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Not Ghosted
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
Tau Scorpii Snippet
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
Snippet – Tau Scorpii
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.
Outliers Pre Order & WeWriWa
First the WeWriWa! Click on the pic for more blogs about writing and books!
There’s so much new stuff in WordPress, please forgive the mess this post will be. This is the opening of Outliers, which I’m sure you’ve noticed is on pre-order now.
* * * * * * * * *
~I see you.~
Shannon had a bird’s-eye view of the Junction, a deadly place when the snow melted and nomads moved. Once, when there were many people, they traveled these crossroads by the thousands, to cities that held millions. Before she was born, when a World War changed everything.
Even humans.
The memory was like a nightmare, but this one was something she could manipulate and control. There was no danger. She needed to learn what they had concealed from her when she nearly died there, two years ago.
* * * * * * * * *
That’s it. This one if full of head games and hints of future novels and the previous trilogy. I hope it’s entertaining. It certainly kept me up many hours. On to the promo!
Pre-Order now for 99¢!
Outliers: Team Two A Wildblood Novella
Welcome to the world of The Wildblood.
Trust is dangerous; ignorance is deadly.
A generation after World War Last, children of the survivors struggle to overcome the all-too-human penchant to fight with each other. The only thing more dangerous than the people you don’t know are the people you know.
Outliers: Team Two – the newly formed Team Two attempt to hide the secrets of The Vista and its Altered, the genetically enhanced humans, while remaining loyal to the oaths they swore to protect their home. The Vista is no longer alone in the world, and the world is a complicated place.
* * * * *
The Wildblood Trilogy One – www.topaz08.com
The Vista, Renegades & Bloodlines
No one remembers what started the war, the big one. Civilization stopped, and what came next was fueled by rage and fear.
Twenty years on, a tiny refuge, a place called The Vista, may be one of the last vestiges of humanity. Isolated, guarded, and hiding a dark secret, the people have survived World War Last, and they are content with that. Their children, however, are not. The search for others will send them out into a world they know nothing about, where the line between enemy and ally is blurred.
All are available in paperback and eBooks – www.topaz08.com
WeWriWa 12/20/2020 Part 2
Ok, trying this again. Check out the WeWriWa blog for authors sharing their books, bit by bit. It’s fun.
I’ve been AWOL this year, mostly, but I’m writing. This snippet is from Tau Scorpii, the book 2nd in queue to be released in 2021.
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 are strong-willed, intense, and have their own plans for the future 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.
(Garrett is injured, Taryn is bossy. They have just met. No, they are not the romance sort of thing that happens later.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Garrett flexed his limbs, his leg, carefully, flinching, “It’s not deep, but out here,” he shrugged, “Bad enough.”
“Or you could drop your pants and let me stitch it,” Taryn offered.
“Have you ever worked on a human patient?”
Folding her arms, she nodded towards the eastern horizon, “Do you see that tiny cloud, way out there – that might be a puff of smoke, a Denzik herd stampeding, a crawler kicking up dust. My opinion, that is a haboob about to start up and roll this way and we’re going to have to dig in right here,” she indicated the dune they stopped beside. “You can sit here and bleed, or you can let me fix it, because I’ve sewn up dozens of wounded animals, humans included.”
Pushing himself up and out of the crawler, he balanced carefully, towering over her, then moved aside. “Dig your hole and we’ll get on with this, I’m no good to you crippled.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And that’s my 8. Sorry for the creative punctuation!
I have a number of books in the works. Outliers: Team Two will be the first one out next year, followed by this one. With some luck and some persistence, a third book will happen although I’m not entirely certain which.
The Wildblood: Trilogy One books have all been reduced in price, in anticipation of a new one. The box set is also on sale until Christmas.
WeWriWa 10/25/2020
If you enjoy these snippets, head on over to the WrWriWa blog and find a bunch more. It’s fun!
I’m at that stage of a book where I wonder if it’s actually a book, or a train-wreck. I keep reminding myself that it’s a draft and I can fix it all up and make it presentable. Self-doubt must be a constant for authors, because I do this every book. This one seems to be worse, but it’s because I want to make it a stand alone, and it’s not, not yet, not until I do some polishing.
Anyway, some words.
You know what happened in The Wildblood: Trilogy One, but what are the stories you don’t know? Outliers explores parts of The Wildblood world kept hidden, the stories yet to be told.
A generation after World War 3, children of the survivors struggle to overcome the all-too-human penchant to fight with each other. The only thing more dangerous than the people you don’t know, are the people you do know.
(Shannon and Green discussing the path their lives have taken, and the single reason she questions if she’ll ever have children.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I met someone, both of his parents were Altered, and he has inherited as well as engineered Altered genetics. He might be an ally, and despite that, he scares the hell out of me.”
“Why?”
“It’s a fairly simple thing, for me to sense other Altered; that ability has changed, too, but that isn’t the part of this that’s bad. When I ‘see’ him like that, it’s different,” Shan remembered the encounters.
