Saturday Seven! (Song of Scarabaeus)

It's Saturday Seven!

SONG OF SCARABAEUS by Sara Creasy is an awesome science-fiction romance. Anyone who loves techie stuff, this is for you. Anyone who loves a touch of romance, this is also for you.

Edie has been kidnapped by renegade mercenaries for her bio-tech skills. Her compliance is ensured when she's mentally leashed to her bodyguard - if she leaves his side he dies and if she doesn't give the mercenaries what they want, they both die.

Edie tests the mental link they share in the hope of breaking it...

A single pure chord diengaged itself from the rest. Edie grabbed it and traced its source, certain she was doing the wrong thing, but it was all she had. Her interface kept the chord separated, but the cacophony surrounding it obliterated its path. A hard vacuum of silence cut through the link for an instant, and then a warning glyph screamed.
Finn knew there was a problem at the same moment she did.
"Back off," he hissed.
With a gasp, she dumped the chord and let his splinter kick her out. She pulled her hand away, opened her eyes to state into his, into the dark gold flecks radiating across the irises. For a long moment she couldn't speak. She had to make herself breathe again. Staggering to her feet, she felt like she should apologise but didn't know how he'd take it.
Instead, she stuck to technicalities. "They've injected biocyph into your cerebral cortex."
His eyes widened. "Biocyph? In my head?"
"Just a single strand. But it can't be removed or interfered with, or the little bomb in your skull will go off. I don't know what to do."

SONG OF SCARABAEUS
Trained since childhood in advanced biocyph seed technology by the all-powerful Crib empire, Edie's mission is to terraform alien worlds while her masters bleed the outlawed Fringe populations dry. When renegade mercenaries kidnap Edie, she's not entirely sure it's a bad thing . . . until they leash her to a bodyguard, Finn—a former freedom fighter-turned-slave, beaten down but never broken. If Edie strays from Finn's side, he dies. If she doesn't cooperate, the pirates will kill them both.
But Edie's abilities far surpass anything her enemies imagine. And now, with Finn as her only ally as the merciless Crib closes in, she'll have to prove it or die on the site of her only failure...a world called Scarabaeus.

TOPIC: In a galaxy far, far away...with Sara Creasy

Some of the most wonderful moments of my childhood included reenacting or creating my own scenes of such science fiction classics as George Lucas' Star Wars, Glen A.Larson's Battlestar Galactica (the original version) and Gene Rodenbury's Star Trek.

Most days my friends went along with my desire to turn the Jacaranda tree in my front yard into an Viper or X-wing fighter.

We fought over whether we were going to be Jedi's or belong to the Dark Side of the Force. And how we so wished transporters or the TARDIS were actually real!

In many ways I never lost that obsessions with all things sci-fi. I still love watching SF TV shows and movies - old and new - V the TV series, Dr.Who, Lost in Space, Farscape, Firefly, Stargate, ET, Tron, Dune, Planet of the Apes, Alien, The Terminator, Mad Max, Fortress, Waterworld, Pitch Black, Independence Day, The Matrix, Armageddon, I,Robot, I am Legend, Avatar, District 9, Cowboys & Aliens...the list is endless.

My love for sci-fi didn't stop at TV shows or movies. I loved reading the genre as well.

I became a huge fan of authors like Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Patrick Tilley, David Brin and Sharon Green.

And then I discovered science fiction romance - the best of all worlds!

So, for those of you who don't know what it is, or for those who love it as much as I do, this is a blog series devoted entirely to science fiction romance and the authors who write it for our enjoyment.

Strap yourselves in, prepare to jump to Warp 9 and you never know...you might find yourselves in a galaxy far, far away...addicted to a new genre...and a new author... 

In a galaxy far, far away...with Sara Creasy

SARA CREASY grew up in the UK, moved to Melbourne as a teenager, and spent five years in Arizona, USA.

In 2010 her debut novel SONG OF SCARABAEUS was published by HarperVoyager, the same year she moved back to Melbourne with her husband and baby daughter.

CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS came out in 2011.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON SFR: 
Has the SF genre always fascinated you?

Dr.Who

Absolutely! Growing up in the 70s, I watched everything from Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 to reruns of Star Trek and the Time Tunnel. I loved the idea of travelling to other planets and meeting aliens.

In grade 6 I wrote a story about going on a family vacation to the moon and collecting moon rocks. I also loved fantasy stories like the Narnia books, or anything with magic.


What SF/R addictions can you lay claim to?
I guess I used to be a closet Trekkie, especially Next Generation in the 90s, but I think I’m a bit too critical of that series to be called a fan. I do love science fiction art – spaceships, cityscapes, aliens and alien landscapes.

