Love Across the Universe
Date of
Publication: August 1st 2017
Publisher:
Stars and Stone Books
Genre:
Science Fiction Romance
13 Stories of Science
Fiction Romance Set on Intergalactic Shore
#spacebeachlove
Summer love is summer love, no
matter the planet. Climb aboard your spacecraft or time machine and travel
across time and space with these thirteen tales of love on beaches in the
future and among the stars.
Includes stories by USA Today
Bestselling Author Traci Douglass, Cara McKinnon, Rhonda Jackson Joseph, A.E.
Hayes, Sheri Queen, M.T. DeSantis, L.J. Longo, K.W. Taylor, Mary Rogers, Elsa
M. Carruthers, Emmerite Sundberg, Serena Jayne, and Oriana Maret.
The Greatest Gift
by Rhonda Jackson Joseph
BLURB
Tariq has chosen Jasmine and her
family to rescue when the earth is destroyed. While her children and sister
easily find their niches within their new society, based on their natural gifts
and talents, Jasmine struggles to find her fit. Tariq’s patience and ability to
see things within her that she doesn’t see in herself will help lead to
Jasmine’s discovery of the greatest gift within herself.
Buy Link: Amazon
Author Info
Rhonda Jackson Joseph is a Texas
based writer and professor who must exorcise the demons of her imagination so
they don't haunt her being. A life-long horror fan and writer of many things,
she has recently discovered the joys of writing in the academic arena about two
important aspects of her life: horror and black femininity. She balances her
natural darkness with the light and love of romance stories.
When Rhonda isn't writing,
teaching, or reading voraciously, she can usually be found wrangling one of
various sprouts or sproutlings from her blended family of 11...along with one
husband and two furry babies.
Rhonda can be found lurking (and
occasionally even peeking out) on social media:
Author Links:
Red Sand
by Sheri Queen
BLURB
If she can only save one thing,
which will it be—the red beaches of Mars or a love she can’t imagine living
without?
Bria has just been fired from her
job as an ecologist at Trans Life Corp, the global leader in virtual reality
living, and she’s devastated that her life’s work has ended with nothing more
than a pink chip severance package. She’s been deemed obsolete in a world where
every aspect of life has been automated, and even relationships are carried out
in virtual environments. Then Bria’s sister, Samira, enters her in a singles
sweepstakes to an exclusive Mars resort to force Bria to have a little fun for
once, and Bria is one of the lucky winners.
Thayne is the owner of the
exclusive Mars resort and has set his sights on expanding to a remote area on
the other side of the planet. He is looking for the right person to lead his
new venture when he comes across Bria. She’s exactly what he needs. His success
is driven by his gift for acquiring rare talent, and he always gets what he
wants—until now.
Bria refuses Thayne’s job offer.
She’s not interested in helping destroy another ecosystem for corporate greed,
and she’s definitely not interested in any kind of romantic
entanglement—virtual or real. Yet despite her better judgment, she’s drawn to
his zest for life and his creative nature. But finding a way to keep their
clashing values from destroying their chance at love proves harder than Bria
could have thought possible.
Buy Link: Amazon
Excerpt Red Sand:
The
strength of water pushing against sand captivated Bria. If only she had such
power, she could change the world—or at least her little part of it.
But this
was just a miniature version of the real thing. She flipped the rectangular,
glass-enclosed frame over to watch the liquid bump the tiny particles into
different shapes. Reds, browns, and tans jostled one another until the sand
settled into wavy mounds at the base of the container. Bubbles rose to the top
and burst. Bria turned the device again and again, repeating the process,
absorbed with how different the formations appeared with each rotation. Life
was like this crude imitation of a sandy beach, always changing when getting
pushed around by a greater force.
Here she
sat in her repurposed home on Boxcar Alley with no job, no more research, and
no future at Trans Life Corp.
Earth was
screwed. She knew it. Trans Life knew it.
Did the
board members care that nature and all her beauty had been overrun by technology?
Not a bit. They were already working on expanding to other planets.
To her
shame, she had to admit her role in the virtual living that was taking root and
growing weed-like over the planet. She had utilized all she’d learned as an
ecologist and worked with other experts to engineer its equivalent in the realm
of virtual habitats. She was as much to blame as Trans Life Corp for how the
world had been altered into a state of disconnect from what was real—what you
could truly feel, taste, and smell.
What she
couldn’t have foreseen was the rapidity with which people embraced artificial
environments, especially the Love Triangle, where all your pleasurable sensory
needs could be met with the help of a CompuBot—available with or without
interacting with another online user.
