I know that Book!: Honora: Sword of Gregara by Cynthia Woolf

They stole her love, her life and want to steal the secrets secured in her mind.

Secrets that could topple world governments and decimate quadrant security forever. Now she’s on an epic quest to find out why and make those responsible pay.

Drawn to this fierce woman as no other, Joridan Dolana tries to explain she is wrong. He's not Zolthor, he's Centauri. He was raised on Centauri with his sister. Faced with proof of a father's ultimate betrayal, he must choose between revenge and the protection of this woman who has sworn to never return his love.

Quick Facts

Release Date: December 22, 2012.
Genre: Romance, Sci Fi

Formats: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple

The Author

Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.

She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.

Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.

In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writer’s conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.

Learn more about the author at: www.cynthiawoolf.com

Excerpt

“Oww” a woman’s voice awash with pain reached his ears.
“You disappoint me, Honora. You continue to try to escape me. When will you learn?” asked a whiney voiced man.
The whip struck flesh. Again the woman moaned but didn’t scream. She didn’t scream.
When he woke again he was not alone but the man with the whip was gone. Chained across the room from him, hung by her wrists, was a woman. He could see the lash marks on her back. Lash upon lash, new over old. They obstructed the beautiful tattoo of a dragon on her back. The blood hard to see within the red of the dragon.
Crawling to her he released her hands from the chains holding her up. She collapsed in a heap on the floor. He crawled back to his side of the room as darkness overtook him once more.

*****

The dried blood on her back cracked with each movement, but she worked through the pain as she stretched. Breathed deep and accepted the pain. Her sword weighed heavier in her hand than usual. More evidence of the lashing two nights ago. She looked down at the unconscious man at her feet. A new recruit. A Zolthor, like herself. Another reason Perdor punished her for her attempted escape, her sixth try in as many months.
This last punishment was the worst. Five lashes. Not enough to incapacitate her but enough to make her remember. Perdor wanted her to be able to train the new slave. He wanted them to be a team, good enough to take on all contenders. He’d be the only owner with two Zolthor fighting for him. Not just one, but a team. He was practically wetting himself in anticipation of the beras that he’ll win with a team of Zolthor fighters.
Again she looked down on the naked man. Long brown lashes lay against his cheek. A nice contrast to his golden blond hair. What color eyes did they hide? Blue? Green? Brown perhaps. She’d find out soon enough.
He was a beautiful man. Well formed. Broad shoulders. Trim waist. Long muscular legs. He looked like a warrior. Would be a good fighter. Maybe even a good lover as he appeared well endowed there as well.
He’d awakened from the drug induced sleep long enough to crawl over and release her from the chains. For that she was grateful. Her wrists didn’t hurt as much as usual because of him. Using her blades was easier than it had been after her previous punishments.
Time to wake up the sleeping man and get him trained. Time was short and she intended to make the most of it. He would learn or he would die.

Guest Post:

"Biggest Challenge as a Writer"

by Cynthia Woolf.

My biggest challenge as a writer is putting down all the stories in my head and fleshing them out. I have so many ideas, but because I’m a pantser, I have a hard time getting the story to the end. Fleshing them out so they match the story in my head is another problem I have. I know what the story is and I write so fast sometimes to get it down, that I forget that the reader doesn’t know the story and is just reading it for the first time. This is where critique partners are invaluable. They keep me on the right path and remind me to give the reader the information that is in my head.

As a pantser, I don’t plot my stories. I usually know the beginning and the end, but not the middle. Because of this I often have what they call the sagging middle. This is where my critique partners come in. They give me ideas of where to go and what to do while I reach my happily ever after. Sometimes that means giving me ideas for new scenes, sometimes it’s just a matter of fleshing out the scene that is there.

I’ve found that I write like I want to read. I tend, as a reader, to skip over a lot of the description in a book. I want to get on with the story and the description of the flowerbeds is a distraction for me. I put in enough description to set the scene but not to overpower the reader. I don’t want them to stop in the story to wonder what color the flowers in that flowerbed are. My critique partners help me to put in the description because I will forget it and then have too many dialogue scenes and it comes across as talking heads, which is not my intention.

