I love this time of year, especially after the winter we had
here in West Michigan. Way too much snow. Not now, though. Warm days and cool
nights. My kind of weather. Good sleeping weather, as we say here. Long days,
when the sun doesn’t go down until nearly ten o’clock. Lots of time to enjoy
the Lake Michigan beaches. Pretty soon June 21st will be here, the longest day
of the year. After that, daylight will get shorter until we’ll be back to
dreaded winter.
I realize it’s winter right now in the Southern Hemisphere.
So that got me thinking about other M-class planets. When I wrote my other stories
set on alien planets (and did my world-building) it didn’t occur to me to consider
hemispheres. I always thought about weather and locales like deserts or rain
forests. I only thought about the immediate locale and not about the rest of
the planet. Or even where on the planet the locale was.
Until my latest science fiction romance, The
Chameleon. My hero’s family lives in the Southern Hemisphere of a
planet I call Traish. A farming area similar to America’s “breadbasket”, the
Midwest. My characters only stayed a few hours at his family’s home so I did
more description of his home and family than of the area. I used what I know of
farming communities (with some literary license) to depict the farm itself then,
later in the story, the community.
Extrapolating what I know of our planet to an alien one can make
readers feel like they recognize the locale. Same with the desert colony where
the major of the story takes place. If I have human characters in my sci-fi
romances, they would have to live on M-class planets with locales similar to ours. Or live under a dome. Hmm, that gives me an idea. LOL
Here’s a little about The Chameleon:
Legally Blond meets Mata Hari
Socialite Jileena Winslott has perfected the image of the
spoiled, rich, bubble-headed daughter of an industrial magnate. In reality,
she’s a smart, savvy aide to her father in social situations where she is his
eyes and ears. She yearns to be her true self and run the family business. When
her father sends her on a covert mission to the Outer Rim, she has the chance
to prove herself. Big problem. He insists she take along a fake fiancé—the man
she’s secretly loved for years.
Security Officer Laning Servary has better things to do than
babysit a spoiled rich girl on a tour of the Frontier. If he refuses, he can
kiss his career good-by. Then Jileena’s father sweetens the pot. If Laning
keeps her safe, his family will receive the land they share-crop. He can’t
refuse.
In the close quarters of her ship, Laning and Jileena
discover they aren’t who they seem. Pirates, weather, and her recklessness threaten
to derail the mission. As Laning and Jileena revise their impressions of each
other, they’ll have to make hard choices about their goals. Can their budding
love survive?
The Chameleon is available at:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00K8GDN00
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/436631
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chameleon-diane-burton/1119480831?ean=2940149208616
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