2nd Excerpt ffrom the Lady is Blue

Excerpt from The Lady is Blue

A conversation between the main characters, Dr. Lucy Stannis and Sa Kamizan Veedak, early in their relationship.

      “Why do you talk to me anyway?” Lucy said thoughtfully.
       He laughed and seemed to relax again. “Your questions are very direct, Dr. Stannis. I like your fearlessness. The others are nervous or afraid of me.”
      “I’m not surprised they are nervous,” she retorted. “You have vicious teeth and sharp claws.”
      He curled one set of claws in front of her face and ran them lightly down her arm.
      It tickled and Lucy grinned. “Oh, you are so mild mannered you would not dare to lay a hand on me!”
      Sa Kamizan gripped her wrist firmly. “Call your committee and tell them they need another token female scientist. Then, you can see me at the meetings.”
     “I may be a disruptive influence.” Lucy grimaced, she disliked restraints. Suddenly, she twisted her wrist against his thumb in a maneuver intended to free her arm. It was a mistake. Her arm slipped free, but she felt claws scrape her skin as Sa Kamizan quickly pulled his hand away. She examined her arm. Blood was welling from two shallow punctures. Immediately, she realized most humans would blame Sa Kamizan if the incident were known.
     She glanced at him. He looked wary, waiting for her response with crest lowered.
    “I hope your nails are clean,” she remarked nonchalantly, while searching through her pockets with the uninjured hand.
     He stared at his hand. Then, he offered her a wad of tissues from a desk drawer. “Let me help you.” He wiped off the blood.
    “You should be more cautious in future when playing with Atrapako,” he said softly.

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Sugar Loaf Mountain, Wales

View of Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pen-y-fal in Welsh) in South Wales, UK.

The trails near the base of the mountain ran through bracken ferns towering 7feet tall and crossed tiny streams.

Short excerpt from The Lady is Blue:

Dr. Lucy Stannis and Sa Kamizan Veedak are the main characters in the book.

Message from Lucy Stannis to Terran Space Authority. I learned the planet Vkani is inhospitable. Our Atrapako visitors were exiled. They lost two ships on the journey to Eden, one in Yellow fog. I will pursue friendship with my contact Sa Kamizan Veedak. This connection is valuable. He commanded their spaceship. 

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View from hike through Avebury stone circle:

Avebury stone circle rivals Stonehenge in size and antiquity. The village of Avebury is partly within the site, and sheep graze among the megaliths.

Short excerpt from Dragons of Vkani, the upcoming sequel to The Lady is Blue. 
The hero and heroine are not ardently romantic at this time, despite the moon Venus. Read Book I: The Lady is Blue to discover why. 

Sa Kamizan and Lucy lingered outside, savoring the clear night sky. They stared up, enthralled, at the spectacle of the clustered stars of the galactic spirals.

“Which direction is Vkani?” Lucy asked the big Blue standing at her side. 

He pointed to the west, “There, beyond the bright red star. The solar system is surrounded by dense cosmic clouds. Few stars were visible from my planet.” 

As they stared up, the yellow moon, Venus, rose over the black shoulder of the Alta Mountain and the stars dimmed in its bright light. The moonlight brightened the pale skin of Lucy’s face and hands. She looked up at her mate. The craggy contours of his head were a study in contrasts. The moonlight reflected on the scales on his forehead and picked out individual spines of his crest. His eyes glinted within deep shadows cast by his thickly scaled brow.

Lucy broke the silence with another question. “How many moons orbit Vkani?”

He inclined his head toward her, and replied in his precise way, “There is only one moon. We called it the Red Child. Why did you not ask me these questions before?”

“You did not want to talk about your forsaken planet. Now, we’ll travel in the Terran ship and I am eager to see the place you were born.”

“My birth place was destroyed years ago,” he remarked coolly.

“Don’t be pedantic, love! Surely, some places you enjoyed are preserved. Doesn’t your sister live in the Vagurnakoram Mountains?” 

“Yes, we both enjoy the mountains,” he murmured, slipping his arm around her.

She raised her eyes and searched the skies again. A cold wind swept down from the mountain tops. Ominous dark clouds drifted across the moon, blocking its light.

Lucy shivered. “Let’s go inside, Veedak. Space is cold and empty. I want to sleep in your arms tonight.”

He gripped her arm, whispering, “I missed you last night when my ribs were healed in the hospital.” She leaned against his warm chest as he kissed her, his claw tips tickling her skin through her shirt. Fierce joy flooded her mind in anticipation of their dangerous expedition. 

My science fiction romance The Lady is Blue is available on Amazon.
A battered alien space ship lands on the planet Eden, which has a small, vibrant colony of humans. The humanoid aliens sport scales in four colors, with spiky crests on their heads, and vicious claws on their fingers and toes. The intrepid scientist, Dr. Lucy Stannis, befriends the impressive Blue, Sa Kamizan Veedak, Captain of the spaceship. Both hide secrets. She is suspicious of the motives of the aliens. He is won over by her multiple attractions, especially when she saves his life by flooring an attacker twice her size! 

Characters in The Lady is Blue

The Lady is Blue is a 300-page science fiction novel.

