a science fiction adventure. This was my first attempt at writing juvenile fiction (suitable for age 9 & up). My older grandchildren (ages 9 and 12) have always known I write fiction and that they have to grow up before they can read my books. An idea popped into my head about a teen girl living with her father on the frontier of space, the Outer Rim. I was busy writing the fourth book in my Outer Rim series, a science fiction romance and ignored the idea. But each night before I went to sleep, the story of the girl and her father returned. Sometimes, a writer has to listen to her Muse.

Every writer knows that somedays the writing flows, you’re “in the zone.” And other days, it’s a struggle. Writing about Mara and her father seemed to flow, most of the time. I’m a pantser, writing by the seat of my pants, instead of a plotter. Generally, I know what will happen in the story. The big, black moment in this story gave me fits. I think I rewrote it five times. But once I found the right scene, the rest of the book flowed.

My grandchildren are reading the book now. Grandson (9) says it’s a lame title. He offered to help with the next story. 😊 He’s nothing if not outspoken. I hope my younger readers (and their parents) enjoy Rescuing Mara’s Father.

Blurb:

3 friends, a hidden starship, a quest

Her father is gone! Taken by the Queen of Compara’s agents. Mara has to rescue him before the Queen tortures and kills him.

Instead of the kind, loving father she’s always known, he’s become demanding, critical, with impossible expectations—not just as Father but also as the only teacher in their frontier outpost. Mara would rather scoop zircan poop than listen to another boring lecture about governments on Central Planets. Give her a starship engine to take apart or, better yet, fly, and she’s happy. Now, he’s gone.

Never mind, they’ve had a rocky road lately.

Never mind, Father promised she could go off planet to Tech Institute next month when she turns fifteen, where she’ll learn to fly starships.

Never mind, she ran away because she’s furious with him because he reneged on that promise. Father is her only parent. She has to save him.

Along with her best friend, eleven-year-old Jako, and his brother 15-year-old Lukus, Mara sets off to find her father. Her mentor, old spaceport mechanic, seems to know why the Queen captured Father. In fact, he seems to know her father well. But, does he tell her everything? Of course not. He dribbles out info like a mush-eating baby. Worse, he indicates he’ll be leaving them soon. And Lukus can’t wait to get off their planet. Mara’s afraid they will all leave, and she’ll be on her own. Despite her fears, Mara has to rescue her father.

Excerpt

“There you are!” Jako kneels next to me, his urgent voice and torchlight in my eyes wake me up.

I gasp, my heart racing. I must have fallen asleep. I was dreaming about being chased.

“I’ve been looking all over for you!” He lowers his torch and scoots back.

As I sit up, I shove my hair out of my eyes. My braid came undone while I was sleeping. Automatically, I reach up and use my fingers to comb through my long hair. Jako is breathing hard and heat rises off his small body.

“Why were you looking for me?” I ask as I rebraid my hair.

“I was afraid they got you, too.” He gasps for breath. “I didn’t see you when they took him on board, so I ran back to your house. The Dunpus brothers were laughing about how the goons hauled you away, screaming and crying. I knew they were lying. You wouldn’t cry.” His eyes grow wide. “You should’ve seen their ship, Mara. It was so cool. It was a—”

“Hold on. Took who?”

“Isn’t that why you came up here? To get away from them?”

“Them who?” I might be awake, but my mind is still muzzy. “Slow down. You aren’t making any sense.”

Jako grabs my arm. “Your father, Mara. Coalition goons arrested your father.”

Buy links:

Ebooks:  Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Kobo ~ B&N ~ Smashwords

Print:  Amazon

About the Author:

The first time D.M. Burton saw Star Wars IV: A New Hope, she was hooked on science fiction and space travel. The Star Trek movies made her want to travel to other planets. Alas, she is still Earth-bound. D.M. and her husband live in Michigan, close to their two children and five grandchildren.

Join D.M. Burton's readers’ group on Facebook.

For more info and excerpts, visit D.M.’s website: http://www.dmburton.com

She writes adult fiction as Diane Burton, where she combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides writing science fiction romance, she writes romantic suspense, and cozy mysteries.

For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online.

Website:  http://www.dianeburton.com

                 http://www.dmburton.com

Blog:  http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/dmburton72

Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor

                    D.M. Burton’s sci-fi adventure group on Facebook

Goodreads:   Diane Burton Author

                        https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19005868.D_M_Burton

Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/

Sign up for Diane’s new release alert: http://eepurl.com/bdHtYf

 How cool would it be to live on the Outer Rim? I bet the stars are beautiful out there. Did a movie or book hook you on a particular genre? Can you beat Diane's five rewrites on a scene?

A: A to Z Blogging Challenge

For my 2016 A to Z Challenge, I’m sharing three facts for each letter. The genres I write and love to read are mostly science fiction and high or epic fantasy. In fantasy, there is often magic associated with crystals or metals. They also used herbs both for medicine and for magical spells. Each day I will post a short description of an herb or a mineral you might find in medieval or fantasy writings. For the record, most of the herbal remedies I’ve investigated are not recommended by the FDA. Many are actually poisonous and dangerous. As tribute to my second love, I will post a scientific fact that may deal with physics, biology or health science. And because another name for a writer is wordsmith, each day I’ll share a strange word that I would probably never use in my writing, but that amuse me in some way. So enjoy my trio of quick facts.

Anise: used for flavoring and also for treating coughs.

Argon: an inert noble gas used in shielding for industry uses, fluorescent lights and document preservation.

Agathokakological: composed of good and evil, like most people.

Don't forget to visit the IWSG site where we'll be posting a writer's resource for every letter of the challenge.

