Author Archives: Michelle Diener

Breakaway is available!

So excited to have the first book in my Verdant String series out. This book was so much fun to write. I hope my readers love it as much as I do 🙂

Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook

About Breakaway:

Sofie lives in the shadow of Felicitos–the tethered way station built to funnel Garmen’s mineral wealth up to the top of the atmosphere, where it’s loaded onto space ships. Because Garmen is a breakaway planet, not part of the Verdant String Coalition, the companies that control it are free to run things as they see fit, and Sofie is part of the resistance that wants to end their rule.

Her main goal, though, is to get away from Garmen altogether, and leave the drudgery and violence behind her. That goal is complicated by her involvement with Leo Gaudier, a shadowy crime lord whose ability to cheat the companies that own Garmen is something she admires. And when she stumbles on a terrible new direction the companies are taking, a secret alliance that will endanger everyone she cares about, she sees her chances of escape slipping away.

Leo is all too aware he doesn’t know enough about Sofie, something his own security detail is not slow to point out, but he can’t keep away. When Sofie reveals her links to the resistance, and shows him those in control of Garmen have begun swimming in dangerous waters, he realizes his plan to overthrown them in a careful operation of a thousand cuts is no longer workable.

The time has come for a single, lethal strike–and that will not be without consequences . . .

The Verdant String Series

BREAKAWAY is the first full length novel in the Verdant String series. The two novellas which precede it can be bought together in the Interference & Insurgency Box Set.

The planets of the Verdant String, the green, fecund sources of life spanning five solar systems, comprise the Verdant String Coalition. This is the setting for a new science fiction romance series from award-winning science fiction romance novelist Michelle Diener. While the people of the Verdant String know they have a common ancestor, a group of explorers who colonised the planets at the same time a thousand or more years ago, the mysteries of who they were, and where they came from, persist.

SKY RAIDERS Wins an Award

I am really pleased to announce that SKY RAIDERS won the Futuristic Romance Novel category of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award. It is a huge honour. I was grateful just to have SKY RAIDERS in the finals, and very excited to have it win.

I am also pleased to announce that the prequel to SKY RAIDERS, which I wrote at the request of my readers, INTENDED, is available for fans of the series who want the story of how Garek and Taya met and fell in love. It is currently available for download for the next few weeks on BookFunnel for free.

Release Day for Shadow Warrior (with Giveaway!)

Shadow Warrior is now available!

The last book in the SKY RAIDERS trilogy, SHADOW WARRIOR, is now for sale on Amazon.

For all my new release notification subscribers, please feel free to enter the following Rafflecopter giveaway. There are five copies of Shadow Warrior up for grabs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About SHADOW WARRIOR:

Taya and Garek have survived the worst of what the sky raiders and their own fellow Illians have thrown at them. But now, they’ll have to deal with both their enemies working together.

As three of the Illian states close in on what they see as the weakness of West Lathor, Garek and Taya have to shore up their defences, call in favors, and forge friendships with whoever they can to protect their friends and family. When the signs that there is an alliance between an Illian liege and the sky raiders becomes harder to ignore, they have to face the fact that they may be defeated.

The arrival of a new group of sky raiders, looking for information and help, opens up a new possibility. Garek sees no choice but to make a deal with the devil, but the gamble is, will the enemy of their enemy help them, or betray them?

I hope my readers find the last book a satisfying ending to what has been a great series to write. I’ve loved Taya and Garek since I first thought them up 🙂

Other New Releases:

I just released a new short novel, INSURGENCY, which is set in the VERDANT STRING world, and I boxed it together with INTERFERENCE, the novella also set in the VERDANT STRING which appeared last year in the ORPHANS IN THE BLACK anthology. INTERFERENCE & INSURGENCY is now available.

Happy reading!

Best wishes
Michelle

New Release (with giveaway): Interference and Insurgency: Two Novellas of the Verdant String

Very happy to announce that my new book, Insurgency, has just released, and I’ve packaged it together with Interference, the novella that was included in the Orphans in the Black anthology in June 2017.

For all my new release notification subscribers, please feel free to enter the following Rafflecopter giveaway. There are five copies of Interference & Insurgency up for grabs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Verdant String Series

The seven planets of the Verdant String, the green, fecund sources of life spanning five solar systems, comprise the Verdant String Coalition. This is the setting for a new science fiction romance series from award-winning science fiction romance novelist Michelle Diener. While the people of the Verdant String know they have a common ancestor, a group of explorers who colonised the planets at the same time a thousand or more years ago, the mysteries of who they were, and where they came from, persist.

Buy the box set of Inference & Insurgency: Amazon | iBooks | Kobo | Nook

Interference (A 25,000 word novella introducing the world of the Verdant String)

Interference can go either way . . .

The tiny moon of Cepi is on a countdown to destruction, and while Nyha Bartali has been persuaded to take her four wards for a final look at the archaeological wonder, now she’s eager to leave. The only problem is, someone has other plans–plans to exploit Nyha and her girls’ status as the betrayed orphans of the Verdant String in order to give them time to steal Cepi’s secrets.

Nyha and her wards’ value as survivors of the destruction of Halatia means it would be political suicide for any leader of the Verdant String to endanger them again–something the hostage-takers know very well. What the hostage-takers don’t know is that Nyha and her girls have more help than they realize.

