Yes, this is taking longer than it should, Not my fault, I’m still here writing. Maybe I’ll tell you about it when I can. In the meantime, you can join me over here – https://www.patreon.com/sahoag
When something exciting happens, I’ll post here as well. The Wildblood Trilogy is being revised at this time. There will be new covers and all new content. The plot remains the same.
Yes, I did it. Or, I’m doing it. The Wildblood series is being revised, as it’s nearly 10 years old. Time for an update. I’d be kidding myself and you, if I said they’d be ready this year. Backlash might, but for 2023, I plan on releasing the trilogy books 2 or 3 months apart. There is updated material, and yes, some new material. The plot stays the same, I’m just cleaning it up, getting new covers, and planning lots of promotional stuff.
Speaking of – I’ve created a Patreon site. That was interesting. If anyone would like to check it out, the first few posts will be public.
I haven’t forgotten about Tau Scorpii. That little gem will be out and about soon, as well. If has been so weird the past few years, I don’t know exactly when. I’ll let you know!
In the meantime, for anyone wanting to get the first edition books while they’re still available, you know what to do. Click on the graphic.
I don’t know how so much time got away from me. I’m writing, I swear. Editing Tau Scorpii right now, I’ll be looking to send it to Beta Readers shortly. I’m really excited about how this is progressing.
In retrospect, one book every few years isn’t a great way to collect a fan base. My goal is 2 a year now, and if there are more, outstanding. After Tau Scorpii, Outliers: Texas is next. I’m really going to try to get both published this year. My next project for the blog is to get some character bios done. My fingers are crossed!
This is brief and a promo bit. The Wildblood is 5 books now. Catch them on sale while you can.
Before Team Three, there was The Blackout.
Backlash: Prequel to The Wildblood
In the space of ten hours, civilization was gone . . .
Their parents were survivors, and now children of The Vista have become the guardians of their seclude valley. Curiosity will take them out into a world they know nothing about, where the line between enemy and ally is blurred.
Welcome to the world of The Wildblood.
Trust is dangerous; ignorance is deadly.
Find the entire series in ebook, paperback, and hardcover – www.topaz08.com
Check it out! Books. You know I like books. The blog has a group of authors willing to share their snippets.
So the kittens are visiting at least one of the neighbors. I hope someone catches them and takes them in. I’m really not set up for felines. They’re both big enough now to get out in that 7 acre field behind me and get food. I’m keeping an eye on them, just in case.
Writing. Interesting thing I’ve decided to do. Tau Scorpii is going great, at 70k now and I still have plenty of things for my characters to do. I don’t think they’re happy with me right now. Most of them will get over it. Okay, some of them will.
My snippet this week, however, is from Outliers: Team Two. I’m pushing some promos this week because the book up next is the next one in the series. Here’s a look at Team Two. They don’t always agree.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“What’s so earth shattering, so traumatizing, that you think it would change our entire way of life? What secrets do you think you still have?”
“I can’t say,” Shan repeated.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to change the way you see me. Either of you.”
“That can’t happen.”
“What if you’re wrong?” her voice ratched up a notch.
“Let her blow up the damned place and be done with it,” Ballentyne interrupted.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(A few more if you’d like to go on!)
“Is that what you need to do?” Green asked her.
“I’m not sure. If I wasn’t being interrogated, I could go do this.”
“Great. Who do you want to watch our perimeter?” Ballentyne interrupted before their quarrel could fire back up.
“I don’t care,” she dismounted, taking her field glasses to have a closer look. “Figure it out.”
“Your choice,” Ballentyne offered his partner, knowing their brewing conflict was far beyond mere Security matters.
“The perimeter is mine,” Green said, turning his horse and heading back to the crest of the hill that ran east to west along the dirt road. “I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
Ballentyne followed her, dismounting. “Can I ask you something unrelated to all this confusion and subterfuge?”
“Always,” she answered, squinting off towards the east.
“How did you find it in the dark, in the snow, like you had a map?”
“You’ll think I’m making it up, if I tell you,” Shan offered. “I can hear it.”
He said nothing. The idea of synesthesia was nothing new to him, and it was prevalent among the Altered.
