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ROXANNESMOLEN.COM
Roxanne
Smolen has written eight novels in the science fiction realm, ranging from
romance to horror. Her shorter works can be found in numerous magazines.
A sci fi fanatic, she has proudly attended every Galaxy Quest convention in the
country. Closer to home, she co-founded the Coral Springs Writers
Workshop, a support group dedicated to honing writing skills by critiquing a
first draft into the ground.
BOOKS BY ROXANNE
The Colonial Scouts Adventures
The Colonial Scouts are an elite group of teenagers who search the galaxy for habitable planets and report their findings to the Colonial Expansion Board. Each book takes place on a different world and has a different theme.
BOOK
ONE: FRACTURE
Impani is a homeless girl who turns out to be a technological whiz. Trace is a rich kid who struggles to prove he is more than his father's son. These two mismatched and insecure teenagers are paired together as they study to become Colonial Scouts. But during a training exercise, a system malfunction projects them on a frightening journey across hostile worlds. Trapped in a fractured wormhole, they transport to a land peopled with telepathic animals, a jungle filled with eyeless green organisms, and a wasteland ruled by five-foot warrior ants. Each new world seems more perilous than the last, and they fear they will never return to the Colonial Scouts Academy.
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BOOK
TWO: SUSAN'S GIFT
First time team leader, Trace Hanson, and his crew are sent on a rescue mission to a fungus world where indestructible mold creatures are attacking colonists. Trace's apprehension about his mission is compounded when he learns his estranged father is head of the failing colony. The colonists think he is inept because he is a teenager, and his disgruntled teammates think he was named leader because of his father. Trace can tell no one about his true mission to save only fifteen of the seventy people. Will he follow orders, leaving the rest of the colonists to die, or will he find a way to save them all?
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BOOK
THREE: WATERY DEEP
Natica and Impani were best friends until an accident took the life of a colonist. Now Natica is consumed by guilt, and she hates Impani for not understanding. She quits the Colonial Scouts and returns to her family. The reunion is not what she expects, however. Her twin brother is missing, and hated Impani has followed her home. As the two girls search for the missing twin, their sailboat is bombed, they are caught in a daring speedboat chase, and they are held hostage on a pirate ship. Natica learns these events have little to do with her brother, and everything to do with a secret Impani has been keeping.
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Praise for FRACTURE
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Elizabeth Housey, author of The Howling Nun: If you crave adventure and titillate for terror, pick up a copy of FRACTURE by author Roxanne Smolen, one of the premier writers of science fiction. Journey with Colonial Scout, Impani, whose job entails researching unknown worlds. When the Impellic ring by which she travels malfunctions, she and her partner, Trace, jump from one terrifying world to the next, fighting sea monsters and flesh-eating ants. When the ring's power is restored, they return home to find their partnership has turned romantic. A satisfying read. Another winner for Smolen. |
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Zelda Becht, author of Inmate of the Room: I followed Impani and Trace's exploits, breath held, from one calamity, one near-death experience after another as they prepare to become Colonial Scouts. The creatures and situations they encounter in the outer-reaches of other worlds locked me, spellbound, into their tales of fear and mishap, and a final rescue. Roxanne Smolen writes this genre with awesome clarity. |
The Anneliese Thielman Trilogy
BOOK
ONE: RESORT DEBAUCH
Anneliese, a demanding rich girl, spites her father by marrying a man she barely knows. On their honeymoon, her new husband takes her to the Resort Debauch, an infamous pleasure world, where he sells her into prostitution, stages her death, and embezzles her wealth. Escaping into the wastelands, Anneliese is capture by a primitive tribe known as the Llaird. These nomadic people have fought the Resort's systematic genocide for generations. Anneliese falls in love with the clan leader and joins his fight to rid his world of the Resort Debauch.
ISBN 1-58630-081-4 314 pp
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BOOK
TWO: PRAJNA
Anneliese wishes to marry the tribal leader of the primitive, amber-eyed Llaird. To impress him, she institutes a plan to disrupt the cash flow of the Resort Debauch, the pleasure palace that murders and enslaves his people. But her efforts backfire. The Resort retaliates, murdering hundreds and destroying the city that many called home. Her presence as an outsider spurs civil war among the very people she intended to save. She has one hope. To unite the barrows and win back her true love, she must find the sacred city of Prajna.
