Tour of the Universe - Vacation Posters of the Galaxy by Ed Hoornaert

Vacation Posters of the Galaxy

By Edward Hoornaert, http://eahoornaert.com

Did you know that NASA/JPL-Caltech has created travel posters for planets they've discovered? Honest, I'm not making this up. Here's one of their travel posters for a planet circling a red star:

PlanetQuest has confirmed 1804 planets outside our solar system, and another 3199 deep space objects that are candidates for planethood. That’s a total of 5003 exo-planets for you to visit!

In the spirit of NASA’s travel posters, I’ve created travel posters for my science fiction worlds. Which one would you like to visit?

Farflung Space Station
The setting for The Guardian Angel of Farflung Station, by Edward Hoornaert

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Farflung Space Station marks the limits of Civ Space. It is the gateway to the frontier worlds inhabited by the Free Folk, who've been known to engage in space piracy from time to time.

The station is old and decrepit, but it’s Sandrina’s home. The mute waif knows so many of Farflung’s secrets that she’s the most powerful (and dangerous) person on the station, though nobody knows it yet.

They’re about to find out.

Planet Zee Shode
The setting for The Trilogy of Tompa Lee, by Edward Hoornaert

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Zee Shode is one of the most Earthlike planets humans have yet discovered. Its four-foot-tall inhabitants look too cute and cuddly to be a threat.

But looks are deceiving. Sure, one Shon is cute. But three hundred of them, all wanting to kill you, are terrifying. And being herd creatures, Shons always travel in large packs.

Planet Jones
The setting for The Midas Rush, by Edward Hoornaert

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On Planet Jones, the intelligent natives restrict humans to a dangerous rift valley subject to earthquakes, volcanoes, and strange mineral hot springs. Humans call the natives 'Sloths' because they never do anything.

When people discover a village full of Sloths turned into solid gold, it sets off an interplanetary gold rush like none the galaxy has ever seen. And the Sloths are finally going to do something.

Something BIG.

Earth in the near future
The setting for Alien Contact for Idiots, by Edward Hoornaert

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When American aborigines from the future move their entire island nation—a duplicate of Vancouver Island—to our Earth, Ell Harmon makes the first alien contact. The take-charge Seattle biologist has yearned to find intelligent aliens, and her dream comes true when she meets Prince Tro Eaglesbrood.

Ell and Tro are quarantined together while the fearful world wonders whether the newcomers are friends or foes, neighbors or conquerors. Ell knows Tro is honorable and Kwadrans are peaceful … but how to convince the world?

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I hope you found a vacation spot you'll love.  You know the best thing about these vacation destinations? All they cost is the price of a book!

Ed Hoornaert is hosting a giveaway for three e-books. One each for three lucky winners.

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Tour of the Universe - Tour of Cafrimal by Evanne Lorraine

The gold spires dominating the skyline, and even the giant globe covering the sinplex, disappeared as they debarked from the skimmer and joined the masses. Belz allowed himself to be swept along by the wild rush of excitement. Everyone around them seemed to be in hurry as the reality of freedom finally hit.

Too stunned to do much, he followed the robes. During their march through one of Cafrimal’s busy transfer points, a heady blend of duranium, stardust—the current hot energy popper and mood-mellowing Twilight smoke filled his nostrils, softening the acrid scent from too many bodies in a small area. He shoved the minor irritation of crowding aside.

Cafrimal, the exclusive orbiting city, was the playground for the rich and a giant step up from prison.

An automated causeway carried them effortlessly forward. With nothing to do, he was soon on edge. He calmed himself by checking out the scenery.

Just watching traffic held plenty of entertainment. His urge to rebel against even weak authority simmered back to manageable. Kiosks clustered around every access point. Delicious aromas from fresh roasted piglet, and the tang of maya sauce, reminded him how long it since he’d eaten anything except for institutional nutri-paste.

He was strong and fast enough in human form, but if he tried to shift, like as not, he’d sputter out. Transitioning to scales burned serious calories.

He stared openly at powerful, bronzed Enyo warriors mingling with equally large, golden-skinned Baldoreans and the smaller humanoids from a dozen different star systems. Nothing more aggressive than hard stares ruffled the station’s calm.

The shops and restaurants became larger, more discreet, and further beyond his pay grade as they moved closer to the core of the space station.

