Author Spotlight - Excerpt for: Noah's Ark

Thank you all for supporting Vijaya during her spotlight week. Leave a comment, today, Saturday, and Sunday along with your email so we can get ahold of you. On Monday, I'll pick a winner to receive a print copy of "White Tiger."

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Moderator Steph

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Blurb:

When Trixie's star freighter, Noah's Ark, drops out of jump space in an uncharted part of the universe, she believes the M‑class planet on her viewer represents hope and salvation for her motley crew and the ragtag settlers aboard her ship.

Kostas, ex Space Marine, the expert survivalist recruited for this expedition, doesn't believe in coincidences, and knows that when something looks too good to be true, it usually is.

Everyone on this voyage to seed a new planet with life, is running from something, and harbors dangerous secrets... including Trixie, who vowed to never let a man control her life again. As for Kostas, he would get lynched on the spot if anyone suspected who he really is.

But on this seemingly abandoned planet, others are watching, herding them for evil purposes... And when the truth emerges and secrets unravel, Trixie and Kostas will have to fight for survival, for freedom, and for the right to love...

EXCERPT:

Kostas glanced at the man’s retreating back and smiled at Trixie. "Captain, may I have a word?"

"Make it brief." She rubbed her gloved hands together.

"I took the liberty of loading two large pallets of weapons." Kostas pointed to the place in the column where he’d positioned them.

"How typical!" Trixie’s voice erupted loud and cutting, with a hint of exasperated sarcasm. "I specifically requested survival supplies only." She counted on her gloved fingers. "Livestock, food, medicine, tools..."

Her attitude sluiced Kostas like an icy shower. Tempted to clam up, he decided otherwise but struggled to keep his tone neutral and low. "You’ll need these weapons if whoever shot us down comes looking for us."

"We were shot down by automated defenses on the small moon." Trixie shook her head in obvious frustration. "No one manned the guns. We detected no ships in the vicinity."

Trusting his instincts, Kostas refused to capitulate. "Still..."

"Still what?" She took a quick breath. "You military types are all alike. Shoot first, think later.
These pallets could have carried more food rations."

Kostas ground his teeth, then struggled to keep his voice civil. "I beg to disagree, Captain. Whoever built that moon station did it for a reason. Some advanced civilization staked a claim on this planet, and they may return at any time."

"If they ever return." Trixie’s visible efforts to calm herself failed as her voice rose again. "That battery of cannons might have been on the moon for centuries. That race may never come back, or not in this millennium. But without food, many of these people will die of starvation or related disease before the end of the winter."

"Hold it, Captain." Kostas wouldn’t let her blame him for doing the right thing. "We still might be able to get more rations tomorrow."

"Orders are orders, soldier." Her voice dropped to a quiet but threatening level. "I expect you of all people to follow them to the letter."

Kostas refused to apologize for his actions. "May I remind you, Captain, that we are not on your ship anymore. You have no authority on land, and I am the survival expert on this expedition."

She just stared at him, open-mouthed. Afraid he’d say something he might regret, Kostas tightened his jaw and held Trixie’s glare without flinching. She didn’t flinch either. So much fire in those cool blue eyes. Damn! She was beautiful when angry.

GIVEAWAY:

A paperback copy of WHITE TIGER (Book One in the series) will be sent to one commenter. Please leave your email so we can contact you about where to mail the book.

Hope you enjoy this series.

Find Vijaya on the web at: http://www.vijayaschartz.com
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Finishing the series gives a writer the blues - by Vijaya Schartz

It’s only been a month since Noah’s Ark was published, and while I have temporarily turned to a different series for another publisher, I’m still grieving. Leaving a world I’ve been living in for several years is always a sad thing. So sad that I’m already thinking about returning to the world of Kassouk. It’s going to be a while, but when my current project is over, I’ll probably add another book to the Chronicles of Kassouk. Whether it’s the story of Humans finally finding the planet where the original settlers crashed, or something that happened between the prequel and Book One, I still don’t know. But deep in the recesses of my brain, somewhere out of my reach, a new story of Kassouk is brewing.

