Hi! I'm Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter, a new member. I'm posting a picture of my first sci-fi book, The Winds of Fall. As soon as I finish my Ice Road Truckers book, I'll be finishing one of the companion to Winds titled Orion Comes In Winter, the second of my Four Seasons sci-fi series. I've been a sci-fi since about 1957, The Adventures of Superman, Men Into Space, and all the sci-fi series that followed in the 1960s. You name a classic sci-fi author and I've probably read their novels! My website is www.sandywick.com
From the Archive: Why I Wrote STAR CRUISE GHOST SHIP “Mary Celeste in Space”
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Since I was a child I’ve always been fascinated by the story of the Mary
Celeste, a freighter found under sail in the Atlantic Ocean in 1872 with no
crew a...
1 day ago
What's the new book about?
ReplyDeleteHi Liana, sorry about not getting back to you immediately, had to go to the store with my husband. Below is the long, not-perfectd back-cover blurb of Orion:
ReplyDeleteSelaya Collins, who does business only in terms of moral absolutes of ethical honesty, learns that moral gray areas exist in the universe as she and her partner, Ordana, sell navigational computers for her father’s company. She’s been unwittingly groomed by her grandparents to take over their company, the Galactic News Service (GNS), and to join the Galactic Secret Service (GSS), which her grandpa secretly heads. A protracted six-solar system war she’s not involved in will permanently alter her career plans. Her family is secretly involved in stopping what will become a two-galaxy war from starting. She becomes involved after a brutal attack in space disables her ship and almost kills herself and Ordana.
Zak Joenns was groomed by his parents to do their work: education and scientific study. But, influenced by his hero, Selaya’s grandpa, he’s joined the GSS to help preserve galactic peace. He’s loved Selaya since elementary school on Orion 5, despite knowing that she thought he was an ugly alien with pointed ears and long brown hair. Because he’s been secretly watching her under orders from her grandpa, he rescues the partners from death. In love with Selaya for years, he will pursue her and convince her to love him, no matter how long it takes. Fate helps as he has to follow her on her sales calls and rescue the partners several more times from attack by those who think she’s in collusion with the bad sides in the war.
Despite the war’s beginning, they marry on Ordana’s planet, getting a cryptic message from the Regulan oracles, The Two, that they’re destined for greatness. The unthinkable happens when their planet in the Andromeda galaxy becomes a war battleground. He stays to fight as Selaya and the children go to Earth. Due to their mental lovelink, they’re apart but never separated. Her life now spans two galaxies as she uses GSS\GNS resources to search for Zak and help end the war. Selaya watches the winter night sky, enjoying her favorite constellation as she has all her life, searching with her eyes, mind, and heart for Zak. The search drains her, but she won’t give in to despair. One winter night six years after it all started, a new star appears in Orion’s belt and comes closer every second. When a ship lands in the yard, Zak disembarks and they kiss. He explains that he fought on for several years as a GSS covert after the attack on their Andromeda home but was captured. The Two helped him recover and return home to her and his family to live in love and peace again. Sandy Wickersham-McWhorter www.sandywick.com
Sounds intriguing!! Best of luck with it, Sandy!!!
ReplyDeletebarbara elsborg
(I keep having to put my name on because I can't figure out how to lose the nickname on my google account - I might read sci fi rom but I am not techy!!)
Gorgeous cover (though I never would have guessed it's SFR!) and intriguing story, Sandy.
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara, glad to hear from you! I don't think you need to be techie to read sci-fi or sci-fi romance IF the authors do their job of explaining the tech stuff briefly in the story itself. I have some physics in Wind but it's explain by the conversations when Skye seeks help from a psychiatrist named Vicki. Wind is the combination of two dreams I had in high school and junior high school, so if you like a slightly paranormal touch to your sci-fi romance you'd love Wind! In Orion I plan to keep the tech stuff to a minimum so I can write quickly and not spend much more time reseaching.
ReplyDeleteHi laurie, glad you like the cover!The covers of both my published books have garnered a lot of attention from readers. THe Wild Rose Press does an excellent job of fitting the cover to the book and make it irrestible. With Winds of Fall, the ocean and sailboats play a big roll in the story because it's set in current day with jaunts into space and the moon as Joe shocks Skye with revelations about himself. I'm glad I published with TWRP, not only because of the fabulous covers, but because Winds, the book of my heart, will be available almost forever. Let me know what you think of it if you read it!
ReplyDeleteHello Sandy! Welcome to the Brigade. Your book sounds wonderful and the cover is very cool.
ReplyDeleteI love SF too. I'm more into the newer scifi with Stargate Universe. Love the new Star Trek movie, and I do enjoy the older stuff(ST Generation especially) Caprica is high on my list too right now. And I admit it, I love Avatar.
I do write techie-type SF laced within romance, and tend to agree that if you write the story well, scifi jargon can be explained in your story without a lot of techno babble.
But for those who aren't up on SF terms, I'm in the process of putting up a page on my website that includes the SF lingo I used in my latest SFR, Forbidden Love. I decided I should do that after a friend (not a scifi writer) asked me what the heck FTL (fast than light speed) was. Of course she had not read the story yet. So when I explained it to her she said, oh, now I see. (I have the tag, 'Exploring Love at FTL' in a banner on my emails) It made me think, having a SF glossary might be a good thing to do.
I guess we are so wrapped up in it and it's like second nature to us we sometimes forget. My story has a heavy dose of erotic scenes as well, so it does cross genre sub-lines for sure.
It is certainly nice meeting you Sandy and good luck with your SFR writing!
Good Lord, Kaye, your bio reads like mine!!! Thank you for stopping by. A fellow Star Trek nut! Did you mean Star Trek Next Generation? Did you ever see the original in the 60s? I'm all ST, though I was disappointed when Enterprise didn't live up its pre-release hype. Grrr. But I watched it and loved it. My love of sci-fi started so far back I don't if anyone alive remembers the shows I mentioned in my introduction post! I started watching Caprica but pushing to finish my current WIP I lost interest in the show. My whole family was miffed when they cancelled Star Gate the original one and Atlantis, too-grrrr. We do watch SG Universe, but the plots seem like rehashes of other SG episodes.
ReplyDeleteHow could she not know what 'FTL' is? ;-)wink wink. I call it superluminal in the Winds of Fall. The lingo dictionary is a good idea. When I get my WIP done, I'll sneak over and look at your site. I wish I could come up with a tagline that fits me for my brand like you have. I'm such an eclectic reader and writer that I've not come up with one, except that "I write unexpected Romantic Fiction." I need to post a bit about The Winds of Fall on the blog. If you ever read it, please, let me know what you think.
Hi, Sandy!
ReplyDeleteHi Heather! What's up with you? Sandy Wickerhsam-McWhorter www.sandywick.com
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