INTERSTELLAR RESCUE BOOK 1 ON SALE!

 

What's better than a great book? A great book on sale! Starting in the wee hours of Saturday morning, February 19, and running through midnight Saturday, February 26, you can get a Kindle copy of the first book in my Interstellar Rescue series, Unchained Memory, for the low, low price of only $.99! Check it out on Amazon here.

Maybe you never got around to reading the book when it debuted in 2015. Or maybe you want to recommend and gift it to a friend. Now's your chance! Heck, you could give copies to all your friends! Or your book club! And still have cash left over for refreshments!

Unchained Memory: Interstellar Rescue Series Book 1, on sale now on Amazon!

 

Cheers, Donna

New(ish) Release - The Thunder Egg

 Pets in Space 6 had its last hurrah at the end of January and thanks to everyone who bought the anthology. You helped support a good cause (Hero Dogs) as well as the pleasure of reading eleven great stories.

That doesn't mean those stories are gone forever, of course. I have published my own contribution, The Thunder Egg, as a stand alone novella, and I know other authors have done that, or will be doing it soonish.

No ordinary rock…

History Professor Drew Torson’s purchase of a thunder egg at a market leads to an astonishing discovery when what should have been just a rock… hatches. He isn’t the only one who wants the unusual creature that emerges. When thieves attempt to capture his new friend, Neyru, Drew is left stunned and bleeding in an alley. Freighter captain Afra Abrussen is shocked when a strange, but beautiful creature named Neyru seeks her help. She’s no heroine. She has cargo to haul and debts to pay. The last thing she needs to do right now is get drawn into Drew and Neyru’s plight.

Drew insists that all they need to do is find out what Neyru is, where she comes from, and get her home without being caught by pursuers who will stop at nothing to get hold of the little creature. Afra thinks Drew forgot one important clause: They need to do all that without falling in love. Can a freighter captain and an academic stay one step ahead of the thieves determined to capture Neyru, and if they do, what will happen when they discover they broke the all too important clause about not falling in love?

This story first appeared in Pets in Space 6 in 2021. It is a novella-length space opera.

Here's a snippet to give you some idea.

"Thunder eggs are just rocks. They're formed in volcanoes and often contain beautiful crystal formations that you can see if you split them. This one was not much different to others in the pile but the colors almost seemed to move as I tilted it. Can you see that?"

She nodded. "Iridescence flickering here and there as it turns."

"That's right. I didn't think too much about that — a trick of the light. But it was interesting, so I bought it. It wasn't any more expensive than the other rocks.  A few days into my next trip, it hatched."

Neyru stopped cleaning her paws and cooed.

"It fell off the shelf where I'd put it, which was odd. I suppose she must have rocked it. When it hit the floor, it started to split and I realized there was something inside. I recall wondering if it would turn out to be some nasty, dangerous, alien creature. Until I saw her.

"She was half the size she is now, a little damp bundle. I'll admit I was startled and felt useless. What did I know about little alien hatchlings? But as it happened, I'd arranged to eat in my cabin and she dived on my dinner, steak with a salad. She ate steak till she was full, then sort of looked at me with those wonderful eyes like black holes and I was lost."

 You can buy the book from the retailer of your choice 

I'm also working on a new story with the working title of The President's Daughter. It's set in the Ptorix Empire series, a place I haven't been to for a while. I'm sure you'll hear more about it in the coming months.

 

CAPTIVE (The Survival Race, book 1) - CHAPTER 2

For the rest of this year, Wednesdays on the blog will be dedicated to bringing you a chapter a week of my alien abduction science fiction romance, CAPTIVE. For Chapter One of CAPTIVE, click here.  

An abducted cop and a gladiator prisoner must learn to trust each other with their lives…and their hearts…to escape their alien captors. 

 

CAPTIVE

Chapter Two  

 

Waking to the dull clank of something hitting the floor, Addy opened one eye. Still naked, Max knelt by the unlit fireplace with his shoulder toward her. Two pitchers and three cereal bowls sat at his side between them. A citrus fragrance wafted to her. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, then retrieved a bundle she hadn’t noticed before from beside the fireplace, opened it, and ate whatever was inside.

He had no idea she was awake. Good. Maybe she’d have a few minutes to check out her surroundings in the light and figure out how to escape.

Her gaze shifted around a room void of light fixtures and windows. Large shadows moved across bright, translucent walls. Where was she? Inside a giant plastic milk jug?

