I headed back to the writing cave this past week and I was rewarded with some amazing progress on the 6th installment of the Super Secret Project. (smiles) I love this story so very much. It gives me such joy.

Have a wonderful week, my friends. (big hugs) Smile at a puppy (and all dogs are puppies in their hearts – grins). Tell a stranger they’re doing a great job. Tell yourself you’re doing a great job also. Because you are. Your only goal yesterday was to make it to today and you did it! Woot! Let’s keep that winning streak going!

Know that you are loved.

(more hugs)

Cyborg Sizzle Escape Omnibus

Half Man. Half Machine. All Theirs.
* * *
While these cyborg warriors battle to escape their cruel manufacturers, they find the human females they are destined to love for all eternity.
This omnibus includes the first seven stories in the Cyborg Sizzle series: Releasing Rage, Breathing Vapor, Being Green, Crash And Burn, Defying Death, Chasing Mayhem and Jumping Barrel.
All of these Cyborg Romances are set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.

Releasing Rage

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals–kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.

Breathing Vapor

Vapor is the most advanced cyborg the Humanoid Alliance has ever developed. He’s a finely honed weapon, a warrior without parallel, half man and half machine. No lock can contain him. No being can stop him. Whatever he wants, he takes.
He wants Mira Breazeal, the Designer’s daughter.

Being Green

Green, a cyborg warrior, cares for one being—his plant Windy. When Windy becomes sick, he’ll do anything to heal her, even venture across the universe to visit a worlds-renowned plant doctor.
He doesn’t expect to find love.

Crash And Burn

Crash was manufactured to be one of the best warriors in the universe. The cyborg has spent many human lifespans fighting the enemy. But, unlike his battle-loving brethren, he doesn’t enjoy killing. When he escapes the Humanoid Alliance, he vows to never end another life.
Then he meets Safyre, an infuriating human female, and he considers breaking his vow.

Defying Death

Cyborgs don’t show emotion. Death learned that lesson early in his long lifespan. To survive, he hides his fierce passions behind a stoic wall. He calls no warrior friend. He never admits to caring for any being.
Even the human female he’s destined to love.

Chasing Mayhem

Mayhem has spent his lengthy lifespan obeying the Humanoid Alliance’s rules. Finally free from their cruel control, the cyborg warrior plans to cause chaos. He infiltrates a remote settlement, provokes the savage locals until they want him dead, and allows himself to be captured by the sexiest little Retriever he has ever laid his mechanically-enhanced eyes on.

Jumping Barrel

Barrel requires an Expert for the Tau Cetian orphans. He’s looking for a female who is willing to commit to a lifespan-long role, who is comfortable with moving off planet, and who, preferably, has the ability to speak the offsprings’ first language.
His female, however, is looking for a hero.

Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus/id1488934271

Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/992060

I grew up very poor. Every meal we had was a budget meal.

But some meals (like spaghetti noodles with a little bit of tomato sauce) were always associated with happiness, with celebration, with fun and laughter.

And now, when I need comfort, I make those ‘budget meals.’

Because they aren’t budget meals in my mind. They are comfort meals, happy meals, meals that remind me of fun and laughter and they make me feel smile when I eat them.

We can all do this.

A budget friendly soup can become a comfort meal, a source of happiness, if we always pair it with bad joke telling. A stir fry made from leftover, wilting vegetables can be a celebration if we always cook and serve it to music.

Associate joy with a budget friendly meal and, during tough times, that joy will remain.

This is an investment in future you. And future you deserves this happiness.

(smiles)

I was dreading watching Wicked: For Good. I loved the first movie so very much and the trailers looked like the second part of Elphaba’s story would ruin that for me.

It didn’t ruin it. At all.

It made me love the story MORE.

I LOVED Wicked: For Good.

The characters held true. The relationships evolved and grew stronger. The tie-ins to the original Wizard Of Oz were magical. The girl power and friendship rocks messages remain.

And the ending…the ending, my friends. It had all the aspects of a great romance novel ending.

