Hi! I’m Serena Yates and I’m very excited to show off my new cover for Eye of Scota. It’s a science fiction story set in the 26th century on a planet settled by humans in the 9th century using a mysterious gateway to the planet Dalriata. It’s an action/adventure, a quest for answers to age-old questions, and a romance between one of Dalriata’s healer priests and a starship captain.

Eye of Scota

Serena Yates

In 845 a group of Gaels fleeing the Vikings stumbled through the mystic Eye of Scota and found safety on a planet they named Dalriata. Seven centuries later, the arrival of the Crìosdaidh religion changed everything. Fugitives stopped appearing, and the newly established Council of Priests used the energy of Slànach Stones to enforce their religious laws. But by 2500 the Stones’ power is dwindling. The High Priest is desperate—none of the warriors sent to find more Stones have returned.

Cináed MacAlpin, a young healer priest, is chosen to undertake another attempt. He hopes that new Stones will reduce the pressure to heal only those deemed worthy by the priests. But his task is not easy. Cináed must travel to the land of Bunádh and find the Eye that is the source of the Stones. Once there he meets Tadeo Banderas, a spaceship captain exploring the newest Earth-like planet discovered by the Solar Exploration Fleet. Cináed and Tadeo soon find out that the spark of energy between them may hold the key to Dalriata’s future.

1st Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2010.

Excerpt

Chapter Two

Twenty-sixth century
Planet Earth

“How do you plead?” The judge looked straight at Tadeo Banderas as if she were trying to read his mind. Maybe she was.

The judge, Admiral Amelia Forrester of the Sol Exploration Fleet, or SEF, was a stern woman of Egyptian descent in her late sixties, dark hair pulled back into a severe bun. Her credentials as a legal expert and judge were impeccable and she wasn’t known for leniency. It was just Tadeo’s luck that she’d be the one presiding over his disciplinary hearing at the SEF’s main court on Earth.

“Not guilty.” He hadn’t done anything wrong, even if the rules apparently said otherwise. Fleet Command’s interpretation of those rules had caused them to call for this hearing. Tadeo was going to do his best to challenge them; it was his career that was now at stake.

“So noted.” Admiral Forrester tapped her datapad and cleared her throat before looking back at him. “Do you understand that the outcome will be binding unless you decide to push for a full trial, Captain Banderas?”

“I do.” Tadeo almost snorted. That was a very theoretical alternative. A full trial wasn’t something he wanted in his files if he could possibly avoid it. Not even if they cleared him. The fact that he’d asked for a full trial, costing the SEF time and money, would be a permanent black spot marking him as adifficult employee. He might be the youngest captain of the SEF, but even he wasn’t that stupid.

“Now, since this is a hearing and not a trial, we will forgo the usual formalities to some degree. Both sides will present their case, followed by questioning and any further statements anyone wishes to make. Once that is completed, the judges will retire for deliberation. Is that agreeable?” Admiral Forrester looked at the other two judges, clearly not expecting any disagreement.

When the second admiral and the senior captain nodded, she gave the signal to proceed by banging her desk with the ceremonial gavel. The number of participants was small enough to fit into her expansive office with its chrome and glass furniture. Star charts lined the walls, and safely behind glass in various display cases, several of the Fleet’s ships were represented in model form.

It didn’t take long for the grim-faced prosecutor to give his side of the argument. It wasn’t really a complicated case. Tadeo’s first mission after his promotion to captain was to land on Mira IV. The resident species there had recently discovered significant deposits of much-needed trisilicone. His job was to obtain a mining treaty that was advantageous to the Sol system. It wasn’t as exciting as exploring the total unknown or making first contact, but it was a prestigious mission. The primary objective of the SEF was to find the resources that had become scarce in the Sol system.

What he had found on Mira IV appalled him. Their society consisted of a rich minority that ruthlessly exploited the impoverished majority. Slavery was legal and heavily regulated. The complicated and cruel system made the Terran corporate capitalists of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries look like angels. When the Miran Overlord, a cruel dictator by anyone’s standards, asked him to suggest any further improvements that might be needed in light of the new treaty, Tadeo had lost his temper.

Instead of toeing the SEF line and replying with empty diplomatic phrases, he had given his honest opinion. Of course, this caused a major interstellar diplomatic incident, and even worse, the treaty wasn’t signed. Tadeo’s superiors hadn’t been pleased, and from the look of things, neither were the judges he had just presented his case to.

About Serena

I’m a night owl and start writing when everyone else in my time zone is asleep. I’ve loved reading all my life and spent most of my childhood with my nose buried in a book. Although I always wanted to be a writer, financial independence came first. Twenty-some years and a successful business career later I took some online writing classes and never looked back.

Living and working in seven countries has taught me that there’s more than one way to get things done. It has instilled tremendous respect for the many different cultures, beliefs, attitudes and preferences that exist on our planet.

I like exploring those differences in my stories, most of which happen to be romances. My characters have a tendency to want to do their own thing, so I often have to rein them back in. The one thing we all agree on is the desire for a happy ending.

I currently live in the United Kingdom, sharing my house with a vast collection of books. I like reading, traveling, spending time with my nieces, and listening to classical music. I have a passion for science and learning new languages.

Contact Serena

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