Weekend Writing Warriors: Tourist Trap

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors (click the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click the logo below.) Roi has used his object-reading ability on the sabotaged glider, and found to his shock that Timi was the only person who had touched the compensation circuit since he himself test-flew it the day before. Penny is in the violet glider, and Timi in the amber one.

Photo Source

The wing hid his view of the sky, and he wiggled backward until he could see the violet glider soaring in wide circles almost over his head, and the amber one over his right shoulder, losing altitude in great side-slipping curves. He had no doubt of Penny’s motives in choosing Timi to land and assist him. Timi was the strongest of the party physically, and they were all well versed in first aid. And—dammit, no matter what his reading of the control bar told him, he simply did not believe that Timi would knowingly have sabotaged the glider. Besides, his friend was good at electronics, sure, but esperelectronics was something else entirely. Timi couldn’t have managed the screamer circuit. Not without someone guiding his every move.

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; 5 star)

“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, Barnes and Noble, 0r Amazon in dust jacket, trade paper, and e-book formats.

Science Fiction Romance Brigade Presents: Both Sides Now

The Science Fiction Romance Brigade Presents is a blog hop with up to 200 word snippets of science fiction/Romance we have written, published or unpublished. The Excerpt below is from a work in progress, tentatively titled Both Sides Now. This is from the point of view of Roi, who is calling himself Kevi, just after he has recovered consciousness in a maze of hay bales, aware through his empathic sense that someone near him is in pain..

He knew the direction—the pain pulled at him. But he had no idea of the route.

Another, much brighter light bobbed toward him from the left. “What are you doing out of bed?” Doctor Alsyn, Roi identified the man who’d come up beside him. The vet apparently knew were he was going.

“Do you have a pain killer?” Roi replied. “Not for me,” he added hastily. “But someone in this hay maze needs it. I was trying to find her.”

Doc seemed to sag. “No,” he said. “No pain killers, no anesthetics, no antibiotics. A little tape and gauze, but mostly we’re boiling rags. And the pain—how did you know about that?”

“I’m an empath,” Roi replied. “I feel emotions and sensory impressions. Zhaim did a very effective job of blocking most of my abilities—I can’t read minds, or teleport, or do most of the other things you’ve probably heard R’il’noids can do. But I can’t not hear emotions without deliberate effort, and ignoring pain is like not hearing someone screaming. It’s like keeping my fingers in my ears. How about herbals like willow bark? I’m sure I remember seeing willows in that valley. Or hypnosis, or ….”

Jarn’s Journal Year 10 Day 27

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Year 10 Day 27

I checked the major routes in to the lake early this morning, and sure enough there were several family groups converging on the gather site. Definitely time to prepare, I thought, so I teleported to the land east of the linear sea for the sweet-smelling gum, to the tideless sea for the shellfish that produce the purple dye for adornment, and to the great river for the sweet dates.

I still needed salt, so this afternoon I teleported to the salt lake and gathered salt pebbles, lake water to evaporate, and a few salt boulders. There was still daylight, so I explored the valley to the north of the lake.

They will want me adorned; I know that from experience. I’ll have to ask Rainbow for help, but I want something, like last year, that is not fiendishly hot. I think I found it in the valley. There are flowers enough near the lake, but none quite like some that I am finding east of the tideless sea.

Would they stay fresh, if I put the cut stems in water? I can try.

Jarn’s Journal is part of the back story of my science fiction novels. Jarn is a human-like alien whowas stranded in Africa 125,000 years ago. He has met and been accepted as a god (much to his annoyance) by our remote ancestors, the People. In the year since the last gather, he has explored areas of Europe and found Neanderthal cultures there, as well as finding floating ice forming a polar ice cap and an Icelandic volcano. His story to date is on my author site.

A to Z Reflection

This was my second A to Z challenge, and my first time as a minion (one of Stormy’s Helpers.) It’s also been an April with a lot more to do than I expected, with the result that I didn’t get as much out of it as I hoped, because I wasn’t able to put as much in as I’d planned.

