Hello Christine! Thank you so
much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today! It’s such a pleasure to chat with you. So tell me…
Q) How did you dream up the
dynamics of your characters?
I’ve always been an avid reader as well as a writer.
Recently I’ve enjoyed cyborg Science Fiction Romance stories from all different
authors. It’s like all of these stories go in a big bin and I pull out various
elements to build a whole new story with new characters.
Q) Is this book part of a
series? If so, can you tell us about it?
I started it as a series with a rather nebulous plan for
future issues.
The Cyborg
Awakenings series is set in the future history that I created for my Aledan
Series on a post apocalyptic Earth. In a way I took a page out of history. A
survey team on a prospective colonial planet. They killed the aliens who got
there first. Then the aliens came and destroyed its entire infrastructure and
set Earth back into the eighteenth century. Vyken Dark takes place 800 years
before the Aledan series.
Q)
What gave you the inspiration for your book?
I’m sure the
numerous cyborg stories I’ve read inspired me to create my own cyborg story. As
with
many writers, I’ve tried to write a story I would like to read, hoping it
will also be one reader’s will enjoy as well.
Q) Do you have any habits that get you in the writing frame of mind?
When I was writing the Aledan Series, I would listen to the
Moody Blues to get in the mood and even while I was writing. They are after all
the Veteran Cosmic Rockers.
Q) Do you plan all your characters
out before you start a story or do they develop as you write?
I usually jot down a few notes on the plot and the main
characters. Most of my planning is in my head and it changes as I imagine scene
by scene. When the characters start to take over, I know I’m on a roll. I
really think I am more of a “seat of the pantser” than a planner.
Q) How much real life do you put into or influences your books?
My real life is actually pretty boring. For me, writing is a form of
escapism.
I am planning a sixth Aledan novel to tell Calan’s story. He is the third and youngest or the Aledan’s children. He might even cross over with some remnant cyborgs, but it’s still simmering on the back burner.
Blurb:
Cyborg Vyken Dark is back on Earth after fighting for eighty years
in the Procyon War against the Mesaarkans. He came to help restore order out of
chaos in old Chicago USA. Every major city on Earth is in ruins. Most are now
run by gangs of thugs ruled by overlords who take everything of value and prey
on those who are just trying to survive. Vyken and his four brother cyborgs are
all that's left of their starship crew of three hundred.
He didn't want the job, but when his old mentor Admiral Carson Gregor asked, Vyken Dark could not refuse. If he could have chosen a man to call father, it would have been Carson Gregor.
Vyken chose the name Dark because the darkness in his soul drove him to kill the enemies of the Federation with a ruthlessness that few natural humans possessed. Sometimes that darkness overwhelmed his humanity and made him weary of his life... Until he came back to Earth and found her.
EXCERPT:
“Thank
you for helping us,” Danya said, looking up into his eyes. She was a little
over medium height, but Vyken was still head and shoulders taller.
They both
knew what would have happened had he not been there. They might both be dead,
and they probably would have raped Danya before they killed her.
The
thought made Vyken clench his jaw and wish he had killed them for the human
waste of resources they were. Females were valuable to replenish the human
race. It was against a cyborg’s code to harm females who were not involved in
armed combat against them.
“It
wasn’t a fair fight,” Vyken said. He stepped closer and reached out to stroke
her cheek with his fingertips. He searched his memory bank for an appropriate
thing to say. He had no experience flirting or courting a woman. “I am
attracted to you.”
“That’s
certainly straight to the point,” she smiled at him faintly. “You’re not very
good at this, are you?”
“No. My
experience with women is limited to my service with them during my training and
the war. I know how to give sexual pleasure…”
“I just
bet you do,” she chuckled.
“But I
never learned the courtship process,” he admitted.
Danya
gave him a full smile. The big cyborg was gorgeous---handsome face with a
strong square jaw, piercing blue eyes, cropped blond hair and ripped muscular
body. Danya could easily imagine pleasure in his arms once she got to know him
a little better. She felt her core come to life for the first time in a long
time.
“Well,
these days, I don’t know as people bother with that anymore,” she said. She put
her hand over his as his fingertips rested against her cheek. “I think the
attraction is mutual, but I think we have to know each other before we get to
the sexing, Vyken.”
She took
his hand and held it in both of hers. “Helping my dad and me out of that jam,
sure earned you some serious consideration.”
