SFFS 25/05/2013 - Takeover Bid

Welcome to this week's snippet for SFFS. It is another extract from Takeover Bid, continuing on from last week's snippet. I hope that you all enjoy it :-)

Then he left the room, the door sighing closed behind him to meld seamlessly with the wall.
The vaulted hallway echoed with his sharp footsteps as he headed towards the far end, past the twin reception rooms, the sauna and the swimming pool. He would go for a swim after dinner.
He entered the psych room and the door closed behind him. Already he felt some of the tension of the day leave him. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his head back, taking in a deep breath as he did so.
The room was designed with peace and harmony in mind. It served a triple purpose: meditation sanctuary, dojo and psi gym. The floor was carpeted, a plush beige pile. The walls, and the door, were soundproofed, and formed four floor-to-ceiling projection screens.

Thank you for dropping by. Please don't forget to drop in on the other SFFS authors. You can find their stuff here.

SFFS 18/05/2013

Welcome back! It's great to have you join me for another snippet. I hope that you like it.

I should probably provide some context. Cam had just attempted to takeover an apparently failing empire, and they've rejected his offer, to his surprise (and frustration?). This week's snippet continues straight on from the one I posted last week, from Takeover Bid.

Running his own empire had taught him that one didn't make everything public. But then, why allow your empire to look like it was teetering on the brink of oblivion? That made even less sense.Cam sighed. It had been a long day, and he wasn't going to make any progress in his current state. He may as well close down and head to the psych room to do his exercises. They always helped him to unwind at the end of a stressful day.He shut the projection down, refusing to glance at it again. He knew its story by heart at either rate. 

Thank you for dropping by. Please don't forget to drop in on the other SFFS authors. You can find their stuff here.

SFFS 11/05/2013

Hi everyone!! After a LOOOONG hiatus thanks to the birth of my daughter just over a year ago, I'm back - for now.

I have recently been adding to a few of my WIPs, and this week I've decided to share a few sentences from Takeover Bid (formerly known as "The Contract", which I've shared from previously), my science fiction novella/novel set in the Tahl Jighn Universe. I hope you enjoy!

Defeat wasn't an option; not this time.
Cam ran his fingers through his hair and pinched the bridge of his nose with his right hand with his eyes closed. Defeat stared him in the face - something that made his skin crawl.
He opened his eyes to stare at the projection before him. He'd been so certain of achieving his goal this time. He'd done all the research; the figures added up... and yet they refused. How could they hope to last out till the next Conclave? Insanity! Or there was something going on that wasn't public knowledge? He couldn't count that option out.

Thank you for dropping by. Please don't forget to drop in on the other SFFS authors. You can find their stuff here.

Reviewing books

I have trouble reviewing books. I never know quite what to say - and saying that so many books are "well-written" or "awesome" or "interesting" gets tired after a while. No, I don't say any or all of those things for every book that I've read. I'm therefore going to try and start writing book reviews using a question/answer template that I'm hoping will help me to say a bit more about what I've read and what I think about it. For people who wish to look through reviews that I've written, you can find links to them here. I primarily use Goodreads as my review site, but a few are also on Smashwords and most are on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com too. Pretty much, where the book is available without me doing too much legwork. I tend not to review on Barnes & Noble unless specifically requested.

List of Books

I've just posted a list of 548 books on my blog which, if you've read all of them, you can consider yourself a very well-read individual indeed! This came about as a result of a friend of mine, Amy Rose Davis, challenging herself to read 100 books from a list that she came across online. She has since expanded the list using other sources; I got intrigued, and added more lists myself, with the result that there are a lot of books! My final(ish) list is here. I would be interested to know how many of the books you have read - if you can find the time to peruse the list. I can lay claim to having read 56 of them myself to date.

I'm not proposing that I take up the challenge of reading them all. The idea of adding more books to already substantial library is not entirely palatable for various reasons, and the thought of forcing myself to read through a list is even less desirable. So this is mostly for interest on my part, although I will probably keep tabs on the books I read and try to read them through the years. An interesting exercise, however one embarks on it.