Welcome Lyndi!
Tell us about what you write.
As Lyndi Alexander, I write sci-fi romance, science fiction, urban fantasy, fantasy, and paranormal mysteries. As Alana Lorens, I write romance, romantic suspense and suspense/thrillers. I’m one of those writers that doesn’t write to a formula, but instead just begin whatever story comes to me, whatever genre and form it’s in. Most of my young reading was gothic romance, so there’s always a bit scary and a bit warm and fuzzy in it. My intent is to create great characters and let them lead us all through the tales that come to us.
When did your writing journey begin? What drew you to writing?
I wrote my first piece that meant anything when I was about 8. I observed and described the process of my cat, Moonbeam, killing and eating a rabbit. Maybe that meant I was destined to be a journalist, which I did in Homestead, Florida for most of the 1980s. My first paid publication was a personal essay when I was 18. I had written three novel manuscripts by then (which by the way are buried and hopefully they’ll stay that way). As a fairly solitary kid, books were my friend all those years, and continued to be as I became an adult. More on my whole writing journey at : https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/about/
What was your inspiration for SIXSHOOTER?
My ex-husband and I were part of an online freeform RPG in the 1990s-2000s that was mainly sci-fi and fantasy based. He played a robot character who could present as an android male or female, and preferred the female persona…who was a rival for the cowboy character played by my best friend. My heroine had a hard time dealing with the rivalry. When we gave up on the RPG, the triangle stayed with me, and it eventually sifted through into the thought of this story. It’s a fun story and fun characters, and according to readers, it has also a feel like FIREFLY, GUARDIANS of the GALAXY and SERENITY.
Like space, love has no boundaries.
Valeni Pascual wants to be free to make a living hauling cargo with her spaceship and to understand the shapeshifting alien who presents sometimes as the steamy male Nik and other times as the blonde bombshell Nikki.
As a rebel insurgence builds against the oppressive government known as the Agency, Valeni and Nik/Nikki encounter a sexy Terran cowboy named Garrett Rawls. Since being pulled into this region of space by another mysterious wormhole, Garrett has looked for a way to return to Earth. After meeting Valeni and Nikki, he might have found something worth staying for.
However, dark forces may have a much bigger picture in mind for all of them. Valeni, Nik/Nikki, and Garrett are pulled into a life and death fight that lays bare all of their secrets and their desires. Will they lose everything as the battle against the Agency rages around them or can love pull them through?
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Check out the new trailer for Sixshooter!
Do you find inspiration in your own life for your writing?
Nearly every character I write is drawn from some aspect of myself. Valeni has my need to be independent and get things accomplished. Nik has my insecurities. Nikki is someone I have never been but kind of always wanted to. Garrett is based on my friend, so he’s all her. By writing them all, I get to live a little vicariously. 😊
Any new projects on the horizon?
SIXSHOOTER is a book set in the same universe as the Horizon Crossover trilogy, which includes Horizon Shift, Horizon Strife and Horizon Dynasty, a space opera trilogy from Dragonfly Publishing. Find out more here: https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/the-horizon-crossover-series
What was the hardest part of the story to write/research?
I was determined, since Nik/Nikki/Nicholas is a genderfluid alien, to use they/them pronouns, a new construct which I have found difficult to manage in real life. It was truly a reboot of my mindset, and I hope I do the genderfluid justice in the story.
Excerpt:
The ones that seem so easy go sour the quickest. Every time.
Valeni Pascual’s throat tightened. Hot sweat ran down between her shoulders, and her finger itched for her trigger. Too bad her gun was behind her on the wide leather seat of her sandrunner, gleaming beautifully in the late afternoon sun. The four men standing in front of her already had theirs in hand.
The pack leader, a thick-necked lubber called Fat Jonny, had the nerve to laugh. “C’mon, Val, don’t make this hard on yourself. And when I say hard, I mean the application of solid lead to your silky, kaff-colored skin.” His minions snickered.
Eight crates of cargo sat in a pile a dozen meters to the right, near her sleek ship, the Tiburon. It stood silhouetted against the rocky Marriel landscape, a swath of brown and tan sands.
If she connected with the buyer due any minute, the profit would cover six months of expenses and her late Agency dues. The deal had been a wild, desperate risk that nearly cost her landing gear in a hasty and ill-advised takeoff from the far side of the desert. No way she could afford to surrender the cargo. She had to stand fast.
Wishing her radio was handy, not tucked in her jacket pocket next to her sandrunner on the ground, she smirked, hoping attitude alone might shield her. “Still expecting everyone else to do your work for you, Jon? Don’t you have even a shred of pride inside those layers of pork?”
He cocked his gun, leveled it at her. “Last chance.”
Damn again. She’d intentionally chosen this spot way out at the edge of the tarmac for its privacy.
The down side? It also left her out of public view of anyone who could offer her help. She was out of options. “Fi—”
A voice behind the men interrupted her.
“What a bunch of fine-looking gentlemen! Are any of ’em spoken for, or can I have my pick?”
The men turned around. A petite blonde woman wearing a thin white scarf tied around her breasts and a scandalously short skirt greeted them with a broad smile and a charged laser rifle.
Val nearly fainted with relief. How had Nikki known? She’d been in the bowels of the ship repairing one of her many gadgets. Now, she was the cavalry.