I’ve tried plotting. I’ve taken and continue to take classes to learn how to plot. And I’ve learned how to plot but I don’t really like it. It seems that after I plot the book, I don’t want to write it anymore because it feels like it’s already been written and there are no surprises. Without the surprises, I get bored. For me writing the book is like reading it for the first time. It’s all new and shiny.

As you can see, there are a lot of challenges to writing a book. It’s not an easy thing to do. But the rewards, the letters I get from readers, the reviews that they leave me, make it all worth it. I love being able to give a reader a good story with a happy ending. I love being able to take her away from her workaday world and allow her to escape and get the happy ending that she may not have in real life. That makes it all worth it.

INTERVIEW:

For people who haven’t heard of The Swords of Gregara-Honora , make a brief description.

They stole her love, her life and want to steal the secrets secured in her mind. Secrets that could topple world governments and decimate quadrant security forever. Now she’s on an epic quest to find out why and make those responsible pay.

Honora Reyestat gave up everything to become a member of the esteemed Gregarian Guard. No family, no friends, no connections--nothing that can ever be used against her. Captured and enslaved, she's become a prized gladiator for her master. Given the task of training a new slave, she recognizes a fellow Zolthor and the son of a tribal leader at that. Her mission changes from discovery of the enemy's tactics and secrets to returning Joridan to his people.

Drawn to this fierce woman as no other, Joridan Dolana tries to explain she is wrong. He's not Zolthor, he's Centauri. He was raised on Centauri with his sister. Faced with proof of a father's ultimate betrayal, he must choose between revenge and the protection of this woman who has sworn to never return his love.

When did you decided to become a writer? I wrote my first story at age ten, but I didn’t really even think I could become a writer until I did in June of 2011. Then all the planets must have been in alignment. I was laid off from by job and had been editing, proofing, rewriting my book, Centauri Dawn in preparation for my first jaunt into self-publishing. Thanks to my friend and critique partner, Michele Callahan who set me on the path to self publishing. It’s been the best decision of my life.

What does your family think of your works? My husband is very supportive of my work. He does the final proofread, after it’s come back from the editor and I’ve made those changes.

Are you an early bird or night owl? Yes, to both. I have severe insomnia and so am up at all hours

What do you do, besides writing? I’m very lucky in that I write full time. I was laid off from my job on June 17, 2011. On June 18^th, I became a full time writer. My husband and I calculated our finances and determined that I could write full time. The money I make it gravy but not necessary for us to pay the bills.

Do you have any hobbies? I like to garden, read and go fishing. Although because we have a new house and it needed lots of yard work, it had no back yard and it’s huge, we are still putting it in and it was 4 years on February 6^th of this year.

Name your favorite authors. First my favorite authors are each of my critique partners, Michele Callahan, Karen Docter, Jennifer Zane and the late CJ Snyder. Then I also love Johanna Lindsey, Catherine Coulter and Julie Garwood. More contemporary authors are Lily Rede, Carrie Ann Ryan and Kristin Cayne.

Best reward as a writer? When my readers write me and tell me how much they love my books, well it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. I feel so incredibly blessed.

How do you react to a bad review? I try really hard to take the bad reviews in stride. In someways bad reviews are as good as good reviews. At least they have an opinion. I struck a chord with them. And that’s a good thing.

What are your favorite TV shows? We love NCIS, Grimm, Elementary, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, The Following, Hawaii 5-O, Person of Interest and my own guilty pleasure, Fashion Police.

If someone made a movie of your life, which event MUST be included? The death of my father when I was five. I believe that it had the most profound effect in shaping me to be the woman I’ve become.

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Tour Schedule

Mar 4: Black Lion Tour Blog: Introduction

Love in a Book: Review and Guest Post.

Mar 5: Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews: Interview.

Second book to the Right: Review.

Mar 7: Oh, Chrys!: Guest Post.

Mar 8: Synchronized Reading: Guest Post.

Mar 9: Books, books the magical fruit: Guest Post.

Mar 10: A novel Idea Live: Live Interview.