Why Veronica Scott Wrote TIMTUR: THE TEACHER’S ALIEN HEALER

Thanks for having me back yet again as your guest, to talk about why I wrote the book! It’s really one of my favorite aspects of releasing a new title, coming here to give some backstory.

Being a somewhat seat of the pants type author, by which I mean I don’t do any detailed plotting or outlining before I sit down and write, in MATEER book two  of my Badari Warriors scifi romance series, Timtur and the human teacher, Lily, were not mates (and they weren’t the featured hero and heroine). In  JADRIAN book three of the series, they were already mates and I hadn’t stopped to tell their story but had gone on and written about another couple’s adventures. JADRIAN was one of those rare books where I woke up in the morning literally with the entire story in my head and was on fire to get it written.

Hmmm. I was short changing Timtur and Lily, I had a really good story to tell for the two of them, with some new wrinkles on the overall series plot…what to do? Also complicating the situation was that Amazon won’t let you have a book numbered as 2.5, which may seem trivial, but if I put TIMTUR into the book series as  #5 and it really wasn’t, timewise, things could get complicated.

I know – author problems!

But readers were asking me what happened with Timtur and the teacher?!

Then I was invited to join a group of scifi romance authors called In The Stars Romance, who were either putting out stories related to their existing series or writing new series for the imprint. It’s a loose association, created mostly to do cross promo and support each other. I thought that would be PERFECT for Timtur, to make him an In the Stars Romance but still a Badari Warrior of course. 

Numbering problem solved, now to write the story!

With Timtur’s story taking place in the early days after the pack and the humans have escaped the labs of the evil Khagrish scientists, the Badari are still very much figuring out life as free men, and grappling with what it even means to be a mate. (There were no Badari women.) Timtur takes his role as the healer and the man in his generation most closely in touch with their goddess, the Great Mother, very much to heart. He had serious doubts about how to balance his duties to his packmates and making a commitment as a mate to one human woman. Lily meanwhile has stepped in to try to create a school for the young Badari boys also rescued from the labs. (The group is hiding out in a ‘sanctuary valley’ guarded from the Khagrish enemy by an ancient Artificial Intelligence.) She grows understandably frustrated with Timtur’s reluctance to commit to her…and then there’s an unfortunate incident, she has a stalker amongst the Badari…and she’s kidnapped.

I try to make each book in the series different, to keep the concepts fresh and intriguing. For this one I had a really twisty turn on the relationship between at least a few Badari and a Khagrish scientist – no spoilers, but Lily gets caught up in the situation and Timtur realizes nearly too late that he should have claimed his mate when he had the chance.

It was an interesting challenge to make myself ‘go back in time’ in the series, to the early days when the Badari and the humans were just beginning to figure out life as rebels and as refugees hiding in the sanctuary valley on the planet far from the human interstellar civilization, the Sectors. I hope the readers will enjoy seeing how Lily and her alien healer became mates (forgive the title but the In The Stars Romance group goes for the Harlequinesque titles).

The next book will be GABE, which is already written and currently being edited. I expect to release it in November and it will be the official book #5 in the Badari Warrior series timeline.

The blurb: Genetically engineered soldiers of the far future, the Badari were created by alien enemies to fight humans. But then the scientists kidnapped an entire human colony to use as subjects in twisted experiments…the Badari and the humans made common cause, rebelled and escaped the labs. Now they live side by side in a sanctuary valley protected by a powerful Artificial Intelligence, and wage unceasing war on the aliens. The luckiest Badari find their mates among the humans.

Far from her home in the human Sectors after the mass kidnapping, teacher Lily Garrison is making a niche for herself in the valley by running a school for the Badari young. Although she yearns for Timtur, the pack’s healer, another Badari male has his eye on her and won’t take no for an answer.

