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As many of you may know, our beloved sister hostess SHARON DONOVAN, tragically passed away on 11th April 2012. We who knew her, loved her, and were inspired by her courage and determination to face head on whatever life threw at her. When she could no longer see to paint she turned to writing and showed her amazing talent in the Inspirational Romance and Romantic Suspense genres, and her story 'Charade Of Hearts' was awarded the coveted Predators and Editors Award in January 2011.

This Blog was a source of great delight to her, she was one of the founder hostesses and she contributed to the fun and silliness in her own original way, and was kind enough to let her unique creation, the hunky butler 'Oliver' join us for our Friday romp and prepare 'virtual breakfast' for the guests on the following morning. It's beyond hard to have to go on without her, but we know that she would have been the first to insist that 'the show must go on.' She is, and will always be with us in spirit.
Sharon, dear friend, we will never forget you.
The Author Roast and Toast is part of the legacy you left us. Let's raise a Toast to you as well as all our guests.
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Friday, September 19, 2014

A trip into space with A J Maguire, author of Deviation


“Lilly, why are you wearing that space suit? This is a Terraformed planet, the likes of which you have never seen.” Lyn asks. Mac, LaVerne, Lyn and Mary gaze at Lilly in her bulky suit. They are dressed in lovely shimmering gowns, simple, yet flattering.  
                                                                                                        
 Lilly shakes her ample booty and grabs the dress Mac hands her. “I’ll be ready in a jiffy. Oh, heck, wait! I can’t undo this thing. Help!

After all the hostesses give it their best shot. Lilly is still stuck in the space suit and it’s time to go to the party. 

“Sorry, I didn’t know that Mars was so…alive.” Lilly awkwardly makes her way from the space shuttle that took them to the purple planet. “I always thought Mars was the red planet. It’s my favorite color.”

"Purple's mine, Lyn says, gazing around admiringly.

“Has she been drinking?” Mary glances at Lilly again and elbows LaVerne who nods and shakes her head as she shrugs her shoulders.

“Not yet, but when she does, we’ll have to carry her out of here and that suit weighs a ton.” LaVerne shivers. “Ouch, Lyn, watch where you step with those boats you have for shoes. You nearly crushed my toes.


“Well if Mary would stop shoving those ballast things she has on her chest into me, I wouldn’t have stepped on your foot.” Lyn snickers.

“I think we should act more professional.” Mac adds to the conversation as she twirls in her dress.

“Professional?” Mary chuckles. They all look at one another and crack up laughing. “Not on your life.” Mary twirls with Mac. 

“Uh, ladies," Lyn interrupts,  A J Maguire  author of Deviation stands in the doorway to the huge room where partiers are already mingling. “If you wouldn’t mind. I’d like us to do the toast now if we could.” 

Aimee Jean looks lovely in her voluminous, floor length, exotic, dress. 
The girls follow her into the party. 

“The women here seem different. Did you notice?” Lyn wonders.

“Yes, they’re cyber something enhanced. Not like us at all.” Mary adds as she scans the room for Oliver.  

“There’s Oliver, let’s all get one of those Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. I know they are kinda green, but I hear they pack a punch. And I ain’t eatin’ no rat, I don’t care if it tastes like steak. I’ll eat the brownie rat shaped thing. But, that’s my limit.”

“Since when have you ever had a limit?” Lyn laughs.

Mac holds Mary off of Lyn as they approach the drink table. Lyn with great ceremony raises her glass. “To A J , may your sales be in the millions.” Cheers fill the room and strange music echoes through the large chamber. 

Mac a little shocked at how strong the drink tastes, then points to Mary as she downs the cosmic blend in one large gulp. “Uh, 
Aimee Jean warned us. You were only supposed to sip that Mary.”

The hostesses look at Mary as the drink hits her. With a winsome smile she collapses into a chair and is out like a light.
“Well,” Mac sighs. “She always was a cheap date. She can’t cause trouble if she’s passed out. 

Anyhow, let’s welcome everyone to A J Maguire’s roast and toast.” She raises her glass, “To a wonderful book and its author!”
From the Back Cover
PURCHASE LINK
 The female race as we know it is extinct.  In a last ditch effort for human survival, scientists altered the female genome, creating the mutated Novo Femina race.  These deformed and cybernetic-enhanced women have been placed into tight subjugation by the religiously fanatic Makeem Loyalists.  High Priestess Celeocia Prosser finds herself in the ultimate showdown of male versus female and sends her son careening through time to locate the one person in Earth’s history who might be able to tip the balance of war; Reesa Zimms.