Is there any one author, TV show, movie, producer, actor, other influence that inspires you?
There are so many. I get inspired by images more than anything, like the retro rust-bucket spaceship in Firefly or the urban landscape in Blade Runner. 

What sucked you in to writing science fiction - as opposed to being just a fan or reader of SF and whether it's straight SF, space opera, SFR or any other combination?
I have always loved writing stories, so it was natural to combine that with my love of speculative worlds. I also love a good romance, and probably anything I write will always have that aspect to it.

As an author published in SFR, have you seen or do you see the genre gaining popularity in the marketplace?
Paranormal romance has obviously taken off in a big way. I’m not so sure about space adventure that combines romance.

There have been a few new names coming up in the genre in the past decade, like Linnea Sinclair and Ann Aguirre, but it’s nothing like the explosion of paranormal romance and urban fantasy – these subgenres have acquired heaps of new readers.

I think the SF tag scares people off. To many people, science fiction means nothing more than dorky Trekkies, UFO nuts, or incomprehensible physics. That’s a shame because so much SF is very accessible and fun and rewarding.

YOUR WORK:
Published work in the SF/R genre: SONG OF SCARABAEUS (Amazon, Booktopia), CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS (Amazon, Booktopia)
Publisher/s: HarperVoyager (US)
Your website: www.saracreasy.com

What unique slant have you given SF in your books?
I hope I’ve written a couple of fun stories that you don’t have to think too hard about if you don’t want to, but if you want to look deeper there are some important themes there, as well as what I hope is a plausible science basis.

The Scarabaeus books are primarily adventure stories, but I also used my biology background to invent a new genetic engineering technology that transforms entire alien ecosystems at the DNA level. I don’t know if that will ever be possible, but I tried to make it plausible – which I think is the essence of good science fiction. 

Have you received feedback from readers about your work and what did they like about it?
I’ve found that readers who generally read romance-heavy books appreciated the slow build-up of romance in the Scarabaeus books. As I said, it’s primarily adventure SF, so I didn’t write it as a romance book. This isn’t “insta-lust” and the romance is secondary to the main plot. Straight SF readers didn’t seem to mind the romance angle and appreciated the worldbuilding. 

Can you share a little about your latest release (or a series or a novel from your backlist)?
CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS is the second in the series, and continues the story of Edie and Finn, who are on the run from the Crib (the galactic government) after discovering a powerful secret on the planet Scarabaeus.

They are recaptured and Edie is forced to work for the Crib in their bid for galactic dominance. The Crib’s methods include oppressing and enslaving people, and wreaking havoc on the ecology of entire planets.

Edie desperately wants to escape, but even more than that, she wants freedom for Finn. The story deepens their relationship and tests it to the limit. It also ties up some loose ends from the first book.

FAVOURITE PICKS
Think back to all the TV shows/cartoons, movies and books you've read in the SF/R genre and answer the following...
SF/R hero: Mal Reynolds (so unlike any hero I’d ever write, but he’s a blast to watch). 
SF/R heroine: Ellen Ripley from the Alien series. 
SF/R villain: The Silence from Doctor Who – these creatures look like that freaky painting The Scream. You forget their existence as soon as you look away, but retain suggestions they make – in this way they’ve been influencing human history. What spooks me is that they’re apparently responsible for the night terrors of toddlers. That’s just mean! 
SF/R alien race: Vulcans (they go overboard on the no-emotions thing, but I can’t fault their love of logic).

SF/R technology: Faster-than-light travel. 
SF/R space craft: Serenity from Firefly. 
SF/R TV show or movie: Aliens (an old favourite, but it hasn’t dated). 
SF/R quote made by a character/actor/person: “I aim to misbehave.” – Captain Mal, Serenity. Oh yeah!

If you'd like to know more about Sara, check out her website or blog.

TOPIC: Do you judge a book by its cover? (part 2)

I'm off on a bit of a tangent to my original post "Do you judge a book by its cover? (part 1)", where I interviewed Gene Mollica, the cover artist for my Light Blade series, but the topic remains focused on book covers.

At the recent RWAustralia and RWNew Zealand romance writers' conferences I had the pleasure of talking about books (as you do) with people during the morning and afternoon tea sessions. Sharing information about new books purchased, recommending favourite authors, arguing about the best genre, anything and everything was fair game.

And one of the topics that came up time and again was, what sort of book covers appeal to you (as a reader not writer)?

