Lisabet Sarai talks about her new book...
My
new novella Free Fall began with an impulse purchase. Just of
fun, I was browsing the website of one of my favorite artists, James Help (https://goonwrite.com).
His strikingly original pre-made covers always impress me, while his
hilariously snarky demo titles often have me laughing out loud. Most of the
time, unfortunately, the genres on which he focuses don’t match my work very
well. On this visit, however, I noticed a cover that really spoke to me. It
featured an evocative image of two beautiful women, one blonde and one
brunette, sitting close together in some sort of a futuristic night club.
I
didn’t have a book for this cover, but the drama and passion lurking in that
image were so strong that I just had to buy it. The JPG file sat, untitled, on
my hard disk for more than a year while I worked on other projects. Finally I
cleared my WIP backlog and started thinking about what to write next. I pulled
up the draft cover and got the same punch-in-the-gut feeling about the women
that I’d experienced when I first saw it. I realized that I had to write their
story—even though, at the start, I had no idea, aside from their obvious mutual
attraction, what that story might be.
Creating
Free Fall was far more difficult that most of my writing projects.
Usually when I begin a book, I have at least a mental outline, with the major
events and the expected ending already established. With this novella, I was
feeling my way, trying to discover just who Rain and Mariel were, why they were
in love, and how they were going to survive. When I sat down to write the first
chapter, it flowed onto the page, desperately erotic. After that, though, I
really had to dig. The fact that this was science fiction made things even
harder; that genre requires a delicate balance between imagination and
plausibility. And sometimes too much thought and calculation can stifle
inspiration.
Now
that the book’s done, I’m pretty happy with it. It captures the sense of danger
I felt when I first saw the cover, as well as the love-and-lust connection
between the two protagonists.
I
only hope my readers agree.
Blurb
Welcome
to Xanadu. For its elite customers, a space-based paradise of pleasure. For the
slaves who work there, hell orbiting Earth.
Innocent
and inexperienced, Mariel Linderman sells herself to Xanadu to rescue her
farming family from starvation. Streetwise Rain Delgado accepts assignment as a
Pleasure Rep in lieu of a prison sentence for murder. In a world that strictly
prohibits same-sex relations, the passion that flares between them brings
terrible risks. Their unexpected heart-and-soul connection turns their already
precarious existence into a clandestine struggle for survival.
Buy Links
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVVLV2N4
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FVVLV2N4
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1878604
Barnes &
Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/free-fall-lisabet-sarai/1148528199
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/free-fall-escape-from-xanadu
Books2Read
UBL: https://books2read.com/u/mKeK0E
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242662867-free-fall
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/free-fall-escape-from-xanadu-by-lisabet-sarai
PG Excerpt (Mariel)
With
the moon on the other side of the planet, the port set in the outside wall
shows the velvet blackness of space. It’s beautiful. Peaceful. Mariel yearns
for peace.
Rain
is the only thing that keeps her from disarming the outer door, flipping the
double lever and stepping out into the void.
There’s
no sense of movement, but as the station rotates the Earth swings back into
view, its blue-green swirls luminous and jewel-like. From up here you can’t see
the wildfires or the swathes of dead ocean.
Minutes
crawl by. Her frantic pulse slows. Now there’s a deeper ache, as if a giant
fist clutches at her heart. She closes her eyes and wills herself to be
patient. There are a million reasons why her lover might be delayed.
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