Monday, May 23, 2016

Escapee by Edward Hoornaert Excerpt, Interview & Giveaway




Escapee

Repelling the Invasion

Book Two

Edward Hoornaert



Genre: Science fiction romance



Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing



Date of Publication: April 19, 2016



ISBN: 978-1-77127-794-5

ASIN: B01BUI0T60



Number of pages: 262

Word Count: 63,000



Cover Artist: Eerilyfair Design



Book Description:



The African Queen in outer space



Catt Sayer just wants to survive. The working-class fugitive delivers military supplies on her decrepit airship, but her hard-won livelihood vanishes when invaders overrun her harsh moon. Now an idealistic, upper-class officer wants her to risk her life on a hopeless voyage to attack enemy headquarters – manned by 10,000 soldiers.



Edward Hoornaert’s romantic space opera, Escapee, continues the saga of the Dukelsky family (begun in The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station). If you like The African Queen and the thrill of underdogs finding love while battling a hostile environment, you’ll love Escapee.



The books of the Repelling the Invasion series can be read in any order or as standalones. The first book of the series is The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station.











Excerpt:



You see no bodies, Miss Sayer, because I buried them over the past seven days."



Catt waited for him to continue, but he didn't. “Oh yeah?” she scoffed. She knew he was lying, because she’d crawled over the twisted remains of the fortress’s backhoe, whose micro-explosives enabled it to burrow into Banff’s rocky ground. “You dug graves by hand in solid rock. Yeah, right.”



Enemy bombs blasted the graves. I just filled the holes with bodies and rubble.”



For one body, that was believable. For more than a hundred, though? Catt bit back a retort. From anyone else she’d suspect sarcasm. From him, she didn’t know what to expect.



Then she noticed how red his skin was, as though exposed far too long to the moon’s corrosive atmosphere. Lighter patches marked where he’d worn goggles and a respirator. “You did all that without a bio-suit?” Like most people, she didn’t trust respirators for more than a few minutes at a time. The man was either suicidal or insanely devoted to duty.



I’d left my bio suit here while I went on leave, and it was destroyed in the attack. As for leaving before the Proximanian army returns, I thought of that long before you did, which was why I hastened to finish my reports.”



The entire moon had fallen into enemy hands and yet this officer wrote reports? Her opinion must’ve shown on her face, because his flinty expression slipped, revealing exhaustion, despair, and a plea for understanding.



I know I’ll never be able to send them, but…” He ran a hand over his eyes, and the unfeeling martinet was back. “The reports are letters to my men’s families, explaining how they died at their posts, defending New Ontario’s interests.”



Catt opened her mouth. Closed it. Felt her face flame. Facing Dukelsky was like staring into a furnace. She lowered her gaze. “I didn’t know…”



Yet you assumed the worst of me.”



Without thinking, she had slumped into the submissive, hunched posture of a peasant being scolded by a patroon. Now, though, she straightened. Embarrassment warred with anger, yet she wouldn’t let him or any other patroon humble her, ever again. “Turnabout’s a bitch, eh?”



She expected him to ask what she meant. He didn’t, though a narrowing of his eyes told her he remembered his cheap prostitute comment. Their eyes locked. She refused to back down first.







About the Author:



What kind of guy writes romance? A guy who married his high school sweetheart a week after graduation and still lives the HEA decades later. A guy who’s a certifiable Harlequin hero—he inspired Vicki Lewis Thompson’s Rita Award finalist Mr. Valentine, which is dedicated to him.



Ed started out writing contemporary romances for Silhouette Books, but these days he concentrates on science fiction romance. He’s been a teacher, principal, technical writer, salesman, janitor, and symphonic oboist. He and wife Judi live in Tucson, Arizona. They have three sons, a daughter, a mutt, and the galaxy’s most adorable grandson.

