Scavenger Falters, Book 2, Liza O'Connor

Welcome to Scavenger Falters

First, let me share the main characters. 

They are the same as they were in book 1.

Meet Alisha

Unlike the rest of the SkyRyders, who had never tried to improve their Wind-Catcher over the last 60 years, Alisha saw great possibilities in modifying her catcher. These changes along with her natural talent made her skills far better than any of the other SkyRyders. So on her third day (after 2 battles which were won solely on her skills) MAC promoted her to Colonel responsible for teaching the rest of the SkyRyders how to fly.

Meet Colonel Logan

Logan reaffirms there can be no relationship between him and Alisha. She has an entire fort to teach how to fly better and he needs to learn her skills as fast as possible so he can become General of the East Coast. But can he do that? If he truly loves Alisha, can he deny the love between them?

Meet Jack Sparks

With the Broadtown Fort destroyed (book 1) space for colonels is at a premium at Capital Fort. Thus, Alisha is to bunk with Colonel Sparks. Colonel Logan is not happy and offers to bunk with Dryers so Alisha could have a room of her own, only General Powell refuses to change the room assignments. He assures Logan that the two would be too busy to get up to mischief. In truth, there is another reason why he's certain they won't be coupling rather than sleeping. And we'll find out why.

Meet General Powell

If he had a nickname, it would be Grumpy, but no one has the balls to give him a nickname. Even Jack hated the general when he first arrived. Powell has made every colonel other than Logan cry. He has a puritanical streak a mile wide, a blind eye to the making of dogs (abusing new cadets), and always demands more than is reasonable from his men.  And he hates women. Until he had to let Logan's people into the Capital Fort there has been no women in his fort. Fortunately, he is so amazed and enchanted by Alisha at first, that he appears to become a nicer general.

Scavenger Falters

Liza O'Connor

Alisha Kane, the Corps’ best flyer, is promoted to colonel, in charge of teaching the Corp’s SkyRyders her extraordinary flying maneuvers. The man she loves, Logan, continues to place the Corps first and insists they both remain focused on their work. For Alisha, this means ferreting out the best flyers in a Corps that has systematically forced great flyers into mediocrity. Logan focuses on learning Alisha’s flying techniques so that he can become the hero the East Coast desperately needs. The result includes fractured ribs and broken hearts, but through it all they never relinquish their love of the Corps. 

Excerpt

The day after the devastation of the Broadtown Fort

Logan woke to the stirring pleasure of soft kisses upon his face and a familiar hot body pressed against him. He opened his eyes, and upon realizing this was more than a pleasant dream, he escaped the bed.

“Alisha, what are you doing in here?” he demanded of the beautiful young woman who regularly tormented his dreams and presently resided in his bed.

“Waking you up.” She cocked her head to one side, causing her dark hair to cover her right shoulder. God, she looked so young and adorable fluttering those long eyelashes. “But before we can go any further, I need you to release me from a part of your order.” She climbed out of bed and put her arms around his waist. “The part forbidding me to engage in any physical or seductive actions toward you.”

Logan unwrapped her hands from around his waist and gently moved her farther away from him. “I can’t. The order remains.”

“But you love me!” she insisted. “You told me so last night before the mission!”

Logan sighed. He led her back to the bed and sat her down on the edge. “Alisha, I’ve always loved you. I think I may have loved you from the moment I set eyes on you.”

“It was the same for me!” she confessed.

He smiled and stroked her face. “But all that love doesn’t change the facts. I’m your commanding officer, I’m too old for you, and you can and will do better. My orders remain.”

SALES LINKS

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 2

Scavenger Falters

AMAZON

The SkyRyder’s Series, Book 1

Scavenger’s Mission

AMAZON

About the Author

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.

OTHER BOOKS BY LIZA O’CONNOR

SCIENCE FICTION

The Multiverse Series

Sci-Fi Soap Opera with humor, romance, and science

The Gods of Probabilities

Surviving Outbound

Surviving Terranue

Surviving Sojourn

Artificial Intelligence Series

Sci-Fi/Romance

Public Secrets

Birth of Adam

The SkyRyders Series

Sci-Fi Romance

Scavenger’s Mission

Scavenger Falters-releasing Dec 30^th 2016

Scavenger Vanishes-coming 2017

Click here For ALL Novels by Liza

Social Networks 

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A new snippet from Scavenger Falters, releasing 12/30/16

Today, I'm sharing a bit from book 2, Scavenger Falters, releasing 12/30/16.

Alisha thought it a ridiculous hour to be dragging her to breakfast, but she had to agree that she didn’t wish to hear Powell yell so early. When they arrived at the officers’ commons, the only occupants were the general and Colonel Logan. Seeing Logan’s smile as she walked in almost made getting up in the middle of the night worth it.

However, if she thought that breakfast was going to be fun, she soon learned the error of her belief. Between bites of breakfast, all three of them were intent on feeding her bites of regulations 13-14. The general harassed her on 14; the Colonel had 13, and Jack aided on both. They would read the reg, then quiz her on its meaning, and finally Jack would provide situations and ask her which regs were relevant and what she would do.

The only thing that made the exercise tolerable was that Jack’s examples were always funny. “You’re on leave, having a nice day in the Capital, when suddenly you see a Ryder land right smack in a crowd of people on Hathworth street. Worse yet, he is completely nude. What regs have been touched upon and what is your course of action?”