Green knew who she meant, even if he wasn’t supposed to and he also knew very few things scared her. “You can’t sense him.”
“It’s almost the opposite, like staring at the sun – he blots out everything else, and when I look away, the afterimage is still there, for a long time. It hurts.”
(And that’s 10! Just to finish the idea, a few more.)
“You?” he said, alarmed.
“I get a blazing migraine. It fades, with the afterimage. I’ve only tread that ground twice. Honestly, Damon,” she dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’m afraid, if I tried any extended contact with him, it would kill me, or fry my brain. Something painful, and permanent.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shannon is the Gen En, the Altered, and her secrets run deep. Born weeks after the events they call World War Last, she has never known any other life – the struggle to survive, and the struggle to conceal what she is. Sworn to protect The Vista, she’s been exiled for her efforts. It won’t change her loyalties, it will only make it more difficult to uphold her oaths.
Ballentyne was a teenager during the war and has believed for decades that it was long over. Making sure any resurgence stays clear of Montana has become his main priority, even if it means alienating friends and family.
Green has ambitions to become a doctor, knowing his time in Vista Security is limited. He has watched Security splinter, and his friends die. Only one thing is keeping him there now, and that is Shannon.
Team Two – The first book explores Capt. Shannon Allen and Team Two, Capt. Damon Green and Maj. Mick Ballentyne; their efforts to hide the secrets of The Vista and its Altered, the genetically engineered humans, while remaining loyal to the oaths they swore to protect their home. The Vista is no longer alone in the world, and the world is a complicated place.
This novel is a segue between The Wildblood: Trilogy One and the upcoming stand-alone novels.
WeWriWa 10/18/2020
Check out the WeWriWa blog! You won’t be disappointed. I mean, authors willing to share their Works-In-Progress. Also stop by Snippet Sunday for even more books.
Outliers has gone off to some Beta Readers. This should be interesting. Then of course, edits. I won’t even comment on that. I’m curious as to how this will be received. It’s the same world, same characters, different parts of a larger story. We shall see. Here’s some words from it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You know what happened in The Wildblood: Trilogy One, but what are the stories you don’t know? Outliers explores parts of The Wildblood world kept hidden, the stories yet to be told.
A generation after World War 3, children of the survivors struggle to overcome the all-too-human penchant to fight with each other. The only thing more dangerous than the people you don’t know, are the people you do know.
Team Two – The first book explores Capt. Shannon Allen and Team Two, Capt. Damon Green and Maj. Mick Ballentyne; their efforts to hide the secrets of The Vista and its Altered, the genetically engineered humans, while remaining loyal to the oaths they swore to protect their home. The Vista is no longer alone in the world, and the world is a complicated place.
This novel is a segue between The Wildblood: Trilogy One and the upcoming stand-alone novels.
(Harlan and Kaden, and the dilemma of the Wildblood. Shannon is helping them clear out an old biotech facility and doesn’t really know what she’s doing. They are in another state.) Sorry for the creative punctuation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harlan went back to reading the newspaper, the weekly six page edition printed in Black Hills and distributed around the territory; current number of subscribers was four hundred and a few, but many households still held multiple families. The Vista and his city had a number of similarities and the haven was only one of them. No one, even Team Three, had thought to ask, either. When MacKenzie made the trip over, in the summer, he’d give him the tour.
Kaden stopped in mid-stride, rubbing his eyes, “She just set off the security measures on the second level.”
“On purpose – why?”
“On accident, and I have no idea how, luckily, it’s just a sonic blast; when she wakes up, it should take me about an hour, hour and a half, to get the rest of the files moved. She’s going to have one hell of a headache, and that’s going to bleed over to me.”
“Can I do anything for you?”
“Get this alliance set up so I can head south and not have to keep picking up Wildblood strays you send my way.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hopefully the editing isn’t as painful as I imagine. I’ll have a pre-order up ASAP, but I want to get this out there. My Real Life issues have once again been put on hold, and I have no clue how long it’s going to last. So, a promo!
WeWriWa 10/11/2020
Pop on over to the WeWriWa blog to find a whole pageful of awesome authors willing to share their words in process with you. It’s fun!
Outliers is in the final stages before I send it off to few Beta Readers. I’ve never done this before, but my editors don’t do that anymore. We’ll see how it works out. If possible, there will be a release date in November; if not, I’m probably going to wait until February. Other authors have said Dec. & Jan. aren’t good months for new releases. I’ll hate waiting that long with a finished book sitting here!
The other good news is that Tau Scorpii is up next, and not too far from being ready to go to the Betas. After that, I’m not really certain which book-to-be will worm its way out next. We shall see.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(Because someone asked – Wade and everyone else involved, called himself and his team ‘Gen En’, genetically enhanced or genetically engineered, because all the information about the Altered had been purged from the libraries and archives in The Vista in the first years after the war. They didn’t know what else to call it.)
