New Winner for Alexander Outland: Space Pirate

Sadly, the previous winner did not respond to the winning email.  So, I picked a new winner.

Thank you all for Entering the giveaway and enjoying the interview with Nap and his crew.

And the Winner is....

Jen B. (claimed)

Thank you Jen, and Congrats!

The winner will have from 7:15 pm EST May 7, 2012 ~ 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be picked

Winner of Alexander Outland: Space Pirate!

We have a WINNER!  Yep, I got through all the entries and used Random.org to pick the winner.

Thank you all for stopping by to meet the crew from Sixty-Nine with me. :)  I do hope you all get a chance to meet them when you are ready as well.

Now to the winner!

Jesse

The email has been sent to Jesse, and they have 48 hours to respond from May 2, 2012 8:15pm EST, or another winner will be picked.

Character Interview! & GIVEAWAY With Alexander Outland & Crew

Today I'm excited to be visiting an amazing, and hot, space pirate we've started hearing stories echoing through the universe about.  Right on his very on ship!  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I will be visiting and interviewing Alexander Outland, himself, today!  I'm looking forward to meeting this man, and his crew.

Come join me!

Me: *I walk into cockpit, extending a hand to shack*

Slinkie:  This is a laser hand cannon. It can disintegrate someone at five hundred meters. Think about what it’ll do to you at close range.

Nap:  Wow, Slink, really, relax. Tanner set this interview up, remember?

Tanner: Ah, I forgot to tell Slinkie about it, Nap. Like you told me to.

Slinkie:  Excuse me?

Tanner:  You know, I just remembered something I have to do in the galley. Bye! Nice to meet you for five seconds!

Me:  *gulp* Hello Alexander.

Nap:  Hey there. Call me Nap, it’s what all my friends, and satisfied ladies throughout the galaxy, call me. And I insist on beautiful reporters such as yourself calling me Nap, as well.

Slinkie:  And he doesn’t answer to anything else.

The Governor:  Oh, he answers when I call, my dear.

Lionside:  He responds well to his last name, too.

Randolph:  In my experience, he also answers to ’hey you’. And curse words. He answers to those, too.

Nap:  I’m right here.

Audrey:  I believe we should call the Captain ‘Captain’, since that’s his rank.

Nap:  Let’s all listen to Audrey. Other than the pretty reporter, who can still call me Nap.

Me:  Nap it is then.  Thank you for agreeing to chat with me today. *beaming a smile*  It is a pleasure to meet such a well know pirate.

Nap:  Well, thank you. You know, we should maybe take this to the galley, kick Tanner out, have a drink --

Slinkie:  Not if you want to continue breathing, Nap.

Nap:  Oh, ah, right, right. Strictly professional interest, Slink. You know you’re the only girl for me.

Slinkie:  Uh huh.

Nap:  Shake your hair and stand up straight and call me a liar.

Slinkie:  Later. If you get to have a later.

Me:  *Diverting my eyes from Nap, and the glare from Slinkie, to glance around room*  So, this is where you all… congregate?  The cockpit of the Sixty Nine.

Nap:  Yes. No matter what I do or say, they all end up cramming in here with me.

Me:  It’s a little… tight in here.  You all must love being together?

Nap:  They truly can’t get enough of the Outland.

Slinkie:  Honestly, we like knowing what’s going on, or at least having a clue. Nap tends to fly by the seat of his pants.

Nap:  I knew you were always looking at the seat of my pants.

Slinkie:  I’m armed.

Nap:  What’s your point?

The Governor:  The youngsters prefer it in the cockpit because that way they feel that they have an actual say in what Alexander decides to do. In truth, they don’t, but we all enjoy our little fictions.

Nap:  Like you enjoy the fiction that you’re not actually one of the walking dead.

Me:  Hearing of your adventures Nap, I think of the saying, “People to do, places to see.”  Oh, did I get that backwards, no, that’s the way I remember it.  As the well known pirate, how would you describe yourself with six words or less?

Nap:  I like where your head’s at, babe.

Slinkie:  And if you suggest she put her head anywhere else, you’re a dead man.