Harsh clicks and buzzes signaled Krinegi ahead in time to avert his face and avoid offending the touchy, long-antennaed males, who literally saw from the back of their heads. Both genders of the insectoids came well-armed with fierce tempers, strong bodies, and lethal poisoned probes.

He gaped at a rare blue-robed Earth woman gliding past. Her guards ushered her smoothly aboard a moving causeway.

An elite cyborg squad pulled even with them on the left.

He craned, curious who rated the higher speed beltway. Might be Cafrimal’s high lord himself, Suluth the Splendid.

The faster cluster wore the same silver body armor, helmets, and insignia as their escorts. No doubt a royal stood at the center of the mechs, King Mathai or a relative.

Belz’s sensitive nose caught a whiff of something sweet and seductive. The cyborgs blocking his view shifted, revealing a round little dumpling female swathed from head to toe in a drab brown cloak.

More than curious, he gawked at the mysterious servant, who merited a full complement of the king’s own guards. She shoved against the mech crowding her. The guard behind her jerked away then stiffened in clear offense.

The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. She had to wield a mean elbow to make one of the armored cyborgs back off.

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The above was taken from Slave Market, Book two in the Demons and Dragons series, free for kindle unlimited subscribers and only $2.99 to buy

About the Author:
Evanne started writing for publication sometime in 2003(she's not very conscientious about dates).After a few years of fevered creation and summary rejection, Dangerous Surrender was released by New Concepts Publishing in 2007. Since then she's become a sporadic best seller, written a few more books, and moved to http://evannelorraine.com.

When not writing dangerously sexy stories, she gardens, reads good books, watches movies, and occasionally cleans.

Hearing from readers is one of the few things she enjoys more than writing and oxford commas! Drop her a note anytime at: evannelorraine@hotmail.com

Tour of the Universe - The Dark Future by K.C Klein

Tour of the World:

The Dark Future Series is based on a dystopian future where aliens have come and destroyed the majority of humanity. After the Global War, which finally succeeded in pushing the aliens back to the portal planet, mankind was swept up into a religious crusade that banned any technology which was thought to be the cause of the invasion in the first place. After the casualties from the Global War and the high rate of female still births, women are rare and considered a prized commodity. Society is fractured between two groups, harsh power-hungry Elders, and the Rebellion made up of common men. 

To Buy a Wife (Book 1) 

 In a harsh land where corruption rules and women are few, cold realist Hudson Land must purchase a wife to save his farm. Instead of an auction, he witnesses the start of an execution. With his first look at a beautiful woman in years, Hudson knows he has to have her—no matter the cost. Lake, a chemist and a rebel fighter, is resigned to her death, but when some back-hill farmer rescues her from the chopping block she has no intention of simply becoming his wife. She’s pledged her life to the Rebellion and being bought for some stranger’s bed doesn’t change a thing, even if his soft caresses are damn distracting. As lies and secrets build between them, are the quiet moments they’ve shared enough to stand against two warring factions in a world where only the strong survive?

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To Keep a Wife (Book 2)

 In the shards of civilization ruined by a global war, Lake has gotten the life she never dared dreamed of—a safe haven, and the love of a good man, her husband, Hudson Black Creek. But Lake’s hard-won happiness doesn’t last long when powerful Elders lay siege on Black Creek Manor in retaliation for a past defiance. As Lake watches everything she loves go up in flames, she sacrifices herself for the chance to keep Hudson and her brother alive. Syon, a diabolic Elder with his own agenda, will push Lake to her breaking point, forcing her to compromise—heart and soul— in order to survive.

Hudson wakes from a head wound to find that his whole world is reduced to ashes. With no memory of why he’s sacrificed everything for a woman whose name is tattooed on his chest, Hudson is determined to make his heart match the emptiness of his mind, and wipe out everything except the hatred for those who are to blame—the Elders and the wife he sought to protect.

As evil and fear spread across a war-torn land, Lake and Hudson are tested like never before, and both will have to forgive betrayals and risk greater heartbreak if they want a chance at saving their lives… and their love.

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Dark Future (Book 3) 

 A woman caught between two futures… 

Awakened in the middle of the night by a future version of herself, Kris Davenport is given a mission: go travel in time to save the world–and his life. Of course, her future self doesn’t tell her who he is just sends her into the darkness and straight into an alien invasion.

…must choose between the man who has her heart… 

He turns out to be ConRad Smith, the callous, untrusting military commander of Earth’s army and the world’s last defense. There’s only one way for Smith to know for sure if this strange woman is an alien spy–slice her throat. Except, he didn’t anticipate the desire he would feel as he interrogates the hot-tempered, warm-blooded woman.