When I signed up I knew I’d be taking adult classes (see O post) in April, and I planned for that. I also planned to pre-schedule my posts, I decided on my theme and a number of letters before I signed up, and I had several of the posts written and scheduled before mid-March.

I had breast cancer several years ago, and as part of the follow-up to that I get regular mammograms. Last summer, shortly before the first writing conference I’d scheduled, I was diagnosed (early, thank goodness) with ovarian cancer. I wrote a number of the 2013 Blogathon posts from my hospital bed, but the surgery went well, with good pathology results. I missed the conference (was in the hospital) and chemo pretty well destroyed my usual summer gardening. But by March my hair was growing back and I was feeling chipper again.

Then shortly after volunteering as a minion I had my regular mammogram: another breast cancer, this one on the other side. I had surgery before the Challenge started, again with excellent pathology (1a) and clean edges. I’m currently (since mid-April) getting radiation five days a week, and I’ll be on weekly Herceptin for the next year.

I am not particularly worried about any of the three cancers. They’re apparently unconnected, and I am not positive for either of the known BRCA mutations. But I am very annoyed at effectively losing a good part of another summer, and sorry also that I could not visit as many blogs as I had hoped. I did find some new blogs to follow, and picked up a few new followers myself.

I apologize for missing so many of you. I’ll continue checking out blogs following mine on the list during the A to Z Road Trip.

Quotations from Mercedes Lackey

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling last week. All but the last are from Mercedes Lackey’s Beauty and the Werewolf.

“Mules were quiet and sensible.” Bella does not feel up to riding one of Sebastian’s hunters, but a mule sounds like a possibility.

“No amount of crying was going to change what had already happened.” Bella has plenty of reason to cry, but recognizes that it won’t do any good

“A child learns what he lives with.” Bella is beginning to get some feeling for why Eric is the way he is.

“The best magic is unobtrusive. It just makes life go a little smoother.” Sebastian’s philosophy of magic.

“I can’t absolutely promise you nothing would go wrong.” Sebasian, speaking to Bella after he proposes that she help him in his magic-working.

“Anything could happen when you had a world with green talking faces in mirrors in it.” Bella has seen magic before, but her first encounter with a mirror-servant (see Disney’s Snow White) is more than a little unsettling.

“Getting Roi to admit he’s having trouble isn’t easy.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Coryn is talking to Nebol, the Headmaster of their school, but Roi is still acting like the slave he was raised as.

North Pole Weather 5/5/14

The sun will rise today at 5:03, and set 17 hours 32 minutes later at 10:28 this evening. Solar elevation at noon is over 40°, and civil twilight will last almost until midnight. As far as daylight is concerned, we’re rapidly approaching summer.

Temperature, too, though I’m not actually putting anything in the ground yet. But I’m leaving the mints, which have been hardening for a week, outdoors at night now that it’s supposed to stay above freezing, and added the thyme, lavender and rosemary to the hardening table.

The birch leaves are swelling fast: greenup time! The two photos were taken about 24 hours apart, Saturday and Sunday afternoon, so you can see how fast the leaves are enlarging. And we’ve broken 70°F.

Of course I don’t trust it to stay that warm, but right now I’ve broken out my shorts and don’t need a sweatshirt to work outdoors. I’ve started watering, too. Right now the fire danger is extreme, though we do have a sprinkle of rain today. Not enough, though.

As of Monday at 8:30, the Sunday YouTube of the weather report had not been posted. If it shows up later today, I’ll add it. It looks a little cooler next week, but still very springlike.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Tourist Trap

Welcome to another Sunday and Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above) and Snippet Sunday (click on the logo below.) Roi has landed safely after his hang glider was sabotaged, and has used his object-reading ability to determine who has touched the glider since he test-flew it the day before.

Photo Source

Roi felt a sick coldness growing in his middle as he probed deeper. Timi, and nobody else, had handled the access hatch since Roi himself had reset the compensation level the day before. Could Zhaim actually have succeeded in influencing Timi to the extent that the Clan boy would try to kill him? Roi could not believe that. Sure, they had disagreements, mostly about Timi’s growing tendency to push what Roi saw as a dangerous flirtation with Zhaim. Roi could even imagine Timi attacking him in a fit of temper, as he had during the snowball fight. But a calculated murder attempt like this?