Mak Carep knows his team’s presence on Cepi is the last flex of Arkhor’s muscle before the moon is blown to bits. Arkhor has interfered on Cepi since it discovered the ruins four hundred years ago, but sometimes, interference can have unexpected consequences. When Nyha and her girls are taken hostage, Mak and the rest of his special forces team are the only ones who have any hope of rescuing them, and they’re ready and willing to do what Arkhor does best . . . Interfere.

Interference was first published in the Orphans in the Black Anthology in July 2017.

Insurgency (Insurgency is a 45,000 word short novel set in the Verdant String series)

The Parnian city of Var is under siege. Buildings are being targeted by insurgents whose only aim seems to be destruction. Nick Bartega is part of the Protection Unit team investigating the explosions, but with no discernible pattern, and no one taking responsibility, he and his colleagues have hit a blank wall.

That is until his neighbor, Tila, is caught up in the first real mistake the insurgents have made. Cornered, forced to take Tila’s whole office hostage, the insurgents are surrounded and out of options, until they use Tila as their shield.

Tila sees herself as Parnian first, Halatian second, but her dark blue hair, and the strong emotions her very existence provokes in others means the insurgents see her as the perfect hostage. No one on Par wants to give the order that might catch her in the crossfire. They’d rather let the insurgents get away.

But Nick, and his commander, Drake, see the first glimpse of a pattern in the insurgents behavior. Not that long ago, Halatians were used as hostages in another incident on the tiny moon of Cepi, and the parallels are hard to ignore. So is this attack on Var an isolated incident, or is there a bigger conspiracy at play?

Whatever the truth, Nick isn’t prepared to leave Tila in the insurgents hands. And he’s prepared to break any rule, and disregard any order to do it.

NEW IN THE VERDANT STRING SERIES:

To receive notification when the next Verdant String novel, BREAKAWAY, becomes available, please sign up to my new release notification list.

In a Treacherous Court on Sale for US Readers

I just saw that my publisher put the ebook version of IN A TREACHEROUS COURT on sale for $2.99 (ONLY in the USA, unfortunately). Not sure how long it will last, but thought I’d give my US readers the heads-up.

IN A TREACHEROUS COURT is my debut novel, and it was inspired by my historical research into the life of Flemish painter Susanna Horenbout, who went to work in Henry VIII’s court, possibly as his first female court painter.

Her father, Gerard Horenbout, is the artist who illuminated the famous Sforza Book of Hours for Margaret of Austria.

Susanna married one of Henry VIII courtiers, John Parker, and the book is a fast-paced thriller in which Susanna and Parker are caught up in a big court scandal.

Calling the Change Release Day (With Sky Raiders Free!)

I’m thrilled to announce the release of CALLING THE CHANGE, the second book in the SKY RAIDERS trilogy, and to also let my readers know that from July 17 -July 21, SKY RAIDERS, the first book in the series, is free on Amazon.

Buy Calling the Change
Get Sky Raiders for free

About Calling the Change:

He rescued her despite impossible odds—Garek has rescued Taya and the rest of his village from the sky raiders, but their return home doesn’t bring easier times. The sky raiders aren’t simply going to go away—they still need the shadow ore they came for, and they want the ships Garek stole from them back. But they aren’t the only threat . . .

First she was in danger from the aliens who abducted her, now she’s in danger from her own people—Taya’s been rescued, but she isn’t home a week before she’s taken again, this time by men who walked the walls with Garek. They’ve taken her as a consolation prize of sorts, having failed to get hold of Garek himself. They think Taya’s value to the people they’re working for is her relationship to Garek, but they are wrong . . .

Garek and Taya never gave up on each other before, even when the distance between them was impossibly far, and they aren’t giving up on each other now. As Garek searches for her, and Taya engineers her escape, they discover the motivations behind the new attacks on them are darker than the endless reaches of space they’ve just escaped from.

Buy Calling the Change

Exclusive Excerpt: Calling the Change

For those of you wanting an early taste of what you’ll find in Calling the Change, the second Sky Raiders novel, hop on over to USA Today to read an exclusive excerpt. Calling the Change will release on July 17th, and it is available for preorder on Amazon.

About Calling the Change:

He rescued her despite impossible odds—Garek has rescued Taya and the rest of his village from the sky raiders, but their return home doesn’t bring easier times. The sky raiders aren’t simply going to go away—they still need the shadow ore they came for, and they want the ships Garek stole from them back. But they aren’t the only threat . . .

First she was in danger from the aliens who abducted her, now she’s in danger from her own people—Taya’s been rescued, but she isn’t home a week before she’s taken again, this time by men who walked the walls with Garek. They’ve taken her as a consolation prize of sorts, having failed to get hold of Garek himself. They think Taya’s value to the people they’re working for is her relationship to Garek, but they are wrong . . .

Garek and Taya never gave up on each other before, even when the distance between them was impossibly far, and they aren’t giving up on each other now. As Garek searches for her, and Taya engineers her escape, they discover the motivations behind the new attacks on them are darker than the endless reaches of space they’ve just escaped from.

Pre-order Calling the Change