 Reesa, a science fiction novelist of some renown, is ill-prepared for her sudden appearance in the future.  Accused of being either a prophet or a murderer, she comes face to face with the deformities she thrust onto the female race, and is forced to confront her own motivations for writing the atrocities in her books.



DEVIATION - EXCERPT
“This is your last book tour, Reesa Zimms.” The woman holding the gun said with such authority that Reesa’s stomach knotted in reaction. “I need to know who Patient Zero is and I need to know now.”

 There were several different kinds of heroes, Reesa thought numbly as she stared at the gun.  John Wayne’s no-nonsense, hit-‘em-with-the-butt of your weapon came to mind, but she had very little in common with the heroes he portrayed and she’d be the first to admit it.

 Clinging to Jake’s belt, Reesa tried to work up the courage to at least think straight.  Because if she didn’t think of something very quickly, her publicist of eight years was going to be shot right in the middle of Brady’s Belfue Bookstore.  Her immediate instinct to run was curtailed by the chest-high bookshelves boxing them in and her legs refused to move.

Jake’s shoulder blocked part of her view, shielding her from the gun.  He stood poised and unmoving, his six foot frame a solid presence in the store front.  His attention never wavered from the threat in front of them.  Reesa’s chest went tight;who would’ve thought Jake had it in him? Her mind ticked off several reasons why he’d place himself in danger for her, most of them dealing with their business relationship.  She was his client, after all, but a publicist was a far cry from a bodyguard.

When Reesa still hadn’t answered, Jake shifted just-so, bringing more of his body between her and the gun.  He hesitated, but finally managed to speak; “She already told you she doesn’t know.”
Reesa heard the slight waver in his usually self-assured tone – even if the woman couldn’t – and felt the muscles in his back coil.  He almost sounded normal, as though there was nothing strange about a woman with a tattoo in her eyeball pointing a gun at them.

Hero, Reesa thought, her fingers tightening on his belt so hard she could feel the leather edge bite into her skin; maybe not John Wayne, but a hero just the same.

“In the first book, Martian Tribulation, page eighty-five, you wrote that the Mavirus had a starting point, a Patient Zero, but that scientists never found her.” Tattoo woman continued to speak to Reesa, ignoring Jake’s presence completely. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t know who she is.”

Internally, Reesa decided she was going to try her hand at the young adult market.  She doubted J.K. Rowling had ever been held up by a fan demanding to know where Diagon Alley really was.  For that matter, Reesa had never known her fan base included the cult-like insane until two minutes ago.
The blonde woman was dressed in an overly plush jacket that seemed to swallow her in cadet-blue, stained fabric.  Her face, however, was clearly visible – all smooth contours and elegant features, and Reesa was struck with a strange sense of recognition.  She was familiar, even with the tattooed eyeball, but Reesa couldn’t place her in her memory.  She was beautiful like a diamond, Reesa thought; pretty to look at but cold and hard to touch.

 For half a heartbeat Reesa hoped she saw conflict in Tattoo Woman’s gray-green eyes.  And then those eyes hardened, slitting into a glare that froze Reesa’s blood.  Tattoo depressed the trigger and the shot cracked into the little bookstore, echoed by the barely stifled screams of those unfortunate customers who’d come in for Reesa’s autograph.  Jake grunted in painful surprise, slamming back against her.

Scrambling to catch him, Reesa released his belt and wrapped her arms around his lean torso.  But he was three inches taller than she was and at least fifty pounds heavier.  They toppled backward, crashing into the book signing table, which promptly slid into the nearest bookshelf.  Reesa’s head connected with the hardwood floor an instant later, sharp lights bursting into her vision on impact.  Jake landed heavily on top of her, his head smacking into her shoulder so hard that her fingers went numb.

Books showered around them, paperbacks plunking to the ground, their titles reflecting the halogen lights in a strangely innocuous way.  Shocked out of the present, Reesa blinked at one cover in particular.  Ender’s Game, it read, Orson Scott Card’s novel.  Next to it was a copy of her third novel: The Jupiter Invasion, a Tale of the Lothogy. Its copper lettering taunted her from the floor just before Tattoo stepped back into view.

Tattoo’s perfect mouth twisted into a scowl. “I tried to avoid this.”



