When people asked me, “Why did you write this novel?” my
answer is ready.
I wrote it because of a movie.
Two movies actually.
One was a movie-of-the-week, back
when each of the major networks has their own library of stories for the
viewers’ entertainment. The other was a theatrical release.
Murder on the Moon (also known as Murder by Moonlight) was
a made-for-TV movie telecast in 1989. It stared Brigitte Nielsen, Julian Sands,
and Gerald McRaney, and was the tale of Soviet/US astronauts on the moon trying
to solve a murder happening in their midst. One thing striking me during the story was that back on
Earth, a scientist is missing and one of the investigators says, “Why on Earth couldn’t
we find him?”
The answer?
“Because
he isn’t on Earth.” Or words to that effect.
That got me to thinking…if you were a witness to a crime and
no place on Earth was safe for you, where would be the safest place for you? If you lived in a time of space travel,
the answer’s simple…leave Earth
and go someplace else.
Just hop a ship to another world.
The other movie supplied my hero.
It was Quigley
Down Under (1990), about a Montana sharpshooter who’s hired by an
Australian rancher. There, the American and the Australian clash…about
treatment of the aborigines, as well as treatment of women. Quigley is good with a gun, ready to
fight for what he considers right, and gentle with a woman when it’s needed.
Tom Selleck’s Quigley formed himself into the model for Sarkin Trant the hero
of my novel Three Moon Station.
In the story, Katherine Rawls is a woman on the run. Working late, she witnesses her boss’
murder by two men who promptly chase her through the streets at gunpoint. Only
when Katy gets on a subway thinking it heads to the local police precinct does
she elude them. There’s a bit of an argument with the guard assigned to protect
everyone from the prospective weekly passenger
violence but since the tram’s already moving, he lets her stay. Unfortunately,
the tram’s going in the opposite direction from the police station. In fact,
it’s taking all the passengers to a ship leaving for a primitive planet called Tritomis-2. Katy isn’t
happy about that, but she reasons another planet could be the safest place for
her until she can find a way to get the evidence she has to the authorities, so
she goes along…
…and that’s when things get complicated, because all the
passengers are women…women prisoners…offered pardon if they’ll
marry the womenless men on the pioneer planet Tritomis-2.
Tritomis is a place
much like the Old West, where men ride horses and use wagons for transportation
while spaceships streak across the sky.
There, the station owners are the kings, the farm owners come in second,
and the gadjas, the natives, are lowest of all. On Tritomis-2, a man’s word is
his bond, gunfights are common, and justice is sometimes meted out immediately
without calling in the Federation marshal.
Katy’s unaware of all this. She thinks the women will be
employed by the men with whom they leave the shuttleport. When Sar Trant, owner
of Three Moon Station comes along and wins Katy after a financial battle with
another station owner, she goes with him, not realizing the document she signs
is a marriage license. Misunderstandings follow, but after Sar learns why Katy
really came to Tritomis, he agrees to help her hide out until the year in the
marriage contract is up. The only
trouble is…he’s fallen in love with his bought bride and he intends to woo her
and win her and make her want to stay with him.
Fate, the murderous gunmen, and the station owner who loses
Katy to Sar have other plans, however…
A good many readers have fallen in love with Sar and Katy (and
I think more would if they envisioned the Tom Selleck of Magnum PI (not the Police Commissioner dad of Blue Bloods) in Sar’s place).
At their encouragement, what was intended as only one novel has now grown to
three in the series…Three Moon Station, The Finer Gentleman, and In
This Kingdom by the Sea, all released by Class Act Books.
“…an out of this world
must read…so well written that it’s a bestseller contender, one that I would
proudly display in my personal library.”—Long and Short Reviews
“If you like epic style
romance that leaves you with warm fuzzies and a desire to revisit the
characters, and who doesn’t, you’ll love 3
Moon Station.”--WRDR Review
EXCERPT:
“Mr.
Trant. I guess we’d better have that talk now,” she began and he nodded
soberly. She walked a little closer, looking up into those bright eyes. Careful, Katy! Don’t get too close. You
might fall into that blueness and drown. “There’s so much we need to discuss.
W-we haven’t even talked about how much I’ll be paid.”
“Paid?
You expect to be paid for—”
“Of
course,” she interrupted. “I believe it’s customary.”
He
thought about that a moment. “Guess that tells me something about you I hadna
wish to know, Sunshine.”
“After
all,” she reminded him. “I do have my
own welfare to think about.”
“What
would you consider fair payment, Katy?” He asked it very softly, his expression
serious.
“I
guess that’s up to you. What do you think my services are worth?”
“Truthfully?
I doubt I have that much money.” He looked a little flustered. “The women in
town…at Larkin’s…ge’ ten Federals per toss, so…”
“I’m
sorry,” Katy interrupted. “What’s a toss?”
“Maybe
they call it something else on Terra.” He startled her by seizing her shoulders,
saying with an earnestness that made her frown, “Katy, I want you to know I’ll
ne’er hold your old life against you.”
She
smiled at this statement of reverse snobbery. Since she had no intention of
ever letting him know that her uncle was one of the richest, and also one of
the most criminally unscrupulous, men on Terra’s Northern Hemisphere, she
didn’t answer.
Trant
went on, “Though if you’re a virgin, I dinna understand how—”
“I
am.” Katy flushed. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d quite harping on that fact.
It’s not going to affect what I do for you. I swear.”
“But
how? I mean…” Trant shook his head, murmuring, “We’re too isolated from Big Planet life here.”
Since
she didn’t understand what he was muttering about, Katy decided to name her own
salary. “How about you pay me five hundred credits a month? For services rendered?”
“What
kind of services?” he asked, suspiciously.
“The
usual kind.” She shrugged, wondering why he looked even more confused. “But I
think we should get one thing straight. I’m grateful for your saving me from Alwin
Marsten, and I fully intend to uphold my end of the Agreement and work hard for you b-but…” Taking a deep breath, she
pulled herself free of his grasp. “I won’t sleep with you.”
“Na
right now, you mean.” He didn’t look too upset.
“No.
Not ever.” She shook her head, adding, “I’m sorry.”
“’Tis
I who’s sorry, Sunshine, most definitely. But I do na understand. If you intend
to adhere to that contract, how can you refuse to—”
“I’m
certain the Federation didn’t send me here to satisfy the lust of some sex-starved
colonist, Mr. Trant.”
“Is
that what you think I am? A sex-starved colonist?” He didn’t looked insulted,
as she’d expected, just a little more bewildered.
“Of
course not,” she denied, meaning, didn’t
you act like one last night? “Not really.” She took a deep breath. He’d
obviously expected it to be so easy. “I’ll be a good housekeeper, Mr. Trant but
I just won’t sleep with my employer. I can’t.”
“Employer?”
he repeated. His face underwent a startling change, disbelief, amusement, relief,
she wasn’t certain which. “That’s what you think I am? Your employer?”
“Of
course,” she nodded. “You hired me to be your housekeeper—”
He
stopped whatever else she was going to say, by laughing out loud.
“What’s
so funny?”
A
hand went to her shoulder. “Sunshine, I’m na your employer. I’m your husband.”
All three novels can be found on he Class Act Books website: www.classactbooks.com. They are also available from Amazon.
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