Switched, Too excerpt

Switched, Too by Diane Burton, available June 10^th

Blurb:

 

Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it.

Down-sized astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He just has to pretend to be an Alliance of Planets starship captain. His lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.

The only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules, tragedy resulted. She vowed never again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover the saboteur and get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do attract.

      Excerpt from Switched, Too

     Scott Cherella forced himself to stay calm while all hell broke loose. He barely recovered from being yanked off Earth, sliced-and-diced into microscopic particles by a transport beam then reassembled aboard a starship—all particles, hopefully, in their appropriate places.

     He took a deep breath and willed his excitement not to show. The command center was larger than he expected, approximately three hundred square feet in area, wider across and sloping from aft to fore. Holy Moley. He couldn't get over it. He was on the bridge of a starship.

     He quickly scanned the room. The science station was aft and to port, communications starboard. Just as the diagrams indicated. Helm was fore and center. Directly in front of the helm—navigation—position was an enormous viewscreen. Oh, my God. Space, up close and personal. His self-control not to react was getting good exercise.

     “Mr. Klegznef," he addressed the First Officer who vacated an elevated chair in the middle of the room, behind helm, as soon as Scott entered the bridge. “What is our status?”

     “Sir.” The gray-skinned giant could give lessons in military bearing. Ramrod straight, heels snapped together, Klegznef stood at attention behind the captain's seat. From his proprietary grip on the back of the seat, he obviously thought it should belong to him. At Scott’s pointed stare, Klegznef took a small step back. “A ship approaches. It has not responded to a hail. Its identity is deliberately obscured. Its intentions appear hostile.”

     “Hail the ship again, Officer Cabbeferron,” Scott said. “Ascertain its purpose.”

     “Yes, Captain.” The Communications Officer with long blond hair and hexagon markings on her face barely looked up. Instead, her three-fingered hands flew across the flat-screen panel spread out in front of her, adjusting here, tapping there.

     "No response, sir," Cabbeferron said unnecessarily since the entire bridge crew heard the silence.

     "Its intentions are clear, Captain," the First Officer said in a voice that reminded Scott of Darth Vader. That coupled with the demeanor of Frankenstein's monster made Klegznef formidable. "Its shields are up and weapons online. Give the order to fire before it fires on us."

 

Diane Burton is the author of the Switched series. Book 1, Switched, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Switched, Too will be released June 10^th. The final book in the series is slated for release in 2013. Readers can follow Diane on FaceBook, GoodReads, her blog, Twitter and her website.

Switched, Too excerpt

 Switched, Too by Diane Burton, available June 10^th

 Blurb:
 

Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it.

Down-sized astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He just has to pretend to be an Alliance of Planets starship captain. His lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.

The only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules, tragedy resulted. She vowed never again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover the saboteur and get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do attract.

      Excerpt from Switched, Too

      "Emergency Alert!"

     The strident klaxon blared. Red lights flashed. The message repeated.

     Veronese Qilana's heart hammered against her ribs as she quickly stepped off the elevated transport platform. Her stomach clenched. Adrenaline raced through her veins. By the Intrepid Ones, the ship was under attack. Again.

     "Battle stations!"

     She checked behind her for her companion. Scott Cherella momentarily stumbled—a normal effect for one unused to a tele-transporter. His hand fell heavily on her shoulder before he steadied himself. She caught her breath and quickly stepped aside. The man would give himself away if he were not careful. If that occurred, her complicity would be revealed.

     "Prepare for attack." The command from First Officer Klegznef, his deep voice unmistakable over the general comm unit, replaced the computer-generated Emergency Alert. "A vessel with hostile intent approaches."

     That could not be. The war was over. According to Space Fleet Command, the rebels had abandoned this system. Alliance vessels were deployed in other sectors, routing out those who hid instead of surrendering. No starship should be in this system—not even the Freedom.

     While she and the captain were on the surface, the ship was cloaked to avoid detection by Earth's defense systems. Decloaking momentarily to transport Scott and her to the ship must have made the Freedom visible to this other vessel.