Author Info
Sheri Queen received her MFA in
Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She grew up in the Hudson
Valley region of New York—an area she loves to depict as a backdrop for her
stories—and enjoys traveling to new places where she is constantly discovering
inspirations for her writing. She especially loves visiting old graveyards.
Author Links:
A Dream to Build a Kiss On
by Traci Douglass
BLURB
A Dreamworld Short Novella
Can passion bloom between a
bookish botanist and an analytical android?
Adam has served as a devoted
assistant since the day he was created twenty-six years ago. His ordered world
centers on logic and logistics, until a strong solar flare causes a glitch in
his synthe-soul circuits and his normal routines are thrown into chaos. In a
flash, his universe is filled with wild, dark desires that until now Adam has
only imagined.
Jillian Lewis has spent her
entire career in search of the rare, elusive Shadow Moondrop Orchid. She’s
forsaken any semblance of a normal life in pursuit of her goal and now has the
ultimate prize within her reach. By securing a coveted invitation to the fabled
Dreamworld Resort, she has just three days in which to locate and record her
once-a-century flower before it disappears again.
With the clock ticking, will they
surrender to the unpredictability of love or will their chance at forever
disappear like stardust on the summer wind?
Buy Link: Amazon
Excerpt A Dream to Build a Kiss On:
2069 –
Remote tropical island in the Atlantic Ocean
Adam
desired Jillian Lewis, and not just for her beautiful brain.
The
desire, of course, was completely unexpected and entirely new, especially for
an analytical android such as himself. Add in the fact he’d never actually seen
the visiting botanist face to face, let alone heard her voice, and it was all a
bit disconcerting. Until this point, they’d only communicated through
electronic messages and then only ever about her upcoming stay at the exclusive
Dreamworld Resort where he resided or her plants or science in general.
But
still, her words intrigued him.
She spoke
passionately of her specimens, the exotic flowers she’d nurtured to maturity
from rare and ancient seeds. She also freely shared her knowledge of said
specimens with him, answering all his endless questions without ever once
becoming annoyed or bored as many of the resort’s other guests sometimes did.
“Happy
twenty-sixth birthday, my friend,” Reziel Shaytan said, clapping Adam on the
shoulder as he walked into his office. “Have you decided what you’d like for
your gift?”
“Gift,
sir?” Adam asked. “Technically, this isn’t my birthday since I was not
conceived in a human womb, nor did I undergo the delivery process.”
Rez gave
him a look, taking a seat in the black leather executive’s chair behind his
massive desk. He was Adam’s creator and owner of the resort. “What shall we
call it then? Your anniversary of existence?”
Adam
considered the question a moment. “Yes. I think that would be appropriate, sir.”
“Fine.”
He shook his head. “Abnormally strong solar flares are expected this weekend.
Have you taken the necessary precautions?”
“Yes,
sir.” Adam had been created to be as human as possible. His operating software,
Synthe-soul, endowed him with both keen intuition and the ability to process
emotions. And yes, those processes were sometimes prone to glitches—especially
during times of low charge or erroneous electrical storms—but overall, his
humanity grew stronger each day. “I doubled my charge time last night and I’ve
scheduled my system updates for early this afternoon, to avoid any
interference.”
“Good.”
Rez sat back and scrubbed a hand over his face, the strain of recent events
evident in the faint lines around his eyes and the tightness of his lips. Adam
did his best to protect his master, but there was only so much one android
could do when the man’s very existence was forbidden. Half djinn, half angel,
Rez had been cursed to walk the earth alone—at least until Doctor Harold Thomas
had tumbled into his life, quite literally, and their two souls had become one.
Soul mates. Adam had read about such bonds, but hadn’t experienced that swift
rush of acute longing for another being since his activation. He had all the
right components for human physical intimacy—even a healthy regenerating supply
of nanocyte sperm to create his own hybrid children someday—but he’d yet to
meet a person with whom he wanted to share such a deep emotional connection.
“Adam,
please also double check with our pilot in Miami to make sure the guests arrive
well before the flare occurs,” Rez said. “I don’t want another debacle like the
last time.”
The “last
time” had been a newlywed couple on their honeymoon. Their flight had taken off
as usual from the airport, heading due south toward the uncharted island where
Dreamworld was located, when their aircraft had gotten caught in a time warp
flux and the poor unsuspecting couple had ended up in ancient Byzantium. It had
taken weeks, and all Rez’s immense powers, to get them back to the present
unharmed. Luckily, legends about the Bermuda Triangle had helped Adam cover his
friend’s magical tracks.
