The Carina Press imprint of Harlequin plucked my book from their slush pile and gave me a wonderful start as a - gasp - published author! with Priestess of the Nile and Warrior of the Nile. I learned so much from my association with them - which was harmonious and collegial - and even now, I see people's eyes light up when I tell them my first publisher was Harlequin. Everyone has heard of HQN, even the scientists and engineers at the old NASA/JPL day job.
But along the way I got into self publishing too, so I'm a hybrid. I like working to my own schedule, choosing what I want to write next and when I want to release it. I love the cover design process,working with Fiona Jayde for my science fiction romances, and with Frauke Spanuth for the ancient Egyptians. I have terrific independent editors and a wonderful formatter, so I'm set. I pick, choose and pay for my own promo and truthfully, I'd be doing that even if I was still traditionally published because the burden is on the author for the most part.
I can spin on a dime and make decisions before breakfast, and implement them by lunchtime. (Yeah, I'm not very patient either.)
IF I were to be offered a traditional publishing contract in the future, I'd have to consider long and hard whether my goals for the specific project could be met without giving up too much of my control AND my intellectual property rights. The things I've read recently about the clauses in publishing contracts make my blood run cold. I have an extensive background in government aerospace contracting, which is a specialty of its own, but rest assured I know how to read the teeny tiniest of fine print. I'm not signing away my rights till the universe goes bang. Not unless it meets my goals in that case to do so. Offer me seven figures and a movie deal and we can talk LOL. Negotiaions open!
Are they merely luckless lovers … or a legend come back to life?
Mark Denaltieri, ex-Sector Special Forces, has been hired by the Outlier Empress to rescue her granddaughter, Princess Alessandra, from kidnappers. Since the Empress once had him tortured and banished, she’s the last person Mark wants to work for. But he takes the job. He’ll save Alessandra, his first love, and discover why she didn’t speak for him when he desperately needed her. Then he’ll be on his way, finally free of his past.
Alessandra would rather her rescuer was anyone but Mark–after all, he let her believe he was dead all this time. But when the couple are forced to flee her captors by Traveling via a strange crystal globe, they find themselves in a lovely Oasis on a desert planet, the old attraction sizzling between them again.
They soon discover they are far from alone. The Oasis holds the entrance to another world, one in which the inhabitants are convinced Sandy and Mark are the Lady of the Star Wind and her Warrior, come to free them from an evil Queen.
Mark and Sandy must work together to unearth an ancient mirror, and crown the true king of this land. Can they fulfill the prophecy of the Lady and her Warrior … and this time, will their love survive the test?