I miss the swords and blasters, and the courageous humans fighting for their freedom from bondage against impossible odds. I miss the snow. Would you believe it? I don’t even like the cold. That’s why I live in Arizona.

When I first started writing White Tiger, it was destined to be a short story, a novella at best. It was also a challenge to overcome my distaste for the cold. What better than a frozen planet? Little did I know that this short story would end up taking me on such a wondrous journey. With five complete novels, this series is becoming some kind of entity with a life of its own. Kassouk might someday find its way into the encyclopedias... or at least Wikipedia. Why not?

I’ve always loved to get lost in a world created from a writer’s imagination. Long ago, when I was still in France (where I was born and raised) I used to read the DUNE series by Frank Herbert. It was a fascinating world of dunes, a sea of sand. Little did I know I would someday create a world of my own, and sustain it through the course of many novels.

A writer is allowed to dream. What’s next for this white, snowy world? A Kassouk TV series? A blockbuster movie? Don’t be afraid to dream. In this world of instant media, anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Pardon the cliché.

In the meantime, I invite you all to read the complete CHRONICLES OF KASSOUK, in eBooks from the Prequel down to the four next books. And if you only read print, WHITE TIGER (book one) was just released in paperback, for a very friendly price...

Find Vijaya on the web at: http://www.vijayaschartz.com
Friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vijaya-Schartz-Author/109777709045040
Follow her on twitter @vijayaschartz
Find all her books on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Vijaya-Schartz/e/B001JP7UJ4#/ref=lp_B001JP7UJ4_st?qid=1335893081&rh=n:283155,p_82:B001JP7UJ4&sort=daterank

Why science fiction authors write medieval novels – By Vijaya Schartz

As an author, I write romance in futuristic and medieval settings, and sometimes, I mix both into the same series, like in the Chronicles of Kassouk, where I pit a medieval society against an advanced technological race. And contrary to modern logic, medieval humans are smart, very resourceful and full of surprises... enough to outdo their betters. Everyone enjoys seeing the oppressed win in the end.
A number of new authors are now also writing medieval as well as science fiction novels, but this is not a new phenomenon. Marion Zimmer Bradley in the eighties and nineties wrote in both science fiction and medieval genres with her Mists of Avalon (Arthurian legends) series and her Darkover (speculative fiction) series, and she met with great success in both genres. Most of her readers did cross over the genres to read all her books. I was one of them.

Writing the past or the future is not so far apart. Research is still research. For the future, instead of researching historical facts, you research modern science in order to project where the next logical evolutionary step will lead, and what kind of future society it will likely engender. Creating an unfamiliar world and making it real to the reader, whether in the past or in the future, requires the same skills, the same kind of imagination that projects into a world with different sets of rules, a different political climate, different dress codes, eating habits, different laws and ethics, different religious beliefs, different taboos, etc.

The only thing that doesn’t change through the ages is people. Although we would like to believe that we evolved over the last millennia, we really haven’t. Despite our fancy laws, we still have serial killers and terrorists. Given the opportunity, any human being will behave in the same noble or despicable manner now as he or she would have centuries ago. And in the future, it will probably still be the case.
Of course, in the future there also might be robots, cyborgs, and clones which might operate under a different set of rules. But is that so different from the rules controlling the slaves of ancient times?
The struggle for justice, however, like the need for love and freedom, are timeless and constant themes that keep repeating in the past, the present, and will most likely endure in the future. Because these needs are inherent to human nature.

In conclusion, whether a writer tackles the past or the future, what carries a story, beyond the action, adventure and plot, is human emotion.

Hope you enjoy reading the CHRONICLES OF KASSOUK SERIES as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Find Vijaya on the web at: http://www.vijayaschartz.com
Friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vijaya-Schartz-Author/109777709045040
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http://www.amazon.com/Vijaya-Schartz/e/B001JP7UJ4#/ref=lp_B001JP7UJ4_st?qid=1335893081&rh=n:283155,p_82:B001JP7UJ4&sort=daterank

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Vijaya Schartz

STEPH: What is "Noah's Ark" about?

