Quotes from Anne McCaffrey

These are the contexts of the quotations tweeted from @sueannbowling between January 30 and February 5, 2014. All but the last are from Killashandra, by Anne McCaffrey.

“This assignment could be interesting.” Killashandra’s thoughts after she looks up the planet Optheria.

“Fidelity was an unlikely disease for her to catch.” Killashandra has always been rather free with her favors, and wonders if her association with Lanzecki has changed her.

“That any form of artistry might be limited by law was anathema.” At least to the Federated Artists Association!

“A genuine one-solution tragedy, where hero and heroine both lose out.” Killashandra is comparing her own romance with Lanzecki to an operatic plot.

“One can get too wrapped up in role-playing.” Killashandra has, out of boredom, pretended to be a student on the journey to Optheria. Now she is wondering why she is keeping up the pretense with another traveler.

“Something was to be said for the curtailment of natural ‘beauty’.” Killashandra feels that allowing rather ugly thorn bushes to take over pedestrian walkways is going a bit too far.

“There were some things he didn’t know or was just careless about, and I was able to use those.” Tourist Trap, by Sue Ann Bowling. Roi’s explanation to his father about how he managed to call for help, even though Zhaim was much the stronger of the two.

North Pole Weather 2/3/14

Spring’s approaching! The sun will rise at 9:29 this morning and set a whole 7 hours 12 minutes later at 4:41 this afternoon. We’re gaining a fairly steady 5 ¾ minutes a day in day length. We’re not going to get over winter immediately or even in six weeks, though, no matter what Punxsutawney Phil says. In fifty years up here, I’ve never seen the snow start to melt seriously by the middle of March. Not that it hasn’t been warm for Alaska: we were 15.5°F above normal for January.

The forecast is for above normal temperatures continuing, but that does not mean above freezing, or even above zero, though subzero highs are not forecast until next weekend. Still, I worry a little about that ridge in the jet stream in last night’s forecast. If it continues to move west and locks in over the Bering Strait, we could get 40 below or colder.

Lots of seed catalogs, and my hair is indeed coming in curly at least for the moment, though I don’t expect it to last.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Tourist Trap

Time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click the logo below) again! I’m still posting from Tourist Trap, from the hang gliding scene. Roi has realized that the misbehavior of his glider is probably due to sabotage, and he’d better bail out. But at the last minute he finds himself wondering about his parachute.

Photo Source

What if the chute had been sabotaged too? He reached into the package with his mind, and spat out a couple of curses from his years as a slave. The chute felt as if someone had tied it in loose knots and stuffed it into the holding bag. He’d really be in trouble with that deployed.

Better try to use his perceptive and telekinetic abilities to get the compensation circuit straightened out, he decided, and reached mentally for the chip in the left upright of the control triangle. His mind touched something that should not have been there at all, and he cried out aloud and doubled up under the impact of a high-powered screamer.

Roi had felt screamers before, and managed to work through them after a fashion. This one, however, was far stronger than anything in his experience.

And he’s just barely been able to control the glider at full ability. With the screamer going, most of his esper talents are useless.

The Blurb:

A vacation with his three best friends from slavery and a manhood challenge: Roi is given the graduation present he has dreamed of. Dogsledding, hang gliding, a chance to see Pleistocene animals transplanted to a Terraformed vacation world, horseback riding, sailing … all the sports he has returned to with his recovery from paralysis, and a few new ones to learn.

They’re prepared for danger from weather, wild animals and extreme sports. But none of them realize that Roi’s half brother Zhaim, determined to recover his old position as Lai’s heir, intends to kill them if he can—and he’s decided that the dangers of the trip will make a perfect cover for his schemes.

How long will it take them to realize that the “accidents” they keep running into are more than just accidents?

 

Tourist Trap, the second novel of the Jarnian Confederation, won first place in science fiction and fiction book of the year in the 2011 Reader Views contest.

Reviewers say:

“Fans of Sue Ann Bowling’s novel Homecoming will not be disappointed with its sequel. Tourist Trap returns the reader to the world of the Jarnian Confederation—to Roi, Lai, Marna, and all of their friends and relations. The author does a stellar job of bringing these characters to life, allowing the reader to not only see their actions but to understand the culture and politics that motivate them. (ForeWord Clarion review)

“Tourist Trap” is a great read for anyone that wants motivation and feeling to accompany the action in their sci-fi adventure. Alien beings and super powers are an integral part of Roi’s story but what makes this novel really shine is the heart. Nobody is good or evil just because that’s their assigned role. Just like in real life, everyone has their own motivations and desires, and Bowling does a great job of letting the reader see what it would be like to walk in the shoes of Roi, Xazhar, and even madman Zhaim. (ReaderViews review)

Tourist Trap (iUniverse, 2011) is available from:
iUniverse http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000188494/Tourist-Trap.aspx
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tourist-trap-sue-ann-bowling/1104199464
Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/Tourist-Trap-Sue-Ann-Bowling/dp/1462029582/
in dust jacket, trade paper, and e-book formats.