SALT LAKE CITY, UT August 19, 2013
“U.S. Army Specialist Kris Rose doesn’t know she’s from another dimension, or that she’s a convicted murderer sentenced to be reborn on Earth. When Rose finds herself on the wrong side of a vigilante Special Ops team, she is forced to face the horrors of her past life or sacrifice her adoptive home, Earth, to an inter-dimensional war.”
This is the short summary of the sci fi book by Christauna Asay, writing as C.R. Asay and recently bought by WiDo Publishing.™ When Allie Maldonado, WiDo’s submission editor, read the manuscript she was immediately sucked into the world and characters created by Asay.
“I love a good sci fi novel,” Maldonado states, “and Christauna’s world of energy is unique and fascinating. I liked how the characters utilized and harnessed their physical energy in cool and unusual ways.”
Writing wasn’t always a such a huge part of Christauna Asay’s life. It began when her husband wrote a book, fascinating her by the process. “I read every word he wrote, made uneducated suggestions on how to fix this and that, and eventually even dug into his manuscript in an attempt to pry out certain things my creative brain thought should be there. Fortunately my husband was kind and understanding about my interference but eventually I had to acknowledge that this wasn’t my book, my story.”
One day while showering, Asay visualized a young female soldier, facing a scrawny red-headed lieutenant who was aiming an M-16 at her. Asay remembers, “The scene unfurled in my mind and by the time I’d finished my shower I knew exactly who this character was, what she sounded like, but with only the vaguest of ideas of how she’d gotten into that situation. I spent the next hour or so writing the scene, and then put it away for several months. By the time I got back to the project this simple scene had grown a sci-fi world around it.”
Asay discovered several friends in her neighborhood who also had a passion for writing and they created a writing group called Once Upon A Keyboard. “Over the years we have learned together, critiqued, supported, argued, laughed and cried in our individual quests along our paths as writers. When my book was first picked up by a publisher we partied. When I discovered X publisher was in breach of the contract I cried while they patted me awkwardly and agreed when I said my book needed a new home.”
How did Asay’s sci fi book and WiDo Publishing get together? Asay says, “I did my research this time and narrowed my short list down to two small publishers with beautiful, amazing books and authors who loved to work with them. Needless to say I was over the moon when WiDo offered me a contract.”
“I don’t know who the first publisher is who reneged on their contract, but their loss is our gain,” states Maldonado. “A well-written sci fi novel, especially one with a strong female protagonist, is a book we can sell. We are thrilled to have Christauna on board with us.”
C.R. Asay grew up in the boonies of the beautiful Heber Valley, smack in the middle of six siblings. She developed a craving for adventure early on from having to fend for herself at the dinner table as well as her fondness for exploring the wilds around her home. Add on both parents being teachers and their love of learning and reading and she just about had the most interesting childhood in the world. She joined the military at age seventeen, because of her love for her country and because she thought it would be fun. She attended boot camp between her junior and senior year in high school, and then finished her training after graduation.
After spending time first in the Military Police Corp and then a Special Forces unit as a Counter Intelligence agent, and graduating college, she married her best friend and decided her time would be better spent at home with her husband and children, writing thrilling adventures. C.R. Asay currently resides in West Jordan, Utah with her husband, four crazy kids, a dog and fair number of free-loading house flies. You can friend her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/christauna, twitter stauna@twitter.com or follow her blog http://nonsensicalessentials.blogspot.com/ where she talks about writing, art, books, life’s insanities and whatever else might randomly cross her mind.