“You’ve seen me out at night, watching meteor showers when they have star-gazing parties in the park. I hear them as well as I see them. I can hear Rock Creek as clearly as any of us can see it, even more once we get clear of the ridge.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There they go, blowing stuff up again. You can check out why – Outliers is on sale this week for 99c.
PPS- I have all 5 paper backs available, US shipping only at this time. Email me if you’re interested ( topaz08 at gmail.com ). Without the spaces, of course.
Apparently, I’ve adopted a Siamese kitten living under my house. There’s a full grown black & white cat (mom?), a much larger gray and white kitten, and this teeny fluffball Siamese kitten. Maybe he’s the runt. I don’t know. I put food and water out for him every night after dark. The two bigger ones try to crowd him out, but all I have to do is tap on the window and they run. The little guy doesn’t and I make sure he eats and drinks, and when he’s finished, the other two are free to eat. I don’t know if I can catch him, or even if I should try. But, I sort of have a house guest now.
So, back to writing. Tau Scorpii is screaming along towards ‘the end’, and I’m really pleased with it. All that plotting and planning has paid off. Of course, I have a bit of research to do, when I get to the rewriting. It shouldn’t take long. I’m aiming for Autumn 2021, so September? October? You’ll know as soon as I have a set date. There will be giveaways, signed books, all kinds of promo stuff.
Outliers: Texas is taking shape as well. It’s going to fill in a lot of things the first trilogy brought up. I think fans of the series will love it.
Something from Tau Scorpii. This snippet is Taryn and Aiden about to confront the alien Caerule following their caravan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Are we going to die today?” Aiden asked, not normally being one to contemplate his mortality.
“If I can manage to talk to them, we’ll be fine,” Taryn had her horse moving at a brisk trot, and it was an uncomfortable gait in the sand, plus it was getting hot. “On Flatrock, they were afraid of the rain.”
“So were we.”
She nodded, “Whatever happens, do not draw your sword – I mean it.”
“You said that, on Flatrock.”
“And they didn’t draw so let me at least try to talk to them, or you can go back to the caravan and help wrangle the horses.”
“There’s nothing you could say to make me let you go out there alone.”
(My 8!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(And a few more lines.)
“This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to communicate with a band of them,” she said. “Alone.”
“I know.”
“It’s not the second time, either. I haven’t gotten killed trying.”
He was certain he’d rather be anywhere else, and that he had to be there despite all of it.
“Don’t smile, either.”
“Why in all the hells ever created would I smile?”
“Showing them your teeth is a sign of aggression.”
“We’re in so much trouble,” he noted.
That’s the place you want to go, to find authors sharing their works in progress. Mine is below, it’s Tau Scorpii. I’m close to finishing this draft, and there’s some research I have to do before I polish it up and send it out. Autumn 2021 is my target date. I know, not very specific. Sorry. On to the teaser – please keep in mind it’s unedited and possibly has creative punctuation to fit the 10.
If you want to read a teaser from the same scene, it’s here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
BLURB – Tau Scorpii
Sedna is home to hundreds of predatory alien species. Humans are one of them. It’s about to get more difficult to survive.
Their clan was scattered in a war, years ago. By accident or fate, Taryn and Skye have found each other. What they face now, they have no control over. The weather is changing. Their clans must find a way to adapt, and to make peace with with themselves and other species. The alternative is extinction.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(This is the bunch of people that don’t like or trust each other, trying to figure out how they are going to get along long enough to save themselves.)
“Question,” Skye said, “Do you communicate with the Caerule?”
“We’ve attempted to,” Asher admitted, “The results are mixed.”
“How? They don’t have the vocal capacity we do.”
“They have a language,” Taryn answered. “It’s less complex than our dialects, as far as I can tell, but they respond well to sign language.”
“Is that what you were doing out at Highmarch?” Garrett asked; when Taryn responded by pursing her lips and remaining silent, his gaze snapped to Asher.
Aiden became alert, Skye and Ianto both aware of the tension in the room.
“Why was she at Highmarch?” Garrett repeated to Asher.
“On my orders.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And that’s 10. If you want to read a bit more, I’ve included it for more context.
“I can’t let you go to this Pike’s Pass when his motives are unknown,” Skye pointed out to Garrett. “That’s my job, to keep you safe. This isn’t safe, I don’t think it ever was.”
