My first novel…PUBLISHED!

This has been a long time coming and I am so excited to finally have it available! Woohoo! If you pick up a copy, please be sure to let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you!

Years after the Parthenogenesis Revolution of 2069 and its breakthrough where women can impregnate one another, a young Cassaundra (seven years of age) watches as her moms are assassinated during a family vacation to Niagara Falls. After leaping into the falls to save herself from the Kretchtin snipers, she awakens within the walls of the ELITE Corporation, run by a powerful and callous CEO, Dr. Alexis Wu.

Along with other orphaned girls, she is raised at the ELITE Corporation under the watchful eye of Dr. Malek, a scientist who appears to care more about a secretive company project than the girls in his care.

At the age of thirteen, Cassaundra’s life takes another drastic turn when Dr. Malek forces her to undergo a DNA cleansing that turns her into an Enhanced-She-Human (ESH), giving her superior abilities. Her life now solely belongs to the ELITE Corporation and its Executives, whom she must protect and serve at all costs.

Despising the ELITE Corporation and everything it stands for, Cassaundra yearns to escape its control and when she befriends another ESH, a Gemini by the name of Tamar, both girls find it hard to obey the corporation’s imposed rules—and find it even harder to suppress their growing feelings for one another.
On the night of her eighteenth birthday, Cassaundra sneaks from her room to meet Tamar, who has offered her artistic talents to tattoo Cassaundra with a special rendering of her world-weary sign—the Pisces. When an enraged Dr. Malek finds out, he uses the corporation’s Omni-Force warriors to separate the two girls indefinitely.

Convinced that battling the ELITE Corporation would be futile, Cassaundra succumbs to their rules, allowing her short moments of independence from the corporation and people she detests so much. This helps spice up her life—especially her insatiable sex drive.

Now twenty-seven, Cassaundra is still a pawn for the ELITE Corporation and its Executives. Dr. Alexis Wu calls upon her favorite ESH to rescue her Scorpio daughter Abby from the Kretchtins—a group of men who want to forcibly relieve Dr. Wu from her power. Cassaundra is sent to Mount Fuji to rescue Abby from a hidden facility within the volcano. The heat rises beyond the temperature of molten lava when Cassaundra realizes that there is something about the ELITE Corporation that she does strongly desire…Abby.

Realizing her feelings and what they mean, Cassaundra must now choose between following her heart or dying, which is the consequence of any ESH caught having a relationship with any other member of the corporation.
This selfless act finally gives her the freedom she has always desired. Her life is no longer ruled by being Tainted Elite, but ruled by her heart.

Free sample at Smashwords or Amazon.

What-Who Inspires Me to Write?

Figuratively speaking, I am inside my head A LOT! I don’t know how I get anything done at work, but there is some sort of driving force that allows me to focus and complete the tasks at hand. And thankfully it doesn’t hurt that I catch onto “techie” things quickly. (I can thank my mom for that for signing me up for my first programming class when I was in 6th grade. Thanks, Mommy!)

Pisces are known to be in some sort of happy oblivion dreamy-state—soused with liquid-filled eyes, but as the Chinese Zodiac year of the Ox, I have a fanatical persistent drive that never allows me to give up. (I may decide something isn’t worth my time, however. That’s a different topic altogether.)

What I feel really skilled at? Observation. Yes, while I may appear as though I am not fully “there”, I am actually taking the environment around me in. I can hear and comprehend multiple conversations and I can even “feel” other people’s emotions—to an extent. It can weaken me, leaving me vulnerable, but it is also a strength that I feel blessed to possess. Think of it like a yin to my yang and a yang to my yin.

So back to the original question…what–who inspires me? Simply put…everything–anyone. A dream. A fleeting thought. A conversation I overheard. A conversation I participated in. A yearning desire—oh how those yearning desires could get me into trouble if I’m not careful. Take my short story “Candy Striper”, for example. That began from a dream I had about Pink. Not the color…check out the Capital “P”. I am talking about the incredibly talented musician/Rock Star whose powerful chops make the hairs on my arms stand up in a very good way.

I am a musician with a very picky ear, so I really appreciate a powerful voice with perfect pitch. Yeah there are many songs I like, mostly due to the words, but Pink could sing in some foreign language I don’t know and make me “feel” the music. I am also very impressed with her acrobatic skills, which is more than likely the reason I had the dream in the first place. (If you haven’t attended one of her concerts, do it!) And man-oh-man, that dream was a doozy. Does anyone even use the word “doozy” anymore?

Yes, inspiration is all around!

Catalyst for Head Shot: Saints and Sinners

I am an Engineer by day, sometimes nights, and on occasion several days straight when at a customer site. When I am not traveling, I work in a very stylish Environment that—apart from the “L” shape of the building itself (a HUGE Feng Shui no-no), was designed for maximum Chi potency—as I like to call it.

This high Chi potency is facilitated by surroundings that are open, light & airy; everything exudes modern design. Take our ceiling lights, for example (exhibit “A”). Not a single one aims directly downward. They point up, reflect off the white ceiling, and finally cascade their indirect, yet ample, broad-spectrum brightness down upon our busy heads.

Needless to say, I never turn on the light at my desk. Between my multiple monitors and Himalayan Salt Stone USB Lamp (exhibit “B”), I have all the light I need.

This began the first scene of my Head Shot story. I was simply walking down the hallway at work—minding my own business, and… Boom!  My active imagination went from traversing a sterile workplace corridor “in the real world,” to being wheeled on a gurney into Emergency Surgery “in my pretend world.” Next thing I knew, I was in an OR because of a bad beating by my parent, which I “explained away” by pretending to be a mixed-martial-arts pro-athlete. Wha-?

Then I was in a Psych ward, interacting with other “crazies.” I had a Psychologist. A hot roommate. A tendency to self-diagnose and diagnose the other crazies. My world as an Engineer was temporarily on hold, and a whole new life began.

From that point on, a story bloomed!

      Exhibit “A”

Exhibit “B”