Welcome multi-published author, Icy Snow Blackstone!

Great to have you here, Icy - I am glad to be able to help showcase your latest release, Earthman's Bride. I will pass the floor over to you to tell us all about it. Enjoy!

Earthman's Bride started out as a short story, and then--like a weed--it started to grow. I wanted to write a story of a young woman given to a conqueror as part of a peace agreement, how she first feared, then came to love him. I got that far, when the characters and story took over and things started going their way instead of mine.

First off, they decided this story wouldn’t take place on Earth. IT would take place on another planet. And, since there were too many science fiction stories of invaders from other planets coming to Earth and raining death and destruction before a band of plucky surviving Terrans drives them out, they wanted their story to be the other side of the coin. What would happen if Earthmen barged into another a galaxy attacking and conquering? they asked, and proceeded to give me the answer.

Here’s the plot (as mapped out by my suddenly bossy characters): Having depleted their own natural resources, they go searching for planets having the elements they lack, to make them a part of the United Terran Federation simply to lay claim to those assets. They "accept" these worlds into the Federation, place them under their "protection" and then haul their natural possessions back to Terra. Since most of the planets are less developed than theirs, it's easy to subdue them with superior firepower and take what they want.

The planet Tusteya is different. Though not as technologically advanced, the Tusteyans knew of space travel and trade with other planets and they weren't about to allow themselves to be enslaved by aliens. In the following war, the Tusteyans put up steady resistance until, at the opening of the story, only one small tribe, the Elius, is still free. As the story opens, thirty years have passed, the original Governor has died, and his son, Philip, has taken his place. Alcin Spearman, leader of the Elius, asks for a truce, and to show the sincerity of his intentions, offers his daughter Rebeka to the new Governor to cement the peace. Once Rebeka has gained his trust, she's to kill the Governor, and during the chaos of his death, her father and his men will storm the palace and end the Terran tyranny once and for all.

Rebeka agrees because she has no choice, and everything appears to be going just as her father wishes...the Governor is young, sexually attracted to Rebeka and eagerly agrees to the peace, and she is left alone in the palace her father used to rule, married to an alien whom she's expected to bed and then kill...

Earthman's Bride will be available from Class Act Books on April 15, 2012.

GIVEAWAY!!

Icy is giving away a copy of one of her books to one lucky commenter so be sure to comment or ask Icy a question!

Thanks for being here, Icy - the books sounds intriguing! :)