Slowly so that Max wouldn’t detect her movements, she lifted her head off the pillow. Every sound grew louder: his crunching and sucking as he chewed and her breathing that seemed to echo in her ears. She held her breath, listening.

From the other side of the wall came a dull clank followed by faint crackling. Rice cereal? She cocked her head toward the sound.

“Morning.”

Her gaze shot to her captor. He hadn’t moved from his place except to turn her way and flash a crooked, sexy smile. “How you feeling?”

Let’s see: confused, scared, angry, humiliated.

“Hungry?” he asked, a little too cheerful after the horrible night they shared. He pushed the larger bowl closer to her.

Holding the blanket tight around her, she sat up and eyed the bowl. Why hadn’t he eaten from it?

Max crouched on the floor facing her. She couldn’t stop gawking at his nakedness, fascinated how in its relaxed state, it wasn’t nearly as threatening. She felt his gaze. He knew she was checking him out, yet he didn’t bother hiding himself. The guy had absolutely no shame.

“Go on,” he said. “Eat.”

What woman could eat with that staring at her? She pulled a sheet off of the pillowed mattress and tossed it to him. “I don’t suppose you’d mind covering yourself.” She was parched, and the words came out rough. She coughed to clear her throat, but that made it feel scratchy.

“Oh. Right.” He wrapped the white sheet around the lower half of his body. “Better?” His smile held amusement.

Why was he acting nice this morning? Maybe he wasn’t a crazed serial killer. After all, if he hadn’t strangled her in her sleep, he probably wasn’t going to. She hoped.

He took a long drink from the pitcher, each swallow causing his Adam’s apple to bob up and down, making her uncomfortably aware of her growing thirst. She tried to swallow but couldn’t.

“Ahh.” He wiped his mouth.

She eyed the pitcher.

“Go ahead.” He pushed it toward her. “I know you’re thirsty.”

Thirsty was an understatement. After a moment’s hesitation, she brought the pitcher to her lips and sipped. Cold water refreshed her tongue and mouth. She drank deeply to rehydrate.

Max picked a pink, juicy cube from the bowl of colorful fruit and held it out to her. “Here.”

“What’s that?” Her voice still sounded hoarse. How was she going to ask him the million questions rattling around in her brain if she could barely talk?

“Food. Try it.”

She took her own chunk from the bowl and sniffed it; a citrus fragrance filled her nostrils. Her stomach growled, making her realize she wasn’t just hungry. She was ravenous.

Seemingly unaffected by her snub, he popped his proffered food into his mouth and watched her study the cube.

Heat radiated inside her hollow stomach. It cried out again for nourishment. The fruit looked harmless enough, and he did eat some, therefore, it couldn’t be poisoned. Besides, sharing a meal might make him more inclined to answer her questions.

She nibbled. Sweet nectar with a hint of spice trickled over her taste buds. Juice and saliva pooled in her mouth. She swallowed and greedily took a bigger bite. Juice dribbled down her chin. “It’s good.” She wiped her chin with her fingers. “And messy.”

He grinned, and his weird green eyes brightened with the joy of a little boy showing off a new fishing pole. “Pop the whole thing in.” He tossed another piece into his mouth.

She bit into another cube, squirting juice on him, and tried not to snicker as the pink liquid rolled down his chest into the nail marks she had left from yesterday’s attack.

He drew in a quick breath, his pain giving her a perverse satisfaction. “Nice shot.” He wiped his chest with his hand. “You might want to close your mouth before biting next time.”

“What’s going on here, Max?”

“Breakfast,” he said in a sorry attempt at feigning innocence.

“You know that’s not what I meant. You said we’d talk in the morning. So talk. Where are we?”

He finished chewing before he answered. “Hyborea.”

“Where’s that?”

“I can’t exactly say where it is, but I can tell you where it’s not.”

“Okay. So where isn’t it?”

“It’s not in the USA. Here, try this. It’s my favorite.” He handed her a cracker as long and wide as a dollar bill but with the texture of a shredded wheat cracker. “Dip it in here.” He indicated a bowl of little, round black balls stuck in a heap of thick, pasty stuff. Was it caviar? For breakfast?

“Eew. What the heck is that?”

“It looks gross but tastes great. Try it.”

“No, thanks.” She bit into the plain cracker. “Do you know how I got here?”

He shook his head. “What do you remember?”

