Creating The City State of Velli

by Shona Husk

Desire to Fall takes place in the city state of Velli on an alien world. There is nothing quite like a shiny new planet to build on. But I don’t build first and plot second. I plot and build and make the characters all at the same time during my pre-writing phase. I like to call it organic world building. Others might not be so kind if they saw my note books…yeah I plot and build with pen and paper. I then have to stick tabs on the side of the pages so that I can find important details fast.

When I started planning this book I knew 2 things:

The women had wings and the men didn’t.
Ménages were biologically necessary.

Those two things would direct my world building as I had to answer why and how those things worked. How did men and women get together if they didn’t occupy the same habitat (I might have gone a bit overboard and delved into the pre-history of my aliens back to when they were hunter gatherers). If the women have wings they aren’t even occupying the same evolutionary niche as the men.

Is my science background showing? Maybe just a little 

So my tribes of women would swoop down and grab a man…the men in return would hunt down a women…but women are dangerous and conception needs blood (something in the blood triggers ovulation). No sensible man would get with a woman on his own.

Biology and back ground established my next big decision was how advanced do I make my people?

The story I wanted to tell was about the upheaval surrounding a major engineering project (oh dear now my engineering background is showing.) So I gave them a level of technology about the same us….only different because they wouldn’t have invented everything that we have because their biology is different.

Why invent cars, when half your population flies?

Gun powder never happened so there are no guns.

With a population that is fairly stable (given the complexity of breeding) their world is very different.

When world building it’s also important to look at what the taboos and crimes are. How have they effected civilization? Wing clipping became very important, as did the flip side of the trafficking in male blood.

While I did give them a religion it doesn’t play a huge part in the story. A bigger issue the way they form breeding bonds and marry. There are rules in place for what is acceptable. Of course my characters went the unconventional way.

The world I created for Desire to Fall has become my biggest world to date. Everything from sports games to fad foods to music. The things we enjoy in our lives they also had to have.

I never realized when I started how big it would get—and as with most world building I have pages and pages while the reader gets just a taste—but without putting in the effort to really know my world the story wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.

***Views expressed are solely those of Shona Husk and not the SFR Brigade***

 

 

 

 

Desire to Fall

Kya Hawl is an architect on the Precinct One redevelopment, a prestigious and contentious project in the city-state of Velli. While she is happy with her part-time female lover, Judge Elmi Chadee, she wants more. She wants a family and children, for that she needs two men willing to put their life on the line to breed.

Tref Xant and his partner Dru Macon seem like the right guys; however, Tref has secrets and Dru is about to deploy to Precinct One, one of the roughest precincts in Velli. The redevelopment can’t come soon enough. Tref would like to see the place burned to the ground. But even that wouldn’t be able to erase his memories of growing up there.

With Dru away Tref finds himself falling for Kya. Jealousy sparks between the men. A triad can never form as Dru wants Elmi and she has sworn off unions after her sister ran away to join the Terrin Sect.

As riots erupt and the redevelopment is threatened Dru realizes he has to fight for what he wants--something Tref learned long time ago. A four-way union--while unusual--would work. But will the women agree when they learn of Tref’s past?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017JBNNJ2/?tag=shohus-20

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https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/desire-to-fall

http://www.loose-id.com/desire-to-fall.html

About the author:

SHONA HUSK is the author of the Shadowlands, Court of Annwyn and the Face the Music series. You can find out more information about Shona at www.shonahusk.com or follow her on Twitter @ShonaHusk, Facebook www.facebook.com/shonahusk or join her newsletter: http://mad.ly/signups/119074/join

SFRB Recommends #24: Lunar Exposure by Shona Husk #sfr #scifi

Lunar Exposure by Shona Husk

Bounty hunter Callen wants to capture Noga—a terrorist—both for the money and for revenge. But catching a criminal on the sensual resort of Decadent Moon without giving in to all the destination’s sexual pleasures is harder than it seems.

Haliday is the darling of the media, a socialite known as much for her casual relationships as she is for her charitable donations. No one knows she hunts down criminals.

