A warm welcome to author M.A Church joining us today here at Love Bytes to talk about new release “In Enemy Hands”.
M.A talks about , shares an excerpt and their is a giveaway to participate in!
Welcome M.A 🙂
TITLE: In Enemy Hands
AUTHOR: M.A. Church
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
COVER ARTIST: Anne Cain
LENGTH: 73006 words / 214 Pages
RELEASE DATE: December 30, 2016
BLURB: Two very different civilizations—one bathed in bright sunlight and the other veiled in shadow.
Bad decisions, declining resources, and a king on the brink of madness force Prince Varo Kutchif, third son of the royal family and a starship captain, to attempt the impossible: barter for Black Phospolrock, an energy source the mysterious Helkan Kingdom has in abundance. Varo opens a line of communication with Adlar, an intriguing Helkan who seems to reciprocate Varo’s interest. He hopes so, because if negotiations collapse, Varo has orders to attack.
The Helkans preside over a planet shrouded in perpetual darkness. Several species have tried to exploit its natural resources through trade with them, but all have failed. Adlar Mondur is the older brother to the Helkan ruler. An assassin of the highest order, he’ll do anything to protect his king and his people—including tracking down the Yesri prince who crash-lands on their planet, leaving an ugly scar across its untouched beauty.
Thus begins a journey where two men from disparate civilizations grow from enemies to lovers.
Hey everyone, my name is M. A. Church, and I’ve stopped by Love Bytes Reviews to talk about my latest release, In Enemy Hands.
This turned into one of those books I thoroughly enjoyed writing. Even though I write a lot of paranormal, my first love is science fiction. I wasn’t actually looking to write a sci-fi novel, but on the Internet one day I ran across a picture of two beings that caught my attention.
The artist did a wonderful job creating two males, standing side-by-side looking off into the distance, and I fell in love with the two aliens portrayed. One had long white-blond hair and tattoos on both arms. He was sleeveless, so the tattoos were prominently displayed. Around his waist was a red sash.
While I found him interesting, it was the other alien that immediately caught my eye. He was dressed in all black and had long black hair. As has been pointed out by one of my betas, Jody, I have an affinity for long hair, lol.
But what really snagged my interest was the character’s face, which was pale as milk. His ears were long and pointy, virtually fey-like, but it was the expression on his face that drew me in. It was intense, focused.
While the other one might have been sexier in appearance, the pale-skinned one appealed the most to me. There was this look about him—almost like a warrior contemplating strategy. His arms were crossed as he stared out into nothingness. He appeared delicate, but that expression on his face quickly disabuses that impression.
And it didn’t take long for the story to develop! From the picture, I could sense an ease between the two aliens. I wouldn’t say either looked relaxed, but there was a familiarity in both of their stances that implied they were comfortable with each other.
Well, my overactive imagination took it from there. The next thing I knew, the storyline was born. The white-headed one quickly became Varo, a spoiled Yesri prince whose royal family is in turmoil due to bad decisions, declining resources, and a king on the brink of madness.
Varo’s a starship captain and the youngest of the princes’—in other words, expendable, since his father already has his heir and a spare. And his father quickly lets him know just how expendable he is. Varo has orders to attack the Helkans if he can’t barter for a badly needed energy source.
The black-headed alien became Adlar, brother to the Helkan king and an assassin. They have vast amounts of Black Phospolrock, an energy source they refuse to share, and the Yesri desperately need. The Helkans are standoffish in the extreme, and have even gone so far as to erect a satellite grid system to keep other races away.
Anyone who tries to get past that barrier ends up crash-landing on the surface of the planet and taken hostage. And the Helkans never release hostages. No one knows what happens to them, but rumors fly—some say the Helkans have fangs and drank blood.
Let the conflict abound, lol.
As I wrote the story I found out appearances aren’t everything, and things often aren’t as they appear.
A low moan came from Varo.
“Come on, then, open your eyes.” Adlar lowered Varo to the ground.
Varo’s eyes twitched, then he slowly blinked them open. “Who… who…?”