ISBN 0-7443-0410-5 274 pp
Available as a paperback or an EBook! Click here to buy!
BOOK
THREE: MORTAR'S KEEP
Anneliese wants nothing more than to live quietly with her husband in the land she adopted. Fate has decreed otherwise. The primitive people she befriended look to her as a reincarnated prophet, and she feels obligated to keep them from harm. But when she learns that the sun will soon go supernova and speaks of relocating the tribe to a moon called Mortar's Keep, her followers doubt her sanity. While the Resort Debauch sells tickets to the end of the world, Anneliese battles time and the death throes of a planet to save the culture and the people she loves.
ISBN 0-7443-0859-3 228 pp
Available as a paperback or an EBook! Click here to buy!
Also available for your Amazon Kindle!
Praise for the Anneliese Thielman Trilogy
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Brenda Gill, Timeless Tales: A riveting read from start to finish. It was enjoyable to see Anneliese change from a weak, frightened girl to a woman of indomitable spirit and will. Entertaining, fast-paced, and imaginative. |
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Mishele Horton, Romance & Stuff: I loved all three books. It was fascinating to watch the main character grow and change, molded by outside influences. The relationships were real and poignant, and at times brought a tear to my eye. I recommend these books to anyone. |
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Karyn DeVrie, Simply Dreams: ****Rating. I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes science fiction and romance combined in a story. Resort Debauch is an entertaining, fast-paced, and imaginative book. |
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Randy Rawls, author of Joseph's Kidnapping: A read with Roxanne Smolen is a trip into the future, a trip through space to worlds only a few can envision. But romance and intrigue are not forgotten even as the technology jumps us forward. Five stars out of five. |
About the Author
I am an American author with congenital blindness. I see shapes and shadows but no detail. For instance, I can see where my face is in a mirror, but I cannot see my lips to put on lipstick. This may seem a trite problem, but my husband keeps introducing me as Ronald McDonald.
Writing blind can be challenging. Typing is not a problem—typos are. My computer helps solve this. Computers offer new abilities to sight-impaired people. Screen brightness, color contrast, and font size can be manipulated to meet special needs, opening a world previously inaccessible to anyone with visual impairment. Verbose computer programs can read aloud everything from web pages to email—even regular mail if you have a scanner.
When I first began writing, I used a word recognition program with playback capabilities. This is not a foolproof solution. Word recognition is at best 90% accurate, which means that nine out of ten words will be right. That's fine for a sighted person, but all I could hope for was that the word that was wrong was not a really important one. And if I was tired and slurred my words, I ended up with sentences like hatchet fizz in the goop bandana.
Today I use a computer program that echoes the keys I press and reads the screen to me. The robotic voice took a little getting used to, but I've come to rely upon it. My computer is a frustrating and essential partner. It does more than help me write. It helps me research and promote—and it connects me to other writers.
The support of other writers is a tool no writer should be without. Online forums and writer chats abound on the Internet. It is a simple matter to create a buddy list and exchange chapters to critique. But nothing beats a face-to-face meeting for immediate embarrassment. I have belonged to The Coral Springs Writers Workshop for eighteen years. Their criticism is sharp and to the point. (One of their axioms is name three reasons for this chapter.) But their support is also freely given, and they never let me quit.
The greatest tool a writer can use, however, is the ability to read. Writers learn to write through reading. In this, electronic publications are indispensable to me. EBooks give access to a wider variety of books than can be found in the local bookstore. They permanently archive not only classics but also potential classics, preserving them for the future. And my screen reading program turns any EBook into an audio book that I can listen to at leisure.
People are resistant to change, and both computers and the Internet can be daunting. This slows our progression to electronic books. But I believe digital media is the next stage in communication. It grants access to the illiterate, the infirm, and to those of us with a minor disability.
Visit my Poetry Page.
Current Projects
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MINDBENDER - A telepathic woman flees persecution on Earth only to find the true enemy is far more terrifying. |
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SATAN'S MIRROR - The devil kidnaps a six-year-old girl, forcing her vengeful mother to break into hell to get her daughter back. |
Contact Information
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Last revised May 13, 2009