Main Characters

Humans:
The heroine is the Eden human, Dr. Lucy Stannis, a scientist and secret Terran agent. She is aided and abetted by Dr. Colin Murti, her physician; Roger Fourno, her (soon to be ex-)lover; Dr. Trisha Duran and Dr. Jun Danzhu, her friends and scientific colleagues, and her students, especially the beautiful Sonia.

The elected Governors of Eden are: Mossy Fairweather, Don Vargos and Bernal Mathis.

Aliens: 
The hero is the Atrapako Blue, Sa Kamizan Veedak, Captain of their spaceship. He is supported by the old Blue judge, Sa Radekis Volkin, and the Green scientists, Te Suzzaine Sukla and Te Tamarkis Varenne. He is opposed by the young Blue Sa Varasek and the other Blues, including the Honorable Lady Kamilla.

Short Excerpt from The Lady is Blue

Excerpt from The Lady is Blue  

Dr. Lucy Stannis has asked the alien, Sa Kamizan Veedak, about his voyage to her planet.

“How was your long voyage?”

“It was terrible!” he said with an unusual trace of emotion. 

“Tell me,” she said quietly. 

He took a long drink before replying.  “For many years we wondered if other planets existed with more habitable climates.  Our astronomers located several planets around distant suns.  We planned a spaceship to search those planets.  Our planet, Vkani, was desolate and overpopulated, and at first we were perceived as heroes.  Later, the resources of the whole planet were drained to build our spaceships.  Three ships were completed with great difficulty.  We were exiled into them.  Thus, our voyage began inauspiciously.  We hoped it would end better. 

Many, many tedious days followed as we located the stars with planets and eliminated them one by one as uninhabitable.  Most of the time, we were in deep sleep between the stars.  Each time the waking grew more painful.  On the journey we lost two ships.” 

“Two!” Lucy exclaimed in surprise.  “How did that happen?” 

“The first case was mysterious.  One ship had separated from our small fleet to examine a promising solar system.  They began to return, having found nothing useful, when communications ceased unexpectedly.  The watchers on duty roused me.  We searched for the ship and found it drifting in a huge cloud of yellow dust.  I sent someone to check inside the ship.  He entered.  We lost contact, and he did not reappear.  A second volunteer was sent out with the same result.  The yellow dust began to drift towards our ship.  I volunteered to go myself, but was overruled.  My people were afraid.  They forced me to abandon the other ship.  I do not know what happened to the people on that ship.”  While he was talking, he had gouged deep tracks in the wood of his chair with his long clawed fingers. 

Lucy sensed his tension and she shuddered.  “It was right to leave that ship.  It was the Yellow Death.  I have heard descriptions of it before.  The rumor is that no one has ever escaped once the yellow fog surrounds a ship.  No one knows what it really is.”  She grimaced.  “I think I will have nightmares about the yellow fog tonight.”

“I have them often,” he muttered.  He continued in a slightly uneven voice.  “The second ship was hit by a stray asteroid and so badly damaged we had to transfer the survivors to our remaining ship.  We were overcrowded and moral was low.  The epidemic illness started.  The doctors took medical supplies and isolated the sick.  Many people died.  My ship was half-crippled in a cosmic storm.  Finally, we discovered a green planet with near ideal climate.  Unfortunately, it was inhabited by strange humanoids with naked skin.”  He bared his teeth at her. 

Sequel to my Sci Fi Novel The Lady is Blue

Here is a preview from my upcoming sequel to The Lady is Blue in the series Atrapako of Eden.
The novel The Dragons of Vkani is at the editing stage so I hope to publish it in a month or two.

Sa Kamizan and Lucy lingered outside, savoring the clear night sky. They stared up, enthralled, at the spectacle of the clustered stars of the galactic spirals.

“Which direction is Vkani?” Lucy asked the big Blue standing at her side. 

He pointed to the west, “There, beyond the bright red star. The solar system is surrounded by dense cosmic clouds. Few stars were visible from my planet.” 

As they stared up, the yellow moon, Venus, rose over the black shoulder of the Alta Mountain and the stars dimmed in its bright light. The moonlight brightened the pale skin of Lucy’s face and hands. She looked up at her mate. The craggy contours of his head were a study in contrasts. The moonlight reflected on the scales on his forehead and picked out individual spines of his crest. His eyes glinted within deep shadows cast by his thickly scaled brow.

Lucy broke the silence with another question. “How many moons orbit Vkani?”

He inclined his head toward her, and replied in his precise way, “There is only one moon. We called it the Red Child. Why did you not ask me these questions before?”

“You did not want to talk about your forsaken planet. Now, we’ll travel in the Terran ship and I am eager to see the place you were born.”

“My birth place was destroyed years ago,” he remarked coolly.

“Don’t be pedantic, love! Surely, some places you enjoyed are preserved. Doesn’t your sister live in the Vagurnakoram Mountains?” 

“Yes, we both enjoy the mountains,” he murmured, slipping his arm around her.

She raised her eyes and searched the skies again. A cold wind swept down from the mountain tops. Ominous dark clouds drifted across the moon, blocking its light.

Lucy shivered. “Let’s go inside, Veedak. Space is cold and empty. I want to sleep in your arms tonight.”

He gripped her arm, whispering, “I missed you last night when my ribs were healed in the hospital.” She leaned against his warm chest as he kissed her, his claw tips tickling her skin through her shirt. Fierce joy flooded her mind in anticipation of their dangerous expedition.

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