…or the fate that saves the world.

As Kris and ConRad struggle to trust each other in a world on the brink of destruction, they each will have to face the ultimate choice of whether to fight or die… survive or forgive.

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About the Author 

KC Klein has lived most of her life with her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book. She did stop reading long enough to make a home with a real life hero, her husband, for over seventeen years. A mother of two children, she spends her time slaying dragons, saving princesses, and championing the belief in the happily-ever-after. Her debut novel, Dark Future, was a 2010 Prism finalist and has been honored with a reviewer’s choice award. She’s the author of the sexy cowboy Texas Fever series, which starts off with, Texas Wide Open, available now, and Hustlin’ Texas, due out December 2013, and also a contributing author to the fun, sci-fi romance anthology, Hotter on the Edge and Hotter on the Edge 2. KC loves to hear from readers and can be found desperately pounding away on her laptop in yoga pants and leopard slippers or more conveniently at www.kckleinbooks.com.

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Tour of the Universe - The Sonta by M.C. Hana

The Sonta

One of the really fun things about fitting a sci-fi romance into my already-existing worldbuilding? I have so much backstory to choose from: over 30 years of noodling, note-taking, and scribbling that range from epic fantasy to huge space opera. But tossing a sci-fi romance into such a huge setting can risk confusing and boring my readers.

With my debut novel Moro’s Price, a M/M erotic romance space opera published by Loose Id, LLC in 2012, I needed the title character to have a mysterious past. It wasn’t enough that he was abducted off his little frontier homeworld and thrown into a far-future existence of slavery and despair – nope, he had to have some special reason why people were after him in the first place.

I chose to make Moro half-Sonta, which was so rare and exotic that most true humans wouldn’t even recognize what he was, beyond gorgeous and sexually enticing.

The Sonta are a nomadic race traveling the fringes of our galaxy, rarely coming close to human-held solar systems. Here is my Sonta entry from my Moroverse glossary online:

“Sonta, pronounced ‘SAWN tah’: long-lived humanoid species living and migrating in vast self-contained worldships. The race appears to be various hybrids of three distinct subspecies: tall, brawny humanoid warrior-stock; a shorter, more-delicate and almost elfin group; and furred and tailed sentients called Singers who resemble a cross between Terran lions and velociraptors. Each Sonta tribe has adopted/enslaved a particular Bound Ksala, and their fates are entwined with their star-eaters’ destinies. The Sonta are conjectured to have a written history going back at least 100,000 years, and distant kinship to Terran League and Camalian humans. Before Moro, there were no known Sonta/human hybrids. Sonta sexuality is too fluid to easily fit human terminologies; for all intents and purposes, assume everyone is pansexual.”

The Sonta are exiles from another space-faring civilization, and are tasked with the enslavement of gigantic energy-beings called Ksala, or star-eaters. Though the star-eaters normally devour suns, planets, and anything sentient nearby, the Sonta learned how to trap and train star-eaters to power the worldships and interact more-or-less harmlessly with mortals.

They do this by fusing the star-eaters’ senses with those of chosen mortals, and using sexual and sensual delight to reward the creatures' good behavior.

(Among some Sonta worldship cultures, that manifests as fun-loving, joyous sex and hedonistic pleasures. Among the austere Sonta clan that Moro would have been born into, it can mean ritual sex that transcends both pleasure and agony. His Sonta heritage is why Moro is a sub with a thing for pain; once he moves beyond shame to acceptance, he can begin to heal from his violent past as a gladiatorial and sex slave.)

In return, the star-eaters are gradually calmed and Changed into much less violent, but more powerful creatures called Lifebringers…whose own enslavement is the ultimate nefarious goal of the three mysterious Banner Queens who rule the exiled Sonta from a neighboring galaxy.

They’ve never caught a Lifebringer yet, and many of the captive star-eaters develop a territorial love for their mortal companions – choosing to put off Change as long as possible so they can stay with their people.

In the upcoming sequel Moro's Shield, Moro and his companions are about to cause as much trouble among the Sonta as they have among humans, because Moro doesn’t like to see anything enslaved…

M.C. Hana Online:

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M.C. Hana is giving away a beautiful necklace along with an ebook of Moro's Price.

