Weekend Writing Warriors September 28

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post up to eight sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image below.

Shayla, codename "Shark", has rendezvoused in the tropical forest with members of a terrorist cell. They are traveling by boat, navigating a maze of waterways and finally emerging onto a wider stretch of open water. They are crossing painfully slowly, when they become aware of an Imperial air cruiser approaching...

I've kept this one short to avoid having to mess with punctuation.

=====

For the first time, Shayla felt keenly the dangers of capture. She knew she would likely die before giving information away under interrogation, not from choice but from deeply implanted conditioning. And in Imperial custody, the road to death could be long indeed.

I will not be taken. Her fingers closed around the grip of a needle gun under her cloak. She glanced at Tiger, and saw the thin set of her lips and a small movement as she also loosed her pistol in its holster.

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Chrys Fey - 30 Seconds

Today, I'm handing over the reins to Chrys Fey, whose novel 30 Seconds was released earlier this month.

When a woman finds herself in the middle of 
a war between a police force and the Mob,  
30 SECONDS is a long time.

Title: 30 Seconds

Author: Chrys Fey

Genre: Romantic-Suspense

Heat Rating: Spicy (PG13)

Length: Novella (105 pages)

Format: eBook

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Published: 09/10/2014

BLURB: 

When Officer Blake Herro agreed to go undercover in the Mob, he thought he understood the risks. But he's made mistakes and now an innocent woman has become their target. He's determined to protect her at all costs.

The Mob's death threat turns Dr. Dani Hart's life upside down, but there is one danger she doesn’t anticipate. As she's dodging bullets, she's falling in love with Blake. With danger all around them, will she and Blake survive and have a happy ending, or will the Mob make good on their threat? 


EXCERPT:

       She panted with fear. What if they see the chest? What if we get caught? What if my breath stinks and I’m breathing right into Officer Hottie’s face? She shut her mouth and let oxygen flow through her nose.

Her eyesight slowly adjusted to the darkness and she could see Officer Herro’s silhouette. His head was turned and he was listening to the thuds of heavy boots getting louder; the intruders were coming their way.

Then the thunder of footsteps sounded right next to them. “There’s no one here, Red,” someone announced.

“Look for documents,” a man ordered, who Dani could only assume was Red. “I want the name of the person I’m going to kill.”

A moment later, there was a reply. “All the mail is addressed to a Dr. Hart.”

Hearing her name said aloud by one of the men who had ransacked her place made her want to gasp. Her mouth fell open and her breath was reversing into her lungs, but before she could make a sound, Officer Herro lowered his lips to hers, silencing her. Stunned, she could only lie beneath him with her eyes wide and her body tense. She couldn’t believe he was kissing her. She wanted to push him back, but knew if she did he might hit the inside of the chest, giving away their hiding place. That was when she realized he was kissing her so she wouldn’t gasp.

She let her body relax. After her initial shock faded, she was able to feel his lips. They were comforting and caused a reaction deep inside her. She couldn’t stop her lips from reacting to his. It was an innocent connection, a soft touch of lips. Until his hand slid from her shoulder to her neck and the kiss deepened into something else.

BOOK LINKS:

Amazon US / Amazon UK / The Wild Rose Press

Goodreads

Chrys Fey is a lover of rock music just like Dani Hart in 30 Seconds. Whenever she's writing at her desk, headphones are always emitting the sounds of her musical muses - especially that of her favorite band, 30 Seconds to Mars, the inspiration behind the title.

30 Seconds is her second eBook with The Wild Rose Press. Her debut, Hurricane Crimes, is also available on Amazon.


Discover her writing tips on her blog, and connect with her on Facebook. She loves to get to know her readers!

AUTHOR LINKS:

Facebook / Blog / Goodreads

QUESTION: If the Mob was after you, what would you do and where would you go to stay alive?

Weekend Writing Warriors September 21

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post up to eight sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image below.

Shayla, codename "Shark", has rendezvoused in the tropical forest with members of a terrorist cell. They are traveling by boat, navigating a maze of waterways and finally emerging onto a wider stretch of open water. They are crossing painfully slowly, when they become aware of a low growling noise in the air...

=====

She wanted to turn her head to see the approaching air cruiser, but she caught Tiger's warning glance and slight shake of the head under her hood. "The river folk ignore Imperial craft - just sit still."

Shayla closed her eyes and concentrated on the sounds around her. The growl filled the air. Above it, she discerned a faint hum of machinery. The craft moved low and fast. It sounded like it would pass some way off. She listened for any change that would signal a change of course.

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There is still a chance to win a free e-copy of Ghosts of Innocence over at Crystal Collier's blog. She featured me in her Writerly Wednesday spot last week. All you have to do is correctly guess the lie in the Truth or Lie game to be entered in the draw.

Artwork

If you want to see where my various blog headers come from, they are all details cropped from one or other of my paintings. I've now added an art gallery to my web site, with higher resolution images and a brief bit of background to each of the paintings.

Just for fun, try comparing the Ghosts of Innocence cover with the original painting...

Check out the whole gallery here.

Writerly Wednesday

Today I'm over at Crystal Collier's blog for her Writerly Wednesday spot.

Please drop by and say "Hi!" Play the truth or lie game and you could win an e-copy of Ghosts of Innocence.

Weekend Writing Warriors September 14

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post up to eight sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image below.

Shayla, codename "Shark", has rendezvoused in the tropical forest with members of a terrorist cell. They are traveling by boat, navigating a maze of waterways and finally emerging onto a wider stretch of open water. This segment continues straight on from last week's.

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Shayla pulled her hood close about her head, tucking telltale strands of blonde out of sight. She wondered why they were moving so slowly. She was sure the boat had the power to cross in a minute.

Cobra seemed to anticipate her thoughts. "We must behave like one of the river tribes if we don't want to attract attention. Their boats are not as fast as this one."

Tiger muttered a warning. Shayla heard a low growl above the soft hiss and suck of water.

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Weekend Writing Warriors September 7

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post up to eight sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image below.

I have skipped ahead a bit from the last snippet. Shayla, codename "Shark", has rendezvoused in the tropical forest with members of a terrorist cell. They are traveling by boat, navigating a maze of waterways and finally emerging onto a wider stretch of open water.

=====

The far side looked to be about a mile away. The water seemed unmoving, oily surface disturbed only by myriad dancing insects.

Weasel kept the boat close to the near shore and headed north. Tiger and Cobra scanned the sky constantly. After half an hour, Cobra held up his hand and Weasel cut the motor.

Cobra pointed to a smudge of deeper shadow amongst the trees on the far shore. Weasel nodded and angled the boat out into open water. Afternoon heat closed in like a vice, amplified by the heavy air and sunlight reflecting off the water.

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If you enjoy these snippets and would like to read them properly in context, they are all from early chapters which can be sampled for free on most of the online stores listed in the sidebar.

Master assassin Shayla Carver has killed many times. That's what assassins do, nothing to lose sleep over, but this mission is different.

She's never killed a whole planet before.