“There was a forest fire. I tried escaping in the river but was caught in the rapids. I was getting banged up on the rocks. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was a huge shadow over me. Then I woke up here.”

“Sounds like the Hyboreans pulled you from the rapids.”

“Are the Hyboreans a cult?”

Max choked on his cracker. He covered his mouth and coughed. “Something like that.” He coughed again. “More biscuits?” He offered another wheat cracker.

“Are the Hyboreans out there now?” She pointed to the wall.

He nodded.

“What are they doing?”

“Feeding us breakfast.”

“Knock it off,” she said with more anger than she intended to show. She folded her arms across her chest and glared. “I want answers. Real answers.”

He stopped eating and looked her square in the eye. He dropped his shoulders slightly and leaned toward her. “If I explain everything, do you promise not to flip out?”

She nodded slowly, unsure if she’d be able to keep that promise.

“Okay. The Hyboreans want babies. They take people, put them naked in a room together, and let nature take its course. There is no escaping. Ever. If you do what they want, you’ll survive. If you piss them off, you won’t.” He spoke as if he were explaining the rules of a card game.

Addy scooped another fruit cube from the bowl and ate it, hoping this basic life function would ground her in reality. She had to keep her wits in order to figure out where she was and how to escape. “What do the Hyboreans do with the babies?” She really didn’t want to know but had to ask.

“Sell them.”

“This is a baby ring? You mean instead of kidnapping newborns, they enslave adults to make the babies for them?” She couldn’t wrap her brain around the idea. It was too crazy and disgusting—like that fertility doctor in the news who gave his patients his own sperm in order to save money. “These people are sick!”

“You’ve no idea,” he mumbled.

The weight of the conversation hit her full force. This wasn’t the news or some campfire ghost story. This was real. She’d been kidnapped by a baby-selling cult. Her throat constricted. Her breathing sped up.

She was a Forest Service cop. A tree cop. She wasn’t experienced in handling human trafficking. This was totally out of her jurisdiction. “There really is no escaping, is there?”

The sudden sadness in his eyes said it all. She was trapped here, probably until they killed her.

She’d never be set free. The cult couldn’t risk anyone telling the FBI or the United Nations or whatever organization one informed about international kidnapping and slavery. Her body tingled with a cold numbness. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked. She’d never again see her friends, her father, her home.

Shaking from the swelling rage bubbling inside, she wanted to scream. She wanted to pound on the wall. She wanted to demand they release her. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t stand that pain they’d shot through her yesterday. And she couldn’t stand her vulnerability. A good cop knew how to manage her emotions under stress. So she sat there, sitting and rocking and wondering how this had happened.

Dazed, she reached for more food, hoping it might fill the hollowness inside. Max snatched the bowl away, and she flinched.

“Lesson number two: don’t eat all your food at once, in case they forget to feed you.”

She wanted to ask if that happened often but was too scared to hear the answer. “What’s lesson number one?”

He reached for her, hooked a finger around her choker, and drew her to him. His piercing cat eyes, inches away from hers, held a stern seriousness that penetrated her body and stopped her heart. This lesson was crucial.

“Don’t piss off the Hyboreans.”

 

#

 

  I hope you enjoyed Chapter Two of CAPTIVE (The Survival Race, book 1). Read next Wednesday for Chapter Three here. Or you can find the entire story at these stores:  Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.  

 

Stay Safe out there!

K.M. FAWCETT

Romance with a rebel heart

www.kmfawcett.com

The Shell and the Star - Part 1

This week I'm posting the beginning of The Shell and the Star, my as-yet unpublished aquatic Science Fiction Romance book. This is a story in my Inherited Stars Universe, though it takes place in the very distant future (about 50,000 years after events in the current timeline). 

To make reading a little easier, the story portion will be double-spaced and it will feature a title image with occasional graphics added for interest. I'll be posting a new portion every Monday here on Spacefreighters Lounge. Comments very welcome and appreciated. 

Welcome to the far future...

CHAPTER ONE

“You have a suitor.”

Jinn peered up into her father’s grey eyes as he floated into place before her. Is he joking? Since she’d come of age, five long calendars had passed without a bid. She’d given up hope of ever having a mate. Who would want me? “Who…who makes this request?”

“The Fourth Imperator of the Perling.”

Jinn gasped, reeling like the oxygen had just been sucked out the airlock. A Perling sovereign? An alien? “Father, no! I can’t—”

“You will answer his bid,” her father insisted, grabbing a handhold to anchor himself in Talstar’s microgravity.