Lust and ambition clash, and Callen and Haliday will have to find a way to work together, despite the distraction of their passionate bond. To succeed they must trust each other, something neither Callen nor Haliday is willing to do.

73pg Erotic Sci-Fi Rom.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. Would definitely recommend. However there were some issues. For one, I found a bit too much telling and not showing going on. Also didn’t like the italicized time element. Distracting every single time. A bigger issue was in her hot and steamy scenes. The word repetition made me want to pull my hair out a few times. I’d love to run this through autocrit to see how many times clit and slit show up. Still, having said that, those scenes worked for me. Loved the heat level!
Well done.
This recommendation is made by Sabine Priestley.

Author site: Shona Husk - Romance Author

Writing A SFR Continuity by Shona Husk, Denise Rossetti, and Mel Teshco

The ES Siren series is written by Shona Husk, Denise Rossetti and Mel Teshco and kicks off on August 28^th 2014. This is a behind the scenes look at how the series came together.

Shona:

Last year I had a bit of an idea for a series and it was the kind of world that could easily work as a continuity because while there was an overarching plot (a ship taking free settlers and prisoners to act as labor to a new world to set up a colony) there were so many angles and characters to explore along the way. So I emailed a couple of my author friends and asked if they’d be interested in joining me on this adventure into the unknown with no guarantees of being able to sell the series. Mel Teshco and Denise Rossetti said yes. Yay!

What happened next was hundreds of emails…literally hundreds ranging from what color should the prisoners wear to what did the ship look like, to how long would the trip take, to what was life like on the new planet.

What had started as little spark of a concept was very quickly becoming huge and we hadn’t even started writing yet.

We had to get organized and fast.

Enter Dropbox (which was Denise’s idea). We started documents for characters, locations and a general overview. While we still have to brainstorm an issue via email, it is then saved in Dropbox—and much easier to find than rummaging through tons of emails.

Denise and I pitched the series to Joel from Momentum book 12 months ago at a conference. I am so thrilled that the series is about to hit the virtual shelves.

My story features and army medic who have rather stayed on Earth and a man who wanted nothing more than to get off Earth, even if that meant committing a crime to get on board Siren.

For me the experience has been a lot of fun. Growing a world with other writers is very different to doing on your on your own, and yet it’s been amazing to watch as stories mesh together. I hope we get to write many more.

Denise:

When Shona and Mel asked me to join them in the ES Siren continuity, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. From my point of view, it was absolutely perfect. First, I love Shona and Mel, both as writers and great people, and I trust them too—no small thing. Second, it was pure Science Fiction, something I couldn’t wait to dig into. I thought the whole concept was terrific, and the sheer scope of it was breathtaking. But the very best thing for me was that writing with friends meant that I would have to meet the deadline or let them down. Generally speaking, deadlines are not my best thing!

Once we had the settings worked out, we got to build a world together via email and skype – incredibly cool. It’s like magic the way one idea sparks off another and another. There are the education classes and the knitting of socks, for example, but you’ll have to read to find out!

Another concept was an aphrodisiac date-rape drug called sexmeth, invented by Mel for our villain to use. I couldn’t bear the thought of the revolting man getting away unscathed, so I (or rather my character, Doctor Lily Kwan) invented an antidote for it.

Because Mel and Shona had created major characters who were prisoners, I decided to go with a romance between a civilian, the scientist Lily Kwan, and a non commissioned officer, the Siren’s hard-as-nails Quartermaster, Master Sergeant Con Madison. Ta da! Wealthy science geek meets former gang rat. Suspicion, misunderstanding and frustration ensue. Heh heh.

What I’ve really enjoyed is the reassurance of having two clever writers to bounce ideas off. We’re greater than the sum of our parts and the result is a rich and fully developed world. It’s fascinating to see how each of us ‘sees’ the Siren and her people, the differences and similarities.

With each book, the Siren and her sister ships voyage further into the unknown, while the inevitable human dramas play out on board. I can’t wait to see how it ends. Actually, to be honest, we know how it ends, what I should say is that we can’t wait to tell you!