     The klaxon's blare charged every one of Veronese's nerve ending. Anxiety raced up her spine. Her stomach twisted. Her heart pounded in her ears. She had experienced those emotions once before. Tragedy resulted.

     For the past six months, the Freedom had been engaged in battle with the Praetorians, rebels who wreaked havoc on Alliance ships and outposts. After seeing death so recently—so close—she feared for the safety of the crew. Fear. Such a Terran emotion. One she could not totally suppress despite her Serenian conditioning.

     With a shaking finger, she tapped the communicator on her wrist before her companion forgot about the transport technician hidden from view and asked the way out. Her link opened the concealed portal. Scott Cherella did not even glance at her as he dashed through the opening she created. She quickly followed him through the portal.

     With surprising confidence, he strode down the corridor toward the bridge. The captain's uniform molded his long legs and excellently proportioned rear. Veronese recalled a video she watched during her first sojourn on Earth. Buns of Steel.

 

Diane Burton is the author of the Switched series. Book 1, Switched, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Switched, Too will be released June 10^th. The final book in the series is slated for release in 2013. Readers can follow Diane on FaceBook, GoodReads, her blog, Twitter and her website.

Aliens

     My name is Diane Burton and I have a confession. I write about aliens. What is it about that word that sends people into a tizzy, makes politicians talk about building electrified fences and twists Arizona sheriffs' panties? Unless we're one hundred percent Native American, our ancestors were aliens.

     But, wait. That's not the kind of aliens I write about. My aliens are from another world. Oh, ho, you say, outer space. That conjures up Devil Girl from Mars. Men in Black. Invasion of the Body-Snatchers. Planet of the Apes. Alien.

     No way. I do not write about creepy aliens. I write futuristic romance. My stories are more like Buck Rogers, Star Wars and E.T. with some Star Trek for good measure. Space adventure. My characters are people, more like you and me, living and working on starships or planets in other galaxies. Why, you may ask, do I write about them?

     Because it's fun. I love a good adventure. Space exploration has fascinated me since we finally put a man on the moon. No, wait. Even before that. Every space launch I was glued to the television set—black and white, at first, but that didn't make it any less exciting. The possibility of exploring beyond our universe intrigues me, captures my imagination. What if . . .  Isn't that the way all stories begin in an author's mind?

     What if people from an advanced society in another galaxy parked a starship above Earth in order to research our civilization? While the serious researchers examine Earth because of its similarity to their own world of the past, the younger, more enthusiastic crew members become enamored with the transmissions of our communication satellites. Forget War of the Worlds. How about Galaxy Quest meets Desperate Wives? Throw in a deranged scientist and a rebellion and you have the beginning of my Switched series.

     Hold on, you say? What happened to the romance part of futuristic romances? Well, of course, there has to be hunky heroes (aren't they always?) and beautiful (ditto) heroines. (As we all know, hunkiness and beauty are in the eye of the beholder.) What if the hero and heroine are from different worlds, different cultures? The possibilities of conflict increase.

     As our own space exploration ramps up (I hope) with NASA pushing ahead on deep space exploration and private enterprise venturing forth, we might just come across those aliens. They're probably sitting back, watching us take our first steps, waiting for us to catch up with them.

Switched, Too, coming June 10th

Be careful what you wish for . . . you might get it.

Down-sized astronaut candidate Scott Cherella leaps at the chance to go into space. He just has to pretend to be an Alliance of Planets starship captain. His lifelong dream quickly becomes a nightmare when sabotage erupts. To save the ship and crew he has to depend on an uptight, disapproving colleague.

The only time Veronese Qilana broke the rules, tragedy resulted. She vowed never again. Now, to protect the real starship captain, she'll have to deceive the crew by helping the imposter. They must work together to uncover the saboteur and get the crew safely home. In doing so, they discover opposites really do attract.

Diane Burton is the author of the Switched series. Book 1, Switched, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Switched, Too will be released June 10^th. The final book in the series is slated for release in 2013. Readers can follow Diane on FaceBook, GoodReads, her blog, Twitter and her website.