Spotlight on Surviving Outbound by @Liza0Connor #scifi humorous romance #giveaway

There is a mystery surrounding the sentient giant bull called Blue. Who took him off his planet and placed him on Earth? Was it someone who wanted to save or kill him?

And how can the Sargons —that’s what Blue’s kind are called—remember so far into the past? And not just a single line of events, but every event, even those that have collapsed and no longer exists.

As Marybell, the sentient ship computer, examines Blue’s magnificent brain, she postulates that the entire planet of Terranue comes from a far, far earlier time, and it’s placement in every single universe in their multiverse suggests the possible  continued existence of the First God who created the very first big bang. Based on the memories of the Sargon, she postulates three things:  

Oops! I was just advised that you’ll have to wait until the blogs for book 3 to find what she postulates. My bad!

So let’s focus on what we do know about Blue:

1. He’s cranky, but then who wouldn’t be if prairie mice tried to make you their beast of burden?
2. He’s very large, even larger than the bulls used in national bull riding events.
3. Whoever dropped him on earth changed the color of his long blue hair to the color brown, no doubt to help him blend with our cows.
4. Then Blue changed himself back to the color blue so Tamara would chose him rather than any of the other calves at the auction.
5. For many years now, Blue is only controlled by reason. Mind commands don’t work on him. His mind is far stronger than a mere human’s.
6. His main caretaker has been a mind-deaf named Saran. She has loved and cared for him since he was a young calf. When she needs to clean his pen, she kindly asks him to step out and enjoy the sun and fresh air, and when she has cleaned his stall, she asks him to return.
7. Blue greatly prefers requests over commands. And not surprisingly, he falls in love with Saran.  But don’t worry. They won’t break any publication laws. Their love is platonic.
8. Blue knows his purpose in life, and that he doesn’t belong on Earth. So he’s getting on the Outbound ship with or without Tamsarandem.

Which leads me back to my initial question:

Do you think the entity who placed him on Earth wanted to protect Blue by putting him on a safer planet where he would flourish in the care of Saran,

OR

They wanted him off his proper planet so the prophecies concerning Blue could never happen.

Which do you think? 

Think hard. One commenter who has the best answer and LEAVES THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS will get a free book of either The Gods of Probabilities or Surviving Outbound, their choice.

Surviving Outbound
by Liza O'Connor

Synopsis
Saran along with her ‘not dead, just no longer human’ soul-bond—Tamara, and their giant blue bull leave in search of a handler so Blue can escape Earth and travel outbound. The man Saran meets and falls in love with turns out to be Tamara’s husband. Their spiritual joining of three sets into play a prophecy written long ago. Together, they become Tamsarandem, the most powerful soul-bond in all the multiverses.  

The shamans pay for their voyage to Terranue, an unknown planet, never before colonized by humans. In return, Tamsarandem must look after the other colonists and help them to prosper and find their Paths of Light. They will need to do this mostly on their own, for the Gods are running out of authorized interventions. However, the God Pane, with the help of the sentient ship-computer, Marybell, constantly search for clever workarounds to ensure The Path of Light will reign supreme upon the final collapse. But there is only so much they can do within their bureaucratic rules.

Having failed to stop Tamsarandem from leaving Earth, those who walk the Path of Darkness embed their own people, including their darkest lord, on the ship to ensure it will never arrive at Terranue. 

Excerpt
Satisfied Saran was fine, Dmitri stepped outside and cursed beneath his breath. His brother had evidently tossed the bucket of oats at Blue, for flakes speckled the grand fellow’s entire back and head.

He apologized verbally to the bull since he had closed his mind again. “My brother is the baby of the family, and Mother has never made him work a day in his life. I asked him to give you a large bucket of oats so I could see to Saran.”

A low grumbling voice spoke in his head and asked how Saran was doing.

“She drank a full glass of water and was nibbling on a sandwich when I left her.”

Blue snorted. “Could use some water myself.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll bring it now, along with fresh oats and a brush to clean off your coat.”

“I wait with anticipation,” Blue replied in an acerbic grumble.

In all his life, Dmitri had never spoken to an animal with such an expressive voice. Most had only rudimentary language skills; many simply chose to send pictures to communicate their needs.

Dmitri didn’t find his brother in the barn. He would bet the ranch that the lazy sloth was inside playing video games. He tucked a brush in his shirt and carried two large pails, one with oats and one with water, to Blue. As the bull enjoyed his meal, Dmitri brushed the bull’s longhaired coat free of oats, burrs, twigs, and a thousand other items picked up during their travels through the woods.

He knelt down and inspected Blue’s hooves, mentally asking the bull if there were any pains.

“Nothing that won’t wait for Saran,” the bull replied.

“I have a vet on staff. He’s very good.”

“No one but Saran. If you are eager to be helpful, get me another bucket of water.”
Dmitri smiled at the brashness of an animal ordering about his handler. When he returned with more water, he continued brushing the fellow. “I’m amazed Tamara put up with you, Blue,” he teased.

Suddenly, Tamara’s voice answered. “I didn’t. When I handled him, he did what I said.”

