Muse Food – Ship Figureheads
The cyborgs tend to be very practical beings. They value functionality over almost everything else.
Which is why their ships don’t have many decorative features. Plain vessels are easier to clean and repair.
But I can envision humans and humanoids flying more decorative ships.
Perhaps their vessels sport figureheads similar to the ones the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I spotted in the Dockyard Museum in Antigua.
According to the sign, “Despite being viewed as unlucky aboard ship, women were viewed as the best navigators, and the eyes of a female figurehead were thought to be able to find a way through the seas when lost.”
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – Ship Figureheads
Muse Food – Making The Turn
I can envision a spaceship chase along this river’s path. When they make this turn, the tips of their vessels skim against the rock, leaving grooves, setting off sparks.
Maybe the enemy doesn’t slow and they crash into the wall of stone. The debris floats down the river to be picked up by metal salvagers.
The locals watch and shake their heads. “Humans,” they mutter. “Always in a rush.”
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – Making The Turn
When Do Bathroom Breaks Happen?
A reading buddy was teasing me about how my characters never need to take a pee break.
They DO take pee breaks.
That is one of the reasons why gaps of time elapse between scenes. During that “several moments later”, there is often plenty of time to go to the cleansing chamber (the bathroom) and eat and tidy up and do all those other not-so-exciting things we don’t really need to read about.
Don’t worry. The beings in my stories are taking care of their ‘business.” (grins)
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Cyn-Sights | Comments Off on When Do Bathroom Breaks Happen?
The Sandman And Beginning As You Mean To Continue
Warning: This post will talk about the Netflix series – The Sandman – and it will contain spoilers. Don’t read this post if you haven’t watched at least the first episode.
I’ve been watching The Sandman, a series on Netflix based on the Neil Gaiman’s works. The Dear Wonderful Hubby watched episode 1 with me and stopped there.
The violent death of a beloved animal in that episode really bothered him. He deemed it too sad to watch, especially for entertainment.
I, on the other hand, have been enjoying it. I’ve finished episode three thus far and yes, it is sad. I cry and/or am horrified during every installment. But I like that purge of emotions. It allows me to cope with reality.
And I’m glad the Dear Wonderful Hubby stopped watching because the first episode is representative of the next two. The tone is the same. The sadness is the same. The senseless or random acts of hurting are the same.
I try to ensure my first stories in a series are representative of the other stories also. I also try to ensure first chapters are representative of the entire story. If it is a dark story, the first chapter shouldn’t be all giggles and sunshine. There should be a hint of that darkness.
Like having the main character dress all in black. (grins) The Sandman offers us plenty of warnings.
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Movie Reviews | Comments Off on The Sandman And Beginning As You Mean To Continue
Muse Food – Sites Of Past Spaceship Crashes
A scientist looking at this beautiful scene might wonder if glaciers once retreated through this rocky terrain, carving a gorge through the stone.
I see the site of a past spaceship crash.
(grins)
There might have been a battle between two alien species held over the Earth’s surface long, long ago.
Or
Maybe one of the cyborg’s beloved offspring successfully ‘borrowed’ a ship and then lost control of it above our planet. They survived the crash because…well…they’re cyborgs and cyborgs are quite durable. Plus any ship a cyborg obtained would be modified to boost safety.
What do you see?
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – Sites Of Past Spaceship Crashes
Muse Food – Toppled Trees
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I were trekking along a path through the forest and we came across this toppled tree.
It was likely toppled during a wind storm.
OR maybe Mohini, the flying-impaired heroine of Grin And Bare Him, clipped it while she was flying her modified freighter over Earth.
OR maybe Balvan, the HUGE green gatekeeper hero of Dark Strength, leaned against it and accidentally flattened the tree.
There are a gazillion ways this tree could have fallen over.
What do you think downed it?
BTW… I LOVE the daisies growing next to it. RIP big tree.
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – Toppled Trees
One Step Further
Science Fiction in novel form, movie form, TV form is often held up as predicting current events.
There’s a reason for that.
Many of us in the Science Fiction realm (and yes, Cyborg Romance, Alien Romance and other SciFi Romance is in that realm) take a current development and then ask ourselves, “What if we took this development one step further?”
That step could be in any direction.
Cyborgs, for example, already technically exist. Many of our wounded warriors have mechanical limbs or eyes or other body parts. There are devices that hook up to human brains today.
Cyborg Romance often takes that one step further. What if we produced cyborg beings? What if we then assigned them tasks we didn’t want to do (like fighting wars we didn’t want to die in)?
This COULD happen. We COULD take that additional step.
If that happens, humans years from now might believe today’s Cyborg Romances predicted the future (i.e. their present).
***
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Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on One Step Further
Muse Food – The Innocent-Looking Ones
Many writers, myself included, tend to describe dangerous characters as looking…well…dangerous. (grins) They’re big or muscular or heft around huge guns or sport scars.
It is much more interesting, I think, to have the danger come from a harmless-looking being.
Like this red-winged blackbird.
Look at how small, how fragile, how ‘safe’ this red-winged blackbird appears. What is this tiny creature going to do – beat us with feathers?
Yet there are signs plastered all around the site warning people about them.
This little bird will dive bomb much large humans and try to peck their brains out.
And isn’t that an interesting type of character?
***
Subscribe To My Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/
Provoking Odium
A Beautiful Cyborg
While accompanying his leader on a mission, Odium, an E Model cyborg, hears a distress call over the communication lines. The voice on that message makes his circuits surge with energy and all his systems light up. He has to respond to the mysterious female, would risk his lifespan and the lifespans of everyone on board their ship to protect her.