                    Author Bio: 

A.J. (Aimee Jean) Maguire is a mountain-climbing, martial arts loving, published author with one child and one cat and a borderline unhealthy fixation with the written word.

Currently she has five books out for sale.  The first two books are Sedition and Saboteur, which are a part of a series and were published through Wings ePress.  Witch-Born and it’s sequel Dead Magic  are published by Double Dragon Publishing.  Her very first science fiction, Deviation, hit virtual shelves in August 2014.                                                                                                                                                      




 
***GIVEAWAY***
To win a copy of A J Maguire's book, all you have to do is just leave a comment and your e-mail address.
Contest ends on Sunday and everyone who comments is eligible.
(We reserve the right to waive the prize in any week when there are not enough contestants for a draw to be deemed fair and unbiased)

47 comments:

  1. Welcome to your Roast, AJ. I love Science Fiction and your book sounds really original and intriguing.

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  2. Thank you for hosting me! This was a great deal of fun.

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  3. Hi AJ, great to have you as our guest today. Do get Oliver to get you another pangalactic gargleblaster!

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  4. Hi AJ, sorry I'm late getting back to the party, but I um....*Lilly lowers her gaze and flushes crimson.* I um didn't realize this planet could support human life so I was wearing a ridiculous space suit, which I couldn't get out of. But then Oliver found someone to help me and I got out of it and into the dress Mac brought for me. Well, then while I was putting on make up, I saw your book and decided to read the excerpt and wow! How exciting! Then I decided to taste one of those purple drinks and, well....I'm a little light headed now but I'm so ready to party! Congrats on your latest release!! And please tell me that Jake is alright. I mean, the man took a bullet for Reesa. How heroic!

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    1. Well, I'm glad you got out of the space suit!

      As for Jake ... How do I answer that without giving spoilers?

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    2. Hi AJ!

      Oh my gosh...you can't leave us there worrying about Jake! *Adds Deviation to top of TBR pile*

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  5. Hey hey, chickies! Welcome to your roast, AJ and may I say... Wow! Rocking excerpt! I'm with Lilly. Jake has to be okay! And, um, the chick with the tattooed eyeball isn't around here anywhere, is she?

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    1. Thank you! That excerpt is actually from the first chapter, which looks nothing like the original.

      There may be several women with tattoo's in their eyeballs, if they're part of the Novo Femina. That's sort of how they keep track of one another. Now, if you see a Loyalist around you might want to turn the other way. They're ... uh ... not very nice.

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    2. LOL Awesome. Oh, Oliver! I'm gonna need another one of those purple and green drinks, darling.

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  6. My, my, that drink packs a punch! I love the thought of a purple planet. I'll bet their grapes a wonderful...
    I have to take Nibbles to the vet, so I am taking the teletransporter and will be back as soon as I can. Can I take a blaster with me?? Not the drink, the weapon. Then I can shoot out the tires of any crazy drivers I meet on Earth...

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    1. Well, the main weapon in the book is called an R413 and it's sort of a hand-held rail gun so ... make sure you aim low. You just want to hit the tires.

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    2. Oh dear Lord, AJ. Do NOT give that woman a weapon.

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    3. Eeep! That bad, is she?

      Well ... uh ... maybe we can hide them somewhere?

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  7. I mean grapes are wonderful. Probably make some potent wine.
    Where are the men???

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    1. Yeah, I'm with you on grapes. I love grapes.

      Men? We've got lots of men. Hedric and his team are all Field Arcs -- which basically means they're advanced soldiers. And Borden's team are Arc's too. Though ... I'm fairly partial to Borden myself.

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    2. Oh crumbs AJ, don't tell her that, no man is safe from our Mary...have you heard the rumours?

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    3. Oh dear ... well ... Hedric is very handsome. And his name sounds all heroic and stuff ... maybe that can lure her away from Borden?

      Though ... Borden's rich on top of handsome so I might just be fighting a losing battle there.

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  8. So ... is that a real Martian rat? Or just shaped like one? Cause I have to admit, I'll have to stick with the brownies if it's real.

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  9. Sorry I've been away so long, I was helping Oliver with the refreshments. It's OK AJ, that's a brownie made to look like a Martian rat - none of us actually fancied the real thing! :) He made you a cake out of Brownie mix too! I have to admit I was a bit worried about Jake myself, what a hero! That was such a brilliant excerpt, I really want to read the book now!