It was unexpected and hard fought for.

During the dark moment, I truly thought all hope of ANY sort of happy ending was impossible. I definitely didn’t think there would be a romantic happy ending.

Yet there was.

And it was delightful and different, not-at-all what I thought their romantic happy ending would be like yet it was perfect for them.

This is definitely a movie to rewatch when writing an ending to a romance novel. It is inspiring.

(smiles)

Power is the self-appointed leader of the cyborgs. He has to make some tough decisions to ensure the survival of his kind. Some of these decisions are hated. Intensely.

Eirene Ours, the first female cyborg to ever be born (free), thinks some of those decisions are also wrong. She is the leader of the cyborg rebels, a group that is determined to change this.

Even if it takes eliminating…permanently the one being blocking this change – Power, the leader of the cyborgs and Eirene Ours’s genetic match.

This is a true enemies-to-lovers cyborg romance.

Seizing Power

This cyborg believes he’s in control.

Power is the self-appointed leader of the cyborg council. Other members might debate situations. He makes the ultimate decisions.

When a threat to Homeland is revealed, he takes command of a fleet and ventures to the edge of cyborg-controlled space to investigate. He finds a rebellion led by a mysterious upstart he calls Cadet.

The plan Power derives is simple—he’ll quickly quash the uprising and teach its leader a lesson the warrior will never forget.

NO ONE challenges his authority.

Eirene Ours might be called a cadet by Power but she is NOT his subordinate. She is the arrogant E Model’s genetic match.

For much of her mature lifespan, she has desired the male, yearning for his dark-eyed gaze, craving his sure hands, longing for his respect.

That esteem was never granted. And Eirene Ours can no longer wait to earn it. There’s an external threat to their kind, a danger that might destroy them all.

Having lured Power to her home terrain, she now plans to use everything within her means — her fists, her daggers, her ship-destroying missiles — to pound that truth into her stubborn warrior’s thick metal skull.

The future of every cyborg is at stake. She can’t fail them.

Power will believe her. Or he will die.

***

Seizing Power is an enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features an epic battle between two equally strong cyborg leaders, plans that go terribly yet passionately wrong, and a love that will shake the entire universe.

Buy Now:

Amazon US:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HT5RMH8

Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HT5RMH8

Amazon AUS:

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HT5RMH8

Apple Books:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/seizing-power/id1589084775

B&N:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/seizing-power-cynthia-sax/1140305634

Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/seizing-power-2

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1108292

I’m very much a lazy gardener. (grins) So the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I plant a couple more perennial vegetables or fruits/berries every year.

One of the (many) benefits of perennials is

they don’t need as much compost or fertilizer.

Perennials usually have deep roots. They can draw up nutrients and minerals from deep within the ground…like trees do.

And they aren’t growing from nothing every year. Even if the vegetation dies back over a snowy cold winter, the root system remains.

We can save our precious compost for annual vegetables or newly planted perennials.

(smiles)

It is really easy to see beauty in sunny, well-lit places.

It is much more challenging to see it in the darkness.

But it is there, my friends.

Beauty is all around us. It is in the sparkle of the stars above our heads. It is in the curve of a tree branch as it crosses our view in front of a full moon. It is in the flash of lightning across a stormy sky. It is in the reflection of light in a loved one’s eyes.

Find the beauty in your darkness.

(smiles)

One of my favorite sayings is

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for”

(attributed to John A. Shedd).

I remember that saying when I’m writing a scene, a scene that will make my characters uncomfortable. Characters in stories aren’t meant to be comfortable. Comfortable beings don’t take extreme actions, actions that we expect characters in great stories to take.

Make your characters uncomfortable. Push them out of their safety zone. Get that ship in the sea.

(grins)

I spent another wonderful week in the garden.

(smiles)

No writing was done.

Well, no typing was done. Stories are always being worked on in my head.

This upcoming week, I’ll strive (shout out to that charming cyborg) to put some of that story on the (virtual) page.

