Beauty and the Beast—Space Opera Style
by
Toni Sweeney
“… if you're looking for a romance that's not another of the
cookie-cutter offerings out there, this is a great place to start.” --Nights and Weekends reviews
“Ms. Sweeney always creates stories that are thrown miles outside the
box, and Sinbad’s Wife is no exception.” –Margaret Marr reviews
“…the dramatic sh'en Singh family dynamics…in this book makes for a
truly wonderful read” –Two Lips reviews
Many
years ago, I was intrigued by a TV show called Beauty and the Beast. In
homage, I wrote my own spin on that story:
The Adventures of Sinbad. My Beast isn’t simply a man who by some quirk
of birth looks like a lion. He is a lion, a native of Felida where the
inhabitants evolved from a feline species instead of simians. Sinbad’s
Last Voyage was published in 2016, with Sinbad’s
Wife, the story of his courtship and winning of his Beauty, published in
January of this year.
My Beast
is Sinbad sh’en Singh, a half-feline smuggler, a man wanted on seven worlds of
the United Terran Federation, with more than a million Credits bounty on his
head. That was all right with Sin,
because he intended to thumb his nose at the UTF for as long as he could—and
then he met a little Terran named Andrea Talltrees and got shot right out of
orbit…in flames.
His Beauty
is Andrea Talltrees, a feisty little woman, raised by the Navajos after her
father is killed in the Terro-Felidan War and her mother dies of a broken
heart. When her husband is accused of
being a spy in yet another war and is arrested, she doesn’t just sit
around. She goes to the one person her
godfather suggests might help…a certain Felidan smuggler who hates Terran women
almost as much as he hates the Federation…
…And
that’s the way they meet. It’s a culture
clash of epic proportions with a disturbing explosion of instant attraction as
Andi and Sin try desperately not to fall in love with each other.
The
current story is Sinbad’s Pride,
Novel #4 in the series.
When
Andrea Talltrees married Sinbad sh’en Singh, she knew they would have
problems. All newly-weds do, bBut
married life with a part-Felidan ex-smuggler seems to be nothing but one crisis
after another.
Now that
Sin’s been pardoned for his, he whisks Andi and his ready-made family away to
his home planet, where he wants his expected daughter to be born. There he finds he has more adjustments to
make other than those of married life.
Being
law-abiding simply isn’t part of Sin’s lifestyle and he’s already found a way
to legally restore Felida’s pre-war glory by making it a prime smuggling
planet—and the Federation can’t do a thing about it! In order to do that, however, he needs the
cooperation of the second and third most powerful prides on Felida, and they in
turn want to cement the deal through a family relationship.
Felida is
a male-oriented planet, chauvinistic to the nth degree and the fact that Sinbad
sometimes consults his wife and concedes to her wishes doesn’t sit well with
his grandfather or any of the older males in the Pride. Andi being a hated Terran doesn’t help,
either, and the feisty little Navajo finds herself forcefully striving to act
more like a Felidan female and less like her usual independent self. In other
words, the newly-reinstated heir and his spouse have a lot going against them
and only their determination to be accepted going for them.
That’s why
Sin finds himself with a very angry Prime Wife, as he tries to explain to Andi
why he’s taking not one but two concubines though he swears he loves her and
wouldn’t be unfaithful in a million years.
If he doesn’t handle this right, Sin is facing a future which may
involve sleeping on a sofa until he’s an octogenarian.
In the meantime,
sons Cash and Adam are growing up and becoming men—in every sense of the
word—though Sin sometimes thinks sense doesn’t enter into their actions. When a former smuggling associate declares
war on Sin’s new criminal efforts, the two youngsters are brought into the
fight and the decisions they make soon lead to a tragedy threatening to tear
Sin’s newly-made family apart.
Sinbad’s
Pride is a play on
words. A Pride on Felida is made
up of various clans loyal to one chief.
Sinbad is the heir to the largest pride.
He also has plenty of pride in the usual sense of the word, and occasionally
he has to decide when to let that pride go and when to balance revenge with
mercy.
It’s also
a story about family, and how, in the face of crises usually blasting a family
apart, a man who has lost everything must now keep together those he’s now blessed
with.
Sinbad’s
Pride is sometimes funny, sometimes tragic adventure, very occasionally erotic,
and one I think readers will enjoy it.
BLURB:
Being a
family man can’t keep a smuggler on the straight and narrow.
Sinbad
sh’en Singh returns to his former occupation, with help from a loophole in
Felida’s treaty…which means the Federation can’t do a thing about it.
The Fed
may not be a threat, but wife Andi is. She doesn’t want a smuggler for a
husband.