“First, I ensure no civilian has been injured by his action. Then with my own money, I purchase an Indian shawl from the street vendor and order the soldier to wrap himself up. I then get the catcher out of the street because it’s a traffic hazard—”

“The regs, Alisha…” Logan reminded her.

“Reg 13.89…3?” she stated without certainty. “Except during battle conditions all effort should be made that no civilian is harmed or injured during flight exercises.”

“How do you know he’s not part of a battle squad?” Jack asked.

“This one I’ve got. Reg 3.342 states that all soldiers must be properly geared for battle. Clearly, he was not. Reg 2.67 states that on-duty officers must be in uniform. Finally, Reg 14.2…67…no, 66, says that when a soldier is not on duty and off Corps sites that his behavior is regulated by the laws and cultural standards of the place of occupancy. While nudity is not illegal in Capital, the street the soldier has landed on is mostly southern Baptist, so the sight of a nude soldier would be offensive to their cultural standards, which is why I bought him a shawl and ordered him to cover up. Reg 14.678 says that an officer is responsible for enforcing all regulations whether on or off duty, regardless of whether the offending soldier is directly under the officer’s command. That is also why I cleared the catcher, because causing a traffic obstruction is illegal in the Capital.”

“Yeah, but that is clearly never enforced,” Jack observed. “Just ask the vendor you bought the shawl from. He’s probably pulled his cart right in the middle of the street for better traffic business.”

“Reg 14.891 says the Corps is required to uphold and abide all laws currently instated, regardless whether they are enforced upon the general public.”

“That can’t be right,” Powell said and looked at his book.

“That’s what it says,” Logan observed.

“I think we should get that one rescinded as well,” Powell muttered.

Alisha nodded. “I think there are quite a few of the regs that need to be rescinded, but 14.891 is definitely one of them. It sounds good in theory, but what if a town controlled by the Drug Cartel passed a law that forbids flying or weaponry within city limits? They could dress it up real pretty: ‘Make our streets safe: ban guns.’ Show some scavengers sweeping down and stealing your groceries right out of your hands. So the town votes out the guns and flyers. Then the Cartel, which controls local enforcement, proceeds to ignore the laws and go on with their business, but now it’s a Corps-free zone. We can only send in ground troops, and they can’t carry guns.”

General Powell glared at Jack.

Jack reached behind him and grabbed paper and pen. Making a quick note, he finally looked up. “What other ones bother you?”

“Well, Reg 14.266…if that’s the ‘obey local cultural standards’ law.”

“It is,” Jack replied, “And the reason being much the same?”

“Sure. Cultural standards are difficult. For example, that law would prevent a female soldier from entering a quarter of Capital.”

“But that reg only applies when they aren’t on duty,” the general objected.

“Yes, but let’s say I walk from Hathworth Street three blocks down to Melborne, wearing these fatigues. I have violated some cultural standard on each block. Didn’t hurt anyone, and normally no one would ever complain. But what if they decided to make an issue and beat me with their god sticks…or worse drag me down into a cellar and leave me there until their God has forgiven me for my transgression? According to this Reg, the Corps can’t do a thing. When we are off duty, it cedes its control and protection over to local governments and even more frightening, local cultural standards.”

Jack didn’t even wait for the general’s nod, he just wrote it down on the sheet.

By the time Alisha had finished her ‘what ifs,’ most of the Regs in 13 and 14 were on the list.

“Who the hell approved these?” the general demanded.

******

Yep, our girl's got skills!

And in case you haven't yet read book 1, Scavenger's Mission,

It's on sale right now for 99cents

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A snippet from book 2 Scavenger Falters

 Here's a bit between Alisha and her best friend, Jack.

Jack gently pulled her into his arms. “I would have retrieved your catcher if it had been nothing more than regulation gear. He’s just mad because I had the opportunity to do it and he didn’t.” Jack paused and then added, “And maybe because you were coming on to me shamelessly.”

“I was not!” she countered, angry that her plan had been so transparent.

“I’ve seen enough flirting to know it when I see it. You were definitely hitting on me. Now either you’ve changed your mind and you do want to sleep with me, or you and Logan had a fight this morning and you wanted to make him jealous.”

Alisha leaned her head into Jack’s chest. “I don’t want to sleep with you, Jack!” she growled with certainty.

“That’s good, because if you were seriously coming on to me, we’d have a problem.”

She glared up at him. “Am I that repulsive?”

“Not at all,” he assured her, stroking her cheekbone. “You are absolutely breathtaking, but my heart already belongs to someone else.”

“Then why are you so nice to me?” she demanded.

“Because I think you are the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met and I enjoy your company immensely.”

Alisha gave him an apologetic smile. “Thanks. I think you’re pretty swell too…as a friend.”

“I know. Your heart’s taken as well. But these old guys, they don’t cave easy.”

Alisha was on the verge of denying it was the colonel, but she hated lying to Jack, and he wouldn’t have believed her denials anyway. He knew her too well. “Is it that obvious?”

“Actually, no. You’ve got the general convinced there’s nothing going on, and he’s a sharp old bird, always looking out for that sort of trouble.”

“Then how’d you figure it out?”

“Give me credit! I’m a brilliant visionary, able to pull together bits of intel, and develop the enemy’s strategy—no, wait, that’s you. Well, then it’s probably because the speakerphone was still open when Logan confessed he loved you.”

On PreOrder 

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