Guest Post by Julia Rachel Barrett and a Giveaway!

 

Please welcome Julia Barrett here today. Her new book Captured was released on January 6th (You can read my review here). She's here today to talk about one of my favorite topics: Science Fiction and romance. So enjoy!

For Love of Imagination!

I am a science fiction freak. People look at me like I’m speaking Greek when I talk about BSG. BSG? Only the best science fiction series ever written for television! I’m still suffering withdrawal. The final episode of Battlestar Galactica broke my heart.

My other favorite is the short-lived series, Firefly, created by the incomparable Joss Whedon, about a sparsely populated post-apocalyptic galaxy. I loved the fact that two languages survived the wars, English and Chinese. Yup…sounds about right to me. Great cast, amazing series…too bad it didn’t fare well with the TV viewing public. Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Joss Whedon and James Cameron are two writers/directors who understand that not only must science fiction be entertaining and gripping, but they know a story must be internally consistent. An author can create an outrageous fantasy world, but a reader can suspend disbelief only if an author follows his or her established rules for the invented world. The characters must live by those rules. For example, if an author states that man cannot fly, then if a flying man appears, she better come up with a damn good explanation for why she’s breaking her own rules.

James Cameron achieved pure poetry with his first Terminator movie. He grokked – check out Stranger in a Strange Land - the circular nature of time travel. It’s like being stuck on a feedback loop. The two main characters, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese are forced to play their crucial roles over and over again. The dance between Sarah and Kyle continues unto eternity – the photo of Sarah Connor that Kyle keeps with him tells the entire story. Watch the movie and see when the photo is taken. Circular. Time travel is circular.

Science fiction and fantasy are mother’s milk to me. From the time I was a kid, I’ve put myself to sleep at night by making up fantasy stories in my head, so it came as no great shock when I found myself transitioning from romance/suspense to science fiction. Captured, with Siren-Bookstrand, is the first of my sci-fi books to be released. The story of Mari and Ekkatt came to me in one night, in one single, detailed dream. I dropped everything to write it – and I actually ended up getting it on paper…or on computer…in three weeks, quite possibly a record for me! I can tell you lots about the book, but I think I’ll let the characters speak for themselves, – here’s a blurb:


 

Mari never expects to find herself caged in a cargo hold on a spaceship.  She learns from her captors she's headed to the meat market.  When they try to return her to stasis, she resists.  The male in charge, Ekkatt, allows her to remain awake.  Mari realizes her survival depends upon connecting with Ekkatt.  She must make him see her as a sentient being or she will end up dinner.

Ekkatt has never spoken to any human.  Humans are beasts.  They are valued for one thing, the money they bring at auction.  The Attun are vegetarians, but other species prize human flesh and Ekkatt makes good money trapping.  Then the female with red hair awakens.  She speaks to him and forces him to admit she has a name.  Mari throws Ekkatt's entire life into question, the biggest question...can he watch her sold to the highest bidder? 

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An Excerpt:

There were periods of times when the two of them were alone in the cargo hold. Ekkatt seemed a bit more open then. He’d converse with her in his stilted English. She’d listened hard to his conversations with Pana and struggled to pick out individual words. Their language sounded Semitic. It reminded her of the time she’d attended a wedding at an Ethiopian Coptic Church. She’d understood quite a bit of the service. Listening to the men talk to each other was like having a word right on the edge of her tongue that she couldn’t quite get out. Given enough time, she could learn their language.

Ekkatt humored her, as one would humor a child, as if she amused him. He taught her a few words in his own tongue like come, stay, sit, hungry, food, drink, and move your ass. She began to learn the difference between his tolerant laugh and his grunt that meant – get the hell out of my sight you filthy animal. He even brought her a tunic without her asking for it.

He’d seen her shivering and commented, “If you sleep, you will not feel the cold of space.”

Mari shook her head, no. But, she had fallen asleep for just a brief period of time. When she woke a threadbare tunic had been thrown over her. Mari had been so grateful that she’d cried. She’d huddled in a corner of her cage and kept her back to the men so they wouldn’t see her tears and realize how close she verged on breaking down every single moment.

Pana had actually growled when he’d seen her approach wearing the oversized garment. He’d had words with Ekkatt over it. Finally he’d stormed off and shoved her out of the way, saying, “You stink, beast. You’re stench follows me above decks.”

Mari rose to her feet cautiously, eyes fixed on Ekkatt. “If you allow me to bathe properly,” she said, “I will not stink.”

“You will be cleaned…you will all be cleaned, when we reach our destination. We haven’t the facilities to bathe an animal.”

“If you came to my home,” said Mari, speaking clearly, “I would treat you with respect and dignity. I would not call you an animal simply because you are not human.”

Ekkatt shot her a hard look. “This ship is not my home, and on this ship you are nothing to me but cargo, valuable, but very filthy, cargo.”

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I had more fun writing Captured than I’ve ever had writing any book! I hope you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for coming and visit me anytime!

Julia

To buy Captured, click here.

To visit Julia’s Website...Facebook.

Now to the contest:
Julia has offered to give away an ebook copy of Anytime Darlin'   to one lucky commenter.

Giveaway rules:
1.) Leave a comment telling us about your favorite science fiction series or movie! Or just ask Julia a question!
2.) Leave me a way to contact you(email in blogger profile or twitter is okay)!
4.) You can get an extra entry when you spread the word about the giveaway(just leave a link).
5.) Open to everyone!
6.) Giveaway ends on the 24th January and I will draw a winner after getting up the next day!

That's it! So comment away!