He pulled his hands back, wiping them on his parka as if he could wipe away the impression his mind had taken from the control bar.

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; 5 star)

“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
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
in dust jacket, trade paper, and e-book formats.

Science Fiction Romance Brigade Presents: Both Sides Now.

Science Fiction Romance Brigade Presents is a blog hop with up to 200 word snippets of things we have written, published or unpublished. Click the logo above to find links to other participants. This bit from Both Sides Now (tentative title) is a continuation of the initial meeting between Kevi and Coralie. Remember Kevi has awakened to find his hands and feet almost useless, as is his Healing ability.

Which also meant he could not Heal the person whose pain he felt. Well, he had other resources. Marna had encouraged him to learn every medical tradition he could, as part of his training as a Healer, and there were a number of ways to control pain. Conventional medicine used drugs, but he was also Jibeth-trained, among other traditions, and sleep-singing would do as well.

He looked down again at his feet, and decided that if he broke bones walking on them, the bones would probably need to be broken and reset anyway. The hay walls did not imprison him; there was an obvious opening a few steps from the bed. He got to his feet, steeling himself against the pain, and hobbled over to the door. The floor was rock, with bits of hay and grain here and there. Uncomfortable for bare feet, even those in better shape than his.

The door led to a darkened maze of hay bales and feed sacks, piled more to let air circulate than for easy navigation. He went back for the light, holding it awkwardly in the crook of one arm, and began trying to find the injured person.

Jarn’s Journal Year 10 Day 26

Year 10 Day 26

There are times I wonder if I remember anything.

Photo Source

I had just returned from exploring more of the volcanic island when Rainbow asked me, “Are you bringing salt this year?” It took me a moment to realize that while I was exploring the far north partly because the light was good and the sea ice still at its maximum this time of year, the equinox was also shortly before the time the People would return. In fact, I’d started exploring northward partly as a way to occupy myself until they did come back. And I’d “traded” quite a lot pf the salt I had in storage for tanned skins.

“Salt,” I said, deciding the volcanic island could wait. “Wrong time of year for Northern meat; the animals will be coming out of winter, and they’ll be thin. In fact, most of the northern plants will be out of season, too. Dates, figs, and I might help the men collect honey. I can keep the bees from stinging. Have you seen any sign of the People yet?”

“Two scouts. Giraffe was one.”

So tomorrow I will have to visit the salt lake again, and check the few sweet date trees. I might also check the fig trees to the north, and perhaps collect more of the sweet-smelling gum. I wonder what will be new at the gather this year?

Letter Z: Quotes from Roger Zelazny

Z is for Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) a multiple Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction. He is probably best known for his two Amber series (5 books each, all of which I have, plus 12 more by Zelazny.) To be truthful, I went after quotes in his books because I needed the letter Z in my Quotes post, but by the time I was halfway through rereading Nine Princes in Amber I decided to use quotes from his books more often. The first 6 quotes I tweeted this week are from Nine Princes in Amber, the first book in the first series. Z is also for Zhaim, mentioned in the context of the last quote.

“Some natural skepticism as to the purity of all human motives came and sat upon my chest”. Corwin, awakening in a hospital and realizing he’s been over-drugged.

“Good morning. You’re in trouble.” Corwin, speaking to the head of the hospital in which he has awakened.

“Anyone who tried to hurt me, to use me, did so at his own peril.” Corwin, still amnesiac but realizing that his “accident” was no accident.

“Like all libraries, it was full of books.” Corwin’s first impression when he is brought into his sister’s library.

“I love the gusto with which you assail life.” Flora to her brother Corwin, as he is attacking the first real meal he’s had in some time – hospital and greasy spoon food don’t count.

“What’s yours is yours and a part of you, and it just seems to belong there, inside.” Corwin, trying to get through the amnesia and remember who he is.

“The definition of ‘illegal’ on this planet needs to be changed.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Marna, after she has tried to clean up one of Zhaim’s legal (but decidedly immoral) messes.