You know what happened in The Wildblood: Trilogy One, but what are the stories you don’t know? Outliers explores parts of The Wildblood world kept hidden, the stories yet to be told.
A generation after World War 3, children of the survivors struggle to overcome the all-too-human penchant to fight with each other. The only thing more dangerous than the people you don’t know, are the people you do know.
Team Two – The first book explores Capt. Shannon Allen and Team Two, Capt. Damon Green and Maj. Mick Ballentyne; their efforts to hide the secrets of The Vista and its Altered, the genetically engineered humans, while remaining loyal to the oaths they swore to protect their home. The Vista is no longer alone in the world, and the world is a complicated place.
This novel is a segue between The Wildblood: Trilogy One and the upcoming stand-alone novels.
(This is Shannon and Ballentyne discussing the dangers of having a secret biomedical lab practically sitting in their backyard.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Do you understand what Rock Creek was?” Shan stopped as soon as they were clear of the entryway.
“It was a bio warfare lab that, among other things, altered the genetics of human DNA, both before and after conception,” Ballentyne had a quick answer.
“It was a biogenetic facility until it was evacuated sometime in the summer of 2027, weeks or maybe months before the war, we don’t have good information from that particular time. The Altered in hiding were aware and started re-purposing it almost immediately,” Shan headed in to what looked like the main room, lights flickering on. “They set the security devices for their own means, and we aren’t clear on that, either.”
“Good to know,” he said, following her. “Why would they evacuate?”
“Because the area is so remote; good when there’s a lot of people, bad when there is not, for the most part. The fail-safe isn’t something our Security installed -Haven did.”
“Haven – I’ve heard that before,” he remembered, and it wasn’t good things.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
So off they are, in places they shouldn’t go, doing things they were told not to. You wouldn’t read about boring, complacent people, now would you?? Here’s the promo of the week.
WeWriWa 10/04/2020
You know the drill – read my blog (leave a comment if you’d like!), check out the WeWriWa blog for more authors sharing their books. It’s pretty cool.
Ok. Nothing new or interesting going on here. I’m going to have to find some beta readers, because I don’t have an editor now. It’s a slow process, sorry, there will be books, as soon as I can.
~~
You know what happened in The Wildblood: Trilogy One, but what are the stories you don’t know? Outliers explores parts of The Wildblood world kept hidden, the stories yet to be told.
A generation after World War 3, children of the survivors struggle to overcome the all-too-human penchant to fight with each other. The only thing more dangerous than the people you don’t know, are the people you do know.
Team Two – The first book explores Capt. Shannon Allen and Team Two, Capt. Damon Green and Maj. Mick Ballentyne; their efforts to hide the secrets of The Vista and its Altered, the genetically engineer humans, while remaining loyal to the oaths they swore to protect their home. The Vista is no longer alone in the world, and the world is a complicated place.
This novel is a segue between The Wildblood: Trilogy One and the upcoming stand-alone novels.
(This is the un-edited and grammatically challenging version of Chapter One of Outliers. I always hate my first paragraph, no matter how much I mess with them. Any helpful suggestions are appreciated.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~I see you.~
Shannon had a bird’s eye view of the Junction, near what had been her home; it was a deadly place, when the snow melted and the Nomads began to move. Once, when there had been many people, they traveled these crossroads between cities by the thousands. Now, there were few people, even less civilization, and nothing that could be called cities.
This wasn’t real, it was only similar to a dream, she was in no danger. It wouldn’t make a difference now, the damage had been done; still, she wanted to know what had been hidden from her, two years ago when she nearly died there.
Rafe, certainly; he was an Altered, one of the Genetically Enhanced, created by humans, hated and hunted by humans and other Altered alike. Shan was an Altered, too, and hadn’t know about him, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Before they went out in the world, Team Three, Shannon and her partners Wade and MacKenzie, had thought they were untouchable; they knew they were different, and were too young to realize how naïve they were.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Get caught up with the first series before the next one arrives!
THE VISTA: BOOK 1 OF THE WILDBLOOD
What happens, after the end of civilization?https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W6R8WNM
World War 3 lasted ten hours.
A handful of nuclear strikes started the chaos, cascading into a worldwide event. The electrical grids were gone, and worse yet, the seasonal flu mutated into something fast and fatal. Planet Earth went dark, that August, and humans teetered on the brink of extinction.
20 years on, in a hidden enclave and guarding a dark secret, these survivors are content with their lives. Their children, however, are not. The search for others will send them out into a world they know nothing about, where the line between enemy and ally is blurred.
Backlash: Prequel to the Wildblood & The Wildblood Sourcebook 1 are FREE always. The trilogy is complete (The Vista, Renegades & Bloodlines). Entire Series 1 available in paperback and eBooks – www.topaz08.com
This is happening, too!
S. A. Hoag, Writer 