Blue snorted, and his reply resonated in Dmitri’s head. “I was considerably smaller then. Now, I am only handled by reason.”

Dmitri stroked him behind his ear. “I will try very hard to remember that.”

“See that you do,” Blue huffed.

Sales Links

Book 2: Surviving Outbound: Amazon

Book 1: The Gods of Probabilities: Amazon

About the Author

Liza is a multiple genre author of 15 novels. A Late Victorian Series, The Adventures of Xavier & Vic, plus a spinoff, A Right to Love, is an ongoing series. A Long Road to Love is a humorous Contemporary Disaster Romance series of five books. She has two single books. One is a humorous, bad boys contemporary novel with ghosts, called Ghost Lover, the other is Untamed & Unabashed, a spinoff from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Now, she’s rolling out her Science fiction series (with romance & humor) called The Multiverses. The first four books are slotted for last half of 2015.  In addition she hopes, if she hasn’t dropped from exhaustion by then, to re-release a sometimes humorous/suspense thriller called Saving Casey.

For more information about Liza O'Connor, investigate these sites:

Liza's Multiverse Blog | Liza's Blog and Website | Facebook | Twitter |

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea

Disney reunites Jodi "Ariel" Benson, Samuel E. "Sebastian" Wright, Buddy "Scuttle" Hackett, Rene "Chef Louis" Auberjonois and other vocal talents from the 1989 classic, The Little Mermaid, to again explore why the seaweed always looks greener on the other side of the reef.
 
The happily-ever-after for Prince Eric and his newly bipedal mermaid bride, Ariel, includes the birth of a daughter, Melody. But the happiness fades when Morganna, evil sister of the vanquished Ursula, tries to kidnap the infant as barter for King Triton's magic trident and dominion of the oceans. Thwarting Morganna comes with a heavy price: Melody must be raised in ignorance of her mer-heritage.

While the 12-year-old Melody favors her father in dark good looks, she definitely takes after her mother in the self-centered yearning to be something she isn't. She confesses to Sebastian the hermit crab (again reluctantly pressed into service as a nanny) that she often imagines her legs as fins. When Melody accidentally finds a locket that raises questions about her ancestry, her actions allow Morganna to again go after Triton's trident, using a mermaid-ified Melody as the patsy.

Continuing a tradition begun in 1999's award-winning Tarzan, The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea provides an insightful porthole into parent-child dynamics. In trying to be a conscientious and protective mother, Ariel unwittingly fuels Melody's frustration about being denied access to the sea. Through her trials, Melody must learn whom she should really trust. And Ariel, transformed back into mermaid form, must not only find her swum-away daughter but determine how to repair the damage wrought by her own well-intentioned but ill-considered decisions.
From a technical standpoint, Return to the Sea improves upon its direct-to-video predecessors in its attention to detail and scripting. Parallels and anti-parallels to The Little Mermaid abound, which I'll leave to the viewer to discover, since they provide half the fun. Plenty of not-so-childish humor also helps to hold adult interest. Children should be fascinated by Melody's misadventures, though the youngest ones might find the wicked Morganna a bit unsettling.

I knocked off a half-point because most of the songs had a "filler" feel, and another half-point because I prefer protagonists, such as Beauty and the Beast's Belle, whose troubles arise from self-sacrificial decisions rather than self-centered ones. But anything that can hold my flibbertygibbet five-year-old enraptured through multiple repeat viewings gets a hearty thumbs-up from me!

(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)

BOOK REVIEW: 985 the Discovery of America by Brian Cherry

985, the Discovery of America: Excerpts from the Journal of Harald, the Younger by Brian Cherry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Common wisdom dictates that "history is written by the victors." If this applies to humorous historical fiction as well, then color Brian Cherry uproariously victorious for his seamless blend of fact and fable.

"This is the history of the first discovery of America, if it had been told by Douglas Adams," Cherry states. He isn't kidding. His fictional protagonist, initially a 12-year-old stowaway on Bjarni Herjolfsson's ill-fated longship bound for Greenland, introduces himself as "Harald, Harald the younger, and I am seasick. . . . The thought of some of the new names I'll get from [the crew], like 'Harald the Messy' or 'Look out below Harald,' make Harald the younger seem very comfortable."

The laughs don't stop there as the reader follows Harald's account of the true if accidental discovery by Herjolfsson of America (or Vinland, as the Vikings later dub it), the eventual colonization under Leif Eiricksson, and other key events recorded in Harald's "journal." Grim reality interjects itself in the form of Harald's experiences as a suspected mutineer, the violent deaths of his erstwhile crewmen and, later, a close friend and mentor. To this tally Cherry adds the even more graphically violent -- and senseless -- deaths of native Vinlanders, whose sole crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This only makes the humor all the more appreciated, such as the running gag of Harald's falcon, which prefers to perch on Harald's head. (Now we know where medieval European millinery fashions originated, too.) In addition to seafaring excursions and adolescent plots to invade Madam Grunnhilde's establishment of ill repute, Harald chronicles a lifelong spiritual journey presented with a deft balance of sensitivity and pragmatism rarely found in contemporary fiction.

