Author Spotlight - Excerpt from "Janus" by Gail Delaney

Thank you all for supporting Gail during her spotlight week. If you would like a copy of the free read "A Lifetime Ago," the prequel to the Phoenix Rebellion Series, leave a message in the comments below along with your email address. Also, **everyone** who leaves a comment will be entered to receive either a free copy of "Revolution" (Book 1, The Phoenix Rebellion Series) or "Janus" (Book 1, The Phoenix Rising Series). Remember - leave your email so I can get ahold of you. Now enjoy this excerpt from "Janus."

Smiles
Moderator Steph

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Briggs was hot on Montgomery's heels, which seemed to be her preferred position, and President Tanner beat them to the door, opening it for them. As soon as they were alone, Jenifer took the single stride needed to bring her into John's space. He straightened slightly, but didn't move to back away from her intrusion. With him leaning on the counter, they were nearly eye level. He inhaled, his jaw working. She just stared, her hands planted at her waist, then arched a single eyebrow.

He actually chuckled and looked down, a humorless grin tipping his lips. "I'm no' hidin' anythin', Jenifer. Yeah, we looked at everythin' Nick mentioned when decidin' where I'd go, but I told him I didn't want to go to Chicago. The other cities ruled themselves out for various reasons."

"Why not Chicago?"

He raised his chin again, but his eyes didn't meet hers. He focused downward, staring at maybe her chin to avoid her eyes. "Silas was supposed to go with me."

She almost asked, "What's that got to do with anything?" but her brain engaged before her mouth and she stopped. Drawing a slow breath, Jenifer nodded. "You didn't want to take him back to where his mother died."

"He still remembers." He did look straight at her then. "He was five years old. He remembers the bombin's, and runnin' with his mother and me to find safety." John paused, his jaw working as he ground his teeth. "He remembers his mother dyin'."

Jenifer forced her shoulders to relax and looked past him, finding a chipped spot of paint on the wall to stare at. Some of her anger drained away, unable to maintain it once she understood the reason for his decision. She'd once pegged John to be just like every other politician she ever had the misfortune of dealing with -- egotistical and fake -- but the more she shared space with him, the more she learned of him as a man, the less she believed he was the typical politician. Creating a new problem for Jenifer. It was easier to protect someone she didn't like, because every choice and action was based on reaching a final outcome -- keeping him alive, whether she thought he deserved to be, or not. The fact she actually liked John Smith had the potential of clouding her judgment, and changing her perspective. Caring didn't equate with getting the job done.

If she was smart, she'd walk away now and leave him to his own devices or to the care of Connor Montgomery and his Firebirds.

If she was smart.

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The Phoenix Rebellion video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CybGNoUuhdI&feature=youtu.be

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My site: http://www.GailDelaney.com

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Publisher's Buy link is:

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Author Spotlight - What's the world like after "the" war? By Gail Delaney

At the end of The Phoenix Rebellion, mankind -- with a new group of allies (I don't want to give away too much for those who haven't read it) -- fights back against their enemies and oppressors. The war is short, fighting lasts only three days, but the effects are devastating.

Phoenix Rising brings us back to a post-war/near-apocalyptic Earth. Entire cities were leveled in the attacks before the actual war ever began, a show of power by our enemies intended to keep us submissive. More than 3/4 of the planets population is dead. Our eco-system is suddenly floundering after being carefully controlled by technology for decades, and now not only is the technology gone, but we suffered a planetary war. Even or continents look different because entire portions have been destroyed. Coastlines are reformed, oceans and waterways rerouted. Technology, something we had begun to rely so heavily on, is spattered and undependable. Providing shelter, food, and medical care to the citizens of his world are the primary concerns of the planet's newly appointed president.

Phoenix had once been the rebellion. They had been the men and women hiding in secret to take down the enemy. Now, they control the planet. They are the saviors of a fumbling world. A new rebellion has begun, the Xenos. These are humans determined to rid our planet of all alien influence, despite the fact the DNA of our allies runs deep within our own genetic make up (That's explained in the first series, sorry...) They are not rebels, they are terrorists, killing their own for a pointless, blind cause.

