What's to Find in the Wormhole: A Muse Monday Post by Lyndi Alexander

MUSE MONDAY

The idea of wormholes existing sends chills up my spine. But for my guest, it's all part of the creative process. I think her muse sent her down a wormhole and Lyndi sure knows how to use it to create some enthralling books. Tell us about it, Lyndi.

At the conclusion of SIXSHOOTER, the book to which SPECTRUM is a sequel, the two ships carrying our characters jump through a wormhole into the unknown, an act of desperation, a desire to survive on their own terms. 

What lies on the other end of a wormhole? 

Who knows? This is the conundrum that fueled the opening chapters of SPECTRUM for me. Having been a long-time fan of science fiction movies and shows, I could think of multiple examples from Star Trek to Doctor Who and back. My intent was to create something different, something that would challenge our heroes. After all, in SIXSHOOTER, several of them had come to that universe and found it populated with humanoids like themselves. Business proceeded as usual. 

But when Valeni, Garrett and the others come to on the other side, they find nothing. No planets, no stars, nothing to steer by.  As the wormhole has closed behind them, they have no choice but to proceed. How can you figure out where you are when you can see nothing? How long does it take before you give up, and what do you do then? 

The crews struggle with every possibility, traveling blindly, trying every sensor available to them, but still can detect nothing. When they are ready to surrender to despair, Zie, the empathic alien healer traveling with them, picks up the existence of other living beings. Based on this, the only positive clue they have received since their arrival, the ships move in tandem toward the faint signs of life. Continuing to make attempts to communicate through more conventional manners is fruitless, and there is no way to determine whether they are approaching a planet, another ship, or a loose space-faring squid. 

Then, perhaps the most stunning of all out of the endless darkness: “A-Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” 

            And the adventure only unwinds from there.

BLURB:

Following the impetuous launch of the spaceships Tiburon and Sixshooter through a newly discovered wormhole, Garrett, Luca, Valeni, Nikki/Nicholas, and Zie arrive in what seems to be an empty universe. 

After several weeks of trying to make headway, they receive a voice out of the dark, asking if they were “a good witch or a bad witch.” Can they adapt to this bizarre universe? If not, can they find escape through yet another wormhole?

 

Book Trailer for Sixshooter:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jixU6FfqNZ0

 

BUY LINKS: 

Paperback at Amazon • Hardback at Amazon • eBook at Amazon Kindle • eBook at Apple Books • eBook at Kobo • eBook at Smashwords • Audiobook at Apple

EXCERPT: 

Indigo…violet…indigo…swirls of electric feeling as Garrett’s hand passed lightly down their leg…as Valeni moved softly by Nikki, heaving a long sigh with her release. The shooting lines of red fading as all three lay back, exhilarated but exhausted.

The afterwaves of love.

Garrett groaned and stretched out his legs, reaching all the way to the bottom of the broad mattress. The dark blue duvet slipped off the end onto the floor, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “I swear, you gals make me feel fine as frog hair split four ways.”

Valeni snickered. “What a way to go.”

Was that true? Nikki let the question wind through their coalescing thoughts. Would it be a preferable way to leave the mortal world, while engaged in the procreational act? Not if we managed to procreate. Oh, how we wish we could…

Author Bio

Lyndi Alexander always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species. 

Author Links

Website  and Blog      https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/

Facebook                    https://www.facebook.com/lyndialexander13/

Goodreads                   https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4185290.Lyndi_Alexander

Amazon Author Page

https://www.amazon.com/Lyndi-Alexander/e/B005GDYPU2/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Bookbub:                    https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lyndi-alexander

Smashwords | Lyndi Alexander    https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/lyndialexander

Instagram        https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/

Wicked Without Chaos: The Mind of a Conqueror by Kayelle Allen

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Villains are wicked of course, but a my guest, Kayelle Allen, has a villain with more depth than most. Enjoy her Wicked Wednesday post! 

Pietas, known as the Bringer of Chaos, doesn’t create chaos by mistake. He creates it on purpose.

When we talk about chaotic villains, we often mean unpredictable. Reckless. Destructive for the sake of it.

Pietas is none of those things.

That’s what makes him dangerous.

He doesn’t lash out. He doesn’t lose control. He doesn’t act without purpose. Every decision is measured. Every action has intent. He doesn’t need permission to take control of a situation—he simply does.

There’s a kind of wickedness that comes from excess. And then there’s the kind that comes from certainty.

Pietas knows exactly who he is.

He was born into power, raised to command, and forged in a system where loyalty wasn’t optional—it was enforced. Structure defined everything. Authority wasn’t questioned because it didn’t need to be.

Until it was gone.

Exiled to a world where none of those structures exist, Pietas doesn’t lose power.

He loses the safeguards that kept it contained.

On this world, there are no institutions to enforce loyalty. No systems to define right from wrong. No one to step in when a decision goes too far.

And Pietas still believes he’s right.

That’s the kind of wickedness that doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t roar or burn or destroy everything in sight.

It simply… acts.

And expects the world to adjust.

But power without structure isn’t stability. It’s pressure. And pressure reveals.

Especially when he’s forced into an alliance with a person who has every reason not to trust him.

Because Pietas doesn’t see himself as the villain.

He sees himself as necessary.

And that’s where things get complicated.

Watch Your Six, the last book in the Bringer of Chaos series, releases this August.

If you’d like to see how that kind of power behaves when the rules disappear, you can start the series here, with Lights Out. If you’re already familiar with the story, you can access a sample of Watch Your Six here.

Kayelle Allen is a worldbuilder who writes with a scalpel, a strategist of tenderness, and who understands that the most dangerous thing in any universe isn't power—it's attachment. To sum it up: “Epic scale. Microscopic pain. Absolutely intentional.”

Claim your immortality and enter the Empire https://kayelleallen.com/immortality
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