Title
Claws & Effect: The Otherworldly Pets of Project Enterprise
Author
Pauline Baird Jones
Genre
Romantic scifi, space opera, action adventure, science fiction romance
Book Blurb
Love Space opera? Romance? Adventure? Out of this world pets? Grab Claws & Effect today!
What’s in the collection?
In Time Trap, Sergeant Briggs’s world collides with the very unusual Madison and her pet parrot. With a Time Service Interdiction Force on their heels, can the three craft a plan that will save a base full of geniuses and technology and get them the happy ending they deserve?
Operation Ark’s Caro, her caticorn, and Kraye are tasked with returning some unusual aliens to their home planets. Together they must face a dangerous journey, a lethal enemy with a score to settle, their unexpected desire, and an uncertain future if they make it out alive.
Cyborg’s Revenge asks the question, can the shy guy and the lovesick gal defeat their greatest enemy and find a happy ending? Only the chatty Snake knows for sure.
General’s Holiday brings us a lady with a crazy story and a frog for a side-kick. And then there is the general who has been waiting for his Picard moment for a long time. Be careful what you ask for! But…if he can survive he might just get to kiss the lady.
And in the bonus short story, “The Real Dragon,” Emma Standish didn’t think her day could get any worse. Her dad is marrying his boss, her dragon suddenly came back talking and typing, and it’s her fault the Earth, or at least ten square miles of Texas, is going to be destroyed.
Dive into four Project Enterprise stories and one quirky Earth-based romp! All five originally appeared in the ®Pets in Space anthologies.
Excerpt:
Something catapulted out of the green beams of light like it had been hurled, something that squawked loudly as it tumbled beak over claws, just missing Briggs’ head.
The spinning tumble continued unchecked toward a stand of palm-like trees. Somehow it recovered, made a narrow pass between two tree trunks, then circled back to a landing on the peak of the cottage.
It ruffled its feathers as if annoyed, then began to preen itself.
A parrot? He blinked. The green body, with a band of red just above the beak looked parrot-like.
“That’s not something you see every day.” Particularly in this birdless place. Too bad he’d already turned off the video. No one would believe he really saw a parrot shooting out of that thing.
The bird looked up and Briggs had the odd feeling it had understood him. He’d heard parrots were pretty smart. He glanced back at the disc. At least now he was pretty sure it was some kind of a transport pad. Definitely needed to get the power supply out—
He heard the hum build again and turned fully around, just in time to catch what flew out next. Instinctively his arms wrapped around the very humanoid—very female—form it ejected.
He staggered a few steps and then went down. The sand was harder than he’d have thought. His breath rushed out as they slid toward the water, his arms still wrapped around the woman.
When they hit wet sand, they slowed, and finally stopped. He felt water soaking into his shirt and heard the waves hitting close to his head. Took him a couple of tries before he could grab some shallow breaths. Each one was filled with the smell of salt, woman, and singed something.
He could feel the female struggling to catch her breath, too. Yeah, she was definitely female. Almost every inch of her was pressed against a lot of him, creating a different problem in catching his breath.
In the sudden silence, the bird squawked once.
Over on the table, the disc’s beams flickered, there was a popping sound from inside, and it went dark, smoke puffing out the holes on the top. Great. Now he didn’t even have a depleted power supply to show the geeks.
“Ow.”
Her voice was pained, but, well, nice. She took a couple of deep breaths that increased Briggs’ male holding a female problem. He wasn’t as old as he’d thought.
He would have shifted her off, didn’t want it to get embarrassing, and he would like to catch his breath, but the thing digging into his ribs felt a lot like some kind of gun. If she twitched wrong…
She muttered something that could have been a cuss word.
“…that hurt.”
It was something of a relief she spoke very American sounding English, but also a worry. What was she doing on this top-secret outpost? He’d bet real money this was not what Donovan and Doc had had in mind when they sent him the disc to play with.
The weapon retreated as she rolled off him and onto the sand. She didn’t get up, just lay there staring at the sky, her chest rising and falling quickly.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/ClawsAndEffect
Website Book Page/Post: https://paulinebairdjones.com/books/claws-effect/
Author Biography
Award-winning, USA Today Bestselling author, Pauline never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance.
Social Media Links
Website: https://paulinebairdjones.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPaulineBairdJones/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulinebjones
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/perilouspauline/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulinebjones/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Pauline-Baird-Jones/e/B000APFS0M/