I'm thrilled today to be a part of the promotional blog tour for Under Nameless Stars, the second book in the Zenn Scarlett series by Christian Schoon. As this series involves all sorts of fascinating science fiction-related things, like traveling through space and life as an exoveterinarian, I thought I'd ask Christian if his leading lady Zenn had any good tips for those of us who have yet to experience space travel for ourselves.
There's a fabulous competition and giveaway associated with this tour, so be sure and check out the bottom of the post for all the details as well as a link to the full list of participating blogs. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Christian!
Hi and thanks for letting Zenn and I tie up the “Under Nameless Stars Blog-Tour-and-Party-Shuttle Craft” to the mooring-mast high above the Supernatural Snark Nature Park/Bookish Emporium.
Without further ado: Zenn Scarlett’s Top 5 Rules for Interstellar Travel (when you find yourself with no ticket for said travel. Caution: may contain minor spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.)
• When smuggling oneself aboard a starliner inside a crate-cage that also contains a large sandhog boar, double check to ensure that your sedation field generator is in good repair. A faulty seda-field unit could allow the sandhog to regain consciousness at an inopportune moment. As any certified exoveterinarian will tell you, sandhogs are unpredictable by nature and frequently aggressive. Since these creatures attain mature body lengths of over twelve feet and weights in excess of two thousand pounds, being confined inside a crate with a fully awake animal of this species could result in serious bodily harm or death.
• After successfully smuggling oneself aboard a starliner (whether by cage-crate or other means), take immediate steps to secure a discrete location in which to conceal yourself. One optimal solution: befriend, or have yourself befriended by, a fellow passenger who actually has a ticket and a cabin for the duration of the voyage. If this fellow traveler happens to have a refreshingly jaunty sense of humor and also be wealthy enough to afford a luxury suite of rooms, all the better.
• In the highly unlikely event you’re invited to visit the Indra chamber of the starliner, inquire whether the ship’s captain has informed the Indra groom of your visit to the pilot room. Indra grooms are notoriously protective of their chambers and are likely to resent any distracting intrusions, especially around the time period when they enter into their trance-like communion with the Indra. (For those unfamiliar: Indra, also known as Stonehorses, are 700-foot-long vacuum-dwelling creatures that have evolved the capacity to “tunnel” through the space-time continuum, propelling starliners across vast distances in mere nano-seconds. Indra grooms direct the Indra in these travels).
• In the starliner dining saloons, pay careful attention to the small placards designating which foods are suitable for consumption by which species of passenger. The placards are color-coded for easy referral. In no instance confuse the green of the “Safe for Humanoids” placard with the somewhat similar blue-green “Safe for Zeta Reticulani” placard. Human travelers making this mistake have been known to spend the remainder of their journey locked in their cabin’s bathrooms emitting bovine-like moo-ing vocalizations.
• Be aware that should your starship fall prey to what is commonly referred to as “The Vanishing Indra-Ship Crisis,” your starliner’s company will deny responsibility for any liability relating to this event. Since the vanishing of these ships has been designated “An Act of the Gods” by the controlling legal authorities of the Local Systems Accord, your surviving relatives will be unable to file a claim for damages resulting from your loss and/or death. However, should you at some future time re-appear, most starliner companies will compensate you with free second-class passage to your home planet from the point of your re-appearance.
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UNDER NAMELESS STARS
Zenn Scarlett’s novice year of exoveterinarian training on Mars isn’t quite going to plan…
After facing a plot to destroy her school and its menagerie of alien patients, could things get worse? Yes, they could: her absent father has been kidnapped.
Desperate to find him, Zenn stows away aboard the Helen of Troy, a starliner powered by one of the immense, dimension-jumping beasts known as Indra. With her is Liam Tucker, a Martian boy who is either very fond of her, very dangerous to her, or both. On the verge of learning the truth about her father, Zenn’s quest suddenly catapults her and Liam thousands of light years beyond known space, and into the dark heart of a monstrous conspiracy.
Braving a gauntlet of lethal environments and unearthly life forms, Zenn’s courage is tested as never before. With the fate of entire worlds in the balance, she is racing headlong into trouble… again.
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CHRISTIAN SCHOON
Christian Schoon grew up in Minnesota, and worked his way through college in a succession of rock bands before earning his degree from the U of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Journalism.
Following a stint as an in-house copywriter/scriptwriter at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, he supplied freelance copy for the entertainment industry and scriptwriting for live-action and animated TV.
Currently, he writes from his 150-year-old farmstead in Iowa which he shares with a fluctuating number of horses (generally less than a dozen, but not always), 30 or so cats, a dog, three ferrets and a surprisingly tolerant wife.
The Zenn Scarlett books are his first novels, however he admits to being an unrepentant fan of science fiction and fantasy ever since discovering the tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs in the fifth grade.
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GIVEAWAY
Thanks to the amazing team at Strange Chemistry, I have a really fun giveaway to share with you all today. Up for grabs are copies (either ebook or physical) of both Zenn Scarlett and Under Nameless Stars, plus a Name Your Own Star Gift Package! To enter, you must answer the below question in the Rafflecopter form. Each tour stop has a question associated with it, so be sure and check out the full list of participating blogs for more chances to win!
The answers to the questions can be found in the book's blurb and author profile (seen above) as well as the author's blog and an extract from the book. Good luck everyone!
TODAY'S QUESTION (Question 9) :
Liam's shirt is made of
a. Synth-cloth
b. Plastic
c. Hemp-cloth
d. Unbleached cotton
a Rafflecopter giveaway
