It is always a great day when Veronica Scott is here at Whiskey With My Book. If you don’t already know, #3 in her Badari Warriors series came out very recently. Today, Veronica talks about the series and the new book Jadrian.
JADRIAN: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES BOOK 3)
By Veronica Scott
Thanks for having me as your guest today!
I’m really excited to have JADRIAN, book three in my new series available – I’ve had so much fun telling my tales of these genetically engineered warriors and their human allies, battling evil alien scientists on a faraway planet. I’ve worked hard to present a new angle on each book, not to simply retell the same type of events each time. In this book we travel to the sanctuary valley where the rescued humans and the Badari are hiding while they pursue their rebellion.
Originally I thought the series might be three books, or possibly five, but it seems to be expanding on me as I have two more books in process already! I do have the end game in mind and know basically how the series will end, but so far I keep coming up with more individual stories to tell, and thankfully the readers seem to be enjoying the journey. I make sure to advance the overall series arc in each book as well as sharing the adventure and romance of the specific couple.
I have to credit cover artist Fiona Jayde for my gorgeous covers, which help inspire me. I typically go searching through the stock photo sites for a few possible guys and then she picks the one who’ll be perfect and creates the full cover. For this series we’re using a detail of an alien cityscape as the background, to represent the labs where the Badari were created and where the alien scientists wanted to experiment on the humans.
The blurb: Taura Dancer has been pushed to her limits by alien torturers known as the Khagrish and is ready to die when suddenly the lab where she’s held as a prisoner is taken down by an armed force of soldiers.
The man who rescues her from a burning cell block is Jadrian of the Badari, a genetically engineered alien warrior with as many reasons to hate the Khagrish as Taura has. This set of shared past experiences and the circumstances of her rescue create an unusual bond between them.
Safe in the hidden base where Jadrian and his pack take her, Taura struggles to regain her lost memories and overcome constant flashbacks during which she lashes out at all who come near. Only Jadrian can recall her from the abyss of her visions and hallucinations.
As the war against the Khagrish continues, it becomes increasingly critical to find out who she really is and how she can help in the fight. Until she can control her terrors and trust her own impulses, Taura’s too afraid to pursue the promise of happiness a life with Jadrian as her mate might offer.
When he’s captured by the dreaded enemy, will she step forward to help save him, or will she remain a prisoner of her past?
This is the third book in a new scifi romance series and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is an ongoing series but romance always wins the day in my novels!
The excerpt (from close to the start of the book, where Jadrian rescues Taura from the alien lab):
As a toughened combat veteran, Jadrian of the Badari wasn’t subject to anxiety, but he had to admit moving through a Khagrish lab, and even worse a Khagrish prison block, brought up bad memories. He’d spent time as a younger man undergoing their tortures, kept in isolation from his pack, and the experience had left its scars on him.
The smoke bothered his eyes and lungs less than it might other beings, but it didn’t make for a pleasant environment. He and his teammates swept hastily through the place. The records indicated no human prisoners were kept here, and the force barrier doors had gone down, so it was a quick step into each cell space, checking the corners for any occupant then moving on. Purely an effort to be thorough.
Two Khagrish guards charged into the corridor from the far end, and Jadrian and his teammates scattered, taking cover where they could, returning fire. A cut off scream from the direction of the enemy indicated Jadrian or his compatriots had hit their targets. He grinned fiercely. The Khagrish bred the Badari to possess uncannily powerful vision, even in obscured environments, and now the aliens’ cleverness was coming full circle to bite them.
“Cover me.” Darik, the team leader, sprinted ahead, laying down suppressing fire just in case. “All clear, both dead,” he yelled a moment later. “We’re done here, time to regroup with the others and blow the place.”
“One more cell to check.” Jadrian turned to the right.
“Hurry it up, there’s no one here, just as the records indicated.” Darik’s clipped tone indicated his impatience to rejoin the rest of the strike force and complete the assault on the installation.
I can’t take the chance of leaving anyone behind. Even his leader’s annoyance couldn’t keep Jadrian from making sure there were no prisoners.
Taura curled into the smallest ball she could make of herself, hands over her ears as the sound of the pulse rifles in the corridor outside whined and reverberated. Suddenly, a man stepped into the cell, emerging from the swirling smoke like a hero in an adventure trideo. “I’m sure I heard something,” he said over his shoulder to companions she couldn’t see.
Eyes stinging, tears coursing down her cheeks, she reached out, tugging at his pants leg. “Help me, please.”
Shifting his weapon to leave his hands free, the soldier crouched in front of her. His eyes glowed golden as he said, “We’ll get you out, lady.” He picked her up in a single motion, rising to his full height, and hastened from the cell.
She clung to him as tightly as she could while he carried her through the smoky corridors and outside into clear air and bright sunshine. Eyes watering, she blinked, not having been outdoors since the day she arrived at this cursed place.
“Where did you find her?” another soldier asked her rescuer as he continued to move rapidly away from the building. The entire structure was alight and she shivered at the sight. But for her mysterious hero, she’d have been a casualty and no one would ever have known.
“In the burning cell block, only one there. She’s in pretty bad shape.” His voice was deep, his arms around her comforting.
She leaned her head against his broad chest, clutching his arm, until a spasm of coughing shook her. “I can’t breathe.” Panic stricken as her vision darkened, and the coughing continued without expanding her lungs, she pushed against him. Truthfully, she didn’t think she could stand but her fight or flight reflexes were overruling her conscious thoughts. Taura didn’t recognize her own voice, pleading with the soldier. “Don’t let me die.”
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About the Author
USA Today Best Selling Author
“SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog
Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.
Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!
She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”
Find Veronica here:
Blog: https://veronicascott.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Scott/177217415659637?ref=hl
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