The Lady Bringing Stargate Science to the Galaxy

There is one major science in my To Be Sinclair series of science fiction romances, and it is developed by Felice Sinclair, Empress of the Sinclair Demesnes.  I introduce Lady Felicia Sorensen in the first book, Dignity, as a university student because the absolute basis of her research happens in that book.  But there's always a backstory that never gets written, so here's where she's coming from!

Felicia is so nerdy, her parents actually had her tested for Asperger's because they thought her preoccupation with all things science was unnatural for a lady.  Her mother tried to teach her embroidery and failed.  The most Felicia got out of it was to wonder why beauty was such a draw for people when practical is the only way to go!

As a result, Felicia's parents have her placed in Lady Brighton's Sorority for Royal Ladies, a huge mansion on the edge of campus.  Freshmen room with juniors, and sophomores with seniors, so the freshmen have opportunities to learn the 'social graces', namely, how to greet people in various situations, how to address them, how to stand, sit, and dress for formal occasions, and so forth.  Felicia kind of knows the basics, but her parents despair of her single-minded pursuit of data.  They also enroll her there for chaperonage and protection.

Lady Brighton nominates Felicia to be the Emperor's date because she knows Felicia will behave meticulously, being the smartest and best student in her sorority.  He falls madly in love with her because she's not a socialite.  So she's dating the Emperor when 'that thing happens' on her computer again.  Recognizing it as significant, she sets her old computer up on her desk to collect data on it, but she makes it look like the computer's not even on.  Why?  Because even though her freshman roommate is about as air-headed as a college student can get, Felicia realizes it could be a discovery of monumental proportions.

That odd little computer 'thing' saves the day, but it's in book two, Majesty, that Empress Felice Sinclair develops stargate science.  This book is only about five or ten percent romance, and a great deal of that is the murky stuff she works through with her husband the Emperor. 

It takes her a few months to get used to her duties and the press of her social schedule, but when she starts investigating that odd little computer glitch, she devotes all the time she possibly can to her laboratory.  Since she is a busy lady, that means it takes her a few years to get some results that really matter, and at that point, she tells her husband in that little whisper they do when they're in bed, because she's paranoid about anyone getting access to this knowledge -- even eavesdroppers!  Still, Majesty is where she presents stargates to the galaxy and charges huge sums of money for a polity to purchase one.

The general question that initiated the To Be Sinclair series was: What will the greatest ruling family in the history of the galaxy be like?  Yet there are dozens of lesser questions, and Majesty answers the question:  What if a lady scientist had so much support that money was no object and there were no political obstacles?  How does she do it?  You'll have to read Majesty to find out!

Dignity is at Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other ebook retailers.

Majesty is at Amazon, iBooks,  Smashwords,  Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other ebook retailers.

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can always email me!

Namaste

SFR Brigade Showcase: Excerpt from INTEGRITY

The Science Fiction Romance Brigade is a fabulous group of authors who work to promote this science fiction subgenre's potential as the best niche in the galaxy! The SFR Brigade Showcase consists of excerpts by up to 20 authors to give you an idea of our work.  Please visit the SFR Brigade Showcase for this month's excerpts.  And here is mine, from a work in progress....

...in which Princess Kayla Pierson-Sinclair finds herself attracted to the brilliant but (allegedly) autistic Lord Graham Wooldridge, a master pianist....

SFR Brigade Showcase:  Excerpt from Integrity, 

book 12 of the To Be Sinclair series by Eva Caye

When they got to the room, Kayla indicated the door to a Sentinel, who stopped them by holding up one hand; he then entered to scan Elisha’s suite.

Graham wondered, “Why did he have us wait out here?”

“Sentinels search the room before any Imperial enters.”

“But, why do you need them?”

Once Captain Hathaway allowed her in, she drew Graham with her by the hand.  “Well, the Emperor’s family is supremely important, and there are a lot of horrible people who would attack us or even kill us just for the notoriety.”

She tucked her and Aimee’s clothing and shoes into the large overnight bag she had brought over while finishing her explanation.  “That’s undoubtedly why you had a watchman go with you on your tour, so he could protect you from harm.”

Turning, she was stunned by Graham’s intent stare.  “People would kill you?”

“Or you.  You’re important, too, you know.”

His eyes grew wide with horror, as if he had never been told that in his life.  “Graham, when did your father decide to favor your younger brother as his heir?”

He struggled to find the words, face going blank.  “I was eighteen when it was explained to me.  I don’t know when he made the decision, though.”

Fourteen years of high insult, alongside perhaps twenty years of utmost dedication to his art form, drawing crowds of admirers and heaven only knew how much money.  With an inadequate understanding of social mores, he probably lived in a perpetual state of confusion. 

She murmured an odd quote that came to her. “No prophet is accepted in his own country.”

He blinked.  “I’ve never been called a prophet before.  But I don’t want a future without you in it.”

