Nexus Point
Stranded on a primitive world, betrayed by her crew, facing death at the hands of the natives, hunted by drug smugglers, Captain Dace has one hope of rescue - the undercover Patrol agent trying to kill her.
The Story Behind This Book
I discovered science fiction a very long time ago, when I was about nine. The first science fiction novel I read was by Andre Norton. I can’t remember the exact book, there were so many, but I remember staying up until two or three in the morning, unable to put the book down until I finished. The images of alien worlds and people, dangerous creatures and crime lords, strange technologies and starships, filled my imagination to overflowing. It was about the same time I discovered Carl Sagan’s Cosmos on TV. The possibilities, real and fictional, captivated me completely. I watched the space shuttle Columbia launch for the very first time, sneaking out of bed at 4 a.m. to turn on the TV. I shivered in breathless anticipation as the countdown slowly moved to zero. I savored the moment, all alone in my pj’s in front of an old television, as the engines fired and the shuttle roared into orbit. I get the same goose bumps every time I watch a launch. Science fiction gives us something no other type of fiction does: a sense of wonder about future possibilities. With that statement, let me introduce Nexus Point. The first version was written years ago. I’d read just about every SF book in the local library and bought all I could afford. I’d given up on several in a row–bad plots, worse characters, a sense of utter futility about life. That wasn’t what I wanted to read. I wanted a book that drew me in, made me care about the characters, the kind of book that when you turn the last page you think, “No! I don’t want this journey to end, not yet!” I set about writing my own stories. Things snowballed. I learned a lot about writing. And I made new friends with the characters I'd created. In some ways, they are more real to me than my family. They live in my head, visiting my dreams. Nexus Point is not so much a story about science or the future. It's a story about a woman with a tangled past and a simple dream, fumbling her way through a nasty situation. It's about Dace, told from her point of view. It's space opera, a grand story about people overcoming daunting obstacles and learning about each other. At its heart, Nexus Point is a romance, but not your typical bodice ripper. Nexus Point opens the series: The Fall of the Altairan Empire. I hope you enjoy the ride. I hope you turn the last page and think, "No! I don't want this to end, not yet!" If you do, I've done exactly what I set out to do.