That's the good news.

The passage of time depicted in chapter transitions varies between 15 seconds and 15 years, often without any clear indication of the duration involved. Billed as being "Excerpts from the journal of Harald the Younger," 985: The Discovery of America would have better served readability by using a journalistic format with dated entries.

In addition, copyediting seems all but absent. Never have I seen more typos and "word-os" (such as the use of "gate" rather than "gait" to describe how a horse moves) per square inch than in 985: The Discovery of America. But it's a testament to the book's overall merit that I not only finished, despite the myriad errors, but still enjoyed the story immensely.

Too bad they couldn't make history this entertaining in school. I look forward to reading more from this talented new author. Here's hoping the wait proves closer to 15 seconds than 15 years.

And thanks, Brian, for all the herring.

(Originally published in Crescent Blues. Reprinted with permission.)

View all my reviews

The Beast Within

Do you possess the proper biological makeup to be a writer? I invite you to examine the beast within ...

Persistence breeds success in our capricious business. This usually means banging your head against a computer screen, an editor's door, a brick wall. Or against something less tangible but no less menacing: the mental door behind which your best ideas remain stubbornly locked. To avoid a concussion you need a tough noggin. The Bighorn Sheep, surefooted native of the Rockies, leaps to mind.

You can profit from the extraordinary traits of another dweller of the heights, the eagle. Targeting a trout from high overhead, the majestic hunter strikes before the prey can taste fear. What better way to capture an elusive idea amid a tumbling torrent of research notes?

So you've written that Pulitzer-quality article on the courtship rituals of penguins and are now searching for a publisher. And searching, and searching. And searching. The giraffe's supple neck helps you poke your nose into the hardest to reach nooks of this zoo called the publishing industry.

Alas, neckwork consumes precious time. In this age of instant gratification, it's a rare breed that survives the arid weeks and months and (gasp!) years between publications. Just as the hump sustains the camel, you the writer can subsist off the encouragement of family, friends and colleagues until the next oasis of good news shimmers into view.

Even the most successful of us do not enjoy a smooth ride. Since the road can be riddled with the potholes of rejections, failed magazines, staff changes, lost manuscripts and other off-the-Richter-Scale catastrophes, your feet ought to be catlike -- and not because you're always in a fog. A cat's shock absorbers allow him to hit the ground at a dead run. (If you've never been treated to this phenomenon, drop by my house sometime.) Recommended breed? Almost any will suffice, except Siamese. They are notorious whiners, a trait each of us would do well not to emulate. Yes, I have known a few mellow Siamese; save the postage on your hate-mail, if you please!

Negotiating the rocky path to publication can lead through some pretty tempting pastures. Literary agents advertising "high" success rates, typing services whose fees seem too good to be true, and "bargain" computer systems are a few of the herbs flourishing here. You may nibble on the clover only to find yourself with a mouthful of thistle thorns. The four-chambered stomach of a cow makes the junk food much easier to digest.

The bushes conceal a host of guardians lying in ambush for the unwary writer-beast who stumbles blithely into their hallowed territory. Editors, publishers and critics, professional and nonprofessional, stand with arrows at the ready. The kinder sentries coat their barbs with the linguistic equivalent of a sleeping potion to cushion the effect; others, venom. Most of us have been hit by both. An armadillo's armor keeps a tender hide intact through the onslaught.

While these arrows swarm like piranhas on Prime Rib Day, you'll also need a way to preserve your sanity. Maintaining a sense of humor is arguably the healthiest option available to our species. If this is not your usual style, try following the example of the hyena for a day. You just might get hooked.

I would be remiss to omit representatives from the largest kingdom on the planet. For the legendary writer-beast I have selected two: the honey bee and the spider.
As writers we are forever attempting to craft a fragrant honeycomb of phrases to evoke the familiar in a not-so-familiar manner. Bees employ a unique form of communication not unlike sign language for the deaf. Graceful yet elegant in its simplicity, a bee's dance discloses the precise location of each flower so her sisters might partake of the bounty.

At the opposite end of the insectoidal spectrum crouches the spider, as calculatingly aloof as the bee is gregariously social. Yet haunting beauty glows from a web strung with dewy rose-hued pearls. In magnitude, the achievement is akin to building the Golden Gate Bridge with four pairs of human hands.
The lessons of variety and perseverance taught by the bee and the spider are well worth the cost of admission.

And now I come to the tail of my tale. The prehensile tail of the opossum, that is. Gazing at this upside-down world awhile is an excellent way to give new spark to a high-mileage topic. Just be careful. Don't let the traffic in the publishing fast lane mash you into a pavement patty.

Cartoon copyright © 1993, Joe Kincher
Text copyright © 1993, Kim D. Headlee
 Publication history:
Authorship, publication of the National Writers' Association (reprint), January/February 1994
Calliope, January/February 1993

Inspiration for Writers

For my writer friends who might need a bit of inspiration...
complete with scan of original coffee stains!

(c) 1995 by Wiley Miller