Kayla set down the bag as he approached her.  She put her hands on his chest as he put his arms around her, instinctively trying to keep her distance.  “Thank you.  That was the nicest compliment I’ve ever received.”

Graham murmured, “I want to marry you.”

Her eyes flew wide.  “We aren’t even dating, yet.”

“I don’t care.  You make me happy, and I love you.”  He immediately bent to kiss her.

She was about to protest, but that gentle kiss transported her to a land of light on a pillow of fluffy white clouds, nestled in the arms of a lover.  As he tilted his face to kiss her from the other side, Kayla realized she had never felt so cherished in her life.  His arms enveloped her like the wings of an angel, and the way he pulled her against his body made her feel truly protected.  It was as if now was the only time and here was the only place when he kissed her with such exquisite concentration.

What was this pure, childlike innocence he projected?  Was he really simple, despite his intelligence?  Or just… basic, with no room for dissimulation? She leaned back slightly, and he immediately broke off the kiss, so he wasn’t completely ignorant of physical cues.

Staring at the pure satisfaction on his face, she realized she didn’t know what to say, but whatever it was, it had to be the wholehearted truth for him.  “Thank you for making this such a pleasant day.”

“No, thank you.”  He certainly wasn’t ignorant of conversational niceties, either.  “When can I see you again?”

“Ah.  Where would you like to go on a date?”

“Go?”  Graham’s eyebrows drew together.  “Do we have to go out?”

Kayla chuckled.  “I guess not.  Would you like to come to the Imperial Palace for dinner sometime?  We have a piano in the library, and I’m sure my family would love to hear you play.”

He flashed her that lovely smile, even white teeth with lips as generous as her own.  “That would be great.”  She couldn’t tell if his eyes were hazel or a kind of greenish gray in this light, but they shone with a sweetness she’d never seen in a man before.

It was hardly 20:00, and it would be a shame if she were to go home so early when she could be partying.  “How does this sound?  I’m hungry again, and I’m sure your kitchens are providing all the hors d’oeuvres for the ball.  I’ll have someone take this bag to the Sentinel ground car, we can pick up something to eat and drink, and maybe take it somewhere quiet.”

“I know exactly where to take you.”  He tugged at her hand, picked up her bag, and exited the suite. 

[ ....  ]

When they finished eating, he led her around to point out the features he had told her about.  He regaled her with details about the library in their house in Wooldridge Duchy before settling with her on a wide tufted leather couch.  When they started necking, her Sentinel and his watchman faded into the woodwork.

His roving hand stopped on her thigh over the strap to her holster.  “What’s this?”

“The strap holding my weapon.”  Kayla observed him as he gaped.  “We Imperials tend to wear hidden weapons when we go out in public because we never know if all our defenses will collapse and we’ll have to depend on ourselves.”

“Do you know how to use it?”  His wide-eyed blink showed her he had fallen into a somber mood.

“Of course, but please don’t tell anyone.  It’s our secret, and otherwise I’d like to forget about it because I was having fun.”

Graham’s grin returned, and the spark in his eyes lit up Kayla’s heart.  “I was, too.”  He drew her onto his lap for a deeper kiss….

Dozing deep in each other’s arms, half-reclining on a number of side cushions, they woke up when his grandfather, Duke Donal Wooldridge, harrumphed.  “Your Highness, please excuse my forwardness, but the party’s winding down, and I daresay you’ll want to head home.”

Kayla lightly rubbed her eyes with the fingertips of one hand before sitting up.  “Thank you, Your Grace.”  She smiled at Graham as his grandfather snorted and turned on his heel for the door.

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As He Stood Grinning: A Vision of World War III

I wasn’t planning on waking up at 2 a.m. to tell you of my nightmare, but I’ve been a ‘believer’ in prophecy for many years, and one thing I’ve felt was true was that, if you announce a prophecy, it will almost inevitably NOT come true, so here we are.

I saw a leader in a huge political meeting in a chamber, and I won’t get into that any further for obvious reasons.  This leader had decided he would use this opportunity to drop a figurative ‘bombshell’, a unilateral decision that would enrage almost everyone present, even people in his own party.  As the shouting began, he gave a cue, and military-style people swept into the chamber and pointed their guns at the protestors.  He grinned and said something like, “Now that I have your attention.…”

The stunning part of the dream was the unexpected swiftness of how everything devolved.  He had everything planned out: threaten to round up his ‘enemies’, and while they stood in fear and shock, he would rally his ‘supporters’ to do what he wanted.  But over half of his supporters weren’t prepared to ideologically abandon their principles, and certainly not at the drop of a hat, so the shouting began anew as the crowd grew rabid against the man, despite the guns aimed their way.

