On January 5, Baen Books released Sarah A. Hoyt’s DARKSHIP THIEVES. I’m excited to share that this book is a science fiction romance, albeit one that’s slightly undercover. The author presents a fascinating and at times mind-boggling account about the book’s path to publication. Her journey reveals how important timing—and persistence—can be when it comes to submitting projects like SFR.
What did I mean by undercover? Check out the basic premise of DARKSHIP THIEVES from the publisher's site:
"Athena Hera Sinistra never wanted to go to space. Never wanted see the eerie glow of the Powerpods. Never wanted to visit Circum Terra. Never had any interest in finding out the truth about the DarkShips. You always get what you don’t ask for. Which must have been why she woke up in the dark of shipnight, within the greater night of space in her father’s space cruiser, knowing that there was a stranger in her room. In a short time, after taking out the stranger—who turned out to be one of her father’s bodyguards up to no good, she was hurtling away from the ship in a lifeboat to get help. But what she got instead would be the adventure of a lifetime—if she managed to survive . . . ."
But as intriguing as this marketing copy sounds, there’s nothing in it to suggest science fiction romance, or even romantic SF. Huh!
Now even if I had perused the book’s information at Baen’s site, I would have overlooked it as far as this blog is concerned. It’s only because of word of mouth that the author brought her book to my attention. Thank goodness for that, or I would have missed the chance to enjoy and blog about a new SFR release for who knows how long.
While describing the book, Sarah A. Hoyt shares that “If you like non-military space opera with a strong female main character who doesn't roll over at the first sign of trouble, you'll love Athena!” The author guest blogged about the book and revealed that DARKSHIP THIEVES “…features the world’s weirdest love declaration…”
Wow, where do I sign up?!
You can read the first three chapters of DARKSHIP THIEVES for free. Here’s a list of places you can order the book online, as provided by Baen Books.
Happy reading!
Joyfully yours,
Heather