Have a wonderful week, my friends. (big hugs) If you’re fortunate to experience a thunderstorm this week (safely), revel in it. Watch the lightning streak across the sky. Savor the big boom of thunder. Nothing puts on a show like Nature. We are truly living on an amazing planet, aren’t we?

Cyborg Sizzle Escape Omnibus

Half Man. Half Machine. All Theirs.
* * *
While these cyborg warriors battle to escape their cruel manufacturers, they find the human females they are destined to love for all eternity.
This omnibus includes the first seven stories in the Cyborg Sizzle series: Releasing Rage, Breathing Vapor, Being Green, Crash And Burn, Defying Death, Chasing Mayhem and Jumping Barrel.
All of these Cyborg Romances are set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.

Releasing Rage

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals–kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.

Breathing Vapor

Vapor is the most advanced cyborg the Humanoid Alliance has ever developed. He’s a finely honed weapon, a warrior without parallel, half man and half machine. No lock can contain him. No being can stop him. Whatever he wants, he takes.
He wants Mira Breazeal, the Designer’s daughter.

Being Green

Green, a cyborg warrior, cares for one being—his plant Windy. When Windy becomes sick, he’ll do anything to heal her, even venture across the universe to visit a worlds-renowned plant doctor.
He doesn’t expect to find love.

Crash And Burn

Crash was manufactured to be one of the best warriors in the universe. The cyborg has spent many human lifespans fighting the enemy. But, unlike his battle-loving brethren, he doesn’t enjoy killing. When he escapes the Humanoid Alliance, he vows to never end another life.
Then he meets Safyre, an infuriating human female, and he considers breaking his vow.

Defying Death

Cyborgs don’t show emotion. Death learned that lesson early in his long lifespan. To survive, he hides his fierce passions behind a stoic wall. He calls no warrior friend. He never admits to caring for any being.
Even the human female he’s destined to love.

Chasing Mayhem

Mayhem has spent his lengthy lifespan obeying the Humanoid Alliance’s rules. Finally free from their cruel control, the cyborg warrior plans to cause chaos. He infiltrates a remote settlement, provokes the savage locals until they want him dead, and allows himself to be captured by the sexiest little Retriever he has ever laid his mechanically-enhanced eyes on.

Jumping Barrel

Barrel requires an Expert for the Tau Cetian orphans. He’s looking for a female who is willing to commit to a lifespan-long role, who is comfortable with moving off planet, and who, preferably, has the ability to speak the offsprings’ first language.
His female, however, is looking for a hero.

Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S

Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus/id1488934271

Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/992060

Some people only celebrate big events – birthdays, graduations, new jobs, vacations, others. They hinge much of their joy around these events or achievements.

I celebrate just about everything.

(grins)

I believe a great life is a combination of small joys, tiny wonders, little bits of happiness.

I saw a ladybug yesterday, for example, and that spotting delighted me. I was smiling for hours.

The Dear Wonderful Hubby sang in the shower this morning. He does this when he’s super happy. That put me in a great mood also.

Sure, the world is far from perfect.

(laughs)

But allow yourself to be happy, to be amazed, to revel in small wonders.

You deserve that joy!

The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I enjoyed The Running Man (2025). It is a one watch only movie for us but it was entertaining and I liked the updates made to the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version.

One update that I really WISH they would have made was creating more room for at least one positive female-facing character.

Three of the four main female characters were…awful.

The female contestant was a terrible person, glorifying wealth and putting the people around her in danger. The mom of the helper was a bloodthirsty cruel being. The reluctant helper was the cliché shallow Kardashian-watching type of female whom the hero had to convince to do the right thing.

The fourth main female character, the wife, was missing in action. The love of her life, the father of their child, was in serious danger and she…did nothing. Nothing to help him. Sure, she cared for their child. But otherwise, she remained in hiding (that SHE didn’t even arrange to do) and, basically, went on with her life.

That’s some cold sh*t right there. She is definitely not a romance novel love interest. (shakes head)

And this was definitely a movie produced by men for men.