“Texting
the pilot now, sir.” He typed the message in his mind then used his internal
circuits to connect wirelessly with the pilot’s com unit. “And shall I check on
the orchid specimen as well?”
“Orchid?
That’s right. The botanist is coming today.”
“Yes,
sir.” Adam glanced at his computer again, Doctor Lewis’s latest email still up
on his screen. “May I ask you something, sir?”
“Go
ahead.” Rez sounded distracted as he sorted through his messages for the
upcoming weekend arrivals.
“Explain
human intimacy.”
He
stopped and stared at Adam. “Excuse me?”
“In all
my years of existence, I’ve yet to experience true human connection and
intimacy.” Adam frowned. “Not the physical components of the act. I’m well
versed in all the necessary techniques through my regular software updates. But
the emotional aspects are a bit more challenging. I wish to learn more so that
one day, if I encounter my soul mate, I will know what is happening and can
respond accordingly.”
“Ah, I
see.” Gaze narrowed, Rez walked around his desk to stand before Adam, his
tailored navy suit in direct contrast with the easy tropical luxury of the
office’s interior design. “I’m sorry, my friend, but that is knowledge even I
can’t conjure. True connection and intimacy between two people must grow
organically.” He crossed his arms and lowered his head. “Besides, with the
flare and our other guests, we don’t have much time. I’ll need your help to
guide the botanist to her orchid on the other side of the island. And I need
you to assess if she might be right for our other project.”
That
project included a new addition to the permanent staff on the island—a native
species conservationist. Available positions were rare at Dreamworld, and while
Adam appreciated Rez hiring another person to help share his workload, he would
miss his hours amongst the island’s forests, nurturing their growth and
choosing compatible new additions for the already rich ecosystem.
Disappointment
sparked through his circuits, though he did his best to hide it by adjusting
his wire-rimmed spectacles. “Of course, sir. Whatever you need.”
“Thank
you, Adam. Perhaps next weekend, when things aren’t so crazy, we can discuss
your gift again.”
“Fine,
sir. Shall I contact the botanist with her final boarding information?”
“Yes,
please.” Rez straightened, his expression thoughtful as he headed for the
office door. “Let her know everything will be ready when she arrives.” He
stopped at the threshold and turned back, his smile kind. “And don’t worry
about making that soul-deep connection, my friend. When the time is right, it
will happen. Perhaps when you least expect it.”
Author Info
Traci is a USA Today Bestselling
Author of Contemporary and Paranormal Romance. Her stories feature sizzling
heroes full of dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes and heroines who are
smart, tenacious, and always give as good as they get. She holds an MFA in
Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and she loves animals,
chocolate, coffee, hot British actors, and sarcasm—not necessarily in that
order.
Author Links:
Fluid
by Emmerite Sundberg
BLURB
Iyonne has despaired of ever
finding the right woman for her. But when she crash-lands on a seemingly
uninhabited planet, she finds her. Sissiasandra has been alone for so long, the
last of her kind. She believes that she will never again know love. Until
Iyonne walks onto her beach. The two fall in love instantly, but there is one
big hurdle to their happy ending. Iyonne cannot live in the ocean, and
Sissiasandra cannot leave the sea to walk on land. Will they overcome their
separation or are they doomed to live alone forever?
Buy Link:
Amazon
Author Info
Sundberg is the friend of dragons
and mother of chinchillas. She spends her time pairing people with good books.
She lives in Pennsylvania with her two bunnies and five chinchillas.
Author
Link:
Twitter:
@writerchilla
You Only Love Once
by Serena Jayne
BLURB
Carpe diem the hell out of love.
In the year 2222, venturing
outdoors is dangerous. Exposure to the searing ultraviolet rays of the sun
could turn anyone into a crispy critter. The ocean is a toxic stew of chemicals
and home to a horror show of mutant monsters. When a three-eyed creature skulks
out of the sea to nibble on Leo, his beautiful neighbor comes to the rescue.
Since the tragic accident that
resulted in Ivy’s cybernetic limb, she’s embraced the mantra “you only live
once,” but her dangerous plans might be more a death wish than a desire to
carpe diem the hell out of life.
Can Leo convince Ivy that nothing
makes a person feel more alive than taking a chance on love?
Buy Link: Amazon
Author Info
Serena Jayne loves experimenting
with different genres and mythologies. Anti-heroes and quirky characters are
her favorites to write. While her first love is paranormal fiction, the mundane
world provides plenty of plot bunnies. She studies Writing Popular Fiction at
Seton Hill University and is a member of Romance Writers of America.
