Beyond the Next Star (Love Beyond Book 1) SciFi Romance by Melody Johnson ➱ Book Tour with Rafflecopter
Beyond the Next Star
Love Beyond Book 1
by Melody Johnson
Genre: SciFi Romance
An intolerable order. A desperate charade. A deadly secret...
Before Commander Torek Renaar can return to active duty, he’s ordered to purchase an animal companion to help relieve his PTSD symptoms. But having been a caretaker for and lost a loved one, keeping even one little human alive is a challenge he feels doomed to fail. It doesn’t help that his animal companion is the newest, most exotic breed on the market, demanding constant attention, daily grooming, and delicate handling. If she doesn’t die first in his incompetent care, she’ll be the death of him.
After witnessing the murder of her domestication specialist, Delaney McCormick allows her new owner to treat her like the pet he believes her to be. If anyone suspects she’s more intelligent than a golden retriever, her murder would be next. She endures the humiliation of being washed, the tediousness of being trained to “sit” and “come”, and the intrigue of hearing private conversations. But in Torek’s care, she finds something unexpected on this Antarctic planet, something she never had in all her years on Earth while house-hopping between foster families: a home.
As companionship grows to love, must Delaney continue the charade, acting like an animal and hiding from the murderer waiting for her misstep? Or can she trust Torek with her secrets, even if the truth threatens everything he holds dear—and both their lives?
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Sight Beyond the Sun
Love Beyond Book 2
When the lorienok abducted Delaney—after she’d finally accepted that she wasn’t dreaming, in a coma, having a mental breakdown, or in hell—she’d given them a fake name: Jane Smith. Not an exceptionally creative or unique pseudonym by any stretch of the imagination, but having come to grips with the fact that she’d been literally abducted by aliens, her imagination was stretched dangerously thin. Intergalactic kidnapping wasn’t a chronic illness, but for a time—a longer time than she was comfortable admitting to now—wasting away had seemed a preferable fate.
She didn’t accomplish much by hiding her identity. She didn’t have any blood relatives to protect, a criminal record to hide, or a trust fund to safeguard. Delaney Rose McCormick had about as much value associated with her name as did the fictional Jane Smith and left nearly as small a void on Earth. But all Delaney had in those early days directly following her abduction was her name and the hope that everything—the abduction, the tests, the training—was just a big mistake. Which, as it turned out, it was. Her abduction had been the biggest technological mistake in lorienok history, but that didn’t change her circumstances. Days turned to weeks turned to months turned to the abandonment of tracking time. Hope died. She had nothing to her name, but her name, at least, was her own, and she would keep it for herself.
By the time her domestication specialist, Keil Kore’Weidnar, discovered Delaney’s capacity to learn and taught her Lori, his native language, the issue of her name had become moot. He’d already renamed her Reshna, a spiral-shaped handheld tool used to drill into ice. He’d shown her a hologram of it, pointing to the spiral and then to the wild frizz of her unconditioned curls. They had a similar-looking tool on Earth, but they used it to open wine bottles. He’d named her “corkscrew” for her crazy hair.
She’d been called worse names in high school.
She couldn’t say she’d lived in worse places, though. Most of her foster families, with the exception of the Todd household, had been decent people who’d given her clothes, a bed under a roof, and regular meals. Besides clothes, those basic necessities were still being met, so a little gratitude was probably in order. But only just a little, because she also had a cage. And a collar. And if she’d just translated the words and growls of the pet store manager correctly, she had a new owner.
Like most lor, her owner had thick, curved ram horns jutting from his head, and like all lorienok regardless of gender, he was covered head to toe in brown fur. Sasquatch did exist after all; he just wasn’t native to Earth. He was roughly the same size and shape as a human bodybuilder, and in addition to the horns, his nose and mouth protruded slightly into a blunt muzzle, two rows of sharp predator teeth filled his overly large mouth, and pointy bearlike claws tipped each finger and likely each toe on his boot-shod feet.
Unlike most, this male wore his hair long. His locks were tied back from his face in a messy bun with a forest-green elastic band. His beard was also long and came to a point at the end, hanging a few inches below his chin. But his eyes were his most striking feature, assuming that one had already become accustomed to the ram horns, claws, abundance of muscle, and close-cropped body fur. His left eye was the same doe brown common to all lorienok—a smidge rounder and larger than human eyes, like calf eyes with those thick lashes and soul-deep stare—but his other eye was ice blue. A thick scar bisected his right brow, eyelid, and upper cheek, slicing directly over that unique, penetrating gaze.