But, despite all this destitution and destruction, there is hope. We have beaten back those who wanted to make us little more than slaves. We have reclaimed our world. We have made allies with races willing and able to aid us, not oppress us. We now know we aren't alone in the universe. We are regaining our sense of self, reviving old traditions and beliefs, finding our paths back to our forgotten truths. Faith and hope walk hand in hand, and we are revived.

No one believes for a moment it will be easy, each day is a struggle, and full recover could be decades away, but as the tagline says...

Out of Ashes Humanity Will Rise Again.

Author Spotlight - What's the future like before "the" war? by Gail Delaney

I love writing speculative/futuristic romance because I can really let my imagination ask the question "What if..." The big 'what if' question in this whole series is "What if we made First Contact in 2008 with a superiorly advanced race who claimed to be our ancestors?"

There are many tangents that question can take, but I'm going to focus on the way I see our world changing given this situation. Since I am writing these books set mid-21st Century, I had the latitude of adding advances while still making the world feel very similar to our own. When you consider the fact those people who would be middle aged in this series would be children now. How would this decade affect an adult in the future?

I had to consider the fact that after that point of first contact, everything changed. There might be set points in time, such as the earthquake in Japan, but social events would change. Since in this theoretical timeline, George W. Bush would have been president at first contact, I theorize everything after that would be different. It is very likely Barack Obama would not have been president as the political situations that encouraged his election would not be at play after we suddenly share our world with aliens. There would be a focus shift. And all elected officials after that, right up to the first planetary ruler in 2017, would be different.

So, in the 2050s when the Phoenix world begins, we no longer have individual countries and governments. The Earth is governed by an elected president, but prior to the 'war' our government had begun to be strongly influenced by our alien 'benefactors'. Medicine has advanced to include genetic screening, DNA manipulation, and we were just flirting with the idea of planned parenting (in that individuals would be matched for reproductive purposes with the best possible income). Many genetic defects have been theorized to have been removed from our gene pool.

Religion has slipped from our everyday lives as people have fallen under the influence of our extra-terrestrial benefactors who have convinced far too many that belief in a being greater than themselves is foolishness. Holidays as a whole, whether it be Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, any country or ethnic holiday, have been slowly removed from our calendars.

We have space flight, but only so far as our benefactors will allow, slowly feeding us tiny bits of knowledge so we feel as though the world is progressing when in truth we're being held back.

But, beneath all this are those few who think beyond the words of the aliens. Those who don't swallow the lies. Those who seek the truth. That story begins in The Phoenix Rebellion, and continues in this new series... Phoenix Rising.

Come back tomorrow to read how things are 'after' the war.

Author Spotlight - Gail Delaney casts the characters in Janus

John and Jenifer came about in an odd, organic kind of way. When I wrote The Phoenix Rebellion series, I had no definitive plans to write another series. So, when I decided I wanted to do another series I revisited the first for possible new stories.

John Smith XXXIV (yes, that's the thirty-fourth -- John says the Aretu of people of habit) of Aretu was introduced in the third book of The Phoenix Rebellion -- Gaining Ground. While he played a significant role, he wasn't a primary character. In my mind, John Smith was modeled after Christopher Eccleston, a British actor. For those of you who may be fans of Doctor Who, you may notice the 'double meaning' in his name. ☺

Christopher Eccleston isn't your usual hunky, good looking hero... but there is something about him I find very appealing. So, I played on that in Janus. John Smith is known across the planet as the Aretu Ambassador to Earth, and much to his chagrin, he's also considered a bit of a sex symbol. As Connor Montgomery asks his second-in-command (a woman). "So, is it the whole alien thing?"

If John was a secondary character, Jenifer should have been little more than a blip on anyone's radar. She appeared in two whole scenes in the first series -- at the end of book two -- Outcasts and the beginning of book three -- Gaining Ground. John and Jenifer have connections to each other, but never meet. That whole 'six degrees of separation' kind of thing.

My best friend and partner in crime, Jenifer Ranieri, was in a way inspiration for Jenifer. When writing the series, Jenifer asked me to write a total kick-butt heroine, even if she was there and gone, and name her Jenifer. So, I did. Little did I know she would be the perfect match for John Smith in another series.

As far as picturing Jenifer, I see Clair Forlani. She's beautiful, but there is something hidden deep behind her eyes.

