I love writing sci-fi. There are no rules and the possibilities are endless. My characters and worlds are subjected to my every whim. There’s absolutely nothing holding me back but my imagination. In Dangerously Mine, I introduced readers to two different worlds: Sonis, the Moon where our hero Taio is from and Xenaris, the trading planet where Taio finds our heroine, Eva.
Since Sonis will eventually become Eva’s home and where she finds her happily ever after, I wanted it to have the opposite feel from Xenaris. Although Sonis is a desert planet with two rotating suns, the suns represent light and hope. Eva often finds herself looking up at the sky or welcoming the sun’s rays on her skin. Where Xenaris was over crowded, Sonis is a new and growing world. Sonis is filled with bright colors and artwork, suggesting of their relaxing and calm attitude.
In my follow-up releases I’m working on introducing the readers to more of the science-fiction side of the new worlds that my characters find themselves forced into.
Ellora’s Cave / Amazon / All Romance Ebooks
After aliens invade and conquer Earth, Eva is transported to a distant slave trading planet. Escape and freedom are her only priority, but none of her martial arts training prepared her for what she faces. She finds herself enslaved to the warrior King Taio. Eva’s drawn to this sexy alien male who ignites her heart and body.
Taio is disgusted with the idea of owning a slave—until now. From the moment he sees her, he knows Eva is his for the taking. Torn between lust and duty, Taio knows nothing will stop him from protecting his little warrior.
Excerpt:
Taio Xochis hated coming to Xenaris. The place was always filled to capacity with traders from all over the galaxy. Everyone knew that if you needed hard-to-find items, go to Xenaris. Right now, he definitely needed a pulson emitter for his disabled vessel.
Their vessel had run into trouble going through the Interplanetary Travel System. Ankon, his pilot, had been lucky to avert a space collision. If anyone could have done it, it was him. In order to return home to Sonis, they needed to get the vessel up to light speed and the only place Ankon could find the part he needed was on Xenaris, the last place Taio ever wanted to be.
Finding what he needed had been easy enough, but it cost as much as a small planet. As soon as the merchants spotted the Sonis Royal Crest on the arm of his black skin suit, they tripled the price.
“How much longer do we have to stay here?” Taio asked. He watched in disgust as a Lorandian thief used his skills to pilfer trinkets off an unsuspecting couple. If the thief had tried that on Sonis, he would have had his hands removed and his lifeless body thrown into the Singha Ocean. With the help of his royal guards, crime was almost nonexistent on the newly developed world.
“Ankon thinks we will be ready to go before nightfall,” Rasha replied.
Although Xenaris was a trading planet, it still held many dangers. This place was no Utopia. Taio and Rasha both kept their senses on high alert.
Taio and his crew members all came from Drazlan, the home planet, and had relocated to Sonis, the moon that rotated around Drazlan. Drazlan was hot, humid, sunny and dry and also one of the three sand planets in the Zaronna System. While many thought Drazlan’s climate was harsh, they thought Sonis’ climate was no better. Because of the harsh climates of the sand planets, the inhabitants all had many of the same characteristics, golden-colored skin, although the tone varied between individuals, dark-colored hair and they were all tall in stature.
“The sooner, the better. This place makes my skin crawl,” Taio replied.
Taio, Rasha and some of the other crew members walked through one of the many overcrowded markets on the small dusty planet. The sun was almost unbearable, even for a male who grew up on a planet that circled two suns. He had his shoulder-length hair pulled off his face and secured at the nape of his neck. Still, the sun’s rays assaulted him. Xenaris had the harsh climate one would expect from a planet that was set too close to its sun.
The crowd of locals and visitors parted, giving him and his crew a wide berth as they took the time to look for goods that would be needed for the journey home. While the merchants saw unlimited credits when they looked at the royal crest, others saw mercenaries, warriors, guards.
Taio knew the effect he and his crew had on everyone, but there was no point getting back on the vessel just yet. It was docked on a space station, undergoing repairs. So while they waited, some of the crew picked up trinkets for loved ones, while others purchased goods for themselves. Taio purchased a gem necklace for his younger sister, Saia. Of course, the price had been exorbitant, but the necklace matched her eyes.
They walked by a crowd that suddenly went from a small hum to an eruption of roars. “The slave market is in full swing.” Rasha noted.
Taio sneered, his lip curled in distaste. He had no desire to stop by the slave markets Xenaris was famous for. In fact, even after forty-one birth cycles, bile rose in his throat at the idea of beings sold as if they were worth no more than an inexpensive trinket or bauble. He could not stand to watch as beings were sold into slavery while others enjoyed the melee it caused.
Slave trading had been outlawed many cycles ago on every planet in this galaxy except for Xenaris. At that time, Xenaris’ ambassadors petitioned the Galactic Council to legalize slave trading on their planet. After all, Xenaris was famous for its trading and hard-to-find items. The request had been granted with certain exceptions. Humane protection must be provided for those being sold.
As he was about to pass the podium where the slaves were being held, his eyes caught what had undoubtedly made the crowd erupt. Standing on the platform was a small female fighting two Tresdonians. They were short in stature, but made up for it in their dense physical make-up. He’d had the opportunity to take one down during a job when he was still a mercenary. He knew from experience they were not easy to fight.
Yet here he stood, watching the small female use her flexibility to outmaneuver her captors and eventually free herself from their grasp. By the condition of her face, the Tresdonians had a hell of a time getting her to the auction block. She appeared beaten, with a multitude of bruises. He forced in a breath and clenched his fists as he noticed that one of her eyes was most likely lost, the swelling and discoloration of it alone was enough to make him cringe. Shame, he thought.
As the crowd roared around him, he stood in awe. Using the muscles in her short legs, she caught one of her captors between them, squeezing her knees around his neck, taking him down. She flipped this way and that, taking full advantage of an arm that was obviously dislocated and useless to unbalance her other captor. With one down, she charged at the other, flipping him over her shoulder. Then she ran.
Taio looked on in puzzlement as the young female ran back toward the slave cage. No one escaped their captors only to run back to captivity. But before she got a chance to reach her destination, the Tresdonian took out a stun gun and shot the fleeing female in her back. She went down with a thud. The crowd went silent.
The Tresdonian advanced. He had to stop this. “Hold your position!”
Enjoy! Griffin
Author Bio:
A.M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
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