BooksChatter: ☀☄ Star Rider on the Razor's Edge: Star Rider [1]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Star Rider on the Razor's Edge, a Visionary Science Fiction by Heidi Skarie (16 December 2014, Heidi Skarie, 378 pages).

This is the first book in the Star Rider series.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis, trailer and excerpt below. Read the first four chapters with Amazon Look Inside. Star Rider on the Razor's Edge is FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library.

Comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Synopsis | Trailer | Teaser | About the Author | Tour Stops

Synopsis

Agent Toemeka Ganti, code-named Star Rider, lives on the edge.

Her latest spy mission is to overthrow General Bhandar, the despot of Jaipar, who’s being controlled by Samrat Condor, a mighty sorcerer and interplanetary conqueror. And Samrat Condor isn’t about to loosen his stranglehold on Jaipar.

Toemeka is only too aware of Condor: she remembers the time his space fleet destroyed her home planet, killing her family while she barely escaped with her life. Toemeka must preserve her cover, despite secretly taking on many side operations that threaten to derail her primary mission. Her main work of creating a shield-destroying oscillator prototype is a key to winning the conflict. However her overbearing boss Commander Rochambeau disrupts her and pressures Toemeka daily with thinly veiled bullying tactics: either become his mistress or face certain death at the hands of Condor.

Michio Kimes, a handsome spiritual warrior training to battle sorcery, seriously complicates Toemeka’s mission. Her only hope of surviving these tremendous odds lies with her trusted Coalition partner Erling Fenian and their rogue team, who band together with the local underground resistance in the fight to free the people of Jaipar and restore the rightful heir to the throne.

Teaser: Excerpt

CHAPTER 2

Toemeka raced through the dense, ominous forest, pursued by Talon soldiers and their vicious hounds. More hounds rushed out from behind trees. Saliva and blood dripped from their fangs as they growled and stalked her from all directions.
      Toemeka jerked awake, her heart pounding and body shaking. Only a nightmare, she reassured herself, drawing a deep breath to control the anxiety. She felt awful ─ hung over and thickheaded. Not knowing where she was, Toemeka shoved a damp lock of hair off her aching forehead and sat up. In a nearby berth less than five feet away lay Michio, sleeping soundly. Distorted memories of the previous evening sprung to mind. Hammering music. A snake slithering around a man’s neck. Rochambeau shot. The smell of a ship burning. She wasn’t sure what was real and what was an illusion caused by the drug.
      Monitors along one wall dimly lit the room. The low drone of engines and a distinct vibration suggested she was on a starship or perhaps a space station. Stars and planets shone as dots of light in the blackness of space when she looked out the porthole. Most likely a space station with simulated gravity, she decided.
      She pushed the silver space blanket off her clammy body and slid off the berth. Her bare feet hit the cool floor. She took a soft step, swayed unsteadily and threw out a hand, pressing it against the wall to regain her balance. Michio’s brown leather jacket hung from a hook on the wall. She crept quietly towards it in hopes of finding his energy gun.
      Michio rolled over; she froze. Once his breathing became regular again, she thrust her hand into the jacket pocket. Empty, but something heavy clunked against the wall. Underneath the jacket hung his gun belt. Her hand closed around the solid handle of a Juggernaut 50, a powerful energy gun; she pulled it from its holster.
      The berth creaked. She swung around and aimed the Jug 50 at Michio as he leapt out of the berth. He coiled before her like a huka panther ready to spring, radiating self-confidence. He had the muscular body of a warrior and seemed taller and more dangerous than he’d appeared when asleep. He wore nothing but loose-fitting silk sleeping pants that hugged his taut stomach.
      Blast it! Why did she feel vulnerable when she was the one holding the Jug 50? Then it hit her. The weapon was of little use because she would never shoot someone who might be an ally. “Stay where you are!” she exclaimed.
      He studied her with piercing eyes. “I see you’re finally awake.”
      She held out her free hand. “Give me the Viper’s keyless remote.” He scowled. “Are you crazy? Do you think I’m just going to let you steal my ship and leave me stranded in space?”
      “I’m sure you know someone who will come get you. Now give me the remote or I’ll blast a hole in your thigh.” Feeling weak and nauseated, she locked her knees, afraid her strength would give out.
      “So this is what I get for risking my life to rescue you.” His stance remained guarded.
      “If you were rescuing me, you won’t mind taking me back to my apartment.”
      He shook his head. “It’s no longer safe for you there.”
      “I’ll decide what’s safe and what isn’t.”
      “Fine,” he snapped, “but I need to get dressed before we go anywhere.” He reached for his clothes hanging on the hook behind her.
      “Stay back. I’ll hand them to you.”
      “Don’t push me. And put the Jug 50 away before one of us gets hurt.”
      “Not likely.” She kept the gun trained on him, then turned to snatch his clothes off the hook.
      He sprang, knocking her backwards, slamming her right arm against the wall. The gun discharged with a flare of light as it flew out of her hand and onto a berth. She pushed against his unyielding chest.
      He pinned her against the wall. “Now will you listen to reason?” His eyes flared with fury.

Star Rider on the Razor's Edge
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About the Author

Heidi Skarie's life as a writer began when she had a dramatic dream about a futuristic world at war. The vivid dream was like watching an action/adventure movie. Excited about the dream, she recorded it upon awakening. That night the dream continued where it left off. After six nights, Heidi had a hundred-page journal recording the series of dreams. This awakened her interest in writing, which continues to be one of her greatest passions today.

Heidi is a visionary author who writes science fiction and historical fiction novels. Her novels are a an exciting blend of action, adventure and romance, featuring strong, spiritually inquisitive heroines.

Star Rider on the Razor’s Edge is her first science fiction novel. She previously published Red Willow’s Quest, a historical novel based on a past life, about a Native American girl training to become a medicine woman.

In the fall of 2015 Heidi plans to publish her new novel: Annoure and the Dragonships, another historical novel based on a past life, about a young woman kidnapped by the Vikings. In 2016 Star Rider and the Ahimsa Warrior, the second book in her Star Rider series will be published.

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