House of the 12th Planet by Miriam Newman 💕 Guest Post, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Sci-Fi Romance)

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Running for his life from a despotic ruler, Caius has left his ancestral home on the planet Thelona, arriving at Earth’s Colony Twelve in the company of his human former slave, Lela. She is no longer a slave on any earth colony, but it’s immaterial to Caius.

For Lela, on the other hand, the fact that she is free is everything. To whom does she owe her loyalty—the humans like herself on Colony Twelve, or the Thelonian Lord who loves her?

This series taught me about writing a series. My only previous series, The Chronicles of Alcinia, came like water rolling under a bridge—unstoppable. Not so “Scion!”

Book I was written with the greatest of ease. My only reservation was that it was fairly X rated and broached a number of politically incorrect premises I could only write in terms of fiction. I mean, if people had comprehended that I was actually talking about the world today, and exploitation, and human trafficking and the factors that permit it....would they ever read it?

Actually, they did. It also had a dang good love story if I do say so myself and that was equally important. They read it and then got a little upset with what they considered an abrupt ending and no bridge to the next book. My fault. Unlike Chronicles, my brain didn’t have a road map of this one. The ease with which Book I rolled out deceived me. Boy, did it ever. Fortunately, by the time I got to Books II and III, the train was rolling again.

So now you know what was really in my head. Welcome to my mind. I hope you enjoy it. Sometimes I do. LOL.

When the animals were fed, she ate a solitary, uneasy dinner while the sun fell. She had just finished when there was a chime at the still-locked door. For the first time, she took the precaution of checking the view screen before answering and sucked in her breath in shock at what—at who—she saw.

It was Roger. Roger, Governor of their Colony, at her door. Not the immaculate, articulate Roger she had always seen and he was not alone. She buzzed the door open at once.

“What is it?” she blurted. This Roger was disheveled, red-eyed, sweat- and soot- stained and cradling a toddler baby against his chest.

“May I come in?”

“Of course, of course.” Flustered, she fell back to admit him, then instinctively reached to touch the sleeping infant. “What...”

Roger smiled, a twisted smile that looked suspiciously close to weeping. “You wanted a baby, I believe?”

After eight years as a rebellious sex slave on the planet Thelona, Lela is weary and jaded. When she is purchased in the public square by a bored aristocrat, she only hopes he will tire of her and let her go to work in his kitchens. Caius, forced into the lifestyle of the idle rich by his return to Thelona after eight years in the Mercenary Corps, thinks he has only bought a night's pleasure. Two restless kindred spirits who won't be tamed never expect what happens next.

When the beleaguered citizens of the capitol city of Thelona are swept by plague in the absence of their ruling class, which has fled it en masse, desperation finally pushes them to take to the streets. With their city burning, the Lords of Thelona have no choice but to shoulder the burden of responsibility. In the absence of their Highest, they turn to Caius, Scion of the House of Bardin. He has unwittingly placed himself in the path of his ruler’s ambitions and also endangered his human slave, Lela.

Fantasy poetry driven by myths and legends has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I was published in poetry before catching the romance writing bug. I bring that background to my writing along with a lifelong addiction to horses, an 18-year career in various areas of psychiatric social services and many trips to Ireland, where I nurture my muse. My published works range from contemporary fantasy romance to fantasy historical, futuristic, science fiction and historical romance. Currently I live in rural Pennsylvania with a “motley crew” of rescue animals. You can see my books at www.miriamnewman.com.