Nap:  Oh, no, I was going to answer her question. In six words or less: The ladies love the Outland.

Me:  What six words would your crew use to describe you in six words or less?

Nap:  The ladies love the Outland.

Lionside:  Do you truly have no imagination, or are you so convinced of your sexual prowess that you can’t be bothered to come up with anything else?

Nap:  Lionside, as you’ll learn, I don’t mess with perfection.

Slinkie:  Or modesty. My six are: Full of himself but worth it.

Randolph:  Great pilot, denser than me sometimes.

Audrey:  The Captain is a good man.

Nap:  Let’s all listen to Audrey!

Steam room

Me:  Okay, I know you are busy to get going to the next steam bath, and planet.  Just one last question.  I need a good vacation.  Who has the nicest steam bathes and relaxing place?

Nap:  Thurge, but they’re not fond of us there any more.

Lionside:  The ones on Herion were lovely. Until Outland arrived.

Nap:  As if you aren’t relieved we showed up?

Lionside:  I suppose. Libsuno tends to have the best of everything, and Ipsita has some nice options, too.

The Governor:  All this talk of steam baths reminds me that I’m overdue for mine. I’m an old man and I demand my steam bath!

Slinkie:  Yes, yes, Governor, we know.

The Governor:  The best ones were on Knaboor. Of course, we can never go there again, thanks in no small part --

Nap:  Whoa! Look at the time. I think we need to wrap this up, doll.

Me:  Thank you all for letting me join you on your ship for just a few moments.   And Nap, it would be a pleasure to do another interview with you in the future.  I’d love to hear about some of your adventures. *winks and waves*

Nap:  Call any time, babe!

Slinkie:  See him alone without me and die.

Nap:  Ignore her, too much caffeine! The ladies love the Outland, and the Outland loves the ladies!




I'm so thrilled to have had the chance to walk on Sixty-Nine and chat with the famous Nap and his crew.  Wow.  I do like that Slinkie.  She is one strong woman, and kind of the way I wanted to grow up to be.  I might have to have an interview with her next time.


This is your interviewer Melissa signing off.  I do hope you enjoyed meeting these characters as much as I did. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
G.J. Koch will be visiting several blogs until release day, June 5th.
Do check out her list of where she will be to learn more.

This book becomes available for purchase June 5, 2012.

Do you want to meet these characters?  Read this fun book?

Now is your chance to win a copy!

You MUST fill out the Rafflecopter form to enter, commenting alone will not get you an entry.

1 entry will win!
If winner is US address ~ a print version only.
If winner is International address ~ an eBook
PLEASE NOTE: this is open to International entries, but if international the winning will be an eBook, not a print version.

Giveaway book graciously Provided by Night Shade Books, they will send to winner.

Giveaway Ends: May 1, 2012 at 11:59pm EST

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Alexander Ouland: Space Pirate

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate

By:  G.J. Koch

Publisher:  Nightshade Books

Publish Date:  June 5, 2012

Format:  ARC

Genre:  Science Fiction

Series:  1st in Alexander Outland series

Recommendation:  Oh Yes!  Fun outer space read!  Had me smiling the whole way through.  And I love Nap!

Synopsis:
Captain Alexander Outland of the Sixty-Nine (short for Space Vessel 3369, of course) is the best pilot in the galaxy.  He's also a pirate, a smuggler, and loved and loathed by women in umpteen solar systems.  His crew of strays and misfits includes an engineer of dubious sanity, a deposed planetary governor, an annoyingly unflappable Sexbot copilot and a slinky weapons chief who stubbornly refuses to give the captain a tumble.

Outland just wants to make a decent living skirting the law, but when an invisible space armada starts cutting into his business, he soon finds himself in hot water with the military, the mob, mad bombers, and an extended family of would-be conquerors.  And that's not counting an occasionally telepathic spy...

Like any sensible scoundrel, he hates heroics.  They're risky and they don't pay well.  But to keep his ship and crew in one piece, and make time with a certain hard-to-get weapons chief, he might just have to make an exception - and save the galaxy in spite of himself!

