Showing posts with label Susan Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Susan Grant. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Interview with Puppy - Guest Blog by Susan Grant

NY Times and USA TODAY bestselling author, RITA Award winner, and 747 airline pilot Susan Grant is here today with an Interview with Puppy from Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2
 
Puppy's story The Prince, the Pilot and the Puppy, also known as Star Puppy in her very popular Star Series, will join Star King, Star Prince, Star Hero, Star Champion (aka Champion of Baresh) and the other wonderful books in this outstanding science fiction romance series.
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I can’t wait for you to meet Trysh, Rornn, and Puppy, and the rest of the crew of Bezos Station, a city in space that orbits the planet of Barésh. Readers may recognize some of these places and characters from Star Champion (previously titled The Champion of Barésh) and Star Hero (expanded from the short story “Stray” from Pets in Space 1).

Puppy is a canine type of animal, an alien street dog—called a “yipwag” in the local dialect. Smarter than Earth dogs, yipwags are experts in predicting human behavior and reading our emotions. They have wagging tails and wet noses like the dogs we know, and come in different colors. Puppy has a brownish-black coat, black eyes, and huge upright ears.



Let’s ask Puppy a few questions about herself and the people in her life:

1. Is Puppy really your name?

Yes! My Tall Ones tried a few times to give me a “real name”—Cocoa, Blackie, Kaylee, Lucky—but none stuck. It’s okay. My mother called me Puppy and that’s who I am.

2. Is it true that yipwags are being used in an experimental K-9 program on Bezos Station?

Yes, but there’s just two of us so far. Me, and my friend Bang-Bang. Like border collies and other herding dogs on Earth, we yipwags are good a reasoning, but our powers are supercharged. The Tall Ones are first beginning to realize how much we can help them—and they need our help a lot. I’m being trained for contraband detection, bomb sniffing, search and rescue, and protection.

3. Where’s your favorite place to nap?

With my favorite Tall Ones in their bed. But on My Trysh’s side. My Rornn is too tall and his feet get in my way.

4. You say your two favorite people are Trysh and Rornn. Who else?

That would have to be Danger. He’s a starfighter pilot like My Rornn and My Trysh. He helped My Rornn say and do the right things to win Trysh’s heart. He’s funny and when no one is looking he gives me pieces of bacon.

5. and your least favorite person?

Sergeant Spratt. He’s also called “Sarg” or “Box Cutter.” He’s the station’s cargo wrangler. We got off to a bad start when I ate the pie his girlfriend baked for him.



Please enjoy this excerpt of how Puppy got on Sergeant Spratt’s bad side:

Puppy trembled as her shelter swayed and seemed to lift off the ground. There was a terrifying noise and shaking, then it subsided, replaced by a gentle swaying, a low rumbling. Her ears felt stuffy.

Then she floated off the floor.

She bobbed and bounced along the walls and ceilings of the dark, cavernous space. A delicious smell made her forget the pain in her hind leg. She pushed away from the wall to follow the scent to its source, grabbing hold of a small box with her teeth and claws lest she float away again. Glancing around for Others who would steal her prize and maim or kill her, she decided she was still alone. Frantically, she peeled off the outer covering, ripping apart the casing under that, and sank her muzzle into a warm, crumbly mess that tasted of the sweetness of her mother’s milk and the savory richness of fat. It was almost too sweet, too sticky, but food meant survival. Half-choking in her frenzy to eat, awash in a swirling cloud of torn paper and crumbs, she wolfed it down.

A jerking movement knocked her loose. She dropped, hitting the floor with the remains of her meal. The den swung wildly, throwing her around. She slid across the floor and smacked into containers, hurting her ribs. Then, with a powerful boom, the crate went still. Her lungs heaved, her body hurting. She could hear the voices and footsteps of Tall Ones. Crumbs dangled from her whiskers, her nose was sticky. Bright light hurt her eyes as the entrance banged open.

