I’m delighted to have Jennifer Denys here today with her latest book, Bounty Hunter’s Captive, which sounds such a lot of fun. See if you recognise all the sci-fi references in her post and read on to enter the giveaway to win an ebook copy of the book and a chance to have your idea in a future story :):
‘In space, no-one can hear you scream’ (Alien)
Great! That means you can have raunchy sex without disturbing the neighbours! LOL
I am an unapologetic sci-fi geek and had great fun incorporating classic sci-fi lines, names of people or planets, etc, into my latest story, Bounty Hunters’ Captive. This is set in the far distant future and sci-fi, as we know it, has become part of the language, without them realising the origins a lot of the time, eg, Klaatu Barada Nikto is a standard greeting of goodbye (The Day the World Stood Still). In some instances, there have been language shifts: meats called Dagget and Tharg (Daggit from Battlestar Galactica and Targ from Star Trek).
This story came out of an earlier book of mine entitled ‘Friendly Seduction’ which is a contemporary romantic comedy. What is the connection, you may wonder? The hero in Friendly Seduction is a sci-fi writer and he enlists the help of the heroine to assist him with his story. She jokes about sci-fi clichés such as being able to touch a button and the heroine’s clothes just fall away. (I included an instance in BHC where this takes place!)
I always thought it would be fun to actually write that story – and Bounty Hunters’ Captive is it. It was intended as a one-off but the sister of one of the heroes goes and gets herself kidnapped and so it became a series!
Meanwhile, Felissa, the heroine of BHC, loves watching classical sci-fi on the i-vid and she is the one who makes reference to sci-fi objects:
“Felissa. Felissa!” He called in a hurried whisper, not wanting to alert the creature to his presence, “It’s me.”
Stopping as suddenly as she started, she seemed to gaze at him for a second before becoming aware of who he was. “Well, for Christ’s sake, Garin, what are you waiting for? Go and kill it with a neck pinch or light saber or something!”
Glancing up he could see the green giant rising to his feet as Felissa ran by him. “Shit!” He turned and quickly caught up with her.
She screamed at him. “He’s still following! Why didn’t you do something?”
“You’ve been watching too much sci-fi. I’m getting out of here.”
Of course, she is referring to the Vulcan neck pinch from Star Trek and the light saber from Star Wars.
All of the main characters make fun of sci-fi inventions which are still not real in this future:
“Well, if only I had a machine that made food out of thin air then I could order up a juicy steak for you! Oh, but that’s only the stuff of sci-fi, so you’ll have to make do with my cooking.”
(The replicator from Star Trek, naturally).
And some that have become real:
“Damn it. Show me where that buzzy screwdriver is that you use…..”
(The sonic screwdriver from Dr Who). There are around fifty references to sci-fi for those geeky people who want to try to find them.
Whilst we are talking about being realistic, I had a lovely compliment from my editor who thought the weightless sex scene was the highlight of the story. The problem was she wanted me to expand on it but I hadn’t included much in that scene since I had no concept of how it would work, so I hurriedly googled weightless sex or sex in space. Not surprisingly no astronaut that I could find has admitted to doing ‘it’ in space. I had to go with the websites where scientists have postulated what the issues might be, eg, keeping contact with each other, movements caused unexpected consequences, fluids floating, feeling seasick, and so on. Anytime NASA wants to fly me into space I am more than happy to conduct a research project on weightless sex!
Rayn was enjoying the experience of weightless sex. He might not be able to thrust up inside her with nothing to brace against, but the feel of Felissa clenching her inner muscles around his cock made him groan.
“Oh God, do that again.”
“What?” She frowned down at him, clearly not understanding what he was referring to.
He sniggered. “Press your knees around my hips and see if you can try riding me.”
“Okaaay.” Felissa was clearly nonplussed at this idea, but gave it a go, yelping when they went topsy-turvy in a full roll instead.
Rayn laughed hard and grabbed hold of the chair back to stop their motion. She was on top again. “Liss, stop digging your nails into me, you vixen. You’re not going to fall off. You’ll just float.”
Finally, my favourite excerpt. A sentient mist has invaded the spaceship and the two heroes have dropped to the floor unconscious leaving Felissa to deal with this latest threat:
Every time she tried to go to the men’s rescue the cloud played with her, flowing in her direction until she retreated.
She crossed her arms getting very annoyed. “Okay, who the hell are you? And what do you want with my two big lummoxes?”
Felissa hadn’t been expecting a response, and was amazed when it took the form of a female. Well, a sort of woman. One who was very pale, and without definite features.
Wondering if the being only affected the male of a species, Felissa continued her conversation. “So you’re a girl. I get that. Don’t you have your own men that you have to steal my two? Jeez. And you had to choose these? Baaaad choice, girlie. One may well be impaired in the sex department, and the other will only want to return you to your people.”
Actually, it was a very good choice if the creature wanted a ship to escape in. Maybe she was a captive like Felissa.
Hey, that’s an idea. While they are unconscious I could make a getaway.
Rushing over to the console, Felissa tried inputting a command to change their destination.
Nothing happened. She hit the buttons several times—hard.
“Come on, Hal, old buddy, nice computer machine. Do something. Damnation.” Felissa leaned her elbows on the console and clutched her head, before banging her elbows on the controls in frustration.
Still nothing.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. She’d tried accessing the computer a few times, each attempt without success since her escape at the space station. The guys made sure it locked immediately after they left it unattended, hiding their password from her.
Shaking her head to rid herself of unhappy thoughts she watched as the mist settled itself onto Rayn.
“I guess this is a first contact situation. Haven’t you heard of the Prime Directive? You’re not supposed to interfere with a developing species and, believe me, those two certainly need their brains developing!”
If you are interested here is the blurb. It came out on 27 February, available from Bookstrand for the first month before it is available through other distributors:
Garin Avon is a rugged bounty-hunter in space who has a mission to find a contracted sex slave, the beautiful Felissa Delenn, who has run-away from her master. He has secret reasons, more than just the credits he will earn—to get vital information. Meanwhile, he has to contend with his double-crossing ex-partner, fun-loving Rayn Dargo. They join forces, but on the journey home they go through various adventures with pirates, aliens, and meteorites, amongst others. Both of the men begin to fall for sassy, smart-talking Felissa. She takes advantage of this using her skills to try to persuade them not to send her back to her vile owner. This sets the two bounty-hunters at each other’s throats. Will they return her to a life she only undertook for dire reasons, even though, for Garin, it is vital he returns her? And if they keep her, will she run away from them?
I am giving one ebook copy of Bounty Hunters’ Captive to the person who comes up with the most interesting use of something from classic sci-fi whether it be a name of a planet, animal, plant life, weapon, technology or saying! Don’t forget to leave your email. The winner will be chosen after 14 March and I will use the best idea in a future story in this series.
