Out of this World: Donna Maree Hanson

To celebrate Star Wars Day, we asked some of our science fiction authors to tell us what Star Wars means to them. Then, to support science fiction readers everywhere, we dropped the prices on their books…

Donna Maree Hanson

At age 17 I was already a science fiction aficionado. But seeing Star Wars: that cinema screen opening to wider proportions and the huge spaceship flying overhead sealed my fate. My heart raced, I jumped up and down and was filled with awe. Since then I have had a lifelong love of the movies and the tie in books. I was in love with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo both! I wanted to be Princess Leia.

It was Star Wars that inspired me to write. My first ever story idea was in the Star Wars universe at age 19. I didn’t write it then. I won’t write it now. The inspiration still lives inside me, however.

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Sixteen-year-old Rae Stroder lives in a hollow asteroid, a defunct refuelling station, with a brain-damaged adult, Gris, to keep her company. Low on supplies, they’ve been eking out an existence for years. Everything changes when Alwin Anton, ultra-clean, smart and handsome AllEarth Corp company auditor, arrives to find disarray. Full of suspicion, he interrogates Rae, threatening her with prosecution for theft. He uncovers the fact that she is not Rae Stroder at all, when space pirates attack.

During the attack, Rae is taken prisoner and Alwin Anton escapes in his space ship. The pirate women prepare Rae for sale on the infamous Centauri slave markets. It’s all going badly, when she is purchased by a mysterious Ridallian.

Meanwhile, the space pirates are out to kill Alwin Anton because he holds the secret to Rae’s true identity. It’s a race against time to unravel the intrigue of Rae’s past to secure her future.

Buy Now

Cover Reveal – Rayessa gets a Make-Over!

Sometimes a makeover is just what the doctor ordered. When we published the second book in Donna Maree Hanson’s fun, flirty YA/NA cross-over speculative fiction series, Rae and Essa’s Space Adventures, we noticed the book 1, Rayessa and the Space Pirates, wasn’t looking as fresh and cool as her sister. So we gave her a hot new cover, and now we think they both look great.

What do you think?

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Interested in the series?

Sixteen-year-old Rae Stroder lives in a hollow asteroid, a defunct refuelling station, with only a brain-damaged adult, Gris, to keep her company. Low on supplies, they’ve been eking out an existence for years. Everything changes when Alwin Anton, ultra-clean, smart and handsome AllEarth Corp company auditor, arrives to find disarray. Full of suspicion, he interrogates Rae, threatening her with prosecution for theft. He uncovers the fact that she is not Rae Stroder at all, when space pirates attack.

During the attack, Rae is taken prisoner and Alwin Anton escapes in his space ship. Rae is earmarked for sale into slavery, and it looks like it’s all over when she is purchased by a mysterious Ridallian.

Meanwhile, the space pirates are out to kill Alwin Anton, who holds the secret to Rae’s true identity. It’s a race against time to unravel the intrigue of Rae’s past to secure her future.

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In Rayessa and the Space Pirates, Rae made a startling discovery about her past. Now her twin sister Essa has her own adventures to pursue.

Essa Gayens is starting to accept her sister Rae into her life, sharing a dorm room in their swanky private school on Earth. Smarter, savvier and more in touch with the world than Rae, Essa’s feelings of superiority and advantage are shaken when their mother goes missing, along with Rae’s boyfriend, Alwin.

When Rae takes off after them into outer space, Essa is spurred into action. Very soon, Essa is hot on her trail, sneaking out of school, bribing officials and begging Captain Thorn Hanover to take her on his ship.

Thorn is a hunk, and Essa is thrilled with the prospect of an interesting trip, but Thorn has no interest in a spoiled rich girl. Not only does he reject her advances, he sets her up on the chore roster and expects her to work for her passage.

Essa has never been anything but a pampered princess, but both Rae and Thorn are challenging her to dig deeper, to be more. But to aspire is to risk failure, and Essa has never really risked anything before. Can she start with her heart?

May Showers the First New Releases!

From Allison Butler, bestselling author of The Healer, comes a sexy new Scottish romance about a man in search of a bride, a woman in search of a home and an inconvenient attraction that can’t be denied.

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Have you fallen for the members of Selling the Sun yet? New from Shona Husk comes a hot, fresh quartet about an emerging rock band: every musician is desperate for that first big break—but what happens after that?

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In Rayessa and the Space Pirates, Rae made a startling discovery about her past. Now her twin sister Essa has her own adventures to pursue.

RT Post 4 – The Art of the Selfie

In which Kate stalks readers, reviewers, bloggers, and authors. No one is safe.

Today was a day for meeting people. Harlequin Australia set us up with an absolute mountain-load of free books on USB keys that we are giving away to readers, bloggers, reviewers, and random passers-by with the message that Australian romance rocks, and they need to get into it now.

But one of the best things about being at a romance conference for everyone involved in romance (because everyone involved in romance loves reading romance, and everyone is enthusiastic about romance) is meeting favourite authors.

Oh, boy, did I meet some favourites!

Just from today:

Me, Keri Arthur and Escape Artist Donna Maree Hanson! (check out Donna’s squid necklace)

Escape Artist Nicole Flockton

Rachel Vincent and I. I also got sneak peeks at the covers for her upcoming series and they look AMAZING!

Escape Artists Rhian Cahill, Sami Lee and fellow International Heat author Lila Dubois

Victoria Dahl (squee! I love her so much!)

Megan Hart (who is *so* gracious)

Zoe Archer and Nico Russo, a truly awesome couple who write truly awesome books. Check out Zoe’s Blades of the Rose series for fab, diverse action-adventure romance

Not to get all hipster or anything, but I’ve loved Larissa Ione since she was writing for Secrets. Yes, that makes me a better fan than you.

Courney Frickin’ Milan, everybody. *And* she knew who I was from Twitter. I just about died.

There will be more photos from the Giant Book Fair tomorrow, so be prepared.

One of the things I highly recommend to future RT attendees is to take part in the games sessions. They’re much more low key, a lot of fun, and a great way to meet people and authors alike, as everyone is interacting with everyone else. I hooked up with Gabby and Rudi from Orchids and Peach Cocktails, and headed up to Bad Boy Bingo! , wherein if you won Bingo, you had to read a dirty passage from one of the attending authors’ books out loud. I, who never win anything, won a Bingo on the first go-round, and had to read from Megan Hart’s Broken.

I don’t know if you’ve read Broken (you totally should), but it’s not the easiest book to read out loud. Luckily, after the first round, we had a special guest, who came to do our reading for us:

Shane

That, right there in the yellow shirt, is a cover model. And he started reading the passages for us.

First, he did it from the front. Then he did it from the middle.

An equal opportunity for appreciation of fine literary readings.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, he did it without his shirt.

Damn fine literary readings.

Poor man was blushing all over the place by the time he finished, but he was much applauded for his efforts.

Next up: Bourbon Street!