His bearing was regal and confident, the sharp cut of his jawline proud, but his eyes betrayed him. He was sad—horribly sad—and he glowered at Delaney through the wire door of her cage like he was the Greek king Sisyphus and she his boulder, resigning himself to an eternity of labor over an impossible, futile undertaking.
Or maybe Delaney was just projecting because she couldn’t imagine anything more impossible and futile than her current existence. I am not a pet! she wanted to yell. But after witnessing Keil’s cold-blooded murder, she knew to keep her mouth firmly shut. If anyone suspected her more intelligent than a golden retriever, her death would be next.
Accomplishing impossible feats while enduring debilitating injury and sensory deprivation were challenges both expected and anticipated by the young cadets training to enter the combat and strategic intelligence division of the Federation. Qualifying exams were brutal. Training was rigorous. But for the few who didn’t fail, drop out, or obtain an infirmary discharge, the rewards were astronomical. Torek Lore’Onik Weidnar Kenzo Lesh’Aerai Renaar had certainly reaped those rewards many times over, as evidenced by the four property titles bestowed to his name. He’d never been one to flinch when facing a challenge, but this order—the court-mandated appointment of an animal companion to “facilitate mental recovery”—was the challenge that finally made him flinch.
Torek stared at the human—at the beautiful, riotous hair that sprang like coils from its head and would obviously need continual cleaning and grooming, at its tiny stature and lean form that probably couldn’t lift its own weight, at the lovely gray eyes and smooth, bare skin that would need layers upon layers of protective coverings to keep it warm—and he seriously considered the merits of simply retiring from the Federation.
No one would blame him after what had happened. He could return to his home in Aerai and resume the quiet, peaceful, unappreciated toil of plant cultivation he’d abandoned so many seasons ago along with his dreams of filling that home with a family.
The store manager hefted a bound book from the counter and plopped it into Torek’s unwilling arms.
“What’s this?” A tingle of cold dread crept across the back of Torek’s neck.
“Why, it’s your owner’s manual, of course.”
“Of course.” The Federation’s policies and procedures manual was the thickest book Torek had ever had the displeasure of memorizing, and it wasn’t even half the size of this tome.
“You’ll be the envy of all Lorien. The first to purchase a human, our newest species. She’s the pilot for her breed, of course, but her domestication is progressing fabulously. They dispatched a harvester while she was still in transit, so until the next shipment arrives, she’s the only human we’ll have for a while yet, six kair at the least. You must be thrilled.”
As Torek flipped through a few of the manual’s pages and skimmed the table of contents, the tingle of dread that had started at his neck devoured the rest of his body and intensified to nausea. An entire chapter was dedicated to heating and insulating the human’s living quarters. If her rooms dipped below a specific temperature—Torek brought the book closer and squinted, but no, his eyes didn’t deceive him—and the human didn’t have tailored, fur-lined coverings to retain heat, she would sicken and die. If he didn’t provide her with private sleeping quarters, she would become lethargic and depressed, then sicken and die. If he didn’t feed her three meals a day, complete with a cooked protein, vegetables, and some grain, she would sicken and die. She was even allergic to ukok, a simple seasoning. If consumed, her throat would swell, cutting off her air supply, and she would immediately die.
He would kill her.
Not intentionally, of course, but despite the wild popularity of owning foreign domesticated animals, he’d never even owned a zeprak let alone something as exotic, delicate, and temperamental as this human. She wouldn’t survive a week in his care.
His throat tightened. His breath shortened. His chest ached, and suddenly, black starbursts shadowed his vision.
Not now. Not in public. Not again.
The Hybrid Life: Best of Both Publishing Worlds
The battle lines between traditional vs. indie publishing are beginning to blur. Many authors, myself included, have chosen to be “hybrid,” publishing some books traditionally (with a major publisher or an established small press) and other books independently (also known as self-publishing). There are many, MANY, pros and cons to both publishing worlds, and as a hybrid author, I enjoy the best of both. One major benefit I enjoyed recently was producing an audiobook edition of my indie-published sci-fi romance, Beyond the Next Star (Love Beyond, Book 1), an achievement I may never have had the opportunity to accomplish had I published this story traditionally. But indie publishing isn’t all cotton candy and roses, either. Whether you’re a reader looking for a sneak peek behind the scenes of being a writer, or a writer with a beautiful manuscript that’s ready for the world to see but you’re struggling to decide the next step in your journey, I hope my experience living the hybrid life can help you gain some insight on the publishing industry.
