Alone in a New World Shortest blurb/tag line (approximately 25 words about the manuscript): The planet Plantas is dying. To save their race, they send one third of their populations to the planets they helped to develop.

Alone in a New World: Paranormal Romance

Buy at: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, Google Play

Read first chapter

BLURB Alone in a New World

As a child of four, Marco is all alone in the world. With only his mother in his life, her death prompts the authoritiesto send him to Henderson Ranch for boys. At the age of eighteen, he is sold into slavery to a ranch in Mexico. Two years later, he is recued and reunited with his childhood friend, Christopher. At his friend’s insistence he modernizes his name to Mark and embarks on a journey that will bring him full circle back to Henderson Ranch, now called Resurrection Ranch. On his journey, Mark finds previously unknown family and love with one of the alien nurses, Kara, all off whom are willing to journey with him into the future at Resurrection Ranch.

EXCERPT Alone in a New World

Marco didn’t want to believe his mother was dead, but that was what the lady at the social services office told him. He didn’t think she would lie to him, but he still wanted his mother to come and get him. The bad man didn’t know where they were, and they had a nice place to live.

He stayed at the social service house for a week, before a man by the name of Mr. Henderson came to take him away.

“You’ll be living on our ranch now,” Mr. Henderson said as he packed Marco’s meager belongings into his hovercraft. “You’ll like it there. We have horses you can ride and other children for you to play with.”

Marco was hopeful, but everything changed when they arrived at the remote ranch. He was taken to a building where the walls were lined with beds. He saw a few small children but not enough to fill all of the beds.

“Do you speak Spanish?” Mr. Henderson asked, as he led Marco to the lower bunk that would become his.

“Si,” he replied, hoping to impress the man with his knowledge of both languages. “My mama and I speak both English and Spanish.”

Mr. Henderson smiled and nodded. “We’ll help you to recall all of your Spanish and to talk English better too. It will be helpful when you grow up.”

Once the man left the building, Marco sat on his bed. He was frightened, but he decided it was best if he didn’t tell anyone much about either his mother or the bad man they’d run away from when he was called Paco.

He must have fallen asleep, because he was startled awake by the voices of boys entering the room.

“You’re new here,” a boy with very dark hair and piercing brown eyes said. “My name is Christopher, what’s your name?”

Marco looked at the boy and decided he wasn’t much older than himself. Being careful to perpetuate the lie he and his mother had been living, he answered, “I’m Marco.”

“This is Peter. He doesn’t talk much until he gets to know you. I sleep over here and Peter sleeps over there.” He pointed to the bunk bed on the opposite side of the room after indicating the bunk next to Marco’s as being his.

“I bet you ain’t got no folks, just like us,” Peter said.

“My mama died. At least that’s what they told me.”

Peter nodded. “My ma was a dirty whore, that’s what Mr. Henderson said. She went to prison and nobody else wanted me. You got a pa?”

Marco shook his head no. The bad man wanted Marco to call him Papa but Mama said he shouldn’t call him that.

“Christopher ain’t got no folks either. They told him that his pa was killed in a hovercraft crash and his ma died after he was born. Don’t know if that’s true, but it’s a good story. Henderson told us to come in and get you for supper. If you don’t eat now, you don’t get nothin’ until morning.”

Thinking about eating a meal brought back memories of the delicious meals his mother served. His mouth watered thinking about having meat, potatoes and vegetables, with the seasonings his mother used to make them taste good. It wasn’t that the people at social services didn’t give him good food but it wasn’t the same as the things his mama made for him.

While Peter and Christopher ate their food with great gusto, Marco was sadly disappointed. He could find no meat or vegetables in the watery soup and the other unidentifiable food that was put on his plate had no taste.

“When do we get our meat?” Marco whispered to Christopher.

“We only get meat once a week. This is what we get and we have to like it. It ain’t so bad once you get used to it.”

I’ll never get used to this. I want my mama. I want to eat the food she used to make for me.

Having been told this was all he was going to get to eat, he gagged down the food. It was either that or starve. Knowing that, he decided he wanted to live and make his mama proud of him.