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Tour of the Universe - Atrapacko and Their Planet Vkani by Aurora Springer

ATRAPACKO AND THEIR PLANET VKANI

The alien Atrapako inhabit the planet of Vkani in the outer fringes of the galaxy. Their planet was not discovered until recently since its sun is obscured by a dust cloud from much of the galaxy. Thousands of years ago, Atrapako civilization was destroyed when the planet suffered a catastrophe. The survivors changed. They developed a culture suited for the environment on their planet, harsh, hostile and unforgiving.

ATRAPAKO PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND CULTURE

Physically, the Atrapako are bulky humanoids because of the heavy gravity on their native planet. They are covered in thick scales with protective ridges down their noses and along the length of their torsos. They have crests of stiff spines and curved claws on their hands and feet. They rarely wear shoes and their toe claws click when they walk on hard surfaces.

The Atrapako have a rigid class system and their scales are colored according to their class.

Blues are the dominating leaders. They scheme for power and expect instant obedience from the other classes.

Greens are the technologists, scientists, and mechanics.

Reds are strong and massive. They are soldiers and laborers and rarely speak. They have no names as far as the other classes are concerned.

Yellows are the children and anyone not included in the other three classes. For instance, an artist would be a Yellow since art is an unvalued talent, unnecessary for survival on Vkani. 

The story of what happened when the Atrapako first meet humans is told in Book 1 “The Lady is Blue”. A spaceship of Atrapako escaping from the hostilities on their native planet is forced to land on the planet of Eden. The Atrapako are sick and their ship is falling apart. The friendly human colonists on Eden are thrilled to meet aliens, while the Atrapako believe the humans are weak and emotional.

Eden is a true paradise and the human colonists have peaceful lives and enjoy parties and a variety of intellectual and physical pursuits. They are sure to clash with the rigid Atrapako. Dr. Lucy Stannis, one of the top scientists on Eden, befriends the Blue, Sa Kamizan Veedak, who led the Atrapako in the spaceship. He is surprised frequently by her intelligence and fighting skills. After combatting assassination attempts and rebellions, Lucy and Sa Kamizan find a solution to the conflict between the two cultures.

THE PLANET OF VKANI

The continents on Vkani have arid deserts and rugged mountains. Sandstorms scour the dry lands and thunderstorms blast the mountains. The larger life forms are reptilian, such as the dragon lizards and pterodactyl-like flying predators described in Book 2 “Dragons of Vkani”. No life can survive in the lethal Deadlands.  

Atrapako life is barbaric and ruled by the threat of attack by marauders or a major battle. There are few cities, full of miserable slums, because of the almost constant wars. High ranked Blues live in fortresses in the mountains or underground.

The history and origin of the Atrapako are probed in “Dragons of Vkani” when a human spaceship brings a mixed group of human scientists and Atrapako to rescue the relatives of the Atrapako on Eden.

BUY LINKS FOR THE SERIES: ATRAPAKO ON EDEN

Book 1 The Lady is Blue http://amzn.to/1Op4U1j

Book 2 Dragons of Vkani http://amzn.to/1Op509a

AUTHOR BIO:

Aurora Springer writes character-driven adventures in weird worlds with romance and a sprinkle of humor. She is a scientist morphing into a novelist. She has a PhD in molecular biophysics and discovers science facts in her day job. She has invented adventures in weird worlds for as long as she can remember. In 2014, Aurora achieved her life-long ambition to publish her stories. Some of the stories were composed thirty years ago. She was born in the UK and lives in Atlanta with her husband, a dog and two cats to sit on the keyboard. Her hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor activities like gardening, watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.

Aurora has published science fiction romances in two series, two novellas and short stories. Her first series, Atrapako on Eden, describes the interactions of humans on the terraformed planet of Eden with scaled aliens from the hostile planet of Vkani. She has published two books in this series: The Lady is Blue and Dragons of Vkani. Her second series is Grand Master’s Trilogy. The first two books, Grand Master’s Pawn and Grand Master’s Game, were published in 2015. A short story, Gifts of Jangalore, is set in the Grand Masters’ Universe. Her standalone novellas are: A Tale of Two Colonies and Captured by the Hawk.

Media links:

Blog: http://AuroraSpringerNovels.blogspot.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Springer/e/B00K2C4NL8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurora-Springer/885945434752937

Twitter: http://twitter.com/AuroraSpringer

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101087717415198221200/posts

Tour of the Universe - Tour of Viros by Shelley Munro

Welcome to Viros!