A Human Female Others Call Beast
Briella gained her nickname due to her flying abilities, her fearlessness, and her scarred countenance. Her verbal-only relationship with the sexy cyborg who answers her distress call is a steamy yet short-lived fantasy. His kind is physically perfect, and she is…not. He will uncover that truth when…if they survive the attack upon her freighter.
Provoking Odium is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a human female intent on remaining mysterious, a cyborg warrior determined to uncover her identity, and an enemy seeking to destroy them both before they have the opportunity to meet.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B09NRXGLFW
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/provoking-odium/id1605490349
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/provoking-odium-cynthia-sax/1140894003
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/provoking-odium
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1127119
Topics: Muse Food | Comments Off on Muse Food – The Innocent-Looking Ones
Provoking Odium And Deep Re-Writes
On Sunday, I mentioned I had deep re-writes on Provoking Odium last week. Now that there is some emotional distance between me and the re-writes, I thought I’d talk about why these re-writes happened.
I made a wrong story decision.
I forced the characters to go down a path they wouldn’t ever venture along on their own.
I knew in my gut I was doing this. I even had the right decision in my head.
But stars, I was so in love, so insistent on this path. It would be fresh and exciting, I told myself.
It might have been all that but it was also wrong for the characters, wrong for the story. My Awesome Editor could see that. I was too enamored of my alternate path to realize this on my own.
It is a much better story after the revisions. The ending is true to Odium and Briella.
It is now THEIR story, not mine.
***
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Seizing Power
This cyborg believes he’s in control.
Power is the self-appointed leader of the cyborg council. Other members might debate situations. He makes the ultimate decisions.
When a threat to Homeland is revealed, he takes command of a fleet and ventures to the edge of cyborg-controlled space to investigate. He finds a rebellion led by a mysterious upstart he calls Cadet.
The plan Power derives is simple—he’ll quickly quash the uprising and teach its leader a lesson the warrior will never forget.
NO ONE challenges his authority.
Eirene Ours might be called a cadet by Power but she is NOT his subordinate. She is the arrogant E Model’s genetic match.
For much of her mature lifespan, she has desired the male, yearning for his dark-eyed gaze, craving his sure hands, longing for his respect.
That esteem was never granted. And Eirene Ours can no longer wait to earn it. There’s an external threat to their kind, a danger that might destroy them all.
Having lured Power to her home terrain, she now plans to use everything within her means — her fists, her daggers, her ship-destroying missiles — to pound that truth into her stubborn warrior’s thick metal skull.
The future of every cyborg is at stake. She can’t fail them.
Power will believe her. Or he will die.
***
Seizing Power is an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features an epic battle between two equally strong cyborg leaders, plans that go terribly yet passionately wrong, and a love that will shake the entire universe.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/seizing-power/id1589084775
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seizing-power-cynthia-sax/1140305634
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seizing-power-2
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108292
Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Provoking Odium And Deep Re-Writes
Dune And Foreseeing the Future
Warning – This post will contain some spoilers for Dune. If you haven’t yet watched the 2021 movie, you might wish to skip this post.
In the 2021 version of Dune, based on the book by Frank Herbert, Paul, the hero, sees the future in his dreams. He dreams of beings he’ll meet and events that could happen.
That’s great skill for a character to have but it makes creating an interesting story much more challenging.
Because, if Paul can see the future, he should be able to avoid nastiness like loss and death. He has the ability to live until he dies of natural causes.
We, as readers and viewers, will know he’ll always safe in battle or other dangerous situations. There will be no fear of him dying and no suspense.
The solution to this is Paul dreams about events that COULD happen. If he changes his responses, he changes the outcomes. He changes the future. It shifts from being known to being unknown. And in that unknown future, he COULD die in battle.
Seeing the future gives Paul an advantage but it doesn’t make him invincible.
***
Subscribe To My Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/
Seizing Power
This cyborg believes he’s in control.
Power is the self-appointed leader of the cyborg council. Other members might debate situations. He makes the ultimate decisions.
When a threat to Homeland is revealed, he takes command of a fleet and ventures to the edge of cyborg-controlled space to investigate. He finds a rebellion led by a mysterious upstart he calls Cadet.
The plan Power derives is simple—he’ll quickly quash the uprising and teach its leader a lesson the warrior will never forget.
NO ONE challenges his authority.
Eirene Ours might be called a cadet by Power but she is NOT his subordinate. She is the arrogant E Model’s genetic match.
For much of her mature lifespan, she has desired the male, yearning for his dark-eyed gaze, craving his sure hands, longing for his respect.
That esteem was never granted. And Eirene Ours can no longer wait to earn it. There’s an external threat to their kind, a danger that might destroy them all.
Having lured Power to her home terrain, she now plans to use everything within her means — her fists, her daggers, her ship-destroying missiles — to pound that truth into her stubborn warrior’s thick metal skull.
The future of every cyborg is at stake. She can’t fail them.
Power will believe her. Or he will die.
***
Seizing Power is an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features an epic battle between two equally strong cyborg leaders, plans that go terribly yet passionately wrong, and a love that will shake the entire universe.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HT5RMH8
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/seizing-power/id1589084775
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seizing-power-cynthia-sax/1140305634
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seizing-power-2
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108292
Topics: Movie Reviews | Comments Off on Dune And Foreseeing the Future