It was obvious they expected reason to take the upper hand.  It was even reasonable to assume the men with guns (I hesitate to call them soldiers) wouldn’t open fire or commit slaughter, due to the horrific shame and vengeance that would pursue them.  But the shouting scared the ‘leader’, so when the crowd surged toward him, he gave a signal….

Blood, everywhere.  Horror at the epic slaughter, cameras running and the man rushed away by his gun-holders, never to be seen in person again.  I distinctly remember seeing two of the leader’s staunchest supporters wiping blood off their faces, in shock as they realized they DIDN’T SIGN UP for this, that their political idealism, their cronyism, was a convenience and a boon in stable times, but that their ‘leader’ had just set them up to take the fall for the horrors to come.  They felt such deep shame that they discussed committing suicide, right there amongst their fallen comrades, with cameras running.

By ‘unexpected swiftness’, I’m also referring to the planning in the background that enabled the bloody sweeping that followed.  Within HOURS, millions of people were arrested for vague charges, and anyone who protested was shot.  The intent was to scare people, at first: shoot at the least sign of protest, and everyone will let you get away with it.  But the shooters soon realized if they were in for a dime, they were in for a dollar, and they were already compromised, so they might as well DO THEIR DUTY to earn someone’s approval and a paycheck….

Cities were blockaded to try to control the populace and became slaughterhouses.  People in the countryside couldn’t get word from their friends and relatives in the city, and barely any news, so they shook with fear and pity and remorse and rage, wondering if they were guilty for having voted in such an unstable ‘leader’.  At their gatherings with their neighbors, they discussed how to handle troops that might be coming for them, never realizing those troops would be foreign soldiers….

Do you really think the entire world hasn’t been noticing what’s been happening and PREPARING FOR WAR?  By ‘unexpected swiftness’, I mean, the country will be invaded within DAYS, less than a week if my nightmare is true.  And, frankly, so-called ‘allies’ will turn their faces away, saying, “They DID IT TO THEMSELVES….”  And it’ll be the only way THEY will survive, because every neighboring nation with a grudge will decide now’s the time to get back at so-and-so, while everyone else in the world is aghast at what’s happening while the cameras roll.

But the confusion of who is attacking whom and for what reasons will lead almost every nation into a killing spree, bent on revenge for their real and perceived slights.  The end of my vision was me watching television with my husband, and hearing about worldwide death tolls, when a knock comes upon our door.  I look at him and say, “Don’t comply with anything, because you’re better off dead than compromised,” just before the men with guns burst in to try to herd us to a slave-labor camp.

I judge the time from the Death Chamber to World War III to take about a week, max.  I feel they came for me and hubby within about a month.  If nuclear weapons are going to fall, I think it’ll come after that month, because I had no dream-impression of them.

The ‘best bet’ for survival will be the usual: keep your head down if you can, pray for peace and common sense to prevail, and beg God for forgiveness for having enabled a maniac to hold enough power to kill all your friends and relatives while you cower and hope for just one more day of your miserable existence.  Don’t bother begging your dead friends and relatives for forgiveness, though; they’re in a better place, laughing their butts off while watching you writhe, tortured by your own bad choices. 

In this nightmare-of-a-war-to-come, you WILL be better off dead.  So you might as well stand up now for what is good, LIFE, and reject any political person, party, or decision that leads to death.  That’s the only way I feel we have to avoid World War III: find a place within yourself that works for peace, and love and light and life, and reject any solution that leads to pain, illness, suffering, and death.  It’s the only way to save your soul, to be true to the principle of Life. 

Dare to redesign your life, one decision at a time, to reflect your new integrity.  It’s the only way to LIVE.

Namaste!

Easter Egg for Ability

Greetings!  I hope you're enjoying your summer, as well as my most recent book, Fidelity.

I recently wrote an Easter Egg for Ability.  I felt bad putting it out without an Easter egg, but I knew I'd probably get to it someday.  Fidelity intervened, and then I found the time and inclination to write Ability's Easter egg, so voilà, it's now available!  My editor really loved it, too, which is always a good clue!

I uploaded it to KDP and asked the Amazon team to put out a notification to previous purchasers that they could re-download Ability for the Easter egg.  However, I don't know if they'll do that.  I've requested they notify previous purchasers to do that before but those weren't 'substantive' changes.  This time I'm pretty sure they'll do it, given that it's 25,018 words!!




For those of you who purchased your book through Smashwords, iTunes, Kobo, or anywhere else, I'm sorry I don't have the ability to notify you to re-download the book.  I'm quite willing to send you a copy if you email me and tell me which file format you need.  
Thanks to my loyal readers!  Unfortunately, Civility is going to be a bear to write; I anticipate it taking at least two years.  Princess Elizabeth, who's 57 years old (two years after Ability), is going to be sent on a bit of an adventure!  Here's a VERY tentative cover for Civility.  I do anticipate this being the FINAL book of the To Be Sinclair series.  I have other things I want to write, some in the Sinclair universe, and some... not quite!

