From USA Today Bestselling Author Aileen Erin

Maite Martinez has always yearned for more than waitressing in a greasy diner on the polluted ruins of planet Earth. Hiding her special abilities is a full-time job on its own, even with the government distracted by the mysterious alien race – the Aunare.

When a SpaceTech officer gets handsy with her, she reacts without thinking. Breaking his nose might not have been her smartest move. Now she’s faced with a choice: serious jail time working in a chain gang on a volcano planet or join the corporate army to fight against the impending war with the Aunare. It’s really no choice at all.

As with everything in her life, Maite quickly realizes that the war with the Aurnare isn’t what it seems. And Lorne, the Aunare prince, keeps popping up everywhere she goes. Being seen with him could get her in even deeper trouble with her commanders, but he’s the first person who sees through the wall she’s built around herself and she can’t bring herself to send him away.

When the situation between SpaceTech and the Aunare escalates, Maite has a way to end the war before it even begins. There’s only one question: Can she stop the total annihilation of humanity without getting herself killed in the process?

 

Guest Post

Aileen’s Top 10 Playlist for Off Planet

 There were a number of songs that I listened to for inspiration or to get through my day’s word count goals. These are some of those songs. Some are slow. Some are fast. Some have lyrics. And some are fully instrumental.

1. “Boy 1904” by Jónsi & Alex Somers is an interesting It uses the recordings of the last ever castrato to create this mesmerizing and haunting feeling. When Maité was feeling lost or really in her head, this is one that I played over and over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUP1p58USAI

2. “Peace of Mind” by Above & Beyond featuring Zoë Johnston really hit home for me for Maité. I love the lyrics: If you’ve ever lost every part of yourself, If you’ve left your heart on a lonely avenue, It will be only a matter of time, Before your life comes through for you.” Maité loses everything in Off Planet. Life will come through for her, but boy will it be a journey to get there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7agzgyghY&fbclid=IwAR34tocxb_6tWh-ji6whOoJsFkImXLH2q9u1zzKpqIAOv1uPPcYtrB0DhKg

3. “You’e Someone Else” by Flora Cash – My editor sent me this one. She thought the lyrics pretty much described what Lorne feels toward Maité, and she’s right. This will come up more in Off Balance. “Well you look like yourself, But you’re somebody else, Only it ain’t on the surface, Well you talk like yourself, No, I hear someone else though, Now you’re making me nervous, I saw the part of you that only when you’re older ,You will see too, you will see too.”

https://youtu.be/2mCSFNsYmcY

4. “Broken” by Lovelytheband – My editor also found this one for me a while back. She sent it saying that it reminded her of how Maité feels about Declan in Off Planet. Yep! “I like that you’re broken, Broken like me, Maybe that makes me a fool, I like that you’re lonely, Lonely like me, I could be lonely with you.”

https://youtu.be/qr1-WpWOUk8

5. I’m changing things up from a traditional playlist for a few songs. The Aunare in Off Planet use a number of more interesting methods of healing, one of which is using sound. The Solfeggio Frequencies are different frequencies of sound that can help balance different things in your mind and body. Maité gets the first taste of this in Off Planet, but more will come in Off Balance. This is 528 Hz – For Self-Healing & Positive Transformation – which is definitely something Maité needs after the events of Off Planet.

https://youtu.be/vTPnwiCzAs8

6. I first came across the Solfeggio Frequencies after experiencing a really hard time. My cousin sent it to me, and she told me to listen to it to help me stay calm while in the midst of a nightmarish situation. Surprisingly—or maybe not so surprisingly—it really helped. In the months and year that followed, I listened to it a lot. I got me through writing Bruja while going through the stages of grief. And I still listen to it whenever I felt particularly stressed or anxious. But it got me thinking about sound and its effect on the mind. And that plays a big part in Lorne, Maité, and the rest of the Aunare’s life.

https://youtu.be/6RB1yOHspMo

7. I bring up the sound of the tones that Lorne uses to calm Maité and bring her powers under control. It sounds a bit like this:

https://youtu.be/8Qhh2VF1Oz4?t=26

8. Switching gears for the last songs: “Flying by Candlelight” by Above & Beyond. Maité doesn’t know how or why yet, but Lorne will become her candle. “You’re my candle in a darkened house, You say relax, I’ll lead the way, But this staircase in this darkened house, Out through the window we’re away.”

https://youtu.be/1x2AkGsIhcc

9. “Army of Me” by Bjork – I think this song is actually Bjork telling people to suck it up, but that’s something that Maité tells herself all the time. She’s always making herself get up and keep going, even when it’s hard. And she does that by repeating her mantra over and over again. The song is also gritty enough to feel like Maité to me. 😉 “Stand up, You’ve got to manage, I won’t sympathize, Anymore, And if you complain once more, You’ll meet an army of me.”

https://youtu.be/FqfQXJSvbo4

10. I thought it on theme—since I already varied so much from a typical to 10 playlist for the book—and put a video of sounds from space.

https://youtu.be/-MmWeZHsQzs

About the Author

Aileen Erin is half-Irish, half-Mexican, and 100% nerd–from Star Wars (prequels don’t count) to Star Trek (TNG FTW), she reads Quenya and some Sindarin, and has a severe fascination with the supernatural. Aileen has a BS in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She lives with her husband in Los Angeles, and spends her days doing her favorite things: reading books, creating worlds, and kicking ass.