My Thoughts and Summary:
Alexander pulls Sixty-Nine into Thurge for a magma order, but when he hears the voice and one of the women that has been brewing to see Nap again, he high-tales it out of there to Herion.  But in his rush to avoid one trouble he comes barreling into another.  Ships have been vanishing around Herion space along with weird occurrences.  Alarms in Sixty-Nine go off, but nothing is on the screen.  Nap works his flying magic to land on Herion.  Now grounded Nap has several different groups after him; to help them, or to kill him.  Nap is the first to land in a very long time, and people are desperate to hire him, and the Pirate Armada wants to kill him since he is the only captain who could out pilot them but won't take orders either.  Alexander is not a hero, he's a pirate...with morals...okay, low, but some, but he needs to stop the Armada if he wants to keep smuggling and pirating without a huge fee.  And try to win the girl too.

Right off the bat we learn Alexander Outland, Nap as his friends and the ladies call him, is quite popular with the ladies...good and bad ways.  Alexander comes off as not always the smartest captain, but he always comes through!  By the end of the book, I started to think it's all an act.  People won't think you smarter than what you come across, so you can get away with many great things, and have fun at it.

There is a whole universe created!  Yes, this is so much bigger than a world.  Koch creates a universe!  This is wild!  The first six chapters are quick and fast moving, yet we see a large universe is here.  I got the feel we are getting just a bare glimpse of it, and I look forward to future books to see more.

We are taken on a wild and fun ride with Nap and his crew.  Just meeting them, and reading Naps responses to each is fun.  And there is one he didn't even know about, until we get going in the book.  Nap also seems to be a collector of lost souls, as he picks up a few extras along the way.  All the characters have their own strong personalities, and abilities they bring to the story.  No, they don't all get along, but they are wonderful to blend and clash together.  Loved them all!

I loved Nap, so fun.  Slinkie is who I want to be when I grow up!  Okay, so I'm already grown up, and not a Slinkie, but I loved her!  Loved Governor.  Oh, he holds a secret all his own.  And Randolph, so smart!  A genius.  And Audrey! Audrey... she is a special case. ;)  And all the people we come across, just fun!

The story!  It was fun!  Thrilling!  Adventurous!  Nap and crew get into scraps and get out, barely.  There are sexual innuendos through out the book, and comments.  Like with Slinkie, about every time.  But it's all in great fun, and I had to smile.  Actually, this book had me smiling the whole time, and even rooting for Nap with Slinkie (even though I probably shouldn't have been).  I loved the banter and the sexual tension Alexander puts into everything, a true man but fun.  Then we have a few moments in not so...sanitary, places. lol.  But it is all so funny!

I've read it, and absolutely loved it!

I loved this adventure and this crew!  I CAN NOT WAIT for the next Alexander Outland book!!


Stay tuned for meeting Nap and crew!  It will is up today, very shortly!

I received a copy of this book for an honest review.
Please remember this review is of my personal opinion.

Looking Forward Too... (96)

There are so many amazing books already on the shelves and new ones coming out.

For a list of books yet to be released I'm looking to get, you can also look on my right Sidebar at the ever growing list titled Desired Reads - just scroll down. Of course there are tones of other new books to come out that are amazing as well, but these ones are part of series I have already started or for one reason or another caught my eye (and haven't seen much on other blogs yet). But I will highlight one here each week.

(mentioned in order of Release Date then Alphabetical if there are more than one book coming out on the same date.)

Next Book Is...

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate

By:  G.J. Koch

Due Out:  June 5, 2012

Oh, this is such a fun read.  I so have to have the print copy for my shelves.  I really loved Nap and Slinkie and Governor, and all the crew. lol.  Just so much fun!

Goodreads Synopsis:
Captain Alexander Outland of the Sixty-Nine (short for Space Vessel 3369, of course) is the best pilot in the galaxy. He’s also a pirate, a smuggler, and loved and loathed by women in umpteen solar systems. His crew of strays and misfits includes an engineer of dubious sanity, a deposed planetary governor, an annoyingly unflappable Sexbot copilot, and a slinky weapons chief who stubbornly refuses to give the captain a tumble.

