Weekend Writing Warriors ~ I’m Not Your Enemy

March 1, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Hello and welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors Blog Hop. I missed last week because I was in Seattle channeling my fae self at Mythic Worlds, a delightful playground for authors, artists, wisdom workers and anyone who likes to dress up. I highly recommended it, but I did have time to feel sad Sunday morning that I was missing all the fabulous fiction on WWW.

This week I’m celebrating the release of Blood of Salar this Tuesday, March 3. I’ve posted a few snippets from the beginning of Blood here and here, so I decided a pull a scene from farther along in the story. Jamil’s devotion to M’lan is challenged when the monk’s powers grow and spiral out of control. Jamil finds himself in a fight for not only his life, but M’lan’s as well.

***

“M’lan,” Jamil whispered hoarsely. “I’m not your enemy.”

“Come to me,” M’lan said, the metallic ring in his voice echoing against the cavern’s walls.

Despite the pain, Jamil willed himself to crawl upward until he could stretch out on M’lan again. Everywhere they touched, searing cold bit and tore into Jamil’s skin. M’lan’s fingers inched downward until they held Jamil’s biceps. Jamil’s muscles trembled, and sweat dripped from him as he resisted the serpent’s energy.

“Stop, please.”

“You’re in my way, Major,” M’lan said.

***

Here’s the blurb for Blood of Salar, Release date March 3:

M’lan, headmaster of the order of Ka’alar and Jamil Jarka, king’s assassin, find their impossible love challenged to the utmost as a rebellion sweeps them apart, sending Jamil on a dangerous mission to assassinate the rebel leader, General Charvat. Unknown to anyone, Charvat is on his way to the temple to exploit the headmaster’s magical abilities.

When the rebel army arrives, M’lan is thrust into a struggle against political and sexual dominance as Charvat attempts to break his resistance. Violence and death mount, awakening within M’lan both the powers of destruction and the desire for revenge.

On the trail of his prey, Jamil begins to question his devotion to M’lan as his once innocent lover transforms into a mage and invades the assassin’s thoughts and dreams. The closer Jamil draws to M’lan, the more he puts his life and his very soul at risk. Jamil soon realizes that his lover might prove to be more deadly than the man he was sent to kill.

A final confrontation between assassin and monk might destroy them both, but Jamil is relentless in his determination to rescue M’lan, knowing that only his love can master the mage.

Info:

Author:Alexis Duran
Series:Masters and Mages
Genre:LGBTTQ, Fantasy & Paranormal
Cover Artist:Fiona Jayde
Prev Book:Masters and Mages 1: Touch of Salar
Available for pre-order at Loose Id

FYI, I’m participating in the Cold Nights…Hot Reads Blog Hop. There are a bunch of chances to win cool giveaways, including the grand prize of $125 Gift Card! I’m giving away a copy of the first book in the Masters and Mages series, Touch of Salar. Check it out, warm up your tootsies by the heat of some steamy reads, and win stuff. What’s not to like?

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Beneath The Jumpsuit

February 15, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Writing Warriors. While it might be another fog-enshrouded winter day here in the Pacific Northwest, on Mars, the sun is always shining. Unfortunately for Eli, he’s not there yet, and might never be. The slave ship that abducted him is setting its coordinates for Titan, notorious for flaunting the inner-system anti-slavery laws. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m continuing with my space opera in progress, From Mars, With Love. Things go from bad to really bad when Eli sees who his captors are and what they have planned for their prisoners.

***

Asteroiders were rarely seen on Earth, especially at ground level. They’d been developed in the asteroid belt beyond Mars and were a most reviled class of altered human; most of them were more artificial than flesh. The one that moved closest to Eli had a neck and forearms made of black rubber tubes twining around coiled copper muscles. What went on beneath the jumpsuit was anyone’s guess. His fleshy human fingers tapped at a wisepad as he scanned each prisoner in turn and made disparaging remarks to the security bot about their potential value. “Bottom of the barrel sweep, if you ask me. I hope the captain didn’t shell out full credits for this lot.”

A human voice crackled out of the hovering bot, “Hardly seems worth the trip, but some alterations while they’re in stasis might help.”

***

Farscape improved dramatically when Crichton ditched his white jumpsuit.

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Your Trip To Titan

February 8, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another edition of Weekend Writing Warriors. Click onward, mysterious reader, and in eight simple sentences, this awesome collection of writers will rock your imagination! Can you tell I’m having fun? Well, I’m still posting from my space opera in progress, From Mars, With Love, and I always get a little giddy after searching for photos of hunky space guys with guns to put at the end of the post.

On to the snippet. Eli, who’s been abducted for slave fodder and launched into orbit against his will, is getting desperate.