Namaste



UPDATE:  According to KDP:


"Since book updates can make customers lose their highlights, bookmarks, and notes, we only send updates to fix serious issues like unreadable text or cut-off images.

If the only new change is the addition of new content, that wouldn't fall into a serious quality fix.

However, your readers will have the option to update their books! If they go into the "Manage Content and Devices" they'll see that a new update is available for your book. At that point they can choose to update their copy with the new material!

For more details on sending updated content to customers, please see our Help page:
https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A1RGGPBKDR1BPZ"

So, there you go.  Since I've updated all my books recently, try updating them all again and see if that works, too!  And let me know if it does!!

Thank you so much!

Fidelity (To Be Sinclair, Book 10) is LIVE!

Welcome to the latest book in the To Be Sinclair series, FIDELITY:

Prince Richard Sinclair is his brother's right-hand-man and go-to guy, who excels as the Emperor's Fireman because he can't deal with his personal life. He only plays the Imperial Bad Boy because that's what makes the dukes respect him, despite his age, intelligence, education, and birthright. Delightfully intrigued by Lady Meredith Lauder, his virtual Cinderella, he rescues her from her burdensome family life at the first opportunity. 

Scarred by ridicule and neglect, Merry gleefully abandons her family, but she feels she has to work at the Imperial Palace to compensate for Richard's generosity. Even as he entices her to his bed, she feels like she's being true to her core principles, to never be dependent upon a man, and to pursue a relationship of equals.

But when the Emperor disappears, they realize just how fragile their world really is, both personally and politically. Richard desperately throws himself into governing as Imperial Steward while demanding that everyone search for Matthieu. And Merry plays the part of the 'supportive girlfriend' in his hour of need... until two men jeopardize the emotional balance they've gained in their lives! 

How can Prince Richard deal with the frightful political situation without losing his lover?  Will his family tear him and Merry apart, or will hers? Or will it be his anger issues, so like her dad's? *Note: This book contains sexual situations.

Fidelity is about 90% romance to 10% science fiction, and it comes between Morality and Ability in the series.  I couldn't help it; there was a ten-year gap, and Richard began demanding that his story be told!  So I re-numbered the books in my series and included Evan's Ladies as a regular book (#7).

Besides two prequels, I have only one more planned in the series, Civility, featuring Princess Elizabeth, finally!  (I'm hoping insiders are laughing at the joke!)  She's 57 years old and tired of being the Demesnian Representative to the Galactic Assembly, so Emperor Matthieu offers her a new position... and her husband Gerard is not pleased!  Given that this series is science fiction romance, I hope that's enough intrigue to get you interested.  It's going to be a bear of a book to write; I anticipate it taking two years, actually.

*Insert usual appeals to buy my book and promote it to everyone the reader knows*
*Insert typical pleas for reviews of Fidelity so I can better market it*
*Insert everyday prayer that people buy, read, and review every book in the series*

Buy links:  Amazon  iTunes  B&N  Smashwords

Amazon Author Page  https://www.amazon.com/Eva-Caye/e/B009F50NF8
Twitter  https://twitter.com/EvaCaye
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Email  evacaye@gmail.com (for PayPal deposits to my anemic bank account)

SFR Promo at SMSchmitz.com!

Greetings!  Once again, S. M. Schmitz has put together another promotion for participating authors to offer a book for free or $.99 and to generate interest in science fiction romance.  Please visit www.smschmitz.com/promo to find dozens of books, on Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and other ebook retailers.



My offering is Evan's Ladies, a book consisting of four novellas describing Prince Evan Sinclair's problems in finding a lady to love.  Here's an excerpt:

He was walking Mother through the high-tech and massively complex Command Center when Sentinel Chief Savat hailed him. Letting go of her waist just enough to gesture to the Chief that he would be right back, he saw Mother to his parents’ nearby quarters and settled her on the bed, simply drawing the blankets from the edge over her.

[….]

Back in the Command Center, he approached Chief Savat.

“Your Highness, you are housed on the fifth floor, yes? Please feel free to take your messages at Station Five off the second node. Just palm the system on; no need for any special codes,” the Chief said kindly.

“Where are Father and Zhaiden?”

“The Emperor is at the emergency meeting of the Ducal Assembly. The Crown Prince is with their children while Renee is with your mother. They both needed the break.” The Chief wiped his own frazzled features with one hand.

“And how many hours have you been awake?” Evan hinted.

With a snort, the Chief thanked him for the reminder that beds existed in the universe, bowed, and immediately called across the room for the duty officer to find the highest-ranking officer who had had any sleep since midnight to take over. As Evan left, the duty officer drawled, “That would be Ensign Xavier.”