Interview
Where are you from?
Tucson, Arizona. Before that, a tiny town in the northern Canadian Rockies.  Before that, a wilderness island halfway up the coast between Seattle and Alaska.  Before that, Chicago’s south side. Before that, my mother’s warm, snug womb.
Tell us your latest news?
My fourteenth published book, Escapee, was released a month ago. Escapee is a science fiction romance loosely based on one of my favorite movies, The African Queen.
Catt Sayer just wants to survive.  The working-class fugitive delivers military supplies on her decrepit airship, but her hard-won livelihood vanishes when invaders overrun her harsh moon. Now an idealistic, upper-class officer wants her to risk her life on a hopeless voyage to attack enemy headquarters – manned by 10,000 soldiers.
This romantic space opera continues the saga of the Dukelsky family (begun in The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station).  If you like The African Queen and the thrill of underdogs finding love while battling a hostile environment, you’ll love Escapee.
When and why did you begin writing?
Back in the 1980’s, before the computer revolution, I was teaching elementary school in an isolated town of 1500 that had no opportunity for learning a new career. Aware that computers were the coming thing, I taught myself a couple of programming languages and soldered together my first computer from scratch. But how to make a career in such a small place? Combining my interests, I wrote a programming books for youngsters and discovered that I loved writing. And the rest, as they say, is history.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
It crept up on me. For a long time, even after I’d had two non-fiction books and three Silhouette romances published, I often felt like an imposter pretending to be a writer. Somewhere along the line I began feeling like the crusty old gunslinger in a Western movie, the guy who’d seen and done it all.
What inspired you to write your first book?
My first novel was a little autobiographical – but only a wee bit. Perfect Ten was about an amateur oboist who falls in love with a conductor. However, while I am indeed an amateur oboist, I’ve never loved a conductor.
At a deeper level, the conflict between the leads – a working class heroine who feels intimidated by the hero’s moneyed background – is something I deeply identify with.
Do you have a specific writing style?
Readers sometimes say I have a distinctive voice, so I guess I do. Whatever my style is, it developed organically, rather than by imposing a theory or someone else’s style.
How did you come up with the title?
For Escapee, I had a hard time finding a title. Then I realized Catt was an escapee from the law, her airship was named Escapee, and the hero was an escapee from the expectations of his illustrious family. I felt a bit stupid not to have realized sooner that the title was staring me in the face.
Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Even if I start out with a theme in mind, any pre-determined theme always melts away like snow in Arizona. Instead, the theme grows from the lesson the main character learns. In Escapee, the theme is don’t judge a person by externals, but by what they are inside.
How much of the book is realistic?
Well, it’s set on a made-up moon using made-up weapons, so it’s utterly unrealistic.
On the other hand, I thoroughly researched what a world would be like if it had been captured as a moon of a giant planet; I researched volcanoes; I researched airships. So in this sense, it’s as realistic as I could make it.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
I’m tempted to say no, but that’s not quite accurate. My uncle was a pilot who happened to be flying near Mount Saint Helens when it erupted. The experience he recounted stuck in my mind, and reappeared in much-fictionalized form when Catt flies too close to an eruption.
What books have most influenced your life most?
That is a tough, tough question, because there are so many. Early influences are often the strongest, though, so I’ll say the young adult sci fi books by Robert Heinlein.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
Another really hard one. I’ll go with Kathleen Gilles Seidel, a romance writer who understands her characters extremely deeply. I admire her psychological insights, and try to emulate them in my own work.
What book are you reading now?
As usual, I’m reading several:
·        A Heart on Hold, by Sara Barnard
·        Jane Austen: Real and Imagined Worlds, by Oliver MacDonagh
·        Smoke Sky: A Dark Sky Novella (unpublished beta read), by Amy Braun
What are your current projects?
I recently finished a sequel to Escapee, tentatively titled Constellation XXII. It’s a standalone book set in the same ‘universe’ as Escapee, featuring another member of Hector Dukelsky’s family.
What would you like my readers to know?
That I am profoundly grateful to anyone who gives my books a try. Without you, storytellers like me would be fearsomely lost and alone. Heck, we probably wouldn't bother writing. That makes you an essential part of the writing experience, so take a well deserved bow!














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