Today, I'm very pleased to have Veronica Scott, author of Star Cruise: Stowaway in Pets in Space, here as our guest blogger.
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Have you ever taken on a pet without
understanding what you were in for? Because it was adorable and cute maybe? Or
because your children were just begging to adopt it and you figured what the
heck?
That was me and red-eared slider
turtles.
Fast forward a year. The turtles
were each the size of a salad plate and rejoiced in names primarily drawn from
characters on the "Xena Warrior Princess". (I have no idea how to tell the sex of
a turtle so hopefully they liked their names regardless of accuracy.)
We now had six of these turtles in a
massive aquarium, with THREE motors running constantly...they’d come down with
pneumonia at one point over the winter, and I spent an insane amount of money
on the only veterinarian in our area who treated turtles, not to mention
medicine. Have you ever tried to give a turtle medicine three times a day?
Remember they can duck back into their shell and refuse to swallow. Plus they
hiss very convincingly and kick with those clawed feet. But I’m kind hearted
and I can’t bear to see an animal suffer so of course we had to try to save
these guys. They had to be taken outside daily to get their dose of sun
(although I seem to recall buying special lights). We had to completely empty
the aquarium and clean it thoroughly once a week, which was a massive operation,
including scrubbing the rocks that the turtles liked to sit on. Every week I
was afraid we’d either break the glass aquarium or come down with some exotic
disease despite the gloves we all wore.
I was keeping that small pet shop in
business, buying filters for the pumps, and food – the turtles preferred live
worms, live goldfish, insects, hamburger, bits of hot dogs...the problem being
that they are messy eaters so the water got nasty fast. Turtles are kind of
unclean which doesn’t matter in a nice lake or pond – circle of life and all
that – but in an aquarium, not so good. It really wasn’t the lovely centerpiece
I might have once naively envisioned for my living room.
Yes, I see you shaking your head and
pondering why I was doing all this but I think sometimes when you’re in the
midst of a situation, you can’t see how out of hand it’s gotten. And the
turtles were interesting to watch. One of my best memories ever is when we set
up the Christmas tree and turned on the lights and all six of them swam to the
edge of the aquarium and were mesmerized. That was cool to see.
So what finally brought this
insanity to an end? My best friend and I took our children to the local natural
history museum, which also had a few live animals on display, including mature
red-eared slider turtles. They were the size of serving platters. I will never
forget how horrified I was to see what was in my future – six gigantic reptiles
in my living room, probably each in their own aquarium by then, with filters
the size of nuclear power generators and a refrigerator just for their food!
Fortunately I had a friend who had a
friend who wanted to adopt them. He had a ranch in a very rural area and I
asked NO questions. He came one day in his truck, loaded up the aquarium, the
pumps and the turtles and we were done. My electric bill went down $60/month!
Very important moral of the story:
don’t adopt any animal without knowing more about it first, what kind of care
it requires, and if it’s an exotic, what the requirements may be if it outgrows
the habitat you can safely provide. Of course it’s easier to research these
things nowadays and I never again said yes to adopting any pet without thinking
long and hard. No impulse buys.
It’s strictly cats for me now! Nice,
normal housecats whose care I totally understand and can handle.
So when I was writing my story for
this anthology, I gave my hero a cat and an alien, furry pet, but no turtles.
The
blurb for Pets In Space:
Join the adventure as nine pet
loving sci-fi romance authors take you out of this world and pull you into their
action-packed stories filled with suspense, laughter, and romance. The alien
pets have an agenda that will capture the hearts of those they touch. Follow
along as they work side by side to help stop a genetically-engineered creature
from destroying the Earth to finding a lost dragon; life is never the same after
their pets decide to get involved.
Can the animals win the day or will
the stars shine just a little less brightly?
New York Times, USA TODAY, Award
Winning, and Best selling authors have eight original, never-released stories
and one expanded story giving readers nine amazing adventures that will capture
your imagination and help a worthy charity. Come join us as we take you on nine
amazing adventures that will change the way you look at your pet!
10%
of the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them
free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.
Cargo Master Owen Embersson is shocked
when the Nebula Zephyr’s ship’s cat and her alien sidekick, Midorri, alert him
to the presence of a stowaway. He has no idea of the dangerous complications to
come – nor does he anticipate falling hard for the woman whose life he now
holds in his hands. Life aboard the Nebula Zephyr has just become more
interesting – and deadly.
A
quick excerpt from the story – Owen, the cargo master, is going to see the
stowaway in the sickbay.
As he walked through the public
corridor, not enjoying the close encounter with the throng of passengers he
usually avoided, he passed the florist shop and hesitated. You take flowers
when someone’s sick, right? Squaring his shoulders, he stepped inside the small
shop and picked the most colorful bouquet the clerk had to offer, dismayed at
the limited selection available. He vaguely remembered a discussion at senior
staff not too long ago, and the Purser saying the ornamental hydroponics trade
should be bringing in a lot more credits but was languishing. No wonder.
Critically, he surveyed the flowers he’d bought, some of which were missing a
few petals and already browning at the edges. He’d have an opinion if the topic
came up again.
Holding the flowers clutched like a
wrench at his side, he entered the sickbay, ignoring nurse Relba’s widening
eyes as she focused on what he carried. “I’m here to see the lady, the one
brought in last night,” he said, feeling like an idiot, not knowing her name.
“Sorry, sir, the patient’s not
allowed to have visitors—”
Author
Bio:
Best Selling Science Fiction &
Paranormal Romance author and "SciFi Encounters" columnist for the USA Today
Happily Ever After blog, Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as
its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica
thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of
books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Three time winner of the SFR Galaxy
Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is
also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her
former day job, not her romances! She recently was honored to read the part of
Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s "City On
the Edge of Forever."
Amazon Author Page
And now we know The Trouble With Turtles! Thanks so much for being our guest today, Veronica.
ReplyDeleteEven now I can't believe how out of hand it all got!!! Thanks for having me as your guest to relive it :)
ReplyDelete