My name is Gweneth. I am a shapeshifter, and a new member of the House of the Cat, based here on the planet, Viros. I’m also your tour guide for the day.

Viros has a monarchy. King Lynx, with the help of his two mates, Jannike and Shiloh, is dragging Viros into the future. It’s very exciting. Lots of changes afoot.

As you can see, the city sits on a hill. The castle at the top dominates the skyline, huge and imposing. Outside the castle is a huge square then the city falls away in terraced streets, the levels winding down the hill until they reach the wall that surrounds the city for security purposes.

We’ll start with the castle, since I have an “in” with the King and Queen.

This is a rear door. Don’t worry about the guards. As long as you don’t have any concealed weapons, we’ll be fine if we take a quick peek from the foyer. Security is tight since the House of Cawdor attack. The war occurred before I arrived—a catalyst for change.

The king’s mother is a big collector, so the castle is full of weird things from all over the universe.

Come this way… this is the ballroom where the famous routing of the enemy took place, and the House of the Cat triumphed over the House of Cawdor.

Let’s go outside. This is the market square. The evening markets are a lot of fun with the tiny pop-up

restaurants and stalls selling all sorts of things. I’ve been trying out all the different foods from neighboring planets, even the hangover cure—a malpack head. It looks pretty gross but once it’s sliced and seasoned it’s not so bad.

The feline statue over there is in honor of a past king – the current King’s grandfather.

Oops! Mind the kids playing. You stand on one of their tails and there will be tears and snarling. Come this way and we’ll wander down to the street on the next level. There is lots of rebuilding occurring at on the lower levels. The damage during the attack by the Cawdor was worse in the lower levels. Bombings and such. King Lynx ordered more modern buildings as replacements. The new buildings will have shops on the ground floor and accommodation above, and we’ve hired locals and a few tradesmen from neighboring planets.

We’ll continue down to the next level. We’re using this as a temporary

market. The locals shop for their food and every day supplies here.

This next level is the magic quarter. We have a few practitioners moving back to the city now that the restrictions against magic have been lifted. If you’re interested, I suggest you come back at the end of the tour.

You’ll notice as we move toward the city walls that the buildings are becoming increasingly derelict. Before Prince Jarlath and his brother King Lynx took over, this was an area reserved for the poor. At present, we have a tented city in one of the squares. The plan is to have this area rebuilt before the seasonal winds hit the city.

And finally, this is the previous guard station. The leaders of the Cawdor strike made a stand here. See that dirty patch on the ground? That is where the Cawdor leaders shot Ellard, a royal security guard. That is where Ellard bled and was injured so badly that he lost his arm. He is a hero, and he helped Prince Jarlath and his wife, Keira, to finally foil the attack. I’m going to wed Ellard, but he doesn’t know it yet.

As I mentioned earlier, the city is in a state of rebirth. We have a new space port and we are aggressively working to market Viros as a tourist destination. I hope you will help spread the word.

*Gweneth flashes a smile* That concludes our tour for today. Do you have any questions?

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Shelley Munro lives in New Zealand and writes paranormal and contemporary romance. Gweneth, our tour guide today, appears in three books from the House of Cat series, and her own book (Hunted & Seduced) is currently in progress. The city of Viros is the setting in book two of the House of the Cats, Claimed & Seduced.

You can learn more about Shelley and the House of the Cat series at www.shelleymunro.com

Shelly Munro is giving away an ebook copy of Sampled & Seduced to ALL readers!!!! Just visit the link below to claim your free book. It is currently free through Amazon and B&N as well.

Sampled & Seduced

To top it all off she's also giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one lucky reader.


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Tour of the Universe - Ptorix Origins by Greta van der Rol

If you're anything like me you might well be heartily sick of all the humanoid aliens running around in the fictional universes. Especially true aliens (ie not originating on Earth) which look like humans, except they're taller, better looking and are (ahem) exceptionally well endowed. When I wrote my first science fiction romance space opera, I knew my aliens were not going to be anything like that.

It's important here to make the point that we're talking about technological aliens. I'm sure we'll find intelligent species elsewhere, much like we have species on Earth with very alien capabilities, such as dolphins and ravens. But I don't see either of them heading for the stars any time soon. So the aliens in my Ptorix Empire series are technologically advanced beings who have been capable of space travel for a long time, and who originated from similar environments to that found on Earth. (ie gravity, atmosphere, temperature and the like)

But first, let me tell you what they look like.

