The Black Planet Collection

I'm so excited to announce that the three Black Planet books are going to be bundled into a collection, which will go live at Changeling Press on July 2! This has been one of my favorite series of books to write, and it was a surprise when I realized that it has been nearly two years since I wrote Tiger Eyes.

These three books are full of action and adventure, and I borrowed heavily from Japanese and Chinese culture and folklore to build the characters and the world they live in. I focused on the heroines for these books, they are the true stars of the series.

Here's a quick rundown on the three books that will be featured in the collection:

Black Planet: Dragon's Blood:
This is the story of Aiden Chen and Annie Tanaka and takes place in Wharf, a ramshackle city within a city that grew up after a great earthquake devastated the Bay Area. There's a vampiric monster on the loose, preying on nanite enhanced cage fighters. Its up to Detective Annie Tanaka and her former partner Aiden Chen to ferret out the creature and bring it to justice. Old enemies become new lovers as danger brings them new understanding of one another.

Black Planet: Tiger Eyes:
Once upon a time, Grace Chen was the most feared woman on the streets of San Francisco. Now she's a shell of that person, slowly dying of the hemo disease they call Dragon's Blood.

Lieutenant Milo Greene has little to live for other than his job. However, when the Thalian Darah Lash and Milo become lovers, a new, hopeful world opens to him. When Milo receives word that his former lover Grace is in need of rescue, Darah willingly joins him, in spite of Milo's past with the fiery woman.

Black Planet: Little Dragon
Rose Lee is seriously injured during an arrest, and finds that the only way she can continue to make payments on her beloved ship is to take a private courier job. It was supposed to be safe and easy, until she and her client stumble into the space of the dangerous, hostile Nephris. She is betrayed to the alien Commander Arad Soheil, and makes the surprising discovery that she is actually part of a risky rescue mission!

The Black Planet Collection releases on July 2 at Changeling Press. On July 16, look for the second chapter of the Black Planet series with Black Planet II: Little Foxes.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1409

How to Save a Life Without Really Trying

This morning, I was on the telephone, making an appointment to take my niece to visit her social worker. Once we’d settled on a date, I had to change the time, remembering that was my regular day to donate platelets through Apheresis.
To my surprise, she didn’t know anything about donating blood, and was even more mystified that I would take several hours out of my day every two weeks to undergo Apheresis, the procedure that separates platelets from blood.

I began to donate blood a few years back, going in to the blood center maybe two or three times a year. And then one day, I overheard one of the nurses mention that some of the cancer patients at local hospitals were literally dying because they couldn’t get enough platelet donors. I asked about the procedure, was tested for my platelet count, and to my surprise, discovered that I was an ideal donor. In fact, with my high platelet count, I am able to do triple donations twice a month. That means six very ill patients receive life-saving platelets from me every month!

What does this have to do with writing? Well, I spend about ninety minutes in a recliner while the Apheresis procedure takes place, and my mind wanders. Once, I was thinking of a new idea for a story; the setting was clear, the story would take place in post-earthquake San Francisco. I had the title: Dragon’s Blood. But the plot just wouldn’t gel.

I looked around the room at all of the donors and thought of a future where a mysterious disease had taken hold of the human population. A future where donated blood became a rare and precious commodity. This disease became a major plot point in the Black Planet series, and will continue to re-emerge in future books in that series. In my current release, Tiger Eyes, the heroine is afflicted with the disease called Dragon’s Blood, and is rapidly dying. Grace fights valiantly to stay alive in this story; she’s an amazingly strong character.

Over the course of my life, I’ve seen many lives saved by the donations of others. My friend Mo received bone marrow transplants which extended her life during her battle with cancer. My brother received whole blood following a devastating injury. My co-worker Melissa made the stunning and selfless decision to donate her kidney to a friend, and literally saved that woman’s life.

You too can save lives; simply call your local blood center to see if you are eligible to donate. It takes a little time, and next to no effort. To learn more about Platelet Apheresis, visit the American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/services/biomed/0,1082,0_554_,00.html
Black Planet: Tiger Eyes is now available at Changeling Press:

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1027
Belinda McBridehttp://www.belindamcbride.com/