I just finished my editing process with another publisher. And of course there were changes to be made. Some bigger than others. Only one that really hurt and when it comes down to it I just think we saw the story differently and she felt it made the story stronger so I went with it. Had I been self-pubbing I probably would have fought a lot harder for it. Although I am saying this it is not to impune her in anyway, she's a fantastic editor. I love her so much I'm working with her outside of that setting for my self pubbing adventure because I trust her judgment implicitly. (Lea you know I love you , muah).
That being said I think I'm just an indie at heart. And have decided to start my own self-pubbing imprint, Doves Publishing. (Logo by the gifted Elise VanCise).
I'm still slapping the last bit of paint on and hammering the last few bit of nails in before officially hanging up my shingle, but I thought it would be nice if I shared a snippet of my work with everyone. Here it is from ARIES:
She ran straight into him, nearly knocking both of them over in the process.
“Stop her!” Aries looked up and saw two L’vanthian guards hurtling straight for them.
The human female went to slip around him and he caught her by her arm and caught her around her neck. She slammed her head back against his chin and snaked loose.
“Stop her Bounty Hunter.”
On a whim he gave chase. They ran through corridors. Her crashing into doctors and scientists and him moving deftly through the maze she had tossed in her way. He would be able to catch her, but unlike many of the criminals he ran down, she was a human slave, she wore an orange jumpsuit and she was bleeding from the neck where she had been tagged for crossbreeding purposes. Apparently she’d cut it out.
The closer he got the more he felt her heartbeat in his chest. Her respirations were escalating and just when he thought her legs were going to give out she found a way to dig deep and run a little faster.
He was a half-breed L’vanthian. The result of the rape of his mother by a high ranking General. He bore many traits of a human. His bronze skin, his blond hair, his skeletal and muscular structure all human. But his bloodwork was that of a L’vanthian. And when giving chase of a criminal, angry, or sexually aroused his blue eyes were luminescent. His genealogy gifted him with ability to read a human’s or L’vanthian’s vitals making him and other half-breeds good candidates for the unsavory work of transporting criminals and human slaves to their destination.
The slave turned and was in the docking area of L’vanthian Slave Ship Number One. As he sprinted to catch her his own respirations were increasing, his pulse accelerating, and his blood pounded in his ears. Just take your phaser gun and stun her. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t just doing what he always did in these situations.
He knew why. He just didn’t want to admit it. He only dealt with male criminals and slaves. His mother had been one of the first to suffer. Even though she was married and had a family the General had chosen her to be the first in the crossbreeding experiments. She had been an extraordinary mother given the circumstances and had done her best to raise him with love. But as much as his mother had loved him neither the L’vanthians or the humans wanted his kind. They liked sleeping with him. They liked the fact he was a good tracker. But they hated that he was of mixed blood and ultimately rejected him.
He caught her by the ankle just as she climbed into one of the aircraft and yanked down hard. Instead of letting her fall to the titanium floor as he would most criminals Aries caught her. The wind knocked from her, bleeding and a crazed look in her eye she looked at him for a moment and asked, “You?”
She did look familiar but he was about to turn her back over to the L’vanthians.
“Please, don’t do this. Don’t turn me back over to them,” she begged. “It’s taken me months to plan for this. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t. If you let me go I’ll find a way to pay you.”
“What kind of slave are you?”
“One born on this ship.”
His eyes widened. He remembered her. She’d been so young that the L’vanthians allowed him to guard her. That was a lifetime ago.
Footsteps and screams were nearing. It was against his nature but he remembered her and sending her to face certain death wasn’t something he could live with.
He sat her down on her feet, “Get up there.”
“Stop her! Now!”
He had cleared the final step and the top was coming down as he settled into the pilot’s seat. “Put you your helmet and oxygen on.”
He flipped on the energizing core and the ignition switch. Someone had fueled the tank on this starflighter.
“Be ready to fire when I say fire.”
The docking doors were now open and as they flew into space they everything went to silence but the sound of their breathing.
****Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of my work in progress. Until next time...
