Looks Can Be Deceiving by @SirenAllen

by Siren Allen

It’s true what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, sometimes it’s what you can’t see that tells the real story. When deciding what image to go with for the cover of Claimed By The Succubus, I was torn between showing the world my characters inhabit as it truly is or as it pretends to be.

Since my hero is lying to my heroine and pretending to be someone he isn’t in order to get her to his homeworld, I decided to go with an image of what the world pretends to be. Izeria thinks Shun is taking her to Earth to rescue her friends. Really, he’s taking her to the Northern Territory of planet Shyftdehn.

From the outside, Shyftdehn and its neighboring planets appear peaceful. However, the blue and green planets outsiders see are just a mirage, a façade to hide what dwells within. When you see blue, you may think of drinkable water, clear skies… life. When you see green, you think of vegetation and well, life. These colors are peaceful, welcoming.

The colors of Shun’s homeworld are meant to lure in unsuspecting travelers who’ve been thrown off course or who seek refuge. They may think they’ve found a safe place to dock. However, those familiar with Shyftdehn know that it’s far from what it seems.

There’s nothing peaceful about the world or the beings who inhabit it. Those peaceful colors hide the monsters who lurk within. Yet, what Shun doesn’t realize is that Izeria isn’t as weak and naïve as she seems. Soon he’ll witness the monster that lives behind her beautiful smile. Question is, will their monsters play nicely together? Or will they tear each other apart?

You can learn all about Izzie’s journey to Shyftdehn in, Claimed By The Succubus. It will be available April 22^nd. Preorder price is only 0.99 cents.

Claimed By The Succubus

~The Half-Breed~

She is Izeria’Ahzul, the long-lost daughter of my king. She was raised away from our people and knows nothing of her heritage. Our kind are a myth to her. She doesn’t believe we exist and there’s no way she’ll believe she’s one of us.

~The Beast~

I am Shun’Uhl, the soldier ordered to return her to my king’s side so she can marry a royal and produce an heir to save our people. To get her to trust me, I shed my beastly form and take on the form of someone she knows. I choose unwisely. The form I’ve selected is a male she despises.

~The Forbidden~

The more time I spend with her, the more she comes to like me. And though I’ve tried to resist, I find myself falling for her also. Her feelings for me will change once she learns of my deception and sees how I really look. Part of me wants to complete my mission and return her to her father. Another part of me wants to remain in this form forever and spend my life with Izeria.

I have a choice to make: be honest with the female I love and risk losing her or continue lying to her for the rest of our lives. Unfortunately, the choice is made for me when we come under attack and I have to release my beast to protect her.

Now it is she who has to make a choice: Me and my beast or a kingdom?

Excerpt

My beast is trying to take over.

Even now, as I escort Izeria to the dining hall, he’s pushing against the barrier that separates drahken from dragon. He’s clawing at the barricade that keeps him inside. Moments ago, he came close to breaking free.

Not only did I hear his growl, so did Izeria. She assumed it was my stomach growling in hunger. Luckily, she’s too naïve to think the worst of me. She senses something is wrong, yet, she doesn’t want to believe me capable of deceiving her, of hurting her.

I should feel guilty for what I’m doing. I don’t. I can’t. Too much is riding on me getting her to my territory. My beast snorts his displeasure, unhappy with our current mission. It’s funny how he can kill viciously, yet he frowns upon lying to our half-breed princess.

I can feel him pacing the recesses of my mind. In this form, he cannot speak to me. Right now, that’s a good thing. I don’t want to hear his thoughts on what is happening. He knew what we’d have to do when we found her.

He knew we’d have to lie or maybe even kidnap her to achieve our goal. His feelings for her can’t change that. Nothing can change what has to be done. The lives of our people are more important than Izeria’s opinion of us.

When we arrive in the dining hall, I step to the side so she and her rodent can enter the room before me. I’m glad I did. The look on her face as she walks into the dining hall is priceless. It’s almost like she’s never been on a spacecraft before.

“This is the biggest dining hall I’ve ever been in. Not only on a ship, but on land also.”

She turns to me and smiles. For a moment, I forget how to breathe. I sense my beast’s pleasure, or is that my own? The line between what I want and what he wants is starting to blur.

Preorder price only 0.99 cents.

 

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XDHQ5YL

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XDHQ5YL

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XDHQ5YL

Giveaway

March Madness Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/a576fb1c15/

~Author Links~

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE – www.amazon.com/Siren-Allen/e/B00ELF795O/

WEBSITE – http://sirenallen.com/

FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/authorsirenallen

TWITTER – https://twitter.com/SirenAllen

SIREN’S NEWSLETTER: Join to stay updated on my new releases and giveaways:

http://eepurl.com/Wr6Jn

SFRB Recommends 66: The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey

On a summer night like any other, an emergency call sounds in the quarters of Andira Tal, Lancer of Alsea. The news is shocking: not only is there other intelligent life in the universe, but it’s landing on the planet right now. Tal leads the first responding team and ends up rescuing aliens who have a frightening story to tell. They protected Alsea from a terrible fate—but the reprieve is only temporary.

Captain Ekayta Serrado of the Fleet ship Caphenon serves the Protectorate, a confederation of worlds with a common political philosophy. She has just sacrificed her ship to save Alsea, yet political maneuvering may mean she did it all for nothing.


Alsea is now a prize to be bought and sold by galactic forces far more powerful than a tiny backwater planet. But Lancer Tal is not one to accept a fate imposed by aliens, and she’ll do whatever it takes save her world.

I enjoyed the way first contact worked in this book-- I got introduced to a full and vivid society through the eyes of the ship’s crew. I also liked the how the story addresses some larger questions of what to do what desperate tactics people must sometimes employ in a war and the toll it takes on them.

The romance plot in this story (f/f, fade-to-black heat level) is atypical in that it showcases a couple who’ve already gotten together, though only recently. Their new relationship is tested by a worthy rival and the circumstances that force some decisions that hurt them. I really believed that by the end the two of them could weather anything together.

Author site: Chronicles of Alsea

Recommendation by Lee Koven.

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

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-desiretofall-1918105-143.html

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