Faces of Tall Ones peered in. “Sarg! Sergeant Spratt! We got a hitchhiker!”

“A what?” Feet stomped closer.

“A stowaway. And…uh…it got into that pie you said your nurse friend was sending up.”

“What! Someone got into my pie?” yelled the raspy voice.

“Something. It’s one of those yipwags from the colony, Sarg. A street dog. A puppy.”

Find out what happens next in Embrace the Romance, Pets in Space 2

About the Author
When NY Times/USA Today bestselling author and Air Force veteran Susan Grant isn’t driving an 18-wheeler (a 747 jumbo jet) she loves writing romantic, action-packed stories featuring gutsy woman and honorable men. Flying to exotic places and trying every kind of food imaginable helps Susan bring her sci-fi worlds alive for readers. She is a winner of the prestigious RITA award for her book Contact, an alien abduction sci-fi romance.

Website      Facebook       Twitter       Amazon Author Page 

FB Handle: @Author.Susan.Grant      Twitter Handle: @flyerdreamer

 
Just Released: October 10th

The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you! Join in the fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author, Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King, for stories that will take you out of this world! Join New York Times, USA TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard, Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!

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.

BUY IT HERE:

Amazon short link     Amazon CA     Amazon UK     Amazon AU   
 
      
iBooks      B&N      Kobo       Google Play 

 



Saturday, August 26, 2017

About Pets in Space: Pauline Baird Jones, Susan Grant, Sabine Priestley and Michelle Howard

Welcome to the first in a series of weekend videos and video interviews from the twelve authors of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2.

Today, our first three authors weigh in with how and why they got involved with this exciting collection of science fiction romance stories...plus pets!

But first up, the author who brainstormed the idea talks about how Pets in Space came to be and why it supports Hero-Dogs.org.

Our interviewer is Narelle Todd of Get My Book Out There.

Pauline Baird Jones
Home Did Pets in Space Come About?



Pauline doesn’t love reality so she writes books. She tends to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla (they were born the same year) through her characters lives, mixing peril and humor into her romance, but she always delivers a happy ending. Visit her website: Pauline Baird Jones

Next, three of the authors talk about how they got involved with Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2.

Susan Grant
On Being Part of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2



When NY Times/USA Today bestselling author and Air Force veteran Susan Grant isn’t driving an 18-wheeler (a 747 jumbo jet) she loves writing romantic, action-packed stories featuring gutsy woman and honorable men. Flying to exotic places and trying every kind of food imaginable helps Susan bring her sci-fi worlds alive for readers. She is a winner of the prestigious RITA award for her book Contact, an alien abduction sci-fi romance. Visit her website here: Susan Grant


Sabine Priestley
Why She's in the Anthology



Multi published author of Sci-Fi Rom and Urban Fantasy.

Sabine grew up consuming Science Fiction, Fantasy and Romance novels (there was a brief bodice ripper period, but we won’t go into that). She wanted to be an astronaut and travel the stars. She ended up an Electrical Engineer and Cultural Anthropologist. She’s a geek with heart.

Seriously disappointed we’ve yet to establish so much as a moon base, she’s encouraged by the recent developments by superstars such as Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, among others. She’s a travel addict, beach-loving, stargazing disruptor. Her heroines are kickass and her stories action packed. Visit her website: Sabine Priestley


Michelle Howard
What Attracted Her to the Anthology?



Michelle Howard like many authors dreamed of writing since reading her first romance novel many years ago. She loves paranormal and contemporary romances and is a fan of the classic romances by Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood. I love to hear from fans so please reach out to me. If the mood hits you, leave a review. Website: Michelle Howard

I'll be back next weekend with three new videos and/or interviews from the authors!

And in case you missed it, check out this very popular blog about music that inspires nine of the authors from the Pets in Space collection, including videos of their selected songs.