Adlar saw the confusion. His grin was as sharp as a knife’s blade as he stared into brown eyes—big, beautifully rich brown eyes. There was no doubt now this was the same Yesri he’d spoken with earlier during negotiations. By some odd twist in genetics, the males of the ruling Yesri family had brown eyes. They were the only ones. All other Yesris either had green or blue eyes.
Adlar waited until Varo focused on him. “Greetings, Prince Varo Kutchif of Yesri.”
“Wh-what? Why am I lying down? You’re using the Universal Language Standard to speak to me, right? You sound funny. Or is it me? And how… how do you know my…. You look like…. Who are you?”
“I’m Adlar Mondur, leader of the D’noir and older brother to King Omori, ruler of Helkan.”
“Helkan? But… how’d I get here?” Varo sat up.
Adlar grasped Varo’s chin. “My dear princeling, you crash-landed on my planet, remember?”
“I… I… yes?” Varo clenched his eyes shut and then opened them again. “Yes, that’s right. I had to make…. Oh goddess! You! I remember you.”
“Excellent. I claim you as my prisoner.”
“P-p-prisoner?” Varo stuttered.
He watched as the confusion cleared and… was that fear in those eyes? How delightful. “I’m sure you know my people do not release our prisoners.”
Adlar smiled at Varo, letting his fangs show. He’d prepared himself for many reactions; he wasn’t ready for Varo to headbutt him. The force of the blow rocked him backward, breaking his grip on Varo.
“Oh frack!” Adlar yelled as he sprawled on the ground. Pain exploded in his face, spreading quickly.
Varo was on his feet and running.
From off to the side, he heard a rolling chuff. He lifted his hand and gently touched the tender, swollen area. He bet a bruise was already forming. He glared at Dar. “Too busy laughing at me to help, I take it?”
Dar yawned, showing off huge canines. He licked his lips, his whiskers twitching as he stared in the direction Varo fled. Then he laid his head between his paws.
Well, he had his answer. “Fine!” Snarling, Adlar launched to his feet and stumbled slightly as he followed Varo. Maybe his head wasn’t as hard as he thought.
Even with the pounding in his ears, he could still hear the harsh breathing of Varo as he crashed through the jungle. And crash he did since Varo couldn’t see as well as Adlar could. Adlar needed to end this before Varo broke a leg or something.
“Stop!” Adlar yelled. Then a new thought hit him. “All this noise will draw predators straight to you!”
Receiving no answer, he dug deep, pushing his body to move faster. That was his prey, and when he caught Varo, he was going to…. A sudden flash of purple streaked past him. Oh, so now the temperamental batar decided to help?
Adlar growled as Dar’s long strides ate up the ground as he closed in on Varo… then flew past him. He didn’t bother to question why Dar bypassed Varo—the irritating feline must have a reason.
Dreamspinner Press (Paperback)
M.A. Church is a true Southern belle who spent many years in the elementary education sector. Now she spends her days lost in fantasy worlds, arguing with hardheaded aliens on far-off planets, herding her numerous shifters, or trying to tempt her country boys away from their fishing poles. It’s a full time job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!
When not writing, she’s on the back porch tending to the demanding wildlife around the pond in the backyard. The ducks are very outspoken. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, and they have two grown children.
She is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
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You can also email the author at – nomoretears00@hotmail.com
Winner’s Prize: $5 Amazon GC.
Happy release day, MA. First off: gorgeous cover! I thought it really brings forward the story just from the cover. And thank you for sharing the excerpt. I’ve been interested to read this since the cover reveal and now more so. Looking forward to it!
Congrats on the release, M.A.! In Enemy Hands sounds fantastic and I love the cover – very eye catching.
Congrats on the release & thanks for the excerpt!
love the sound of this book!
Congrats on the new release! I read this story when it was on your blog and loved. I can’t wait to see if this verison has any changes.
Good luck with the book! I love the cover. Very interesting premise.
Congratulations on the new book, M.A. Thought the cover was interesting
I absolutely love Sci Fi romance books and this one sounds so good and there is a sale at Dreamspinner press too!
congrats on the new release, sounds intriguing!
Congrats on the new release!
Congrats and thanks for the post. I love this kind of alien SF, and I enjoyed hearing about your inspiration.