Thursday's Special...StarQuest!

STARQUEST by Hywela Lyn

When Jestine Darnell is rescued from her sabotaged starship by the crew of the Destiny her only objective is to complete her mission and keep her promise to save a world from slavery. Love is the last thing on her mind. However, she has not counted on losing her heart to Kerry Marchant the ship’s second in command, who makes his distrust of her painfully obvious, despite the chemistry between them. The completion of her mission has consequences that neither of them could have foreseen.


Enter Dahll Tarron, who becomes involved in a long and dangerous quest to find the Destiny. Fates become intertwined, perils shared, culminating in the realization that sometimes love may be so close that there is a danger it will not be recognized until it is too late…

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Excerpt from STARQUEST


Kerry turned and looked at her. "Something on scan that should not be there?" he asked, the brusque tone of his voice breaking into her musings.

"No, it's just...so beautiful out there—and so vast," she replied. How could he fail to be moved by the stars she loved so much? "It makes me think of something my mother told me when I was a child back on Earth."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"You wouldn't be interested. It's just a story." She rose from her seat.

"Try me."

"Well..." Noting the cold skepticism in his eyes, Jess wished fervently she had not mentioned it, but it was too late now. Reluctantly she seated herself again.

"I used to spend hours watching the stars, dreaming of one day exploring them," she told him softly. "My mother and I would often watch the night sky together. I loved to see falling stars, and she told me they were the souls of young girls who had died for love. For a long time I believed it."

Kerry regarded her witheringly. "Presumably you do not need me to give you a lecture on meteors and astrophysics?"

"I did say I was just a child. I knew you'd think it ridiculous." She tossed back her hair and looked at him steadily. "But even when I was old enough to know falling stars were merely specks of cosmic dust igniting in the Earth's atmosphere, I still loved watching for them and imagining—"

She broke off with a slight shrug, and gestured toward the scanner. "I'm sure it sounds absurd to you, but I would never be afraid to die if I thought I might become part of all that, even if just for a moment."

"Are you not a little old for such fanciful ideas?"

Jess ignored the scorn in his voice. "Perhaps, but I can't help thinking how fragile life is. I've already cheated death once. My escape module wasn't equipped with interstellar drive. I couldn't have made it to another planetary system before the life support units gave out. If the Destiny hadn't picked me up."

She studied him pensively for a moment. He behaved like part of the ship itself...cold, calculating and unfeeling. Why had he suddenly decided to strike up a conversation with her? What thoughts were going through his head to make him stare at her so fixedly? "Kerry, don't you believe in anything?"

"Oh, yes," he replied, giving her a very direct look. "Myself and this ship, and the technology that enabled us to design and build her."

"And there's no room in your life for the concept of the Universal Spirit...you think this whole universe was created by accident?"

"I know it goes against all the rulings of the Union, with their insistence on blind obedience to the 'Universal Spirit,' but I trust only in the things I know and can control. I do not waste my time on fantasy or myths."

"It must be very gratifying to be so self-sufficient you need no one and nothing but yourself," Jess said, without trying to suppress the note of scornful resignation in her voice.

"It avoids disappointment."

She shook her head disparagingly and rose to leave the flight deck, taking one last look at the observation panel. To her consternation, Kerry caught hold of her by the shoulder and pushed her firmly back into her seat, standing over her with an attitude of grim resolve.

"Not so fast, you have some explaining to do."

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What’s the first thing Jess explains to Kerry?



Hywela Lyn (usually known by her second name ‘Lyn’, which is easier to pronounce, is intensely proud of being Welsh, although she currently lives in England with her husband Dave and rescued Jack Russell, Bouncer. She has made up stories in her head for as long as she can remember, inspired by the beautiful Welsh scenery and its legends, and acting out her characters' roles in her mind. She is passionately fond of all animals and the outdoors. She has two horses, Harry and T’pau and usually manages to have a horse somewhere in her stories.

‘Starquest’ is her first novel, a romantic SF/Fantasy. It is available in print or as an Ebook from The Wild Rose Press, and the sequel ‘Children Of The Mist’ is due to be released on 19th June this year. She is also one of nine authors collaborating The Wild Rose Press’s ‘Song Of The Muses’ series about the nine Greek Muses. Her Muse is ‘Terpsichore’ and Lyn sent her to 5th Century Wales. The book is also a tribute to her old endurance mare, Sally, ‘Dancing With Fate’ is available now from The Wild Rose Press.