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STARSWEPT Cover Reveal @astralcolt @snowywingspub
STARSWEPT Cover Reveal @astralcolt @snowywingspub
It’s cover reveal day for Starswept by Mary Fan! This sweeping YA sci-fi romance will be released on August 29 by Snowy Wings Publishing. The cover features photography by Roberto Falck, with graphic design by Streetlight Graphics. As a SFF fan I’m always super excited to share a cover with a grl of color on it!!!!
Title: Starswept Author: Mary Fan Release Date: August 29, 2017 Publisher: Snowy…
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Snippet from The Ithaca Mandate
Ardent, 2765
“She was so excited to see that god-awful ship,” Judith whispered, and Kalor bit her lip as she nodded. “Meanwhile, I can’t get away from it fast enough.”
Kalor set her hand on her arm and squeezed.
“It’s just a ship, Quinn,” she said. “Just as fragile and vulnerable as the rest of us.”
The simplicity of the statement refused to settle. Ithaca wasn’t fragile. She’d never faltered. She was an entity all her own, an impenetrable metal veil that wedged herself between two realities Judith could no longer reconcile. For years she had known Ithaca would take Lyris, and Rilka–that she might even one day have taken Zoey.
She wasn’t just a ship. Not anymore.
She was a threshold, a snare–a patient, immutable gravity that Judith knew was now finally seizing her, too.
Ithaca was always going to take her.
But her pull would drown them both.
"He asked about you," Eva said, rubbing one arm and then shoving a hand in her pocket. "Who you are, why you care."
"I don't like bullies, is all," Taryn replied with a frown, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Ain't need no more reason than that."
"He says you got a mouth on you. Says you oughtta learn when to shut it."
Eva looked at the ground as she said it, kicking at the gravel with the toe of her boot.
"That what he said?" Taryn asked, and she almost grinned as she leaned back on the column.
"That's what he said."
"And what d'you think Miss Eva Kincaid?"
"I don't think nothin'."
"That means you think somethin'."
Eva looked up, and her mouth and her brows settled into hard lines.
"I think you gone an' pissed off Mister Sterling. An' I think you just might wanna listen to him."
Taryn regarded her. She still wasn't swayed. She could tell Eva knew it, too. She pushed off the column and came a step closer.
"I'll think about shuttin' my mouth when he thinks about keepin' his hands off o' you. You can tell him I said that, too."
-----
Taryn Monroe prefers simplicity–her place in the mountains, the predictable rhythm of her job at the mill, and the peace that comes with keeping to herself.
Every Tuesday, a woman shows up at precisely fifteen minutes to close. Taryn doesn’t know much about her–just the rumble of her truck, the way she never wastes words, and the peculiar gallon of sulfur she buys each week. Then one Tuesday, she doesn’t show up. Taryn tells herself to leave it alone, that it’s not her business and the woman can handle herself. But when she overhears an argument and starts asking questions, she can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong–and her life becomes anything but simple. Something wild is living in the barn at Wardenwood Hollow. Something keeping the woman bound to the old Sterling Farm. And Taryn may be her only chance to break free.
I wrote the plot twist last night.
I can't believe this story is actually ALMOST DONE.
JUST KEEP WRITING, PEEPS. You can do it!
WIP Drawing of Gestalt Genesis: Ardent.
Gestalt: Genesis Class Crew Complement: 480 The “right hand” of the Sojourner class, Ardent is responsible for terraforming newly created planets. She carries the Location and Material Induction system that pinpoints locations suitable for star formation and transmits coordinates to Ithaca. Due to the LMI system’s extreme power requirements, Ardent is heavily shielded but carries no weapons.
In the distance, there was a gap in the glimmer of the stars. The sparks of countless more refracted off of something sleek and black. Thin veins of light traced impossible contours in layers of glowing white, and flashes of amber erupted and rippled outward when pieces of Ithaca’s wreckage got a bit too close. Another shaft of light slashed through the darkness, across the window, trained on something that streaked past Ithaca’s wing and then stopped to hover near the rubble of her bow.
A red glow bloomed from somewhere aft, and the shadow came about, close enough to take shape. Judith’s pulse thrummed in her ears. She recognized those lines. The iridescent ebony skin of the hull. The broad, hammerhead wings of the stern and the long, sleek prow that tapered into a wedge.
Ardent.
This was supposed to be 75k and it can't even be broken into multiple books 😬
Also fun fact: Google docs has a 1 million character limit so this is just the sequentially organized doc because the other one is starting to lag...oops.
Snippet from The Ithaca Mandate
“Judith,” Lyris argued, stepping forward and taking one of her hands. She folded it between her own. Judith looked down at it for a moment, the distant memory of the sight from a time long ago reforming in her mind. Lyris ducked her head a bit until their eyes connected again. “We have to keep this crew safe. We are their only chance–do you understand?”
“This isn’t about the crew.”
“Yes it is,” Lyris insisted. “And it’s also about you.”
“I don’t understand,” Judith pleaded.
“You will,” the Commander replied, squeezing her hand. “I promise, you will. But I have to get them out. I have to get you out, Judith. No matter the cost.”
“Ithaca is dying, Lyris,” Judith said weakly.
Lyris’ grip on her hand became crushing. She raised her chin, her jaw jutting outward and tensing in the seconds before she spoke. The voltaic growl when she did sent a shiver through to Judith’s core.
“And I’ll make her rend every fleck of metal from my bones before I let her take you with her.”
-----
Synopsis:
When Lieutenant Judith Quinn is jolted out of stasis by Commander Lyris to find their starship crippled and adrift, she’s dragged into a nightmare unlike any she’s ever known. But as they work to piece together what brought Ithaca to her knees and salvage what remains, Judith feels an unsettling shift in her Commander. The woman she once knew—once loved—is different, marked by the accident that drove them apart, burdened by the augmentations that keep her together, and driven by a desperation that feels frighteningly personal.
As the ship descends into ruin and old feelings transform into a lifeline, Judith must confront the disturbing realization that the real danger may lie not in the wreckage surrounding them, but in how much of herself she will abandon to reconnect with what matters the most.
Another Snippet from The Ithaca Mandate
Why did you do this to her? Judith begged of the ship. Why now, after everything she’s done for us? Ithaca remained still, more silent than she’d ever been. The Commander's gaze met hers through the window, and Judith’s heart fractured. The possibility of Lyris’ end, the idea that she might actually be mortal, was simply too devastating to comprehend. If even she could fall, what hope was there for the rest of them? “I’ll come back for you,” Judith choked out, her voice barely a whisper. But even as she made her promise, even as she righted herself and took off for the nearest transporter, Judith wondered if there would even be anything left of the Commander, of the life that had always so fiercely refused to be extinguished, to come back to.
Snippet from The Ithaca Mandate
“How long?” Judith asked, hugging her arms against her ribs. She shivered slightly, the chill of the open space seeping into her. “How long until…?” The question ground to a halt, and no amount of will could force it into the air. How long until we’re gone? She could hear it in her mind. She could see it in the gaunt lines of her reflection. The bones of her cheeks and shoulders pushed out against her skin and the thin fabric of her undershirt, her brown eyes framed in dark crescents–fault lines and shadows where there should have been rolling hills and light. Judith scrubbed a hand across her face, like she could wipe that terrible, broken reflection away. Beneath them, Ithaca creaked and trembled as if even the leviathan herself was afraid of what it meant to die. Rage boiled to the surface, at the great, suffering beast still clinging to her perverse, miserable excuse of a life and her demands she not die alone. How long until you finally let us go?