***

The entry hatch to the shuttle slid open and several Asteroiders in white jumpsuits entered, each followed by a menacing security bot that hovered in the air above and behind them. Shaped like metallic black crabs, the bots’ red eyes scanned the prisoners while their pinchers clicked in excitement.

“Time to get ready for your trip to Titan!” announced one of the Asteroiders. They moved apart, each claiming a section of about ten of the forty or so prisoners. The prisoners stood with varying success, were lined up and marched out of the shuttle straight into a sterile clinic sort of room. Eli didn’t like the look of all the medical equipment and he especially didn’t like the sight of the sleep pods stacked against one wall – if they were going to be immobilized there’d be absolutely no hope of escape. Although the ship was frigid sweat trickled down the back of his neck. He didn’t know if Moon Units could sweat with their specialized skin, but she stood right in front of him and he watched a nerve in her tight jaw pulse.

***

As promised, we’re back to hunky guys with guns. In space.

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Far Away and Dangerous

February 1, 2015 by Alexis Duran

It’s Sunday again already? Wow. Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where we writers emerge from our bat caves to share the spoils of our toils. I’m feeling a little giddy because I just finished a grueling four day editing session and now I get to play in Space Opera world again. Continuing with one of my current WIPs, From Mars, With Love, I jump ahead a bit, bypassing the part where Eli ruminates about how Earth wasn’t that great anyway.

***

In spite of the dismal circumstances, Eli smiled. Maybe this was upward mobility at last, if he could just figure out how to avoid the whole slave thing. He relaxed and had almost dozed off when suddenly the shuttle took another vomit-dive on the space-o-coaster. They were fast approaching inter-planetary launch. Where were they going – Titan? The habitat on Saturn’s largest moon was notorious for its defiance of the Fair Market ban on slavery. Titan was where the rich went to get all their kinkiest desires catered to, according to the gossip in the trash heaps of earth. He hoped that wasn’t where they were going- it seemed unimaginably far away and dangerous.

While looking for photos of hunky space guys with guns, I found this and decided to celebrate the love in From Mars, With Love. Back to guns next week.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Good-bye Earth

January 25, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Hello and welcome to another episode of Weekend Writing Warriors. I’m up to my eyeballs in edits, so I’ll cut to the chase and tell you that I’m continuing with my space opera in progress, From Mars, With Love. I’ve jumped ahead a bit. Eli has yet to come up with a plan to escape from a ship in space, so he has some time to reflect.

***

Eli had harbored a deep and stupid desire to be a pilot ever since he’d first seen a Lunar Freighter launch out of Manhattan Harbor. The sight had made him aware of the limitless possibilities of space half a second before he realized a dump rat like himself had zero chance of making it onto the crew of a space ship, much less piloting one. He found it grimly amusing that his one shot at traveling beyond Earth came from being slave fodder.

Space travel turned out to be less enjoyable than he’d imagined. As soon as the shuttle docked the Cruiser dropped away from the gravity well of the huge sweeping vessel and they freefell into clear space. His stomach tried to crawl out of his ears and his blood didn’t know which way to flow. Then the thrusters kicked in and they got pressed down like grass under a boot and off they went into pre-sling launch mode. Eli said a mental goodbye to his mate Rilke and wondered if he’d ever see him or Earth again.

***

So I’d thought I’d change things up and post a photo of guy with sword instead of a pew-pew gun. Flash!

Weekend Writing Warriors- Hair-Brained Schemes

January 18, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors– the hop where awesome, fearless writers take on the world of their imaginations, eight lines at a time. I’m going to keep going with my Space Opera in-progress, From Mars, With Love for a few more weeks. Last week Eli decided being a sex slave (or any kind of slave, for that matter) wasn’t on his bucket list, so he desperately started thinking on how to escape the transfer shuttle. One of his fellow abductees in an altered human called a Moon Unit in Earth slang.

***

The Moon Unit glared at Eli with an almost imperceptible shake of her head and looked away. Did she know what he was thinking? One could never be sure with Altereds how empathic or telepathic they might be.

Moon Units were the oldest of the Altereds, their mutations dating back to the earliest colonization of Earth’s Moon, when budgets and technology were strained. The Lunar Laborers were engineered to fit into compact tunnels, their skin smooth and plasticized to protect them from harsh environmental conditions. They evolved to be strong, dense and flexible, taking advantage of the scant gravity while not being susceptible to bone loss. Despite her apparent hostility Eli tried to take a seat beside her on the long metal bench that lined the shuttle but a dumb-bot guard grabbed him roughly by the shoulder, shoved him into a seat and drew down a locking bar as if they were going for a ride on a roller coaster.

Everybody got locked down the same way and Eli had more time to fume and plot then he would’ve liked – hair-brained schemes suffered from overthinking.

***