(If you missed part 1, scroll down and read the entry below.)
Hey, Lynda, Welcome back for day 2! (Love the eye candy!
Tell us about Altered Reality
Altered Destiny came about because of an accidental encounter in a parking lot and a face that looks like many others. It's a kind of strange way to get an idea but it worked and I love the story ;-) Hopefully, you will too.
Altered Destiny Excerpt
It took a certain amount of courage to leave a safe and comfortable life, to leap into the void, and risk failure. Liane Gautier-MacGregor sighed–one sigh was all she would allow–then faced the slow, even swells of the Atlantic. Normally, she loved the solitude of the narrow beach but, tonight, it echoed with loneliness.
Dreams, lies, broken trust. She shrugged; they were all the same. Take her ex-husband. Please, she added with a snarky smile. For a long time, she’d thought Devyn was the man of her dreams. “Which just goes to show,” she said, shrugging.
Far out to sea, a pale line of fog rose out of the ocean depths. High above the fog, a star pulsed in the indigo sky.
“Star light, star bright,” Liane began, then paused, unsure what to wish for. A blast of cold air shoved her backward. Pulling her jacket together, she braced herself against the wind. What did ex-husbands and the weather have in common? Can’t count on either of them. Glancing at the star again, she muttered, “It’s probably a satellite anyway.”
From atop the bluff, the dull thump of her ex-husband’s car door, followed by the BMW’s throaty growl echoed off the trees and cottage walls. She turned to see the top landing of the sea stairs. Twin beams of light speared the darkness then angled away.
She was alone. In the dark. On a deserted beach.
Liane shivered. Gautiers were never afraid. At least, that’s what her father had always said. She drew in a breath of salt-laden air, then turned to carefully retrace her footsteps. She could see them clearly in the moonlight and for a moment wished she could as easily retrace her life’s footsteps. Go back to a time before her marriage, before she’d become such a huge disappointment to her parents. To herself.
A wave lapped over her left foot, filling her shoe with icy water. She jumped sideways
before the next wave hit. Waves shouldn’t reach this high on the little beach. She puzzled over it for a moment. Maybe a storm was coming? But the sky was clear, filled with stars and a brilliant full moon.
In fact, her wishing star, or satellite, twinkled even more brightly. “Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight.”
She chuckled. Well, it was the first star she’d noticed that night at any rate. “May I have, may I wish–”
She paused again, and thought. “What I wish tonight.”
The BMW’s engine noise faded in the distance. She shivered at the sudden stillness. “I wish for a new beginning.”
Okay, so that was going to happen anyway now that her divorce was final. "I wish for a good new beginning."
Vague, that was too vague, she decided. Maybe-- "I wish that I'm brave enough to succeed at a new beginning."
Fear of failure, fear of success...it didn't matter what you called it. The fact was, she was a coward in so many different aspects of her life. And so much would be different if she had been a tenth as brave as her mother or father. Her head lowered as grief rolled over her. Her chest tightened, constricting her breath. But, her head jerked sideways in a negating gesture, she wasn’t brave and her parents were dead because of her cowardice. Because she’d let her father drive when he wasn’t familiar with icy roads. She cast a sad, longing look at the star.
Her wishing star jinked sideways, then elongated. Was it a comet? So much for wishes. “Should have wished for a telescope.”
As she watched the comet-star, a buzzing, tickling sensation swept over her. Her scalp tingled, her hair lifted. She looked around uneasily as the wind died. Even the waves, so restless moments ago, hesitated, stuck in mid-curl.
Her gaze, drawn to the sky, settled on the not-star as it sped toward the moon. Liane’s throat filled with dread as, with a flash of blinding whiteness and an utter lack of sound, the moon exploded.
She gasped in terrified awe as fragments whirled silently through the sky. Get inside! screamed the primitive part of her mind, inside, inside, inside.
Obeying the silent command, she sped toward the sea stairs but the wind came at her like a battering ram. She stumbled, fell back, and caught herself as her shoes filled with cold ocean water. The tide surged, slammed into her knees.
With a supreme effort, Liane dragged herself forward then–
The sea, the beach, the moon and stars–all spun in rapid circles around her. A queer, sideways slide, a wrenching shift, threw her off-balance.
From somewhere came her ex-husband’s startled yell followed by the deep mechanical growl of his BMW.
She flailed as a kaleidoscope of color burned across her eyes and drummed through her skull. Swept up, she clawed empty air. Tiny zaps, electrically charged, sizzled over her, around her, through her. Then, as if a giant hand reached out to snatch her from the maelstrom–
Liane reeled in broad daylight, the sun beating over the waves and blinding her with its brilliance.
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About Lynda: In her family of Kentucky 'ridge runners', oral tales were a tradition that even the children participated in. She spent many nights with her brother, cousins and friends telling tall tales to excite the imagination. Now she creates award winning science fantasy romance filled with despair, hope, love and courage.
Altered Destiny
by Lynda K Scott
Science Fantasy Romance
Available in ebook formats
Stranded on an alternate Earth, architect and Jill-of-all-trades, Liane Gautier-MacGregor must find her way back to her homeworld before she's enslaved...or falls in love with a man who is the exact duplicate of her ex-husband.
Devyn MacGregor's alter ego as the Reiver Lord is the only way he can fight the Qui'arel and their nefarious Bride Bounty, a tax paid with human females...until he meets the oddly familiar woman who claims he is her husband. And who sets in motion the rebellion that will either free his countrymen or destroy them.
Buy Links:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Destiny-ebook/dp/B00579FKFO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308920443&sr=8-1
Nook http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Altered-Destiny/Lynda-K-Scott/e/2940012882417
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79552
Thanks for having me! If you are a member of or join my newsgroup before Oct 1, you'll automatically be entered into a drawing for a beaded crystal heart pendant. (Sorry, you must be a resident of the USA to win the pendant but a non-USA winner will receive an alternate prize to be determined at the time of the drawing.) Contest Rules are available at http://lyndakscott.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-member-only-contest.html
Great to have you here... interesting fun story. And I love the idea of ridge runners and family storytelling. What a nice thing for the children in the family. Wishing you success with your book!
Thanks Judy! I always thought we were 'hillbillies'...then a friend informed me that hillbillies were from northern Michigan (where she was from). I asked my Mom and she told me we were ridge runners...that could be a family thing, lol, who knows?
Thanks for stopping by!
Wow Lynda. Great excerpt. I love the way you did the switch between realities. At least that is what I assume from the maelstorm to the morning was. Many sales!
Hi Nightingale, yep, that was where Liane slid right into the new alternate Earth. The next part is even better as she tries to figure out what happened and why her ex is wearing a kilt ;-)
Lynda, I'm excited that you're here. I enjoyed reading the excerpt. You writing is so active and lush. And the images it evoked in my mind - Wow! You really tapped into my senses. I could almost see and feel like Liane did. Feel the kaleidoscope of colors burning across her eyes and drumming through her skull. I almost gasped as Liane was swept up and clawing empty air.
I've added your story to my wish list and can't wait to read it!
Wow! What a wonderful excerpt. I hated to have it end! Thanks for posting with us and being such an exciting guest! Good luck and good sales!
Hi Pamela and Mary! Thanks for the terrific compliments! I'm so glad you enjoyed the excerpt ;-)
Hey, Lynda, I've been gone all day! I'm with the others. This is a great excerpt! The cover doesn't suck, either!
LOL, Mary, no, the cover definitely doesn't suck ;-)
There's something about a man's broad shoulders...
YUM! (sigh)
Hi Lynda,
Thanks for joining us. Ooh--love that title and your excerpt. Thanks for sharing.