VIJAYA: It’s about the female captain of a star freighter full of human settlers and domestic animals, and plant seeds, and frozen embryos, on a scientific mission to jump-start life and settle a new planet. When they fall out of jump space in the vicinity of an M-class planet, she realizes they are lost in an uncharted part of space. Then they are shot down, and crash land on the planet, which happens to be habitable, although freezing cold. Her survival expert is a Space Marine, Kostas, but as a military type, he has a very different idea of what must be done.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

VIJAYA: It takes me about five to six months to write a full length novel. For most authors, it’s considered slow. But I want my books to be unique and fascinating. I want my characters to come alive on the page, I want an unpredictable plot and action, as well as deep emotional conflicts.

STEPH: How much research did you have to do?

VIJAYA: Funny enough, for this fifth book in the Chronicles of Kassouk series (although now it comes first in the series) I had to research... my own books. I had to reread and take apart all the other books in the series, because it’s been a while since I wrote the first books, and for this prequel I had to gather all the tiniest clues and threads I had sewn into the tapestry of this world I had created. It’s like writing a story backwards. In the previous novels, I alluded to all kinds of things that happened in the past and had turned into legends or traditions. Now I had to dig out these legends, like an archeologist, examine the evidence, and reconstruct the true facts behind the myths. It was kind of fun.

STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?

VIJAYA: I love the cover. It’s perfect. The star freighter is marooned in the snow, in front of this medieval citadel of Kassouk, which is the background for most of the covers, and most of the stories in this series. It’s incongruous, just like the situation of my human settlers, faced with medieval technology. But of course, there is a lot more going on...

STEPH: Trixie is the heroine. What are her strengths? Weakness?

VIJAYA: She is a leader, a captain, and her responsibility is to keep crew and passengers alive and well. But she also hide deep wounds. She didn’t do so good in her private life. She is fleeing from an overbearing father and running away from a disastrous marriage. She swore she would never let a strong man control her life again. Yet she is a lover and an optimist to a fault. She wants to believe that this planet is their lucky break despite the tragedy that befell them. It takes her a while to realize that the hero was right, and their situation is not exactly what it seems...

STEPH: What does Kostas find appealing about her?

VIJAYA: Her optimism. He is the exact opposite, and for good reasons. As the survival expert of the expedition, he points out everything that can and will go wrong. And he is a warrior, not a lover. But secretly, he admires her ability to keep a positive outlook and to make the most of any bad situation. He cannot help being attracted to her bubbling, charming personality (even when she berates him for not following her orders).

STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?

VIJAYA: We can overcome any odds and love can triumph in any circumstances. Love is just as important as hope, food, and technology for a community to survive in the direst conditions. Love and compassion is their salvation, whether or not they are aware of it. Another underlying theme is overcoming racism, not just skin color, not just cultural differences... not even alien races. It’s something much more insidious, invisible, yet fundamental and gut wrenching...

STEPH: As a writer, where do you draw inspiration from?

VIJAYA: Night dreams, hours of daydreaming, the science channel, the history channel, I’m avid for knowledge of the past and the possible futures. I read, I watch movies. My mind is constantly absorbing, analyzing, digesting, and plotting new stories.

STEPH: Do you have an eBook reader? If so, which one?

VIJAYA: I love my kindle. Since I bought it I can’t stop reading. I’m discovering new talented authors. This eBook revolution is the best thing that ever happened to enrich the human mind.

STEPH: Do you plan another story in the Chronicles of Kassouk?

VIJAYA: Not at this time. But if I did, it would be a much later story in the chronicles, the story of the humans of Kassouk making first contact with humans from earth. What if a vessel from earth came to them? How would both parties react to the way their cultures have changed over many centuries? It would be an interesting confrontation. Would they be friends or enemies? That story is brewing in the back of my mind and might one day surface as a novel.

Find Vijaya on the web at: http://www.vijayaschartz.com
Friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vijaya-Schartz-Author/109777709045040
Follow her on twitter @vijayaschartz
Find all her books on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Vijaya-Schartz/e/B001JP7UJ4#/ref=lp_B001JP7UJ4_st?qid=1335893081&rh=n:283155,p_82:B001JP7UJ4&sort=daterank