“But why? Why would a Perling Imperator want my hand?”

“Not the leader himself, girl. He asks on behalf of his second son.”

Jinn dropped her gaze to her small fists clenched around the frame of her sleeprack. Her shoulder bumped the bulkhead when she pushed off to face him. “Why would even a second son want me?” Compared to the towering, graceful figure of her father, she felt ugly, unworthy—an outcast. If only she’d been born like him. Like all of her people. “Does he know I’m a—”

“It’s irrelevant.”

Jinn fought to hold back tears. “Not to him.”

“I’m having an eco-bubble readied for the next trade shuttle flight. You will leave tomorrow for the seas below.”

“Tomorrow?”

Her father’s determined eyes fixed on her, his expression permitting no argument. “Daughter, you’ve had no suitors on Talstar. You will honor the bid of this Perling.”

“But Father…I know nothing of their realm.”

“You will learn.” He turned his head away and pulled in a deep draw of recycled air before slowly releasing it. “You will learn…what I couldn’t teach you.”

Jinn bowed her head. Talstar was all she’d ever known. Why must she leave her refuge for the oceans of Veros to meet an alien sea-dweller who would only reject her on sight? At least here she had family, a mother who soothed and a father who sheltered. Here she knew contentment. Not the happiness she craved, no. But safety. Security. A safe place to hide from the disdain and pity of others.

“You grow quiet. I thought you would be eager to meet the one who has bid for your hand.”

“Not like this. Not a bid from a male I’ve never met, an alien suitor who knows nothing about me. Or my flaws.”

Her father reached out to take a handhold near the port-vu in her compartment and gazed down at the blue world below. “Always you assume the worst.”

“Experience has taught me well.”

“Jinn, our ties with the Perling grow weak. The populations of both domains are swelling and our trade pacts are strained as a result. We must reinforce our connection or neither race may survive. A blood tie with the son of the Fourth Imperator would renew and strengthen our alliance. Your sisters have all chosen Talstar mates.” He released the handhold, turning to face her. “You have no prospects here, and are my last hope for a beneficial match.”

A beneficial match? Is that really what he thought would happen? No male on Talstar was interested in her, why would the son of a noble water-dweller want anything to do with her? “I will only disappoint. At least tell him of me and allow him to withdraw his bid. Spare me the shame of outright rejection.”

Her father’s gaze finally returned to her face. “The bid agreement was struck with the Imperator himself, not his heir.”

“And what if the Imperator is offended that you send a mutant to his son?”

“He knows of your condition.”

Jinn sucked in her breath. “You said he did not!”

“I said his son did not.”

Jinn searched his eyes, refusing to let tears fall. Had the two leaders conspired to keep the truth from Imperator’s son? She could imagine the succession of expressions on the young man’s face when he first laid eyes on her. Shock. Dismay. Revulsion. “You and your friend conspire to hide the truth of what I am? Nothing good can ever come of that!”

“I think you underestimate yourself, Jinn. As you always have.” Her father pushed off the handhold and floated toward the door. “Essa will pack your necessities in a bubble for tomorrow’s flight. Until then, you should get your rest.”

Jinn couldn’t look at him. How could he do this? Hadn’t she faced enough shame and ridicule on Talstar? Now she’d be thrust into an alien realm where she was sure to face much harsher humiliation? “How long must I remain on Perling?”

“Until the two of you come to a decision about your future together.”

“Then it will be a very short trip.”

“Daughter.” Her father paused by the exit hatch. “For once I ask you to trust me. I always have your best interests at heart, though you often doubt me.”

He pulled himself into the corridor and sealed the hatch behind him, the hollow clank of the latch reverberating through her chamber.

Free-floating, Jinn covered her face with her hands and lost the battle to hold back her tears.

***

Jinn powered her bubble off the trade shuttle after it had descended through the Veros atmosphere, gone submarine and docked underwater at the trade transfer station. Her envirosphere followed its pre-programmed coordinates to take her to the Imperator’s estate. As the submersible navigated out of the enclosed transfer station, the frightening, captivating, resplendent vista unfolding ahead made her gasp aloud. She pushed braced against the cushion of her flight couch and tried to take in the wonder of the colors and shapes.

