Escapee
Repelling the Invasion
Book Two
Edward Hoornaert
Genre: Science fiction romance
Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing
Date of Publication: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77127-794-5
ASIN: B01BUI0T60
Number of pages: 262
Word Count: 63,000
Cover Artist: Eerilyfair Design
Book Description:
The African Queen in outer space
Catt Sayer just wants to survive. The working-class fugitive delivers military supplies on her decrepit airship, but her hard-won livelihood vanishes when invaders overrun her harsh moon. Now an idealistic, upper-class officer wants her to risk her life on a hopeless voyage to attack enemy headquarters – manned by 10,000 soldiers.
Edward Hoornaert’s romantic space opera, Escapee, continues the saga of the Dukelsky family (begun in The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station). If you like The African Queen and the thrill of underdogs finding love while battling a hostile environment, you’ll love Escapee.
The books of the Repelling the Invasion series can be read in any order or as standalones. The first book of the series is The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station.
Excerpt:
“You see no
bodies, Miss Sayer, because I buried them over the past seven days."
Catt waited for
him to continue, but he didn't. “Oh yeah?” she scoffed. She knew he was lying,
because she’d crawled over the twisted remains of the fortress’s backhoe, whose
micro-explosives enabled it to burrow into Banff’s rocky ground. “You dug
graves by hand in solid rock. Yeah, right.”
“Enemy bombs
blasted the graves. I just filled the holes with bodies and rubble.”
For one body,
that was believable. For more than a hundred, though? Catt bit back a retort.
From anyone else she’d suspect sarcasm. From him, she didn’t know what to
expect.
Then she noticed
how red his skin was, as though exposed far too long to the moon’s corrosive
atmosphere. Lighter patches marked where he’d worn goggles and a respirator.
“You did all that without a bio-suit?” Like most people, she didn’t trust
respirators for more than a few minutes at a time. The man was either suicidal
or insanely devoted to duty.
“I’d left my bio
suit here while I went on leave, and it was destroyed in the attack. As for
leaving before the Proximanian army returns, I thought of that long before you
did, which was why I hastened to finish my reports.”
The entire moon
had fallen into enemy hands and yet this officer wrote reports? Her opinion
must’ve shown on her face, because his flinty expression slipped, revealing
exhaustion, despair, and a plea for understanding.
“I know I’ll
never be able to send them, but…” He ran a hand over his eyes, and the unfeeling
martinet was back. “The reports are letters to my men’s families, explaining
how they died at their posts, defending New Ontario’s interests.”
Catt opened her
mouth. Closed it. Felt her face flame. Facing Dukelsky was like staring into a
furnace. She lowered her gaze. “I didn’t know…”
“Yet you assumed
the worst of me.”
Without
thinking, she had slumped into the submissive, hunched posture of a peasant
being scolded by a patroon. Now, though, she straightened. Embarrassment warred
with anger, yet she wouldn’t let him or any other patroon humble her, ever
again. “Turnabout’s a bitch, eh?”
She expected him
to ask what she meant. He didn’t, though a narrowing of his eyes told her he
remembered his cheap prostitute comment. Their eyes locked. She refused to back
down first.
About the Author:
What kind of guy writes romance? A guy who married his high school sweetheart a week after graduation and still lives the HEA decades later. A guy who’s a certifiable Harlequin hero—he inspired Vicki Lewis Thompson’s Rita Award finalist Mr. Valentine, which is dedicated to him.
Ed started out writing contemporary romances for Silhouette Books, but these days he concentrates on science fiction romance. He’s been a teacher, principal, technical writer, salesman, janitor, and symphonic oboist. He and wife Judi live in Tucson, Arizona. They have three sons, a daughter, a mutt, and the galaxy’s most adorable grandson.
1 comment:
Thanks very much for turning your spotlight on Escapee. I appreciate it!
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