Taryn groaned. “Men have to go out of their way to complicate everything. This wasn’t complicated, and now it is.”
“It was complicated from the beginning,” Asher disputed her.
“Because you made it that way,” she accused, her voice rising. “I go out, I do things for you, I get them done, I come home.”
Asher chuckled. “Nothing you’ve done, alone, has ever gotten complicated. Like finding stray chieftans and bringing a band of mercenaries to my city.”
Garrett cleared his throat.
“Tell him about your uncomplicated life,” she told Asher. “Because you announced you’re Earthborn. After that, everything else is less complicated.”
“She was out at Highmarch because I sent her to see where you and your little band were. I knew when you left your territory, I knew when your crossed into the High Desert. Taryn didn’t know who you were or why I cared. She rescued you on her own. I had her following you for my own political purposes.” Asher was as interested in her reaction as theirs.
“As a warlord?” Skye asked. “Because Warlords, they’re assassins as often as they aren’t.”
“She’s a ranger first, my warlord when she needs to be. If I had wanted Garrett, or any of you dead, I’d have sent Aiden, not Taryn.”
Aiden merely smiled as the Alles Aran glanced at him.
“Complicating things,” Taryn announced.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Complicated – my books develop a lot of plot as they go along, and I like it that way. I don’t want the reader to get bored. You can find my other books currently in print at my website (links to all the retailers) and get up-to-date info there as well.
PS- I have all the books in The Wildblood series available in signed paperbacks now, despite what the graphic says. US shipping only, I’m getting bookplates printed for fans overseas!
This is an unedited first draft – yes, I know about the typos, ect.
Asher, telling his potential allies/enemies a little bit about his background. He needs their cooperation and none of them are particularly cooperative. There will be chaos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Summary
When Taryn rescues another human from a marauding band of Caeruleum, she is reunited with clansmen from her past. It puts her at odds with their new chieftan, as well as her own partner, a powerful privateer. They discover, there are more imminent problems, ones they cannot control, and must unite to survive. Easier said than done, when each of them have their own plans to set in motion.
Sedna is home to hundreds predatory alien species. Humans are one of them. They’ve been there long enough to adapt, but not so long that all of them have forgotten, it’s not their world. The weather is changing. Humans are no longer at the top of the food chain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I was seven when we were taken. Planetfall, the adults called it, but no one remembered what actually happened. There was a flash of light. It felt like I was floating, then I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, couldn’t see.” Asher stood away from them, glancing back to see where Aiden was. “Then I woke up on another world, with twin stars, the sky almost orange, and alien beings we couldn’t understand and were terrified of.”
“How long is this story going to be?” Ianto finally had something to say.
“I could tell you about everything I’ve seen and everything I’ve done, and you’d still chose to not believe it,” Asher said. “I spent nearly twenty years in the Terran complex before I ventured out.”
“Why?” Garrett asked.
“Because I could.”
Taryn had a sick feeling, understanding some of the cryptic things he’d said over the years. “Why haven’t you gone back?”
“Because I can’t,” he told her.
“Who did you kill?” Skye asked, voice dripping sarcasm.
Asher let it go. “The expeditions I sent north were fully aware of the consequences. It’s possible to view the cities safely from a distance, but there’s a barrier around them. It doesn’t harm living things. You can only cross it once. That’s why you can’t let expeditions head south of Pike’s Pass. If they cross, they are there forever.”
The warlords fell silent.
“Suppose we wanted to see this for ourselves?” Aiden asked first.
“You are free to go. The humans in the various cities set up borders and warnings. You can communicate, if you happen to speak the same dialect. Some are friendly, others will simply ignore you. That’s up to you.” he indicated all of them. “After you get the pass blockaded.“
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Autumn, 2021
I’m getting to the uphill climb with Tau Scorpii. As usual, the plot has been much more complicated than I originally thought, but I guess that’s how I write. This book is exciting for me because it’s not the series. I love ‘the series’, but it’s good to know I can write something else! I’m hoping to have a release date in the early autumn. When I know, you’ll know.
In the meantime, I’m playing with learning how to make book trailers. I did a quick one for The Vista. Plans for Tau Scorpii include a much-improved book trailer and some real advertising. Grand plans, I know.