Timtur feels the weight and responsibility of being the pack’s only healer, constantly on call as the soldiers fight ferocious battles against the alien scientists and their troops. With scarcely a moment to himself, he’s drawn to the gentle Lily but worries he won’t be able to juggle his duties, his loyalty to the pack and a relationship with a human woman. 

 When Lily’s stalker takes direct action to kidnap her and steal her from the safety of the valley, she’s forced to reach deep inside to find the strength to battle for her life. Timtur realizes too late how foolish he’s been to resist the bond with his fated mate and leads the rescue effort.

Before this situation can be resolved both will have to put their lives on the line and decide what really matters in a dangerous world ruled by the enemy.

The excerpt: 

He’s late. I hope he’s not planning to stand me up entirely.

Despite her concern and annoyance over her date Timtur’s failure to arrive on time, Lily sat on the flat rock jutting over the serene lake trying to remain calm. She raised her face to the sky, enjoying the warmth on her skin. Of course, all too soon she’d get a sun burn and be sorry for her rash behavior if she remained in the same spot. Red-headed, pale humans had that problem on every world, not just this one she’d been brought to by alien pirates as a kidnap victim. 

Now she scanned the azure sky with less pleasure, fearing the sight of enemy flyers, even if this valley was labelled as a sanctuary by the Badari pack, including Timtur, who’d rescued the humans. Rising, she retreated to the shady forest glade surrounding the rock formation. The climb was an easy one, only a few feet, and she made it quickly. Heights were one of her phobias so she wouldn’t go much higher than this. 

Except for the brief moment of savoring the sun’s warmth, on the whole, she felt safer hidden under the canopy of branches.

The picnic lunch remained in its container, probably still perfectly fine to eat, but not as delicious as it had been when she packed the foods in the valley’s communal kitchen a while ago. Winking and nudging her in the ribs playfully, the head cook made a joke about what big eaters the Badari warriors were. “Definitely, the way to his heart,” she’d said wisely.

Lily plunked down on the edge of the blue-and-green striped blanket she’d brought for this special date and knotted the fringe nervously. I can’t use the food to appeal to his heart if he doesn’t show up. This picnic had been his idea so surely Timtur wasn’t planning to avoid meeting her. She’d cancelled her afternoon classes to be free, gotten her hopes up maybe today was the day he’d want to talk about how he saw them as a couple…I probably placed too much emphasis on his wanting us to have time alone today, away from his packmates and my sisters. After all, dating is a totally new concept for the Badari. 

She imagined him placing his strong, healer’s hands on her body, not just gliding above her skin exercising his special power. When she’d first arrived, she’d had a relapse of stasis syndrome that defeated the best efforts of the human doctor in the valley, and Timtur had spent hours attempting to heal her, monitoring her condition. In the course of the treatments, the two of them had talked endlessly about every topic under the sun and grown close. Of course, she’d fallen hard for her handsome healer. She wasn’t sure if he felt the same way. 

Opening her eyes, she sighed. The healer was something special all right but, despite her best efforts to let him know how interested she was in taking their relationship further than friendship, he always held back. He didn’t show any interest in any of the other human women now living in the valley. She had no rivals for his affections. But still there was something keeping them from going to the next level, and today was the day she wanted to discover what the impediment was.

Which was going to be impossible if Timtur didn’t even bother to show up. Should I give up on ever being more than friends? The idea of never seeing where their relationship could go, never exploring the deep emotional bond she felt with him brought a wave of cold sadness, and she shivered despite the warmth of the sun. Cutting herself off from contact with Timtur would break her heart, not cure her of desire for him.

 “Dreaming again?” His voice, deep and full of good humor, came from behind and to the left.

You can buy TIMTUR at these vendors: Amazon     Apple Books     Nook     Kobo     Google

USA Today Best Selling Author

“SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog

 Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!

 She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”

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I’d like to thank Veronica for stopping by to share the story behind TIMTUR! I love the peek behind the curtain and definitely love having you stop by! Oh, yeah, love the series, too! Keep those warriors coming!

Perilously yours,

Pauline