Sci-fi cats in space

 

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As you can tell from my book covers, I have cats in many of my Science fiction novels, even in those not featuring a cat on the cover. Most of these cats are telepathic, and it’s not by accident. We all know cats have a sixth sense… and nine lives to boot.

I love cats, and if I had to go on a long voyage through space to another planet, I couldn’t imagine not taking a cat as a companion. I would also want to seed that new earth-like planet with cats. It makes perfect sense as I couldn’t imagine life without these beautiful creatures.

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Marshmallow in BLACK DRAGON is a cuddly ball of fluff who helps the hero cheat at cards and charm the ladies. His favorite reward is synthetic tuna.

But some of these cats are enormous, and readers not familiar with my work sometimes ask: “How is it possible to have such big cats on a spaceship, or a space station?”

Alpha Space Station in the movie Valerian and the city of a thousand planets

Obviously, they have the wrong idea of the size of an interstellar ship. Since there is no limitation to size in space, ships can be the size of several football fields. As for the space stations of the distant future, we are not talking about our tiny ISS orbiting earth, but about space stations as large as entire cities or small moons, like artificial planets orbiting alien suns or gas giants, and supporting millions of people.

The Byzantium Space Station as I imagined it.

How do cats happen to be in space or on other planets?

Sometimes my fictional cats are wild and native to their alien planet, like Tibeta and her cubs in Angel Brave, the Smilodons of Azura, a planet teeming with large predators. I pity the hero, Keoke, who has to face this deadly family of cats.

Tibeta, the sabertooth Smilodon cat in Angel Brave

Sometimes, like in the Chronicles of Kassouk, the big cats are the result of a human experiment gone out of control, and are trained and used in battle, or kept as pets.

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There are also the big cats experimented upon, who are genetically modified and electronically enhanced to communicate telepathically with their owners. They usually become companions for bounty hunters, like Akira’s cheetah retriever in AKIRA’S CHOICE, or the telepathic cougar helping Fianna catch the bad guys in ANGEL MINE.

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In MALAIKA’S SECRET, Raja, the lion guarding the temple, was rescued from illegal smugglers of exotic animals.

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In SNATCHED, my heroine has to face a native saber-tooth tiger in the jungle.

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In ALIEN LOCKDOWN, set in the Andromeda galaxy, my protagonists face a native predator called a bearcat.

There are no significant cats in my medieval fantasy series CURSE OF THE LOST ISLE, based on Celtic legends, but I must mention for dog lovers, that I have a heroic dog named Kopek in DAMSEL OF THE HAWK, book 7, which is a standalone in the series.

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But there are more cats to come in my future books. In ANGEL SHIP, Book one of the Blue Phantom series, to be released in the fall of 2022, the heroine, a warrior princess, has a telepathic feline bodyguard with a keen sense of peoples’ true character.

In the meantime, you can find all my books at online retailers. amazon - B&N - Smashwords - Kobo

Vijaya Schartz, author
Strong Heroines, Brave Heroes, cats
http://www.vijayaschartz.com
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Writing Science Fiction again - sort of... by Vijaya Schartz

Although I'm itching to write science fiction again, after a long series of medieval fantasy romance, I find it difficult to leave the wonderful world of immortals with strange powers. So, I decided to write a science fiction romance series involving a planet where the inhabitants have angelic abilities.

I call the series: AZURA-5 ANGEL PLANET. Book One will be ANGEL MINE, and it involves a kick-butt female bounty hunter and an angelic alien. I only wrote the first chapter, and I love them already and can't wait to develop their story. I even have these characters in mind. Yes, the big cat is also a character. What do you think? I hope the cover designer for my publisher chooses to use the pictures I selected, or something very similar.

Here is the blurb (so far).

What in the frozen hells of Laxxar prompted Fianna to pursue her quarry to this forbidden blue planet? Well, she needs the credits... badly. But as if crashing in the jungle wasn't bad enough, none of her high-tech weapons work. She'll have to go native, after the most wanted felon in five galaxies. It's not just her job. It's personal.