"Comment is free, but facts are sacred." C.P. Scott

Stephen Tremp: Science And The Supernatural, or E=Mc2

It's my great pleasure to introduce Stephen Tremp today as part of his blog tour for Escalation. You don't want to miss this one. I certainly didn't. Please read my review on Amazon along with lots of others and you'll be convinced. So take it away, Stephen.

What Is Your Why? Can you define a platform you can build your brand on? For my platform, I want to help bridge the gap between science and the supernatural in order to help explain the universe and our place in it. For my brand, I want people to associate wormholes and portals between our four dimensional world and other dimensions that most likely exist, with me and my books.

I can think of no greater division between people than science and the supernatural. All too often, both parties draw a line in the sand that might as well be as wide as the Grand Canyon, then take separate sides and shout out just how ignorant each other are. 

Let’s explore this a little deeper.

Little Johnny won’t go to sleep. He’s sure there is a monster under his bed. Little Susie cries out in the middle of the night. She knows she saw a creature in the closet. Your crazy aunt Edith swears she sees angels protecting you and the rest of the family members.

An over active imagination? Unfounded fears? Flashbacks? Maybe. Maybe not.

Since man has walked this Earth, people from every culture claim to have seen, heard, and even touched beings that can only be described as not of this world. We live in a four dimensional universe of up and down, left and right, back and forth, and time. At least, that’s all we can perceive with our five senses.

But what if there are more dimensions? Certain scientific theories seem to support and even predict such things in a most elegant way. And there could be a whole lot of wonderful, strange, and terrifying beings that live there. Well, if so, no worries. At least they’re there and we’re here. Right?

 Excerpt from Escalation: The Adventures of Chase Manhattan, after an encounter with good and evil beings not of this world:  

“If angels and demons are hyper-beings, creatures that exist in extra dimensions, then they can manifest themselves as angels of light. Perhaps they can easily roll right out of additional dimensions of hyperspace as light, or pure energy. Then they convert to mass in our three-dimensional universe as a being we can perceive with our five senses.”

But how can they do that? Albert Einstein was way ahead of his time. E=MC2. Equal means the same. Energy and mass times the speed of light squared are the same thing. So once again, an angel or a demon could step back and forth between dimensions at will (as long as they have authority to do so). Energy to mass, or a physical being that can be seen, heard, smelled, and touched. Then from mass right back into energy and poof, they’re gone just as quickly as they appeared.

So perhaps those monsters or angelic sightings we saw as children were more than imaginary. Kids. Their innocent minds are not as polluted as ours when it comes to viewing and perceiving the world we live in.

Stephen Tremp is the author of the Breakthrough series. Together, Breakthrough, Opening, and Escalation follow the lives of the unlikely participants from innocence to a coming of age through sacrifice, betrayal, passion, lust, unconditional love, and hope. Escalation will appeal to fans of modern-day science fiction, paranormal, action, horror, and even romance.

Stop by Stephen's blog and find more of his insightful thoughts on science and our future.

And to download Escalation: The Adventures of Chase Manhattan At Amazon

Thanks, Stephen. So readers, do you think there are other dimensions? If so, what will we find there? Have you checked out Stephen's blog and followed his tour?

 

 

 

The Old and the New

When I'm writing I almost always have a movie or TV show playing, mostly as background noise. I grew up in a large family and have six children myself so quiet is too strange for me. Anyway, yesterday I had Star Trek playing on the DVD. Stargate, the movie or the show, Firefly are also among my favorite noises. Since my WIP is the last book in my Recon Marines science fiction series, the futuristic nature of those flicks hit the right note.

One can't help but think of how fictional a lot of science fiction is or for how long it will be fiction. Smart phones and 4G tablets, genetic engineering ... how long until we have transporters and wormhole travel? If you're old enough to do so, compare the technology of fifteen or twenty years ago to now.

But as I sit here preparing this I'm battling a sore throat. At my right hand is a cup of hot tea with honey and lemon in. The same thing my mother would give me when I was a child and her mother before her. For lunch, I'll probably have some chicken noodle soup, also the traditional remedy for flu-like symptoms.

Fifty years from now, I expect my children will give their grandchildren hot tea or soup when they're sick. The treatment will be just as effective and never go out of fashion. The only difference is they might use a hover cycle or maybe one of those transporters to go get the soup.

Can you think of anything you would have thought of as science fiction years ago that is now available? Do you have family non-medicinal remedies for illnesses? Do you think a genetically-engineered guy like Kahn would develop a god complex or would he be a super efficient, duty-bound soldier like my Recon Marines?

Well....Duh

It had never happened to me before, but today I received a one star review on Amazon for one of my books. The poor guy said he wanted his money back because it was a more a romance novel than a science fiction book. Well...duh. Didn't he read my bio or any of the other reviews before he bought it?

I've been thrilled that the book had been selling so well in science fiction categories because it was written as a ROMANCE novel under my romance pen name, Susan Kelley.

But maybe not all book buyers look are reviews. Maybe not all book buyers look at what else an author has written. When I find a book by an author I like, I tend to look up all their books. Sell me one of your books and I might buy them all or get them out of the library. When a book by an unknown to me author catches my eye, I look at reviews, I read excerpts, I might see what else they wrote.

With two children in college, dollars are important to me and somewhat limited. I buy books carefully. I make sure before I make a purchase. Of the books I've purchased over the past year, I only had one I was disappointed  in and wish I hadn't bought.

I didn't upset when I saw the guy's review where he says, 'don't waste your money.' I actually laughed, though he must have been really incensed since it was the only book review he's ever bothered with. My advice to him is know what you're buying. But then again, it's not my fault if the Amazon rankings indicate good sales in the scifi categories. Obviously, some scifi readers liked the book.

Do you investigate before you buy a book by reading reviews or checking out an author's backlist? Have you ever purchased a book and felt you were mislead as to the genre? Ever give someone a one star review?