Inspired by her deceased grandmother Arianna, Jordanne Saunders achieves the position of admiral of The Red Storm. Her maiden voyage is to transport top government officials for a meeting of countries, but due to her family name and her meteoric rise to admiral, crewmembers would just love to see Jordanne fall flat on her face.

When she's given her grandmother's journal, Jordanne learns that Arianna's demise was not an accident, and expert Delph hunter, Wesley Cofferdrake, aids her in piecing the enigma together. As the voyage progresses, disease and hysteria plague the ship, but through a strange twist of events that nearly costs Wesley his life, Jordanne discovers that Arianna's murderer has been right under their noses the entire time!



Wanna win a copy? I'm posting the first chapter for free! Read the excerpt then in the comments section of my myspace blog http://blog.myspace.com/zinniahope, answer the question at the end of the excerpt. One winner will be randomly drawn from the comments. Deadline is Sunday December 14th at noon! Winner will be announced that afternoon.

EXCERPT:

Chapter One


Jordanne Saunders, admiral of The Red Storm, watched her crew going about their morning duties. Her gaze stalled on Wesley Cofferdrake, who lounged against the starboard rail, a coffee cup between his dark-skinned hands, his gaze focused on the ocean's steaming surface. As a contracted Delph hunter, Wesley's knowledge of the ocean and its voracious ocean creatures made him essential to The Red Storm's survival. Jordanne just wished that the female crewmembers would pay more attention to their tasks than to his physique.

"Delph below!" the radar tech, First Sun Tosha Zale, yelled from the ship's control tower.

Wesley's coffee cup shattered at his feet, its contents splattering the deck. He rushed to a nearby trunk and threw the lid open.

"Delph one hundred fifty fathoms directly below!" FS Zale shouted louder.

Wesley pulled an archaic 3.75 rocket launcher from out of the trunk.

Jordanne's mouth dropped open. Although the weapon was more or less obsolete, it had obviously been modified. Quickly, she did the math. The Delph swam one thousand fifty feet below the vessel. She noted how Wesley shoved the explosive down the weapon's gaping maw. A suction sound hissed from the weapon, followed by a loud snap. He sprinted back over to the starboard side.

"Delph quickly approaching—currently at one hundred ten fathoms!" Zale sounded hysterical. Jordanne saw that the radar tech had left her seat and stood rigidly at the control panel. The last thing she needed was a first sun who fell to pieces every time a Delph came within striking distance.

One hundred ten fathoms put the creature at six hundred and sixty feet below. Wesley had better act fast.

He pulled on a pair of goggles, fitted them snugly over his eyes, slung his weapon over one shoulder, and jumped overboard.

Is he insane? She rushed to the railing and peered over just in time to see the last bubbles from his plunge break the surface. She tossed a Jacob's ladder over the side and waited. Seconds passed, and finally, his head broke through the water. He quickly scrambled up the ladder, the missile launcher bouncing against his back.

A dull thump vibrated the ship; enormous bubbles mixed with blood and huge sections of meat and guts surfaced; an oily crimson slime quickly spread across the waves. A few seconds later, a fine mist rained down over the ship.

"Have you completely taken leave of your senses?" Jordanne shouted. He didn't acknowledge her, so she grabbed his heat-reddened arm.

He turned, his gaze meeting hers.

His dark, penetrating eyes always disconcerted and infuriated Jordanne. She was the admiral of The Red Storm, and no one, especially a man, would intimidate he

I'm finally caught up on most of my work, so I'll be updating my Bebo page soon. Stay tuned!

I will be writing my sizzling erotic romances under the pen name of J. Emberglass. All other genres that I write, paranormal fiction, fantasy, soft sci-fi, horror, traditional romance, etc. will remain under my name, Zinnia Hope.

Curious? Go to www.freyasbower.com and type in J. Emberglass into the search feature. My BEDEVILLED series is a sizzling dark erotic fantasy.