Mel:

I was thrilled when Shona asked if I’d be interested in writing for this continuity. I mean who’d say no to working with two fantastic writers!?

Now that I’ve started this journey, I take my hat off to anyone who’s done something similar. You really have to be on your game to make sure every last detail is correct, and take notice of things that might very well jump out at a reader (thank god for some detailed notes in Dropbox!) For example the same bad guy in each of our first books had to stay in character. Not only did he have to be an arrogant asshole in book 1 to book 3 he also had to have the right mannerisms and same physicality.

I’ve loved how different our stories are, our voices and our characters, and I think that’s one of the things that make this continuity so unique. But although our characters interweave and want desperately to survive the trip to Solitaire, they still have very different goals.

My book features a male prisoner who is an artist forced to take the journey. He’s an ‘all whites’ prisoner – mentally ill and highly dangerous. My heroine is a soldier committed to getting off Earth and starting a new life. She thinks anyone who doesn’t want the opportunity is an ungrateful and undeserving wretch.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how all our characters in our next three books of the continuity are going to act – lots of dramas ahead!

ES Siren Series:

#1 Yours to Uncover by Mel Teshco http://www.amazon.com/Yours-Uncover-ES-Siren-1-ebook/dp/B00LKVFAKS/

It's the year 2202. Earth is grossly overpopulated and seriously polluted. Rita Songworth has spent half her twenty-two years trying to escape the dying planet. It's taken the last five of those years to realize making it in the hard-ass infantry is her only way out, via space transporter Earth Ship Siren.

But the journey to Unity, the new colony, isn't easy. Rita has to resist an attraction to hard, brutish prisoner, Tristan MacFallan, whose masterful hands create more than the beautiful art he's been assigned to make. His forbidden touch affects her profoundly and he sees things in her no man ever has before. But obeying Kane, her ex-lover and malicious lieutenant, who is appointed to keeping the prisoners under guard, comes at a high price. Is she willing to sacrifice everything to keep her secret and her lover safe?

 

#2 Yours to Command by Shona Husk http://www.amazon.com/Yours-Command-ES-Siren-2-ebook/dp/B00LKVFAJY/

Corporal Sienna Jade wasn't given a choice about joining the mission to Unity. Seen as a troublemaker after reporting an assault by a senior officer, the army wanted her gone. Sienna resents the army for assigning her to Earth Ship Siren, and suspects the fleet's Unity mission will fail. But others would do anything to escape Earth ...

Alex Tariel knew his only chance to get a place on ES Siren was as a prisoner, so he stole water rations. As a former construction foreman, his skills make him a valuable prisoner on board, but still a prisoner unable to control his own life. Instead of keeping his head down, he gets involved in the fights set up for gambling privilege tokens, the only currency aboard ship among the prisoners.

Getting patched up by Corporal Jade might be the best thing that's happened to Alex on the trip so far, but becoming her ship husband puts him between her and the lieutenant who tried to kill her for kicks on Earth. While Sienna tries to keep control of her feelings for Alex, Alex would do anything to protect her, if only she'd let him.

As ES Siren faces its first crisis, a little trust and love goes a long way.

 

 

#3 Yours to Desire by Denise Rossetti http://www.amazon.com/Yours-Desire-ES-Siren-3-ebook/dp/B00LKVFAK8/

It's 2202 and on board ES Siren, the brilliant Doctor Lily Kwan has worked in secret to develop an antidote for the aphrodisiac rape drug, sexmeth.

She'd be overjoyed if it wasn't for an embarrassing problem: the antidote has no effect on her extraordinary reaction to Connor Madison, the Siren's tough quartermaster. Scientifically, it should be impossible, but the man's a raging fever in her blood. If a single dark glance sets Lily on fire, a kiss might kill her dead – but what a way to go!

A former gang rat from the slums of a dying world, Con came up the hard way, so when geeky Doctor Kwan tops his hit list of possible drug runners, nothing's going to save her—not her family's money, nor her clever mind.

Not even the smile in her eyes.