This reference to the mythical Sentinel, named with various ranks for assigning levels to information when speaking in code in public, caused chuckles to erupt all over the room. Although Evan could appreciate the comic relief of the stressed-beyond-measure Sentinels, he couldn’t seem to shake himself from the emptiness threatening to overwhelm him.

Locking himself into Station Five, he began reviewing his vid messages. Several of them were from ladies whose codes he recognized, tearful laments about the destruction of the Palace and how grateful they were he had survived, ending with let-me-know-if-you-need-anything. One code was unknown to him. He opened the message.

Lady Nicole Knightley, whom he had last seen heading for a tram, stared out the screen at him. Clad in his jacket, she remained gravely silent for a long moment.

“If you need to get away from it all, come to visit. My parents and I will take good care of you.” She smiled that sad, wistful smile of hers and palmed off the recording.

He called her immediately. Although it was the middle of the night for her, she answered. Wiping sleep from her eyes, she peered at him. “When’s the last time you had any sleep?”

“Three hours, about eleven hours ago.”

Nicole nodded. “I’m not surprised. When our main activities tent burned down during a month-long summer training expedition in my junior year, none of us could sleep more than a few hours a night for weeks, even after we returned home.” A sly grin crept across her face. “I know a great cure for that, though.”

Evan laughed a bit. “I’m tempted.” Growing melancholic again, he sighed. “I have to get through baby Daniel’s funeral first, along with some other duties. What are your next few weeks like?”

“I finished my research summary last week, so I have no duties until my next field assignment in October. It’s nearly spring now, and Knightley Duchy is so wonderfully green and vibrant and rural, I thought it would be a nice change from the dire events in the capital.”

The warmth and thoughtfulness of her gesture felt like lying among the flowers in the glen of the Imperial Preserve, basking in sunlight to drive away last night’s horrors. He wondered how much of the laboratory clean-up he could leave to Stefan and Josef.

They arranged for him to visit the Knightley Duchy in ten days, and he thanked her with a sweet smile. “You know, all these other ladies who left me messages bewailed this and that, but you’re the only one who offered to help in any concrete way.”

She blinked at that revelation. “And me all the way over here on the other side of the planet. That’s a damn shame.”

“It certainly is. Thank you. I’ll message you once I’ve made the travel arrangements.” He smiled more firmly before palming the vidphone off.

You can find Evan's Ladies at: Amazon, iTunes, B&N, Payhip, and Smashwords.

Enjoy!

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SFR Brigade Presents: Excerpt from Fidelity

The Science Fiction Romance Brigade is a fabulous group of authors who offer a monthly Showcase to let visitors get a glimpse of their works-in-progress or already-published ebooks.  My current selection is the first part of Chapter One of Fidelity, the 10th book in my To Be Sinclair series.  Since I had tantalized my fellow Brigaders with the first sentence for one of our SFR snippets, I figured I owed it to them to at least let them weep with 24-year-old Prince Richard Sinclair.  Our young hero starts at rock-bottom, eventually throwing himself into his work so he doesn't have to think about his miserable excuse of a love life.  Enjoy, and be sure to check out the other contributions at the SFR Brigade Presents blog!

 "I wish I could’ve had your babies.”

“So do I.”  Prince Richard Sinclair nuzzled 23-year-old Lady Sandra Aaronburg’s papery cheek.  Caressing away a wisp of hair that the light breeze had drawn across her face, he let his thumb run along her lips before placing a gentle kiss there. 

Mindful of her horribly painful bones, drained of their strength by the infection and harsh medications, he draped his hand along the outside of her rib cage, wishing he could snuggle her tight.  He rested his head on his upper arm to watch her face in profile.

A red-gold leaf from the antler tree overhead floated toward the down comforter.  Sandra lifted her arm a few centimeters as if to catch it, but even that energy expenditure was too much for her.  

“Oh.”  Her eyes fluttered.  “So pretty.”  With another short breath, she sighed, but didn’t resume breathing.

Even knowing it was the end, even the past two months of frantic treatments, even pleading for her hand despite her insistence that it really didn’t matter, Richard uttered a few soul-tearing sobs as he burrowed on top of her one last time. 

Soft hands gentled his head.  Mother had been reading under a nearby oak for two hours, waiting for this moment.  “Come; let her family say their good-byes, too.”  She helped him sit up, and straightened his rumpled clothes for him.

As Sandra’s parents and siblings moved forward, Richard stood up from the mattress, simply set on the ground, and took in the scene Sandra had loved so well.  The cliff face some ten meters away had a small grotto at chest level, and he had set the gilded crystal angel that resided there on the edge, as if it wanted to bathe in the afternoon sunshine. 

The lilac satin brocade scarf folded beneath its base was her contribution, made six months before, the first time she had ever visited the Imperial Palace.  He remembered her comment at the time:  You can’t expect an angel to live in the rough, now, can you?  She had whipped off her scarf and tucked it deep into the grotto, just so, before demanding the statuette, still in his hands.  He knew he was in love as she carefully placed the angel in its silky new cave, and her exquisite sense of artistry had subsequently enchanted the entire Imperial Family.