Preorder Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 here
Preorder a PRINT copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 here
Get a FREE preview copy of the first chapters here
Get a free Pets in Space 2 coloring book here
Join the Pets in Space Facebook Group for fun and chat here
See the Pets in Space Anthology Site Here
 

Friday, August 18, 2017

CHECK OUT MY FAVE SFR SERIES FOR THE SCREEN



The Dog Days of August (and a whole lot of both personal and community challenges) have got me down, so try as I might I couldn’t come up with a topic for today’s blog. 

But I did contribute to a recent post for Veronica Scott’s USA Today HEA blog on the SFR series I’d love to see made into a TV show or movie. Here’s my two cents, along with the opinions of several other SFR authors.


 What SFR series would you like to see on your television or movie screen?

Cheers, Donna

 

Friday, March 24, 2017

HANGING ON TIL THE END


What’s the hardest part of a book to write? Not the beginning, because what writer isn’t full of enthusiasm at the onset of a project? Sometimes that opening sentence is what launches the whole thing in an author’s mind. Call me Ishmael. Chapter One: I am Born. For years I couldn’t remember what happened to me that night.*

The middle chapters are almost always a hard slog, it’s true. They don’t call a problem with this section “the sagging middle” for nothing. Keeping up the pace, making sure you don’t lose all of your subplots in a swamp of details, enforcing consistency in your characters, all take discipline and drive.



But the proof of any novel’s pudding is at the end, when all the plot threads must tie themselves up in neat little bows, the bad guy must get his or her just deserts, and your hero and heroine must have resolved all their internal and external conflicts so they can enjoy their happily ever after. Aarggh!

Of course, the myth is that plotters and pantsers approach this moment of truth in completely different ways. Plotters, it is assumed, have it all figured out from the beginning. It’s there in the outline! This happens, then this, then, ta-da! Ends tied, bad guy dead, HEA.

Pantsers, supposedly, just write until things work themselves out. If they hit a wall, they write around it, or over it, or under it. Intuition working overtime, pantsers find solutions to whatever problems present themselves as they come up, though maybe that doesn’t happen right away. (I hope not, anyway, or I would be much more jealous of these folks than I already am!)

But, surprise! Hardly anyone is exclusively a plotter or a pantser. And the Muse is fond of throwing all sorts of obstacles in our path as we work our way through a story. Unexpected plot complications. Demanding characters. Corners, with wet paint on the floor all around. Inconvenient laws of physics that make you want to switch to writing contemporary romance. And, most especially at the end of a novel with any subplots at all, the issue of timing (that is, who is supposed to be where at exactly what day and time).

As a plotter, you might think I’d have fewer problems than some with tying things up at the end of a book. But right now, I’m close to the end of the first draft of Book 4 in my Interstellar Rescue series and, really, I have no idea how to end it. Well, I mean, I know generally what should happen. Minor villain vanquished by the hero/heroine (and, big reveal here, dog—which, I should add, I’d already put in the story before Pets in Space was launched). Major villain(s) vanquished (for now) by the Rescue team from earlier novels (since this is a series). Hero and heroine (and dog) get their HEA. Sexy secondary character set up for his own future book.  All good.

But the devil is in the details. I could use a little pantsing skill right about now. Because there comes a time when you just have to sit down at the computer and write something.
And hope it all comes out the way it should. In the end.

*The first line of Unchained Memory, Book 1, Interstellar Rescue series
 
CONGRATS TO 2017 RITA/GH® FINALISTS!

Well done to the Finalists announced Tuesday, March 21, including SFR Brigade members Janet Halpin (Golden Heart®, Paranormal, for Beryl Blue, Time Cop) and Susan Grant (RITA, Paranormal, for Champion of Baresh)! The nomination for the RITA is especially sweet for Grant, one of the pioneers of SFR in the early 2000s who had been out of the game for several years. She self-published Champion of Baresh, which she calls a “book of my heart.” Good luck to Susan and Janet in Orlando in July!

Cheers, Donna