The daunting, blue world of Fourth City dwarfed her small, one-person sphere in an alien panorama. Colorful sea fans waved next to stark stands of bleached white coral. A few scant schools of yellow-striped fish darted among the rocks and flora. Bright red crabs scouted the sandy bottom. And all around her the enormity of the ocean pressed in, threatening to crush her little circle of life. She looked straight up—toward home—and could just see the shimmering plane of the surface, at least thirty foot-spans above her head.

Her bubble auto-navigated around the bulk of a dark, underwater mount, and set course for a massive structure shaped of smooth, pastel coated curves and domes. The Imperator’s Estate, no doubt, completely submerged and overlooking the expansive dominion of Fourth City. The Perling settlement filled the undersea horizon, fading to hazy greens in the distance.

Her envirosphere entered the portal of the stately home and swiveled its silent thrusters to hold position. Jinn stared through the clear barrier at the finery of the watery mansion’s vestibule. The smooth floors and convex walls looked to be formed of polished flow-coat, a product of the dimensional printers Talstar exported to Perling. But these structures were alive with rich aquas, blues and teals that were a total contrast to the familiar grays, blacks and off-whites of her orbiting home.

A party of six Perling staffers arrived to greet her, each with two arms and two legs that ended in colorful fins, the bright fabrics of their bodyveils moving gently in the soft current. Other than their aquatic adaptions, Jinn was surprised that the Perling didn’t look so very different from her own kind. One species floated in low gravity above the planet, the other swam beneath the surface of a warm sea, but both had the tall, lean, willowy forms that suited their environments.

So unlike the small, clumsy body that she’d been cursed with.

She expected looks of alarm and disgust from the Perling greeting party, but instead they smiled at her and traded glances. Did they find her appearance amusing? Jinn glanced down at her plain black leggings and simple white tunic with its row of gold-tone catches. Her clothing did nothing to hide her deformity. No wonder they grinned. Why had she even come here?

 _____________________________________

 

Story Commentary

A few years ago I had a stroke of inspiration and started writing one of my on-a-back-burner-in-my-head stories that had been simmering away on my creative stove top for many years. It started out as a lighthearted SFR story about two misfits who fell in love. But over time it evolved...

It evolved into a story about evolving.

In a convo with a couple of peers, I described it this way:

"The Shell and the Star takes place 50,000 years in the future of Inherit the Stars. It's a Romeo and Juliette-esque story about two civilizations struggling with continued self-reliance, which two leaders are trying to help remedy through an arranged interspecies marriage...but there are some major unforeseen consequences due to cultural differences and misunderstandings."

Meaning of "The Shell" and "The Star"

The backstory hints at a Pern-style abandonment and resulting isolation, after a meteor event all but destroys the world. But two separate civilizations manage to survive, finding refuge in very different habitats and a necessary but tenuous reliance on each other.

Visual inspiration for a semi-aquatic story.

The title refers to the symbols of the cultures to which the two main characters belong, one represented by The Shell, a society of aquatic beings--the Perling--who live in a shallow ocean, and the Star, a species that has evolved on an ancient, perpetual-use space station orbiting the ruined world.

The two species have survived by the grace of their delicate co-dependency. The society of the Shell relies on the technology supplied by the people of The Star, and The Star trades their technology for food to feed a population that has outgrown its limited agricultural resources.

Veros is (or at least was) the paradise world mentioned in Inherit the Stars, Courting Disaster (Pets in Space 2), and SpyDog, a planet of warm seas and tropical islands. Fifty thousand years later, a percentage of the warm seas remain, but the once lush, tropical lands are now nothing but scorched earth. The people of the Shell have built their underwater cities in the shallow, protected bays of these oceans.

Home of "The Star," better known as Talstar Station.

The species of the Star have evolved on a space station supplied with self-perpetuating energy systems built to operate continuously for 100,000 years. This station has now reached its half-life, and the increasing population of the Star is testing the sustainability of their habitat.

Those who read the earlier books may have guessed the identity of this manmade super-station. It's none other than Talstar--once home of the Universal Flight Academy and the Carduwan Fifth Fleet Headquarters in the long, long ago and all but forgotten.


For readers familiar with my series, this story presents one major question. The known galaxy had many inhabited worlds and systems capable of space travel. Why were these people abandoned by the other cultures to fend for themselves? (A big clue to that is in Juggernaut, a story from Pets in Space 5 that is on track to be published separately in 2022.)

Read on next Monday, and have a great week!