He set the angel back into the grotto. Sorry, but I need it more than you.  Picking up the scarf, he let it slip through his fingers a few times.  He traced the snow-white monogram before wrapping the scarf behind his neck and smoothing its folds over his lapels. 

Turning, he went to her tearful parents, hovering over the body that no longer held any meaning for him.  Grasping their hands, he murmured words he barely recognized.  “Thank you for letting us have that moment.  Thank you for understanding.  Thank you.”  He hugged her sister and shook her brother’s hand, and then turned abruptly toward the Imperial Palace, headed for his suite.

Kyle and Patrick were waiting for him outside the central door to Center Wing.  “Is there anything we can get you?” Patrick asked.

“No.”  Blinding tears erupted, streaming down his face before he was engulfed in his cousins’ embrace, forming a tripod of enduring familial support as they grieved with and for him.

When he had calmed and they stood back, he wiped at his eyes with the scarf.  “Grandfather, and now Sandra.  I think I’ll hibernate for a couple of weeks.”

Patrick ran a hand over his face.  “Yeah.  We’ll tell Matthieu.”  He and Kyle clapped him on the back and entered Center Wing with him, but they strode toward Front Wing as Richard hit the button for the lift.

On third floor, he noticed Sentinels taking places along the walls as his youngest sibs and cousins in the Imperial Protocol Academy headed toward the Academy Salon at the front of the hall, just home from Northbridge Prep.  He turned from their carefree chatter to enter his suite, twenty more meters in the direction of the cliff. 

A Sentinel popped out before he reached it.  “Clear.” 

Intent on simply reaching his bed, Richard thoughtlessly left the suite’s door open.  Too distraught to go back and close it, he did close the door to the bedroom on the left before flinging himself on the bed to grieve in the dark.

Perhaps an hour later, his brother Matthieu, the Emperor of Sinclair Demesnes for all of three weeks, interrupted his wallowing in the darkness.  He thanked whoever had opened the door for him, and set a bottle of wine and two glasses on Richard’s nightstand before drawing up a chair from the window’s table. 

Pouring the wine in the light from the door, he looked almost as bad as Richard felt at the moment.  “I hope you’re not going to make me drink this all by myself.”

“No.”  Richard sat up and took the second glass.  “Thanks.”

“To Sandra.”  Matthieu reached his glass out in a toast.

Richard clinked his glass against it.  “The essence of beauty herself.”  He downed a mouthful before he realized Matthieu had brought the really good wine.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at the wine in his glass, it took him a moment to notice Matthieu’s posture.  Instead of a brotherly slouch as if commiserating, he sat upright, slightly tilted forward, as if he were going to ask him to take an assignment.  He flinched at the thought of just getting through the funeral, much less getting back to a so-called normal life.  “Please don’t ask me to do anything.”

Matthieu jerked a little in his chair.  “I… not work.”  He deliberately leaned back, putting one ankle on the other knee, but still regarded Richard intently.  “I just want you to remember that what you had with her was beautiful and good, but that it’s over.  Like I had to deal with after Miriel.”

Richard’s breath caught in his throat.  He had almost witnessed Miriel’s suicide, and certainly remembered its aftermath.  Her lying on the floor of the corridor outside the first-floor Academy work room, bludgeoned eyes and grotesque tilt of her features, distorted from direct pulse pistol damage. Uncle Brian beside her, screaming and writhing on the floor between mini-seizures, damaged by the pulse pistol’s nimbus.  The choking screams from his cousins and sibs as they shoved forward before a Sentinel shoved them back into the work room.

He almost didn’t process Matthieu’s next words.  “I know how much you loved her, and that you needed to witness her death in order to really understand she would be gone forever, but it was also kind of gruesome to watch her dragging you through all those procedures with her.”  He took another sip.  “It was good of you to help her make the decisions, but I wonder how good it was on your behalf.”

Richard blinked blindly while inhaling his oldest brother’s perspective.  “When did you grow so callous?”

“Not callous.”  He sipped again, eyeing him with pure pity.  “I love you and care about your wellbeing.  You did everything you could; you did everything right by the standards we hold as compassionate human beings in our society. 

“I just want you to see that you can move on, now.  You don’t have to tear yourself up for things you didn’t do.  And after Father’s death, we’re both living proof that there’s life after the death of someone you hold dearer than your own life.”

As Matthieu nodded at him, secure in his ability to weather any storm, Richard wondered whether his brother had ever spoken to his wife, Vidya, about his former lady and her death.  Deciding it didn’t matter, he shook his head.  “I don’t know what to do, now.”

“I have some suggestions.”  Matthieu waited.

Richard appreciated that he gave him the space to decide whether to ask for them, or not.  “Let’s have them.”

