Tessa McFionn

CATCH UP

Tessa McFionn returns to Uncaged to share Book Three in the Rise of the Stria series.

Uncaged: Welcome back to Uncaged! On October 13th, you are releasing the third book in the Rise of the Stria series, A Divine’s Retribution. Can you tell readers more about this book and series?

Thank you so much! It’s great to hang out with you and your readers again. I would be delighted to talk about my crazy world! So, The Rise of the Stria series is a Wizard of Oz meets Star Wars epic space opera/ sci-fi romance. It started in To Discover a Divine when our heroine, Evainne Wagner, steps out of the front door of her Boston brownstone and finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic prison break. Lucky for her, she’s rescued by a hunky rebel captain, Kahlym cal Jhuen. Throughout the first two books, they travel the Dantaran galaxy, trying to stay one step ahead of the evil Thrall Emperor who abducted her from Earth believing she is fated to birth for him a race of powerful entities known as Divines. But, she’s fallen hard for the rebel captain and fights at his side. When we last left our band of intrepid explorers, things were pretty dicey and in an attempt to protect Evainne, Kahlym sent her through space back to Earth. Well, needless to say, she’s not very happy about this. With the help of a new character (who will remain nameless for now – he he he), she is able to return to him, but her trust in their relationship is broken. Plus, the Thrall Emperor is getting desperate and his assassins continue to hound Evainne, Kahlym and their tight-knit crew. There are new characters, both good and bad, plus the favorites that everyone has come to love.

In my mind, it was going to be the end of the series, but my characters had other plans. So, there will be many more stories from the Seventh Quadrant.

Uncaged: How has the pandemic changed the way you are marketing your work? How has it changed your life in other ways?

Ugh. The current plague. Well, for one thing, all my in-person events were canceled, as well as all other networking opportunities. So, needless to say, it’s been a quiet few months. I was hoping to get so much writing done when I first heard I was going to have a three-week Spring Break from my teaching job. You know, time to myself to write and relax. However, once three weeks turned into thirteen weeks, I had a tough time getting inspired to write. But luckily, my characters were still excited to tell their stories. As to marketing, I’m still reaching out on social media, namely Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, plus trying my hand at ads on various platforms.

It’s all just so surreal. Personally, I was putting all my skills in preparing for the zombie apocalypse. All these masks and social distancing? So was not on my radar at all. But all joking aside, I am hoping for some return to normalcy soon. As you may know, in my day job, I’m a teacher and well, trying to get middle and high school students engaged through a screen is not the easiest thing there is. The writers are doing pretty good; the dancers? Yeah, you try doing a time step on carpet. But they are such troopers and they still inspire me to be bring my A game each and every day.

Uncaged: What are you working on next that you can tell us about?

Ooh, what to tell, what to tell. I actually have several new projects in the works. The fifth book in the Guardians series is moving along, where we move down to Louisiana way and watch as our hero, 15th century Spaniard Gabriel de la Vega must face not only the Rogue berserker Bryon Everleigh, but the oncoming hurricane to fight for both the mind and heart of his spiritmate Lyssa Cameron. Super excited to tell this tale! I’ve also got a stand-alone sci-fi that I’ve been tinkering on, plus a whole new series that I have out to an agent. Fingers crossed they like the light and humorous paranormal mystery I’ve created. And I have a short story that I’m looking to stretch into a full-length novel about a haunted lighthouse. So I have many, many more stories to share with the world.

Tessa McFionn has always had a love of all things unreal. Growing up reading Tolkien, Heinlein, and comic books, playing D&D, and watching Thundarr the Barbarian on Saturday mornings, she was immersed in worlds of magic. When her mother introduced her to Dune and An Interview with a Vampire, she was hooked on romance in speculative fiction, and after discovering Sherrilyn Kenyon, she realized love can share center stage in the story.

With an award-winning paranormal romance and a new sci-fi romance series out in the world, she continues to encourage all to believe in magic.

tessamcfionn.com

Enjoy an excerpt from A Divine’s Retribution

A Divine’s Retribution Tessa McFionn SciFi/Space Opera

Standing in front of her brownstone in Boston was the last place Evainne Wagner thought she would ever find herself. Not after she and her soulbond match, Stria Captain Kahlym cal Jhuen, had faced the impossible odds in so many challenges together, the last of which including running from the latest snare of the Thrall Emperor. Determined to return to him, she recruits the aid of her mysterious mentor to return to the Seventh Quadrant and to the man who betrayed her trust.

Desperation and terror had forced Kahlym to send his love far away from the clutches of their approaching enemy. Lashing out in heartbreak and anger, Kahlym had never expected to see his Divine so soon, much less in the company of his long-lost brother. But it seemed fate and prophecy had other plans. To repair the rift between them, he must find the courage within him to trust in her as they scour the galaxy for strong allies and as the price on his head grows.

However, the Thrall Emperor Gha’jahn M’Uubair is not willing to part with Evainne without a fight. Calling on his assassins and the remaining Divines still under his thumb, he vows to reclaim his missing prize, no matter the cost.