Things get
even rockier when two of the pride chiefs offer their daughters as concubines
to the pride chief’s heir. It’ll take a great deal of sweet talk to make Andi
agree to that!
Then
there’s that smuggler who received Sin’s territories, and won’t give them up
without a fight…
Overconfident
as always, Sin’s sure he can handle it all…except for Andi. Bringing her around
will be his biggest challenge.
Domestic
bliss may soon be a thing of the past.
EXCERPT:
“I’ve
received a message from Salu-Khan,” Murad announced, glancing at the scroll he
held. “He’s eager to become a part of
your operation, Andrew—so eager in fact that he’s requesting permission to
join!”
“Grandsire, that’s great! With Salu-Khan’s participation, we’ll have
two-thirds of the Prides behind us.”
“Salu-Khan
wants more than a business association, I’m afraid,” Murad went on. He tossed the scroll onto the desk and looked
down at his grandson.
“What
do you mean, Grandsire?”
“He
has a daughter of breeding age. He’s
requesting a union with our Den through marriage.”
“Doesn’t he know Amir-Kasdan’s
bonded?”
“He wants you for his daughter, Andrew.”
It wasn’t respectful to laugh at his
grandfather but Sin couldn’t help it. “Guess
he’s out of luck then since I’m already married—“
“—and I’ve sent him my reply,
agreeing to the affiliation,” Murad went on, as if he hadn’t spoken.
“B-but I can’t-- Grandsire, I already have a mate!”
“Salu-Khan’s aware of that and
accepts the fact that his daughter will be merely a concubine,” Murad went on
imperturbably.
“Concu-- I don’t want a concubine!” Sin
exclaimed. “Besides, Andi wou—“
He broke off quickly. He’d almost said Andi would never allow it, and that was definitely the wrong thing
to say to the Head of the Clan.
“Andrea went through a Felidan
marriage ceremony with you, Andrew,” his grandfather reminded him. “She agreed to follow our customs and laws
and Felidan law allows a kh’ta
concubines. Your mate has no say-so in
the matter.”
Murad’s tone made it final, the
matter settled, but Sin wasn’t about to accept his grandfather’s command so
easily.
“What about my say-so? I say I don’t
want another female, either as a wife
or a concubine! I—“
“As you just pointed out, Andrew, we
need Salu-Khan’s backing. In something
this important, there can’t be any dissention among the participants.” Murad was forcing himself to remain calm,
since he understood how his grandson felt about his wife, having himself been
so in love with his own mate that he’d never thought to take another after she
died. “As Pride Heir, you must obey. You have
to do this. For the Pride.”
“Forget it!” Sin retorted, turning
away and stalking to the window. From
Grandsire’s side of the house, he could see the high cliffs rising above them
and the trees trembling in the winter wind.
He looked back at Murad. “No.”
Just that one word. No arguments.
Murad sighed again. “I’m afraid you have to, Andrew. We can’t afford to insult Salu-Khan’s Clan a
second time.”
“Second
time?” Sin frowned. “Other than his
obvious important, Grandsire, why does Salu-Khan’s name sound so familiar?”
“His
brother was the Pride Chief your mother was bonded to, the one your father
killed in order to make her his mate and save the unborn whelp that became you,
my beloved grandson!”
“Oh.” Sin was suitably silenced for a moment. He stood there without speaking, for once not
really knowing what to say, and Murad seized his moment of uncertainty to plunge
on.
“The
female will arrive here in four days. On
that afternoon, the Ceremony will take place.
You will receive her and make her your concubine.”
Silently,
Sin glared at his grandfather, wanting to argue but knowing there was nothing
he could say. Murad sh’en Singh had
spoken. The Pride Heir had to obey.
Ducking
his head in a quick bow, he answered, “I’ll obey, Grandfather, but I wish to go
on record as protesting this union, and state that I’m definitely entering into
it unwillingly!”
Before
Murad could reply, he whirled and stalked out.
Oh God! How am I going to tell Andi?
BUY LINKS:
AUTHOR’S BIO:
This past December, Toni V. Sweeney celebrated her 74th birthday. This month, she’s celebrating the release of her 74rd novel.
Since the publication of her first novel in 1989, Toni divides her time between writing SF/Fantasy under her own name and romances under her pseudonym Icy Snow Blackstone. In March, 2013, she became publicity manager for Class Act Books (US) . She is also on the review staff of the New York Journal of Books and the paranormal Romance Guild, and in 2016 was certified a professional reader by netgalley.com..
Find out more about Toni:
Twitter: @ToniVSweeney