Meet the #Author Monday - Shona Husk

Please tell us a bit about yourself: I write paranormal and sci-fi romance. I love creating new worlds and exploring them with my characters. When I’m not writing I love to cook (with chocolate) or read.

Tell us about Lunar Reunion: Lunar Reunion is the second in my Decadent Moon series. Decadent Moon is an alien pleasure resort, there are no humans, so it’s lots of fun creating all the different aliens. As the title suggests it is a lovers’ reunited story.

What inspired you to write this particular story?: A couple of different things inspired this story, one was the second chance at love. The other was the idea of an alien with really white, rough skin and absolutely no hair. The hero had been in my mind for a while, but I wasn’t sure if people were going to be into his telepathic tentacles. However I saw on twitter one day quite a bit of discussion about tentacles and I thought I might as well just write it and see what happens.

Please share a favourite snippet from your book:

His tentacles had fascinated her. They weren’t alive in their own right—not like some species who had formed a symbiotic relationship with another creature. On a Klokian they were like extra limbs, or sensory organs. The Klokian were telepathic and it was their tentacles that picked up the thoughts for them to read.

Filid had let her touch them once after they’d had a couple of drinks and their guards had been down. Tentacles no thicker than her finger had wrapped softly around her wrist, caressed her skin. Heat had flared in his eyes that she didn’t need to be telepathic to read. And she’d no doubt he’d been able to read her like a plex screen. She’d wanted him even though she couldn’t have him—not without them both losing their jobs. After that there’d been less than accidental contact as if they were magnets that couldn’t pull away. Despite the risks they’d danced around each other even though they both knew it couldn’t go any further.

The untapped desire had frustrated them both to the point where lust had become anger. They hadn’t parted friends. She shivered as the memory swirled through her blood and twisted in her belly. Never fixing things with Filid was the one regret she carried.

Which comes first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?: Looks and personality usually come first and I have to go hunting for a name.

Any tips for aspiring authors?:

Read a lot and from all different genres and write a lot :)

Questions for fun:

If you had the power of time travel, is there anything you would go back and change? Why/why not?: Hmm that is a tricky one because changing something in the past would affect the future. I’m not sure I’d change anything…however I’d love to go back in time for a sticky beak.

What super-power would you choose?:

I’ve always admired Wolverines knives that shoot out between his knuckles (the healing and long life is also pretty cool).

If you could have three wishes, what would they be?: A never ending supply of dark chocolate, ongoing good health and prosperity for my family.

Coffee, tea or wine?: wine as I don’t drink tea or coffee.

What is your favourite book? (aside from one of your own!): Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr is my all-time favourite.

Favourite genre and why?: Anything which creates new worlds!

Favourite colour?: red or turquoise.

Upcoming news and plans for the future?: I have one more book in the Decadent Moon series coming out later this year, Lunar Dancer. I also have two more paranormal romance books set in the fairy Court of Annwyn out in the second half of the year, The Changeling Soldier and To Love a King.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us! Thank you for having me :)

Six years ago Filid made the mistake of falling for another officer in the Allied Planetary Military.

He walked away before they both did something they'd regret. Yet he can't get her out of his mind, even now.

Silva has never forgotten Filid, but he is the last person she expects to see on the pleasure resort of Decadent Moon. This time she won't let him walk away without exploring the fantasies she had about being with him.

Filid wants more than one night, and this time he is determined to hold onto her no matter the cost.

Inside Scoop: Filid comes equipped with sexy tentacles that cannot be missed!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Reunion-2-Decadent-Moon-ebook/dp/B00ID8MAO0

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/lunar-reunion

Ellora’s Cave: http://www.ellorascave.com/lunar-reunion.html

Bio:

Three time ARRA finalist Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn’t looked back. Drawing on history and myth, she writes about heroes who are armed and dangerous but have a heart of gold—sometimes literally.

With stories ranging from sensual to scorching, she is published with Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing and Sourcebooks. You can find out more at www.shonahusk.com 

www.twitter.com/ShonaHusk

www.facebook.com/shonahusk

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