Author Links:
Twitter: @SJ_Writer
Breakfast on Pluto
by Mary Rogers
BLURB
A chance encounter with a man she
could love causes Princess Kerrinda of Kerberos to make a choice – do what her
people expect and need, or follow her heart. Prince Belloch may not be
the one she chooses, but what happens if he is?
Buy Link:
Amazon
Excerpt Breakfast on
Pluto :
Bell was drawn from his thousandth bored musing about the view, or why he had
windows here at all at the end of the known ‘Way. There was
precious little to see but pitch blackness and one or two stars that took
squinting to even make out.
“Humans
like them, they feel closed in without them.” His father had always
maintained this was true and so he had windows, for whatever that view was
worth in the blackness surrounding the Hydra moon.
What
piqued his attention was a woman, a vision, coming down the stairs so quickly
as to almost be running. He watched as every few steps she cast her eyes behind
her, him worrying she would fall down the steps still in front of her.
Then there was her face. That, too, kept his attention.
“Beautiful.”
That was what she was. He had uttered the single word out loud,
despite it being a thought. He sometimes forgot; his every word was
heard, his every action witnessed.
“Pardon
me, did you say something, your...?” Nivens was always wondering what he
could do better. All his staff was. Undeniably a perk, but also a pain.
He cut him off.
“I did.”
He didn’t turn his head though, he kept his watch. To his relief,
she made it down without mishap. She frowned, and slowed her step.
Satisfied with that she saw or didn’t, he watched as she physically changed.
Her face, now peaceful, had a small smile. He would love to know
what that was about. She was hiding from something or someone, but
it didn’t look imminent. Life threatening. As she moved on gracefully,
he guessed she had concluded she was ‘safe’ for a time.
As she
got closer he noticed her eyes. She was scanning for something. She
settled her gaze on the doors to the hotel. Her mask of serenity
momentarily broken, storm clouds broke in those eyes, upset taking over, then
what he thought might be longing. She wanted, what? To go out? To leave? She
turned instead and followed the corridor to the far lobby.
“It seems we have a damsel in
distress, Nivens.”
Should he come to her aid?
Perhaps. Bell would judge that later.
“That woman there, the one with
the long inky hair. Do we know her?”
Nivens,
never comfortable taking his eyes off his charge, stepped in front of him.
After checking in all directions, he motioned for another guard.
Jeene’a, until now, was unobtrusively seated in the small bar area.
He rose, and quietly moved to them, replacing Nivens. When he did, Nivens
gave his attention to the woman in question. Bell sighed.
“We do
not.” Nivens moved back to him. “Would we like to?”
“Yes.
Very much, but it appears the lady has trouble.”
Nivens’
eyes rounded, and his hand went to his weapon; it was an automatic reflex.
Bell moved forward; staying his hand.
“Not for
me, Nivens. Her trouble is her own, and as I don’t know her, I don’t have
any idea what it is.”
“Would
you like us to find out?”
He
shouldn’t bother. Soon, nothing much would matter. He had one day left, what
harm could come of this?
“Yes.
But use discretion. Find out what you can about her. She’s
obviously staying here, find out where, if she is with others, and what is
known about her and them.”
“Your
wish.” Nivens bowed, spoke briefly to Jeene’a, and went to do his
master’s bidding.
Bell
shook his head almost imperceptibly. Getting what he wanted was easy.
Getting who he wanted? He didn’t have that option.
Maybe one
more… small “indiscretion” - as his father liked to call them - was in his
cards. Another privilege he would soon give up.
Bell
moved to the bar, sat down, and ordered a Fixthi’an. The publican bowed
to him and made his favorite morning pick-me-up. Sitting, drinking
slowly, he thought about the woman on the stairs. She was lovely. Despite the
interest she generated, he couldn’t very well have an indiscretion if
he was indiscreet. If she knew who he was. What he was.
“Jeene’a,
there is a matter I wish to speak to you all about. Gather everyone, will
you?”
One hour
later, it was done.
Author Info
Mary Rogers is a Brooklyn native
now living in Southern California with her husband, her kids, and too many
rescue animals. Completely addicted to romance - she decided to write it. She
is inspired by her swoon-worthy hubby, her children, her spoiled pets, and the
best friends in the universe. They teach her daily the meaning of love. She
also appreciates the wine.
Author Links:
Tristan’s Tryst
by A.E. Hayes
BLURB
One mysterious being. Two lovers
who find her. Can this threesome handle the heat of this scorching summer?
Tristan works for the American
government, but rarely speaks about his job. Why? Because his job involves
intergalactic travel. Despite the fact that the year is 2041 and human beings
are now capable to travel at faster-than-light speeds, Tristan’s projects are
often kept secret – hidden even from his girlfriend, Cassandra.