Both conferences had a bookstore present - Dymocks and Barbara's Books, and with a huge range of covers to peruse, we debated the merits of those that appealed and those that didn't, and why. It was interesting to see what caught someone's attention.

Some liked having just the hero on the cover. Others preferred the headless hero or heroine (leaving the actual facial appearance to the imagination of the reader). Clothing, body positions, backgrounds, detail, settings, author's name placement, title choice, colours, sizing of text ... a myriad of issues and the merits of each element were discussed.

It got me thinking about the book covers of authors I have on my bookshelf. One of the thing I love doing is sitting down in front of them and pulling out my favourite covers (not stories - that's another post).

So, I thought I'd share a half dozen or so of the covers that appeal to me by the element that most appealed or drew me to the book (excuse me if I invent a Kylie'ism/term to convey the concept).

Colour:





It's all about colour appeal here. These all have a dominate colour (or shades of the same) reflected on the cover.










Placed face out on the bookshelf, all these books would draw your eye to them - UNTOUCHED (Anna Campbell) and LOVER MINE (J.R.Ward), in particular.

SONG OF SCARABAEUS (Sara Creasy) and WARSWORN (Elizabeth Vaughan) have solid colours too, but they also have a certain amount of detail that makes you look again, this time for elements of the story.

Guy Appeal: 

(looks like I have a think for the warrior types not to mention a back view of their shoulders, eh?)




I remember seeing Helen Kirkman's FORBIDDEN on a large poster at one of my earliest RWAustralia conferences and I bought it based on that alone (I was NOT a reader of historical romance then).

Denise Rossetti's THE LONE WARRIOR has another hot warrior type but I also like it for the amount of intricate detail within the picture. It has pieces of the story and the hero's character woven into it.




TUCKER'S CLAIM (Sarah McCarthy) was one I bought from Barbara's Books at the RWNZ conference, only the cover didn't have the blue border around the edge.

It featured only the bare chested hero. What grabbed me was the chest with leather vest, but also the bracelet and necklace he was wearing.

I'm a sucker for a Native American Indian hero (and yes, it's confirmed that I definitely have a thing for the warrior-hero types - LOL). 

Visual Detail (characters & background):

While there's an enormous amount of detail in the characters and the backgrounds of these book covers, neither are overwhelmed by it.


NIGHT'S COLD KISS, Tracey O'Hara's incredible cover, kept me looking for long minutes as I checked out the heroine, her clothing, her body position, her weapon, then my eye was drawn to the background and the details there.

The monotone-like colours made it easy to distinguish detail but conveyed the mood/tone of the book as well.



Christina Phillip's FORBIDDEN is stunning. This is a veritable feast for the eyes and for those who love the ancient historical time period.

Just check out the amount of detail in the clothes, the armor, the jewellery worn by the characters. Then take a close look at the background - it's incredible too.


Genre/Style:

I love the artist's style in Rowena Corey Daniells' series. The detail, the colours, the connection of the titles - all scream 'fantasy' and world-building in a big way.

So what appeals to you as a reader when you chose a book? Do you chose a book solely based around the author's name?

What if you discover a new author? Is it the cover or blurb that attracts you first? What turns you off?

What draws you into picking up a book?

Sara Creasy Give-Away Winner Announced!

It was great to read your responses to the question posed for this giveaway - thank you for participating.

Without further ado, everyone who answered the question had their names placed into a draw and Sara drew one at random. The winner is...

Cath

Congratulations!

Please contact Sara - saracreasy(at)gmail(dot)com - and she'll arrange to get your prize to you.

Happy Release Day - Children of Scarabaeus!

If you haven't read a book written by Sara Creasy yet then get thee to a bookstore now and buy, buy, buy!

I devoured her debut novel, SONG OF SCARABAEUS, and I'm slavering to get my hands on a copy of CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS, the second book.

Can I just say, few SF adventures rival my Firefly obsession, but Finn and Edie (the hero and heroine in Sara's series) are incredible.

I don't know about you but I find something really appealing about a hero who's a freedom-fighter turned slave and a heroine who has enough computer technology implanted in her to rival the Borg. Throw in a starship load of secrets between them, a greedy corporation, some rebels with dubious motives and you have one heck of story! If you love techno-jargon, suspense, action, and a dash of romance, then these books are for you.

CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS hits shelves today (in North America)! And Sara is celebrating its release with giveaway goodness, open internationally! Woohoo!

Interested? Check out the details at Sara's blogsite!

If you miss out there, then mark this date in your diary - April 11th - as Sara is visiting here AND she's bringing a copy of CHILDREN OF SCARABAEUS to giveaway!