Momentarily,
Kydel emerged from the treatment room. Danya let go of Vyken’s hand and turned
to the medic. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He
will,” Kydel stated. “He will sleep now for a few hours while the nanites do
their work. In the meantime, Vyken will take you to the mess to get some food.
Your father said you were looking for food when you were attacked.”
“Food
would be great,” she said, “A bath and clean clothes would be nirvana.”
“We’ll
get your food first, and then we can probably find clothing in the storeroom to
fit you like we are wearing,” Vyken said. He was wearing khaki green cargo
pants and a black t-shirt under a khaki green jacket. “We used to have women
serving on the ship’s crew, but they have all passed on or were killed in
battle.”
“Pants
and a shirt will do me just fine,” she said.
“Come, I’ll take you to the mess. Our selection is limited, but the meal bars are nutritious.”
Vyken led
the way, and Danya fell into step beside him. They emerged from sickbay into
the light gray metal corridor. He measured his stride, so she didn’t have to
strain to keep up with him, sensing she was weakened by malnourishment. The
door to the mess hall opened automatically when they approached, and Vyken
showed Danya to the hand cleaning station by the entrance. He took her to a
table away from the others then went to the dispenser and got two meal bars for
her and one for himself.
“The
normal serving is one, but you look like you could use an extra one,” he said
handing her two of them as he sat down at the table across from her.
Despite
her hunger, Danya opened the first one carefully and took a bite, chewing it
slowly. It was lightly sweetened peanut butter flavored. Hungry as she was, she
ate slowly, chewing each bite carefully.
“Mmm!”
she murmured. “I haven’t eaten in a couple days. This tastes delicious.”
The other
women were sitting at a table with their children eating meal bars with the
cyborg called Jolt. Danya looked at them but didn’t recognize them. They didn’t
seem much older than her twenty-five years. For that matter, Vyken didn’t
appear much older than she, but Danya guessed he must be. Cyborgs didn’t seem
to age at the rate regular people did. All of them were later models, and they
could have been as old as seventy-five years.
That was
the word on the street, perhaps more legend than fact. The cyborgs definitely
were impressive. Danya was hard pressed to stop herself from drinking him in
with her eyes. Vyken did not seem at all self-conscious under her keen
observation. He knew he was a superior being in looks and ability as a warrior
and as a man. He liked the appreciation that gleamed in her eyes.
“Is there
water or something to drink?”
“We have
plain water and flavors lightly sweetened.”
“Just
water is fine.”
Vyken got
up and went to the water dispenser and filled two recyclable glasses with cold
water then brought them back to the table placing one in front of Danya and one
at his place at the table. He noticed the bruises on her arms from where
the thug’s fingers had pressed into her flesh. It made him angry. Mine!
He felt
like ripping that worthless piece of humanity apart with his bare hands. Even
more, he wished to lick the marks on her arm so his nanites could repair the
damage that caused the bruises.
“If you
don’t mind,” Danya said, “I will save the other one for later. If I eat them
both, I might not keep them down.”
“If
that’s what you want. We have an ample supply of food for many years to come.
You can have more anytime you wish,” he told her. “We have space for three
hundred people on this ship. I want you and your father to stay here with us.
You’ll be safe here.”
“And
convenient for you…” Danya quirked an eyebrow as she looked at him
speculatively.
“And for
you to know me better, Danya. You and your father will be safe here,” he said.
“We are here to recruit people to rebuild a civilized society and suppress the
gangs of thugs that prey on females and males not skilled in fighting.”
“You want
me, but then what?” she asked boldly meeting his gaze.
“You are
mine,” he said with complete certainty. “It’s genetic. You are my female.”
“How do
you know that?”
“Pheromones,”
he said simply.
“What’s
that?” she asked.
“It’s
something your body releases to attract your mate. I sensed yours and reacted
to them,” he explained. Even then he could smell her arousal, but she seemed to
be fighting it.
“What if
I don’t want to mate with you?”
“You do.
Your body is telling us both that you do,” he said softly.
Danya’s
face grew hot, and her cheeks turned pink. Her nipples were hard, and her pussy
contracted as she sat looking at him. “Well, don’t hold your breath. I don’t
just bang every guy that saves my life and my father’s.”
Buy links:
Cyborg Awakenings Prequel – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BN7QY99
Vyken Dark - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BJDQV1T
No comments:
Post a Comment