The Ptorix are essentially conical in shape, something they exaggerate with their clothing. They have no neck and the head ends in a dome. The body is covered in short blue fur. Their four arms end in a number of tentacles which can be deployed in a variety of ways. Think of a sea anemone and you've about got it right. They have four short legs but these are usually hidden beneath their robes. Three eyes which change color according to mood are located almost equidistant around the top of the head, enabling a Ptorix to see almost the whole way around its body without moving. They have two 'mouths', one – resembling a proboscis – for eating, the other for breathing and speaking. So from a human viewpoint, they're pretty weird.

Now let's go talk to Professor Xanthor, a noted expert on Human-Ptorix relations. I found him in his study, resting on a platform at his desk (the Ptorix don't sit down). Eyes swirling orange, tentacles moving gently, he welcomed me in and directed me to a human chair. Note: the eye color depends on the frequency of the radiation they emit – so red, being a longer frequency, is total calm, whereas violet is anger.

Good morning, Professor. Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate that the Ptorix have spread from their Galactic arm throughout much of the Galaxy. But do you know which world they originally came from?

Well now. The original home of the Ptorix is lost in time. It has taken the Khophirate, what you call an Empire, many thousands of years to expand to its greatest extent – and, as you know, to contract to its current size.  But there is speculation, of course. For your audience, suffice to say it was a planet like this one – suitable for you humans as well as Ptorix, with water, similar air and gravity and so on.

What can you tell me about your very early ancestors?
Oh, I think just looking at us will give some answers. The Ptorix were originally prey animals. This is why we have such wonderful eyesight. We can see anything around us unless it is directly behind us and we see much more of the light spectrum than you do. We lived in caves during the day and ventured forth at night to forage, while the large predators slept, so seeing infrared and ultra violet light helped us to survive.

So what changed?
How did we become dominant? (His tentacles lashed a little and his eyes swirled through yellow and green – thoughtful) We had the advantage of a large brain, which we needed to process the image from our eyes. And we had our tentacles. We could make weapons at first to defend ourselves from the predators and later to kill other animals for food. We found, too, that living in cooperative family groups made us more powerful, even against the largest predator.

We had always been scavengers, living on the remains of flesh killed by others. (He rubbed at his proboscis) We Ptorix find it strange that humans eat solid flesh. Please forgive me. We find it disgusting and so inefficient. We wait until the flesh has softened enough for us to suck up the nutrients. Of course, this is done with chemical additives, now. Only the best restaurants let the flesh putrefy of its own accord.

However, we were nothing if not adaptable. We learned to find other foods, modify our diet for different environments and eventually, different worlds.

But back to our ancestors on their first world. Soon enough, they ran out of natural caves to live in and were forced to build new dwellings. Even now, after all these centuries, we build homes that look like caves. (He waved an arm, taking in the curved walls of his office, the eye-watering decorations and the stalactite-like embellishments in the ceiling which emitted soft light).

I'm often asked about your family arrangements, Professor? (I wanted to ask about sex – but that's not something the Ptorix discuss)

That has changed over the years. I suppose with many species, including your own, the young have a long learning period and therefore they stay with the family for a long time. In the past, the males would protect the females, who raised the young. Many more males were killed than females so each male became responsible for groups of dependent females. In these more settled times only the very rich and powerful males like the Khophir support large groups of females. (His eyes glowed green) I am content with one. But we still live communally, with underground tunnels connecting dwellings of blood-related relatives.

As for children – this is something else we Ptorix find strange about humans. I understand the infant grows inside the female and then is expelled from the body at a certain stage of growth. I have seen this process on vids. It looks extremely painful. Our young develop in the mother's pouch; no pain, you see. My wife told me that if having children was so painful, the Ptorix would have died out long ago.

So there you have it. The Ptorix in a nutshell. I can't see a Human-Ptorix romance anytime soon. (I suppose tentacle sex might be possible – but not written by me)

You'll find my Ptorix Empire books on my website. Please note the first book (The Iron Admiral: Conspiracy) is free.

Autho Bio:

Greta van der Rol loves writing action-packed adventures with a side salad of romance. Most of her work is space opera, but she has written paranormal and historical fiction.

She lives not far from the coast in Queensland, Australia and enjoys photography and cooking when she isn't bent over the computer. She has a degree in history and a background in building information systems, both of which go a long way toward helping her in her writing endeavours.

- http://gretavanderrol.net/

- http://twitter.com/GretavdR
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