Author Spotlight - Q&A with Gail Delaney

STEPH: I don't know much about "Janus." What's it about?

GAIL: Janus is the first book in a new "Phoenix" series titled Phoenix Rising, which picks up almost a year after the end of the series The Phoenix Rebellion.

It's been a year since Humanity rose up against their alien oppressors and took back Earth from the Sorracchi. The war left Earth devastated, crippled, but not beaten. Under the leadership of President Nick Tanner and in collaboration with their new Areth and Umani allies, the Earth seeks stable ground again.

John Smith of the Areth was a soldier before his queen asked him to serve as ambassador to Earth, and he is out of his element. Restricted in his position from carrying a weapon, he has no way of defensing himself or his adopted son when the Xenos -- a group of Humans wishing to purge the Earth of all alien influence -- decide they want him dead.

Jenifer is a soldier for hire, and answers to no one but her own common sense. She first refused the "job" of serving as John's bodyguard, but a glimpse at the heart of the man convinces her to accept the responsibility.

John has two faces: a soldier and an ambassador of peace. Jenifer has two faces: the steel-skinned warrior and the forgotten person she once was. Too many people hide behind masks, and it's those hiding who want John dead.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

GAIL: Way too long! I began the novel in 2008. Yes, 2008. I had several false starts, and ended up setting it aside to write a different novel -- Something Better -- contributed to the Borealis anthologies, and finish revisions on some other novels. I picked it up again this past year, and finally found the right road. Once I got started it took about 8 months.

STEPH: How much research did you have to do?

GAIL: Not much, in truth, as it is set in the future. On occasion, I would look up a scientific fact so it read true, but other than that much of it is speculative. Most of my 'research' was going back to the original series and looking up facts and details so things read true from one series to the other.

STEPH: How does the cover reflect the story within?

GAIL: The book is titled Janus because Janus was a Greek god of two faces -- reflecting beginnings and endings, masks we wear, etc. This is a theme within the story: People hiding who they really are behind masks, lives beginning, parts of their lives ending. The cover was created with a reflective image to illustrate that duality.

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

GAIL: Her strength is her independence. She is, overall, a very strong personality. She lives on her own, for herself. She has a strong sense of loyalty to those who have proven themselves worthy of it, but she takes no guff from anyone. She lives by her own rules.

In actuality, this is also her weakness. She has put up so many walls, and pushed aside so many elements of herself, she has lost who she could be behind who she feels she has to be.

STEPH: What does John find appealing about her?

GAIL: Her mystery. John is Areth, an alien, and nearly every Areth citizen has what is known as a Talent -- a psychic ability (often more than one). One of John's many Talents is the ability to sense others emotions, their intent. He can't read minds, but if you are upset but hiding behind a stoic expression, he can feel it. But Jenifer is a blank slate to him. In the beginning, he senses absolutely nothing from her. And he finds this both frustrating and appealing. He admires her strength, admires her beauty, her intelligence, and even her sharp wit. She draws him because she pushes him away.

STEPH: What is the theme of the novel?

GAIL: Duplicity. Although the clearest element of this is illustrated with John and Jenifer -- both have pasts and elements of themselves they hide from everyone -- there are other forms of duplicity as well. Duplicity of the worst kind. Enemies in the guise of friends.

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

GAIL: Oh, all the place and often never the same place twice. But, per inspiration, I'd have to say much of it comes from dreams. I suppose one could argue dreams are influenced by every day events -- books we've read, things we've watched on television, conversations we've had, things we've seen but perhaps didn't even register at the time -- so, it really does come back to 'all over the place'.

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

GAIL: I have two. I first had a Nook first generation, which I still love. But, last year I was given an iPad as a birthday gift and I use the iBookstore app on it to read. I really love the size of the screen, the ease of changing font size and screen brightness, and the overall 'look' of the page. But, I would recommend both. If you want 'less' in your reader (don't need apps, bells and whistles) then the Nook is great.

STEPH: Fun question: What are your plans for Memorial Day?

GAIL: I actually don't have any at the moment. My husband and I had discussed flying back to the East Coast for the weekend to take care of some family matters, but then 'other' family matters came up and I think that has been put on hold. In all likelihood I'll end up just catching up on other work. I'm going to a one day writer's convention the following weekend, so I might be packing. ☺