Acielon has never seen an outworlder like this fascinating female, strangely beautiful, and fierce, like the feline predator loping at her side. He always dreamed of exploring the universe, despite the legends... and the interdiction. Is it truly a hellish place of violence, lies and suffering? If it spawned this intriguing creature, it must also be a place of wonders, adventure and excitement...

Fianna's hunter instincts tell her someone is watching. Sheba, her telepathic feline partner, doesn't seem worried... yet, something on Azura isn't quite right.


The book will probably come out in the summer of 2017. In the meantime, you can read my other science fiction romances in ebook or print from these distributors.

HAPPY READING!

Vijaya Schartz
Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick
  http://www.vijayaschartz.com
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RED LEOPARD is now in Paperback - by Vijaya Schartz

The Chronicles of Kassouk series is now well on its way to paperback. After White Tiger coming in paper this year, RED LEOPARD is out this month in trade paperback, and Book 3, BLACK JAGUAR is due in the same format in February 2013. The other titles in the series (Blue Lioness and Noah's Ark) will also become available in trade paperback in 2013.

So now there is no excuse. Whether you read eBooks in any format or only paper books, you can enjoy this award-winning series. AMAZON  -  Barnes & Noble – Smashwords – All Romance eBooks

Here is what RED LEOPARD is about:

In charge of the fortress of Kassouk in the King's absence, what is Terek to do when a Goddian spacecraft lands in his medieval backyard, and the striking woman leading the galactic party insists on colonization?

Galya, the Goddian Princess commanding the geological vessel, is bent on finding a crystal with unusual hyper-conductor properties. And the futile resistance of the local population isn't going to stop her. Not even that defiant tribal chief nicknamed Red Leopard, like the infernal feline that follows him everywhere.

Terek and his band of swordsmen and felines must defend their people's freedom, no matter the cost. But with this unexpected arrival, an old prophecy surfaces, taking new meaning and carrying a new threat... When political intrigues, greed, murder and betrayal tip the scales, whom can Galya really trust? Her fellow Goddians? the Mutants bred to serve her race? or her primitive Human enemy?

"action packed, fast paced story... I can't wait to read the next book in the Chronicles of Kassouk series." 5 angels - Fallen Angel Reviews

"This book was so good. The plot, characters, setting, everything was laid out in detail; vivid and believable. I was completely lost in the world Vijaya created and loving every second of it." - 5 stars - Shawna K. - Goodreads.com

"Packed with action and adventure. Galya ... a tough warrior... a sweetness about her that makes her easy to like... I loved how Rascal was Terek's faithful companion and defender throughout nearly the entire story... I really liked Red Leopard." - The Hope Chest Reviews

 AMAZON  -  Barnes & Noble – Smashwords – All Romance eBooks

Vijaya Schartz

Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick

http://www.vijayaschartz.com

I just read: THE SYN-EN SOLUTION by Linda Andrews

Find this book in kindle HERE

As far as Sci-fi romances go, this one has everything. From the space ship battles, the altered beings regarded as inferior by the purely biological entities, to the political intrigues, genocide, plagues, and a voyage to a faraway planet through a wormhole. Of course, between all the action scenes and unraveling mystery, the hero, a SYN-EN, (synthetic entity but not entirely) burns for the soft skin of this stowaway unaltered biological woman he found naked in a pod aboard his ship.

The fact that the woman traveled through time from Twentieth Century Earth provides the perfect device to help the reader understand the technology of this spacefaring modified human race. It makes the jump in time easier. Although the science in this book is irreproachable, it never obscures the human and semi-human emotional conflicts, and the love scenes sizzle with intensity.

I loved the Syn-En solution, a very well written book, and am looking forward to more novels in this very promising series.

I give this book five stars!

Find more of Linda Andrews novels and novellas in print and in kindle at:
 http://amzn.com/e/B001JOWEAU