Author Name: F.T. Lukens
Book Name: The Star Host
Series: Broken Moon
Book: One
Release Date: March 3, 2016
Blurb:
Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of
people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s
life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among
the neighboring drifts. When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must
remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the
Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.
He finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A
member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren
needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren
doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet, and an
eventful ride on a merchant ship, Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home.
Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and
try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.
Pages or Words: 258 pages
Categories: Fiction, Gay fiction, M/M Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Excerpt:
Once at the hangar, Ren broke away from the two guards and entered the lancer, walking up the
stairs, irritation a heavy feeling in his chest.
“Reporting for work,” Ren said, his tone heavily laced with annoyance.
Janus popped up from a console she had been working under, goggles on her face, gray hair sticking
up everywhere. “You!” she snapped. “I told you not to come back.”
Ren rolled his eyes. “It’s not my choice. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”
“Where are your guards? I told the dumb one not to bring you back, Abiathar’s orders be damned. I
don’t want your kind working on these ships.”
She poked a finger hard into Ren’s chest and he staggered back, and rubbed his hand over the spot.
“What the stars do you mean by my kind?”
Her eyes grew comically large behind the goggles. “You don’t know?” She laughed, bordering on
hysterical. “You’re more dangerous than I thought. You can’t try to control it if you don’t even know
what you are.”
Ren frowned. His tolerance for the cryptic nonsense everyone had spouted since he arrived was
gone. He took a step toward the hull and Janus stiffened.
“Don’t,” she barked.
“Don’t what? Touch it? What will happen, huh?”
Her face paled and her chest heaved with panicked breaths. “You don’t know what you’re capable
of.”
Ren laughed. “I’m capable of nothing. I’m a duster, planet-born with very limited experience with
tech. You have no reason to be frightened of me.”
He moved closer to the hull, hand outstretched, fingers splayed.
She whimpered. “Please, don’t.”
Ren slammed his hand against the hull, his fingertips leaving greasy marks on the shiny surface. As
he predicted, nothing happened.
He turned back to Janus. “See? Nothing–”
His word tangled in his throat, cut off, because suddenly, Ren was consumed with power, rushing
from his toes to his fingertips. A blue tint clouded his vision, and his body suffused with golden warmth.
And then he was floating amongst the wires, connected to the ship, to the energy source, to everything.
The lancer pulsed under his skin, tangling in his veins, its systems integrated with his senses.
It was freeing and frightening.
His consciousness raced along the circuits and he could fix it. He could fix everything. He found the
tangle of wires in the artificial gravity system and bypassed it. He found the broken circuits in the air
recyclers and with a pulse of power, refurbished them. He saw the static in the com system, a physical
entity, and he cleared it away with a brush of his metaphysical hand.
The longer Ren floated through the ship, the less connected he was to his physical body. And if he
thought about it, he didn’t need his body. Why would he need his body? He was free here. He moved
around with ease, the wires and the systems his route, and the more he pushed, the more he felt the other
ships too. They were nearby, on the edge of his perception, and he could go to those, he could jump to
the other ones and repair them too.
He could.
He could.
Buy the book:
Interlude Press Web Store: store.interludepress.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1RHWcQ5
Barnes & Noble: http://www.
Smashwords: https://www.
Apple iBookstore: The Star Host
All Romance eBooks: https://www.
Meet and follow the author:
Today I’m very
lucky to be interviewing F.T. Lukens of The
Star Host.
Hi F.T., thank you
for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your
background, and your current book.
Hi, everyone. This
is F.T. and I’m here to talk about my debut novel The Star Host which is a young adult, science fiction adventure.
The story features two teenagers, Ren and Asher, as they embark on a journey to
save their planet and their friends.
1)
Is
there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than any others?
Love? Action? Romance? Tragedy?
I don’t know if
any one of the above is harder to write, per se, but I do have different
strategies for writing each. Action may be the most challenging, especially
when I have an entire group involved. I usually end up closing my eyes and
imagining how the characters are moving, what they’re seeing, smells, sounds
etc. And then I hope I can get all of it down on paper and hope it makes sense.
And also, hope my editors can help me out.
2)
What
do you think makes a good story?
Anything that is
compelling is a good story. If you a writer can make me invested in the
characters and the choices they are making, then it’s a good story.
3)
Do you
hear from readers much? What do they say?
I am very active
on social media and I love to hear from readers. My twitter is my main way of
interacting with folks, but I also have a tumblr, and email. And I love hearing
from people. One of the reasons that I wanted to be an author is to share the
stories I create, so I love getting feedback. Thus far, the feedback for The Star Host has been amazingly
supportive. I’m very excited about it.
4)
How
many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
Well, this is my
debut novel, so I will have to say The
Star Host is my favorite. And I do love this novel. It’s pretty much my
perfect first book. I always wanted to write a story similar to this and I’m so
lucky that I’ve had the opportunity to write it, and share it with the world
through Interlude Press.
5)
What
do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I actually have a
ton of hobbies. I crochet. I am an avid television watcher. I coach and play
softball during the spring and summer. I am a blue belt in Taekwondo. I
actually had to take a break from TKD after I had my third child but I’m ready
to get back into it and strive for my black belt. I collect action figures with
my husband. We have a huge collection which is currently all in boxes. Someday,
when the kids are all grown up, I’ll rebuild my Lego Hogwarts castle and
grounds and display it again.
BIO:
F.T. wrote her first short story when she was in third grade and her love of writing
continued from there. After placing in the top five out of ten thousand entries in a writing
contest, she knew it was time to dive in and try her hand at writing a novel.
A wife and mother of three, F.T. holds degrees in psychology and English literature, and is a
long-time member of her college’s science-fiction club. F.T. has a love of cheesy television
shows, superhero movies, and science-fiction novels—especially anything by Douglas
Adams.
Connect with F.T. at authorftlukens.wordpress.com on Twitter @ftlukens, on Tumblr at
ftlukens.tumblr.com and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/ftlukens.
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27830154-the-star-host
Publisher: Duet Books, the Young Adult imprint of Interlude Press
Cover Artist: C.B. Messer
Tour Dates & Stops:
3-Mar: Hearts on Fire, Happily Ever Chapter, Kirsty Loves Books, Velvet Panic
4-Mar: Full Moon Dreaming, Havan Fellows, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
7-Mar: Jessie G. Books, Divine Magazine, Boys on the Brink Reviews
8-Mar: V's Reads, Butterfly-O-Meter, Love Bytes
9-Mar: Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Nephy Hart, KathyMac Reviews
10-Mar: Bonkers About Books, Inked Rainbow Reads, Prism Book Alliance, Attention is Arbitrary
11-Mar: A.M. Leibowitz, The Novel Approach
14-Mar: Man2ManTastic, Anna Butler Fiction
15-Mar: Molly Lolly, Bayou Book Junkie
16-Mar: BFD Book Blog, My Fiction Nook
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press Web Store gift card (grand prize) + 5 winners of The Star Host eBook
Thank you for hosting me!
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