Welcome Everyone, today's guest is Jessica E. Subject with her book that I've been hearing a lot about, THE ZURIAN CHILD.
Lindsay Beckett longed to be reunited with her first love, Quinn Montgomery, until she learns the secret that sent him fleeing from her in the first place. He’s an alien, a Hemera, and she’s half-Hemera herself. As if that wasn’t enough to ruin her dreams of a perfect life, when their child is born, they discover she fulfills a prophesy told twenty light years away and many years ago. Lindsay wants to ignore it, until her husband is murdered and suddenly believing becomes a matter of survival.
Lindsay and her young daughter are forced to rely on another Hemera, her husband’s partner and best friend, Bryce Beuermann as more and more of the Hemera are slaughtered. Bryce will do anything to help his best friend’s widow—including suppressing his own deep feelings for her. But he must prove they can trust him, even pretending he doesn’t want her with all his heart.
I asked Jessica to tell us more about the world she built in this story that has such an alluring cover. She's here to share those thoughts with us today. So, with much ado, I turn the floor over to her.
Facts About Alectrona and the Aliens Who Live There
Thank you so much, Claire, for hosting me on your blog today.
When I started The Zurian Child, I had to do a lot of online research to figure out the details of the planet I wanted my aliens to be from. By searching through the NASA sight, I learned about Planet Quest and set out to find a planet that fit the description I had in mind. When I checked “planets within multiple planet systems” and “Terrestrial”, links to nine planets appeared in my search results. When I do the same thing today, seventeen planets pop up, most of them discovered since the Kepler mission began.
From the nine planets, three of them were only twenty light years from Earth, the Gliese family of planets. Now, Gliese 581c, and 581g have been in the news a lot over the past few years, at least one of them possibly containing life. And thus, these two planets became my inspiration for Alectrona. And here are some facts about Alectrona, the fictitious planet in The Zurian Child:
1. Located twenty light years from Earth in the direction of the Libra constellation.
2. Its orbit around its parent star, a red star, lasts 37 Earth days.
3. Alectrona is tidally locked to its star—like the moon is to Earth—and therefore, one side of the planet is always hot and light, while the other is always cold and dark.
4. It sustains two intelligent species of life, the Hemera, and the Erebus.
5. The Erebus are plant like and live in the warmer area of the planet. But due to solar flares, they moved toward cooler zones.
6. The Hemera live in the middle of the two zones in twilight, where the planet contains many mountains and valleys.
7. In the mountains are large pockets of quartz, which the Hemera mine, and use as a power source. They also have communities living in the mountains.
8. Auroras are always visible toward the colder, darker side of the planet.
9. The atmosphere of the planet helps to protect life from the solar winds and flares, and distributes some of the heat to the middle/twilight region, thus keeping the lakes there from freezing.
10. With so many lakes in their region, the Hemera spend much time in the water as well, where they can breathe underwater with specialized gills, and travel far with their webbed toes.
There is a lot more revealed in The Zurian Child, but those are some of the more important pieces. It was definitely fun to create this planet and the species who live there.
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Thanks, Jessica! It sounds so intriguing!
Let's take a closer look, shall we?
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EXCERPT
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EXCERPT
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A block stood between him and the bottom of the mountain, where the Law Enforcement Office greeted Hemera friend and foe. The office signified the beginning of the main city within the mountain, where the quartz miners lived and worked. In the centre of the mountain, an open cavern held seven quartz-powered ships, enough to save the entire Hemera population.
"We are almost there," he said to himself and the baby in his arms.
Lorne gagged. Erebus. The stink hit his senses before he heard the creature's call. The monstrous beast lumbered toward his direct path to the mountain, having a central core and tentacles larger than any other he had laid eyes on. This one moved faster, too. The creature could take him out before he reached the mountain. I have to get there first.
Only one chance existed to get off the planet. He filled his lungs with air then pumped his legs as he raced past the Erebus toward the office.
Five meters from the facility, a tentacle whipped out, wrapping around Lorne's ankle. He crashed to the ground. Twisting over to one side, he landed on his shoulder, in an attempt to keep Bryce unharmed. His maneuver failed and the baby wailed in pain. The Erebus yanked the screaming boy from his arms.
"Be ready!" A man stood in front of the LE Office, weapon aimed at the large creature. "You had better catch that baby!"
Bryce squirmed high in the air as the Erebus taunted Lorne, swinging his tentacle around, ready to send the boy crashing to the ground. Lorne had witnessed the murder of a good friend by the same method. He would not let the same thing happen to Bryce. Bracing himself for the weight of the baby, he bent his knees while standing to the side of the Erebus. He had to catch the boy in time.
A blast sizzled through the air. The Erebus howled. Bryce rose higher.
"Shit!"
"Again!" Lorne couldn't lose him.
The Erebus received another jolt, jerking in response. The baby, screaming, remained out of Lorne's reach.
With no time to waste, he removed his own weapon.
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YOU HAVE JUST READ AN EXCERPT FROM ZURIAN CHILD
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Sounds like it's right up my alley!! I can't wait to read this one, Jessica.
Even better folks -- Jessica has a giveaway today!
Jessica will be awarding signed cover flats and a magnet at every stop, as well as a $10 Amazon GC plus swag package to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Follow her tour for more chances to win! You can find complete tour dates here.
COMMENT BELOW TO WIN!
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~Claire
www.claireashgrove.com
www.toristclaire.com
Posts
Thanks again, Claire, for hosting me today! :)
Thanks for hosting Jessica today.
I love the country you thought up. How creative.
As a librarian, I love to read about an author's research process. It's neat that you used the NASA site to spark some creative worldbuilding!
@capefearlibn
MomJane - Thank you. It was a lot of fun. :)
Catherine Lee - It's amazing how many story ideas the NASA site can spark. Thanks! :)
I love the cover, good luck with the book. Deb P
r.d1@myfairpoint.net
I loved learning about your inspiration behind Alectrona. The research must have been fascinating.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Deb - Thank you so much! I am still in awe of the cover. :)
Mary - Thank you! It was. :) I learned a lot that didn't even make it to the book.
I love your guest post and your book cover..would love to read and review it.
Email: booksaremagicblogspot@gmail.com
Thank you again, Claire for hosting me during The Zurian Child blog tour! I am tallying all of the comments now, and will post the winners here:
http://www.markofthestars.com/wp/?page_id=9840