“Come with me, out to the Academy Salon, and let everyone hug you.  Ask them for their fondest memories of Sandra, and laugh with them and cry with them, because that’s what families do.  Whatever you do, don’t hold it in, because a depressive mindlock can be damn hard to get out of.”

He tipped the glass back to drink the last of his wine, and smacked his lips over it. “I’d also say it’s time for an epic drunk.  Have you ever had an epic hangover?”

A huff of meager laughter burst from his lungs.  “I guess you need to define ‘epic’ for me.”

Matthieu stood to take the bottle in one hand before tilting his head toward the door.  Oddly heartened, Richard led the way out, with his brother’s arm around his shoulders.

Expect Fidelity to be out around late July / early August 2017.  And here are the usual author's links so you can check out my other stuff:

Blog:               http://evacaye.blogspot.com/

Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/eva.caye

Twitter:                      https://twitter.com/EvaCaye

Google +                    http://plus.google.com/u/0/106270772543621634687/posts

Author Central                     http://amazon.com/author/evacaye

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Everything You Need To Know About My *To Be Sinclair* Series

I hope you don't mind if I get whimsical!  I haven't had much sleep, and I just finished up a huge order to print up this graphic as business cards, postcards, and a banner.  While doing all that work, I thought, "What would I use as a tag line for my books if I didn't already have them on the covers?"

 "Girlfriend, you need to get laid!"

I don't know if you've ever known anyone as geeky as Felicia, but I have, and do, and was, and, and.... (I might be marginally Aspie.)  And after all the lousy sex out there, it took a good man to make me enthusiastic about the subject!

-- Yes, you, Darlin' Man, my Sweet Thang!

So my sister couldn't read past the first book because Felicia gets laid like halfway through.  And to her, that's the End of Story.  How pitiful, to think the story ends once the lady has given herself to the man!  Whereas it's just the beginning of a long series, eleven more books, in which miraculous things happen because Felicia is a Very Happy Lady, because she has a Very Awesome Husband!

 
"Yeah, you THINK you're getting away with something, you miserable fink!"

Victor has the patience of a saint, but he's a seether.  And when he decides he's had enough, he'll hand you yer nuts on a platter along with yer boot leather and a slice of humble pie on the side.

It's all because he grew up mega-paranoid.  And rightfully so -- fer pity's sake, if you're taken to the wilderness and then to space to hide from the people who just slaughtered your family, you deserve to be!  He's been bombarded ever since, and then something really horrific happens to him.  So yeah, he has trust issues.

Thank goodness Felicia took enough psychology in college to understand the, ah, murky stuff.  Even in herself...!

  "You're absolved of almost anything if you can put me through the mat!"

Phillip's so into fighting, he'll start a bromance just to make sure his best friend's getting laid!  If he trusts you to fight no-holds, you've just won the lottery because he'll do anything just to keep you around.  Although he's intellectually astute and knows that might does not equal right, it comes a close second to being an honorable man.  The most honorable bad-ass you'll ever meet!  Too bad he's rather shy with the ladies...!

He unfortunately thinks his Imperial stature means he'll never really come to harm, despite his natural and parentally-instilled paranoia. Getting someone banned doesn't hold a candle to whuppin' their ass, though, and he's lucky he has friends at the right time and place.  And if he finally realizes he's your friend, it's for life.

"You can't argue with a sociopath.  And you certainly can't live with them."

Crown Prince Zhaiden is close to perfect, but he let his cock do his thinking one time, and had to pay for it for years.  I have to admit that I knew his ex-wife at one point.  I've had people say, "How could you DO that to him?!"  And I say, "Hey, people like that exist.  If I can help even one person recognize a sociopath and get the hell out of their way, I will have Done My Duty To My Readers."

He's such a sweetie-heart, though!  I adore his interaction with his children.  And he's pure Royalty, through and through, always considering the big picture, always expecting the best from his people, and always delighting in their excellence.  He has one big scar, but otherwise he's pure beauty.

 

"It's socially  unacceptable to implode."

Which is true, Stefan, but guess what?  If you don't let it out here and there, sometimes it comes out in a big, terrifying way

Brothers Josef and Evan can pretty much do so, but then again, they're typical males.  Whereas you, sweet Stefan, are a philosopher and a wannabe angel, if you could just get your emotions under control.  You're so sensitive to the public that I'm amazed you're so outgoing!

So strive for those crumbs of freedom, my lad!  They're not nearly as impossible as propriety makes them out to be.  Ask and ye shall receive, because there's glorious bounty in life, and handsome princes are hard to come by.  I'm glad you don't settle for the socialites, myself!

"Family is everything.  Well, our family, at least...."

It's amazing how three close siblings can be so totally different in their approaches to life.  Brian's a playboy, Anne's finally loosening up, and Christian just wants to be one of the guys.  This must have been the hardest book to write, because I had to give Brian and Anne equal time, when all I really wanted to do was write about Christian, the Good Guy with the heart of pure gold.