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    1. Ha! Yeah, Martian rat won't be featured in any major restaurants anytime soon, I'm sure. Kate, one of our heroines, certainly didn't like it.

      I'm so glad you like the excerpt! Jake is certainly a likable character. Shall I spoil a little portion of the book for you and let you know how that scene ends?

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    2. LOL ... alright, Jake lives. But Reesa is sorta ... uh ... abducted before she can see him again.

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  10. Congratulations! The book looks fabulous!

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  11. I vote for an excerpt!!! I'll take both guys, I mean I got two of almost everything! WOOHOO bring on the blasters. I saw you in the shuttle necking with the driver Lyn, be honest...

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    Replies
    1. ... oh dear. I'm gonna give an excerpt loaded with men and let you have at them.

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  12. I don't know why you all won't let me have a blaster. I mean look how good I am with the stun gun Oliver gave me. Uh, I haven't used that in ages. Hehehe

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  13. Excerpt (OK, so it only has two guys in it, but I was afraid if I put any of the others in it would REALLY spoil the book.)
    One lone figure made its way from the silvery building, headed directly for him and Matthew lost his smile. He recognized the lean, arrogant stride of his older brother and turned to face the ocean again. With a slow breath he gathered his calm, allowing the swell of the tide to assuage his nerves before he confronted David. By the time his brother had reached him, Matthew had found his focus.
    “I’ve got better things to do than be hauled from station to station at your whim, Matt.”
    “Such as torturing women to death, I imagine,” he said, feeling his anger flare again.
    David rammed his hands into his pockets and had the grace to look abashed. Matt glanced at him, noted the navy-blue suit and tie, and prayed the humidity was taking its toll on the man. There was a gleam of sweat around David’s pampered features and moisture stained the collar of his shirt.
    Satisfied, Matthew turned away.
    “They volunteered for it,” David said. “I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, Matt. Two, three more months and I could …”
    “Start another apocalyptic epidemic.” Matthew didn’t bother reigning in his temper. The excited gleam in his brother’s eye was too much. “Just how stupid do you think I am? Did you think I couldn’t connect the dots here? You ask me for a private lab, I give you one. You ask me for funding, I cover half your expenses. But the minute I ask you for a report on what you’re doing out there, what do you give me?” He didn’t wait for his brother to respond; “A three year old carbon copy of an experiment you ran for the Delta Company on fish excrement.”

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  14. Oh wow! That excerpt drew me in even further! This sounds like my sort of book, AJ*waves* Hi Echo, so nice to see you here!

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    1. I'm glad to hear that!

      Deviation is actually my first try at science fiction. The other books I have out are all Fantasy.

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  15. It sounds like a great first SF! I've written a few fantasies but most of mine are SF - but I love both genres.

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    1. I enjoy just about every genre out there, I just can't write them all. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who can write straight romance. I always end up with a little romance in my novels, but the romance isn't the main attraction.

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    2. I'm with you there, AJ, and I can't write straight romance either. On the other hand, I can't write anything without some romance in it either, but I do like to have plenty of action and adventure. The great thing about fantasy and SF is you can just let your imagination run riot, as long as you do the research of course, and that's exciting in itself.

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  16. Cool excerpt. I'm really getting into this space theme. Hey, is there a zero gravity room anywhere close by? Oh, maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea for Mary. The "girls" might float up and smother her! lol!

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    1. Pffft! I'd be afraid of losing my Gargle Blaster if the gravity went out. It's terribly harsh on the body to do that.

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  17. Hi LaVerne *waves* to sister hostess. Oh Lilly, that's a terrible vision to inflict on us! LOL

    Watch out, Mary's a bit handy with that stun gun Oliver was naive enough to give her ...

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  18. They'd float right up in front of my face. Don't wanna use my stun gun then.Don't worry Lilly no smothering there's a gap in the middle. Don't ya know.
    They float in the pool. Which actually surprised me!

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    1. Oh, the visual Mary. I really am laughing out loud!!

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  19. Replies
    1. I'm glad you all enjoyed the excerpt. Personally, I love everything involving Matthew Borden. He's ruthless and manipulative but his moral compass is somehow still intact.

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  20. I really like when you feel for the bad boy! That's a writing feat!

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  21. Sounds gorgeous, AJ. Thanks for being such a great guest, we hope you enjoyed your virtual party as much as we did!

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    Replies
    1. I had a great deal of fun. Thank you so much for hosting me!

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AUTHOR ROAST AND TOAST
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