~ * ~

As the months went on, Marco, Peter and Christopher became fast friends. He also noticed that one by one, the older boys no longer played with them. He soon learned that as soon as the boys reached the age of six, they went out to work the ranch with the other older boys. From what he could tell it was hard work, but Mr. Henderson said it was how the older boys earned their keep and it was the duty of all the older kids to help out on the ranch.

By the time Marco neared the age of six he was used to eating only two meals a day. Games of tag, as well as hide and go seek, gave way to training, with lessons of roping along with learning to ride horses.

To Marco’s disappointment, both Peter and Cristopher went out to work with the ranch hands, leaving Marco to become the instructor for the younger kids who were now learning the skills he’d mastered over the years.

It was a bright fall morning when Mr. Henderson came into the dormitory and told Marco that today was his birthday and from here on in, he would be working on the ranch, like the rest of his friends.

He soon learned the meager morning meal that was meant to sustain him all day left him starving by the time the sun was high in the sky. Spending hours in the saddle, herding cattle, was more exhausting than the lessons he’d engaged in over the previous months.

After the first week, he complained that he was hungry and tired. His reward for his complaints was being sent into the house where Mrs. Henderson made him pull down his pants so she could paddle him with the board that brought tears to his eyes.

When Mr. Henderson saw the tears staining his cheeks, he took him out to the box. It was the first time he’d been made aware of this punishment and he decided he never wanted to spend time there again. He could do nothing other than sit there for the allotted time, no matter how much his butt hurt from the paddling he’d received at the hands of Mrs. Henderson.

~ * ~

Years passed and Marco made the best of his situation. He soon learned he enjoyed working the ranch. It was the same with Peter, but he could tell Christopher hated every minute he spent in the saddle, taking care of the cattle.

“Have you noticed that Christopher isn’t happy ranching?” Mr. Henderson asked one morning.

“I have,” Marco replied.

“Well, you know the three of you will be turning eighteen soon. I know you and Peter will be able to get good jobs on ranches down in Mexico, but I worry about what Christopher will do. You might want to tell him about a group I heard about up in Idaho. They’re young men like you and they might take Christopher in. He’s white and so are they. You, on the other hand, wouldn’t be accepted there. I want you to tell him about Patrick Ernst’s group. He should be able to make his way up there without too much trouble.”

Marco tended to agree with Mr. Henderson. Christopher was looking for something and it certainly wasn’t ranching or carpentry.

It was about a week later when Christopher and Marco were rounding up the spring calves that Marco broached the subject of Patrick Ernst and the group of young men who served with him in the state of Idaho.

“You know,” Marco began, “there’s a group in Idaho where you might fit in. From what I heard it is a group of young men. Since you’re white, they should take you in.”

“What about you?” Christopher asked.

“I’ve got too much Mexican blood in me. Besides, Mr. Henderson tells me there are good jobs on the ranches down there. I can make good money and do what I know and love. I hope you will have as good a future with Patrick Ernst and his group as I will have on one of the ranches in Mexico.”

Within two weeks, Christopher disappeared from Henderson Ranch. Marco missed his friend, but it made for a closer tie with Peter. The two of them talked about the future that looked so bright for both of them.

As ranch hands, they would have no need for a formal education. It didn’t matter much to Marco. He knew what he needed to know to survive and make a living on a ranch.

Two months after Christopher left the ranch, it was Peter’s turn. It was the same with him as it was with Christopher, it came without warning. One night, Peter was sleeping in the dormitory and the next morning, he was nowhere to be found.

Marco missed his two friends. They were the two best friends he could have asked for in life. He was certain their paths would not cross again, but he would never forget them.

KEYWORDS New World, Aliens, Native Americans, Romance, Futuristic

LINKS

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097S9M46Q

Barnes and Noble: Alone in a New World by Sherry Derr-Wille | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/alone-in-a-new-world/id1574121088?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ct=books_alone_in_a_new_world&ls=1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alone-in-a-new-world

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=m4c0EAAAQBAJ

New Release