Outland just wants to make a decent living skirting the law, but when an invisible space armada starts cutting into his business, he soon finds himself in hot water with the military, the mob, mad bombers, and an extended family of would-be conquerors. And that’s not counting an occasionally telepathic spy . . . .

Like any sensible scoundrel, he hates heroics. They’re risky and they don’t pay well. But to keep his ship and crew in one piece, and make time with a certain hard-to-get weapons chief, he might just have to make an exception–and save the galaxy in spite of himself!

Cover: Alexander Outland

I was strolling through Night Shade Books and saw we have a cover for Alexander Outland: Space Pirate by G.J. Koch!  I promised to share it with you when it was done.

Yes!  I've read it, and absolutely loved it!  A fun crew!  I can't wait to buy the print version!  And I'm thrilled to be able to share the cover with you now!

This cover is perfect! Especially after reading the book. lol.  LOVE this cover!

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate

By:  G.J. Koch

Due Out:  June 5, 2012

Description:

Captain Alexander Outland of the Sixty-Nine (short for Space Vessel 3369, of course) is the best pilot in the galaxy. He's also a pirate, a smuggler, and loved and loathed by women in umpteen solar systems. His crew of strays and misfits includes an engineer of dubious sanity, a deposed planetary governor, an annoyingly unflappable Sexbot copilot, and a slinky weapons chief who stubbornly refuses to give the captain a tumble. 

Outland just wants to make a decent living skirting the law, but when an invisible space armada starts cutting into his business, he soon finds himself in hot water with the military, the mob, mad bombers, and an extended family of would-be conquerors. And that's not counting an occasionally telepathic spy . . . . 

Like any sensible scoundrel, he hates heroics. They're risky and they don't pay well. But to keep his ship and crew in one piece, and make time with a certain hard-to-get weapons chief, he might just have to make an exception--and save the galaxy in spite of himself! 

Who? What? Where? (60)

Who are you with? Where are you at? What's happening?

Share with us just a little bit of what is happening in the book you are reading, right where you are now.

Just a tiny taste of what's happening, remember try to not give spoilers of the book.

(This is a new meme I'm going to try and will tweak as I go. And please don't laugh at my lame attempt at drawing. ;D )


I'm riding with Alexander, Nap as he likes to be called, Governor, Slinkie, Tanner, and Lionside in a tankfloater through very... special... tunnels and into Disgusting Lake.  I'm waiting to see if what Randolph is to do, to help us escape what is attacking us, will work or make it worse for us.  It's disgusting, but I find it and the banter of the characters funny.

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate
By:  G.J. Koch

The Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Award

I've been nominated by Blodeuedd at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell for the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Award from Gini Koch.

As Gini Koch say's:
This award was created to honor those whose blogs who exemplify the qualities Katherine "Kitty" Katt has -- those who always stay cutting edge, who always find the fun, the funny, and the cool, and who are always one step ahead of the competition.


The "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger Award" is only given to the amazingly awesome, so get down with your bad self, you're deemed worth to run with the A-C's! And you're also one step closer to being inthe running for some cool prizes. (Contest is international.)

Your mission details: 

1. Slap the graphic on your blog.
2. Give link props to the person who gave you the award (keep the hard, best, fast and strong on your side!).
3. Spread the awesome and nominate five (5) other bloggers who you think exemplify what it means to be cool, fun and cutting edge.
4. Let the recipients know they’ve won this honor on their blogs.
5. Last but not least, shoot Gini Koch an email at gini@ginikoch.com and let her know you’re the best of the best of the best, sir! (put “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” in the subject line!) by sharing that you’ve been nominated and telling her which other bloggers you nominated, and she’ll enter you into the “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” Contest. Find out more details and what the loot is at http://www.ginikoch.com/winstuff.htm

My 5 Awesome Picks!

• Melissa @ Books & Things
• Jackie @ My Ever Expanding Library & The Quirky Lover @ Book Lovers Inc.
• Kristin @ My Bookish Ways
• Bells @ Hanging with Bells
• WonderBunny @ Cookies, Books and Bikes

Now I'm off to let all these wonderful people know about the award...