Investment
For a traditionally published author, the moment you send your completed manuscript to the publisher, you’re done! Yes, of course you can expect several rounds of editing, but while waiting on that feedback, you’re free to begin a marketing plan and your next book! As an indie author, finishing a manuscript is only the beginning. You still need to invest time and/or money in professional copy and line edits, cover design, book formatting, ISBNs, an OCLC number, distribution, copyright submissions, naming your publisher, designing a logo for your publisher, submitting for an LLC, and any ongoing communications and/or maintenance with those vendors and platforms. Publishers for traditional authors invest their own time and money into providing those services, but as an indie author, you are your own publisher and responsible for all the duties that entails.
Creative control
On the flipside of the indie author investment con, the pro of being your own publisher is that indie authors have the exciting opportunity to maintain the creative control of their entire project. They can take a vision they may have of their cover, for example, and make it a reality. They are the sole decision-makers on book formatting, size, editions, pricing, and whether to publish with Kindle Unlimited or a wide distribution. If a traditionally published author doesn’t like her cover, too bad. If she wants a hardcover of her book or an audiobook edition, but the publisher’s distribution plan focuses on e-book only—too bad! Unless you’re Nora Robert or Stephen King, authors retain zero creative control outside of the story itself.
Distribution
Although traditionally published authors may not retain creative control, they have the huge benefit of book distribution, assuming that print distribution is included in their contract. Print distribution means having a massive print run before launch and sending copies to brick-and-mortar retailers like Barnes & Nobel, Books-A-Million, and Walmart. Although indie authors can certainly upload the paperback and hardcover editions of their novel to Ingram Spark for those distributors to purchase their book in the traditional way, indie authors typically don’t have the capitol to invest in a massive print run or the connections required to stock those books on the shelves.
Subsidiary rights
Indie authors retain their subsidiary rights, but more often than not, they don’t have the opportunity to use them. The exception to that is the ability to create additional editions of their work, like producing an audiobook. Traditionally published and hybrid authors, on the other hand, often have an agent, and subsidiary rights are mostly handled in the agent’s wheelhouse. Their agent hopefully negotiated the traditional publishing contract so that the author retained as much of their subsidiary right as possible. Then the agent has the opportunity to sell and/or negotiate more deals in the future with foreign publishers, for example, or production companies for film rights.
Marketing
Unless you’re a NYT best-selling author, indie and traditionally published authors are nearly in the same boat in regards to marketing. Yes, your traditional publisher will provide you with a publicist, but in my experience, the majority of the work still falls squarely on the author’s shoulders. As a hybrid author, I manage and maintain all the marketing for both my traditionally and indie published novels, including website creation and maintenance, social media management, advertising, e-newsletter creation and maintenance, video production, booking signings and conventions, and the creation and cost of promotional and giveaway items such as bookmarks, chap sticks, pens, retractable banners and backdrops.
Enjoy the journey
The world of book publishing is forever growing and changing along with advances in the digital world. Ten years ago, this blog post wouldn’t even have existed—traditional publishing was the end all, be all, of the publishing world. But authors today have choices. Whether you’re traditionally or indie published, a hybrid author, or on the cusp of publishing your first manuscript, it’s an exciting time to be an author and the only time in history that choices even exist for any of us. So enjoy the journey!
Melody Johnson is the award-winning author of the “out of this world” Love Beyond series and the gritty, paranormal romance Night Blood series published by Kensington Publishing/ Lyrical Press. She graduated magna cum laude from Lycoming College with her B.A. in creative writing and psychology.
Earning the 2021 Maggie Award of Excellence, Beyond the Next Star (Love Beyond, book 1) is an exciting branch from Melody's paranormal romance roots, keeping the dark grit from her Night Blood Series and taking it to new worlds. Her first published novel, The City Beneath (Night Blood, book 1), was a finalist in the “Cleveland Rocks” and “Fool For Love” contests.
When she isn’t writing, Melody enjoys swimming, hiking, reading, and exploring her new home in southeast Georgia. Stay in touch with Melody on social media or her website: authormelodyjohnson.com
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