Oh, and Rosita!  I think the "Easter Egg" I wrote for this book -- something like 33K words! -- is the best character development I've ever written.  Rosita deserves the knight in shining armor, who is actually a handsome prince!  The very last line in the book makes me cry, EVERY time!  Maybe I'll tell you why someday.

"My soul is bleeding out of the hole in my chest where my heart used to be."

Yeah, poor Evan.  The youngest Imperial Son has the worst things happen to him.  Still, it turned him from a typical male into a man who doesn't depend on surface realities anymore.

Since this book consists of four novellas, I kept calling it Book 6.5, but I'm changing my series so it's filed as a regular book.  This will be Book 7, and I'll keep the title the same, mostly because there are too many candidate names I could use for it.  Like  charity, cruelty, frailty, liberty, rarity, sanity, travesty, adversity, atrocity, brutality, futility, obscenity, publicity -- and only charity is considered a 'noble virtue', the guideline by which I select my titles.  And it's completely inadequate to the task, so Evan's Ladies it is.

"No one deserves this sh*t!"

Prince Matthieu will be the Emperor of his generation, so he works super-hard to keep EVERYONE on track, educated, and feeling like they're an integral part of his family.  He's the most inspirational character, yet he's also as 'real' as they get!  He'll cuss with the other Servicemen and take his fair share of duty, because he understands he'll need to know what the average fellow goes through.  Yep, he's always been brilliant, probably because of that galactic tour his parents took when he was an infant.

What totally blows him into the Dimension of Dread is when people... give up.  He doesn't understand it, until he's had his own soul shredded and realizes that he wants to give up.  But he can't, that's so not him.  But it hurts sooo bad.  But you just can't give up, not when everyone depends on you.  But--!

"Is knowing the truth essential to being right?"

Oh, Princess Grace, you have a lot of moral decisions to make, and to judge, and to act upon on the spur of the moment.  Grace is good because she has one real guiding principle: be the perfect assistant to the Imperial Family, by order of succession, naturally.  She's so seriously intellectual that she asks herself philosophical questions like the one above before she gets out of bed in the morning.

But you don't usually see or hear those questions; they're there in the background, and Grace has a propensity to find the perfect way to distract people.  My favorite line in the entire book:  "Why did it seem like everyone blamed her for their bad decisions?"  A question she instantly sets aside to get someone started on a task, naturally.  And I adore her absolutely blinding dedication to Matthieu, even though they have their disagreements, too!

"After all I've done for you?!"

This is the book that's made me re-number my series.  Prince Richard came popping out after I had already finished Ability and begun working on Civility.  I won't tell you much, except it's more romance than sci fi.

The lovely lady Meredith is his Cinderella rescue, but he's not quite sure what to do with her after that.  He's pretty enlightened for a man, tries to treat the lady as an equal, but sometimes he slips up.  But there is one unforgivable in his book:  being unfaithful.  And Merry... well, she's not really unfaithful, but it sure does look bad!

I anticipate this book to be finished by July or August.  It's already at 75K words, but there's the editing and the prep work, too. Still, be on the lookout for it!

"Happy-go-lucky hardcore heathen gets hit upside the head with True Love!"

Yeah, Brielle isn't your typical Royal by any means.  She's just out to have fun because life has dealt her terribly harsh blows.  Her self-esteem is fairly high, but it wasn't always so, and when she finally goes ga-ga for a guy, she kind of realizes he's her only hope for love.  Yet she also realizes he had contributed a lot to her mental stability at a time when she often thought she couldn't bear another moment.

I particularly loved writing this book because of a propensity I have for recognizing my mind is being blown, and how, and pursuing that new perspective or way of thinking until I can call it up at will.  Brielle thinks in terms of 'Command Perspective', but it's just maturity, plain and simple.  Still, she totally rocks!


 Books in the pipeline:  two prequels that I've work on and off on for foreeeeeeevaaaaaaah, so I'd like to actually finish them someday!  But I mostly work on what has captured my attention at the time.  Oh, and the final book of the To Be Sinclair series, Civility, which I've already started.  The only thing I'll tell you about it is that it features Princess Elizabeth, who is then 57 years old, and she's gonna have an adventure!  Wooooohoooooo!

I hope you've enjoyed my middle-aged madness for this post!  Here are the usual social media and buy links, since it's just the thing authors have to do or they won't be taken seriously:

Facebook:       https://www.facebook.com/eva.caye

Twitter:                      https://twitter.com/EvaCaye

Author Central                     http://amazon.com/author/evacaye

Payhip                       http://payhip.com/evacaye

Smashwords             https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/evacaye

And all the usual places to get ebooks:  iTunes, Kobo, etcetera.

Namas'cray!