So this is a snippet from one of my favorite scenes. Taryn and Skye aren’t quite certain how to act around one and other. Things are about to heat up, in more ways than one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Walk with me,” Skye beckoned to Taryn, moving to the side of the road.
Garrett nodded and headed for the caravan, knowing where he wasn’t wanted.
“I’ve been told,” he began as she dismounted and moved next to him. “I’m over-reacting to this situation.”
“Getting stuck with a caravan, or about you and I?”
Another thing he liked about her, that she was so straightforward. “Pick one.”
“Us,” she said without hesitation.
“I don’t see you as Shaye. I know that’s who you were, but not for me,” Skye explained.
“That was a log time ago. You never changed your name.”
“No one was looking for stray warriors from Tycho Alles. Ianto had distant blood kin in a ruling family, and as far as we know, you two were the only survivors related to the Patrons.”
“It doesn’t matter now.” She was walking close enough beside him, her hand brushed his every few steps.
“It does.”
“Skye, let it go.”
He cut in front of her, making her stop. “Say that again,” he leaned close, challenging her.
She didn’t waver. “There’s nothing you can do to change it.” Then she fiddled with the collar of his dusty vest, pretending to straighten it. “The past is gone. Let it go.” Neither of them blinked. Taryn pulled him forward and kissed him, brushing her lips over his for a few lingering moments. “I know you were a good man. Show me who you are now,” she whispered.
“You might not like who I am now.”
“I was going to say the same thing. I’m not your princess,” Taryn used a childhood fairy tale to make her point.
Skye had been read the same stories when he was young. “I’m not your knight in shining armor.” It was a stare-down, and for a few moments, and he didn’t know if she was going to kiss him again or slap him. Both would have the same effect. “This isn’t over, it’s not even started yet.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Subject to editing, of course, but I love this scene. It’s indicative of their relationship.And now, for the promo part of this post!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tau Scorpii: The Myth of SolTerra
Sedna is home to hundreds of predatory alien species. Humans are one of them. It’s about to get more difficult to survive.
Their clan was scattered in a war, years ago. By accident or fate, Taryn and Skye have found each other. What they face now, they have no control over. The weather is changing. Their clans must find a way to adapt, and to make peace with with themselves and other species. The alternative is extinction.
And of course, all The Wildblood books are available on my website. I have signed paperbacks, too, for readers in the US. Email me if you’re interested.
A snippet, then promos! This is from Bloodlines. I’ve been busy co-ordinating covers for the trilogy so I can move on to Tau Scorpii and get that finished before autumn. After that, the follow-up of Outliers: Team Two, working title Outliers: Texas. Yes, I’m going there!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It was a nightmare; she knew it, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The fear was already there. Shan could hear voices outside, somewhere. They were angry voices, arguing and shouting. She moved to the window, recognizing the room as one of the private chambers for Council on the second floor of City Hall. The view west revealed Station Two, burning, and a bonfire in the street out front. People were fighting, baseball bats, 2×4s, anything they could find. Someone was shooting randomly from the rooftop of the old bank.
“Get away from the window,” a disembodied voice warned.
There was no one else in the room. Shan turned to look. It was pitch black and empty, creaking like old buildings do.
Fire in the Station was spreading upwards, glass breaking, smoke whipping in the air like there was a wind, but there wasn’t. She went back to the scene unfolding, knowing a group of Vistans were about to come out of the bank and confront the Scavengers en masse. Security had re-enacted the scenario with trainees over the years, showing them how things could go wrong, and how things could go right, in the middle of an attack.
“I said, get away from the window,” Rafe growled, striding into the room. He grabbed her by the hair, dragging her back towards the blackness beyond the doorway.
It was like she was in water, moving in slow motion, trying to fight back, to break away. He spun her around, hand on her throat.
A brilliant flash of light from outside drew their attention, and he released his grip on her. The light grew until it blotted out everything else. They both stared, watching as it faded. Shan knew what it was, knew it was the warhead on Missouri Breaks. Then the people outside began screaming. The windows shattered inwards.
Outliers is a new release, I haven’t changed the price yet, it’s still 99c. Grab it now!
S. A. Hoag, Writer 