Surrounded by the only family she knows, Evainne once again finds herself entangled in a web of legends and treachery, revealing new gifts and ancient hatreds. As dark forces threaten to tear her world apart, she must risk it all or lose any chance for the future.

Excerpt

From his safe vantage point outside of the cockpit, Kahlym watched the deep black surrounding Tiamat’s

Revenge melt away as the bright silver sun of Ontaxa flared to life. Years had passed since he’d seen the black sand beaches and thick forests of his friends’ homeworld. Both his pilot and current co-pilot knew this land better than he did, and he knew his own presence was neither wanted nor needed at the moment. Hovering over the already agitated pair of Ontaxians would not be his best choice. Dhaerin had made his disdain quite clear about Kahlym’s earlier decision to return Evainne to her home, from the moment their ship slipped from Raedynese space. The fading yet still tender bruise on his cheek sat as a bold testament to how eloquently his pilot had made his point. Fists and insults had flown from both of them whenever they stood within arm’s reach of each other since then, their barbs sharp and deadly accurate.

But his ship could not have been in better hands, so Kahlym left them to the task of reaching the landing dock while he clawed his way through the thick tension in the narrow confines of the cockpit, still hesitant to speak the necessary apology.

“Captain?”

He stalled his escape, stunned by the voice he’d avoided for the past few days.

“Yes, R’uan?”

He wanted to hate R’uan; wanted it desperately. He wanted to blame him for putting the original idea into his head, pointing his finger and screaming about it all being someone else’s fault. Upon reflection of his recent actions, that’s exactly what he’d been doing: cursing and blaming R’uan for his current plight.

Yet he couldn’t hate the man for doing what he had been ordered to do. And by you, specifically, you ass. R’uan was his friend, and his friend deserved more than his silence. He turned around and clutched the door jamb for support, glimpsing only the shadowed reflection of sorrowful eyes, a thick, black-and-silver mane hiding the rest of R’uan’s face. “Dhaer is taking the ship to the closest and strongest transport hub.” The normally deep and resonant voice was nothing more than a whispered hush of air, and Kahlym cringed at the damage his projected rage had wrought. After his much-needed talk with his brother, Kahlym now discovered he had much more work to do, with the first bridge to be rebuilt standing before him.

Swallowing hard and choking on his pride, Kahlym sighed and placed a hand on R’uan’s shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Friend,” Dhaerin scoffed, muttering under his breath. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

Kahlym scowled, a spiteful retort poised on the tip of his tongue. He could let them fall, then curl back into his hole. But they were more than his crewmates; they had all fought and bled, laughed and cried with, and for, each other for far too long. “Just spit it out already,” Kahlym growled. “I screwed up. Is that what you want to hear?” Dhaerin swiveled the suspended grav chair to face him, his orange-and-brown eyes cold, and they held him fast. “It’s a damned good start.” He folded his burly arms across his chest, his angered gaze launching daggers across the narrow space. Kahlym felt like a child standing in front of his father after some imagined slight, and the triggered memory set his teeth on edge. The urge to lash out was dangerously tempting. His pilot, sensing a misstep, relaxed his guarded posture, his stare sliding away.

“She’s one of us, Kahl. She didn’t deserve—” “You know as well as I do exactly what would’ve happened to her,” he yelled. “She would’ve been handed over to the emperor, after my father was done with her, and she would’ve been forced to birth the next generation of Divines for him.” He glared at his friend, daring him to object. “You know it, I know it, and she deserved a whole hell of a lot more than that. That’s why Ishtanti placed her in all our paths; we were chosen to protect her,

and that’s exactly what I did.” But rage gave way to hollow laughter, and Kahlym shook his head as he released the tight hold on his emotions. “Dhaer, do you think this has been fun for me? I see her face in every shadow and hear her voice even in the silence. I keep expecting her to come around a corner, taking Yhan’tu to task about wearing the regal robes.” And I haven’t slept in my own cabin. That little gem, he kept to himself.

After a moment, Kahlym found his voice as well as his courage. “I … I trust your brother to be able to bring her back to us. To all of us. I have to.” He shifted his apologetic stare to R’uan, whose snowflake obsidian eyes sat haunted. “I never should’ve taken my anger out on you, and I hope you can forgive me someday.”

Kahlym dipped his chin and moved toward the open hatch.

“Kahlym?” R’uan again froze Kahlym in his tracks, although this time, his tone’s familiar confidence had returned. Kahlym looked over his shoulder at his copilot, grateful to see a hint of a smile on his friend’s face.

“We’ll get her back, kherdes-xahn, if it’s the last act in this life.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Kahlym answered, with a weak grin of his own. “Our miracle is what we seek, and I can’t afford to lose another brother.”

“I just want her back so you’ll stop being so much of an asshole,” Dhaerin added, his playful tone returning, before he spun around to maneuver the ship into its final approach pattern. “I thought you were bad before she showed up. Now?” He tsked, shook his head, and chuckled as he followed the glowing beacons pointing them toward the open landing bay. “Come to find out, you only needed to get laid.”