When Tristan reveals to Cassandra
that they are going to take a special trip to Delmar, a planet located in a
different solar system that is mostly comprised of beaches and oceans,
Cassandra is ecstatic. The planet was recently discovered by Tristan and his
team, and so far, very few people have used it as a vacation spot.
Cassandra and Tristan pack their
bags and safely travel to Delmar, finding themselves surrounded by beautiful
beaches with white sand, sparkling turquoise waters, and a strange line of
trees lining the perimeter of the particular beach they have chosen to visit.
During some intense foreplay on
the deserted beach, Cassandra and Tristan are startled to hear movement coming
from the trees behind them. When they stop to look, they see a beautiful female
emerge. She tells them that her name is Lynx, and that she is an inhabitant of
the planet. Tristan is baffled, as he was unaware that the planet allowed for
immigration and human habitation. And when Lynx expresses her fondness for
Tristan’s body and Cassandra’s golden “star eyes,” Tristan and Cassandra find
themselves attracted to her. But should they give in to this strange, beautiful
inhabitant of Delmar? And if they do – what might possibly happen to them?
Buy Link:
Amazon
Author Info
A.E. Hayes is a published author
who has been writing since the age of four. She has been featured under various
pseudonyms in myriad novels, anthologies, poetry collections, music magazines,
and newspapers. Her memoir, “Shattered: Memoirs of an Amnesiac,” is set to be
released on September 12th, 2017.
She is currently finishing her
6th fiction novel, “On Common Ground,” writing for the upcoming sci-fi romance
anthology “Love Across the Universe,” (which will be released August 1st,
2017), as well as writing a paranormal sci-fi story for the upcoming graphic
novel “The Eynes Anthology.”
She studied English and Writing
at Hood College, where she earned her B.A., and later studied Fiction Writing
at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. A.E. resides in Maryland with her
husband and son, and when she isn’t writing or singing (or doing both at the
same time), she spends her time drinking far too much coffee, logging miles by
pacing around the living room floor in order to make her Fitbit happy, studying
the violin, pretending to be a Cylon, and plotting ideas for several new
projects (which usually happens during her living room pacing time).
Author
Links:
Web: https://aehayes.com/
Twitter:
@AE_Hayes
Breathless
by L. J. Longo
BLURB
A soldier and a café manager find
themselves trapped beneath the surface of a resort by the deadly beasts native
to the planet. As they fight to survive, they discover danger is a potent
aphrodisiac.
As part of a hidden military
outfit protecting rich civilians as they vacation on the resort planet Pangaea,
Nathan Oyola planned to keep secrets, fight aliens, and maybe tan under the
rays of an artificial sun. What he did not expect was to fall for his
so-called boss, the manager of the café located directly above the aliens’
nest. When the native wildlife starts behaving more aggressive and strange than
usual, how will Nathan keep them secret and keep his new-found love safe.
Buy Link:
Amazon
All B+ut You
by Elsa M. Carruthers
BLURB
In a world where looks are so
important that Genetic Modification is standard procedure, how will those
without Genetic Modification cope, let alone find love?
Buy Link:
Amazon
Excerpt All B+ut You :
Jen was a
medical researcher until her status as a B+ blood type made her ineligible for
genetic modification and indirectly cost her a lucrative position. Soon, like
all of the other un-modifieds, she finds herself living and working in B-Town.
She passes her time trading books with her neighbors until they start coming
for minor medical advice and help. It’s not a glamorous life, but she is
content until she runs into Marsha, mysterious Gen-Mod who appears to be on the
run.
Author Info
Elsa is a speculative fiction
writer, academic, and poet. She lives in California with her family. In 2011,
she earned her MFA in Creative Writing and English from Seton Hill University.
Since graduating, Elsa's work has been published in several anthologies,
magazines, and e-zines.
Elsa is an active member of HWA,
RWA, SFPA, IAFA, and the Poetry Foundation. She regularly attends writing
conventions and loves meeting new people!
The Pirates and the Pacifist
by Cara McKinnon
BLURB
Kai doesn’t believe in violence.
Sam and Dek believe the ends justify the means. Will passion be enough to
bridge the gap between the pacifist sent to broker galactic peace and the space
pirates hired to keep him away at all costs?
Kaikoa met Sameer and Dek—leaders
of a crew of sometimes space pirates—when they abducted Kai and kept him from
attending an important peace summit. But when the pirates’ payment never
appeared and a gunship showed up instead, Kai, Sam, and Dek found themselves on
the same side of a galactic conflict–and tumbling headlong into a reckless
passion.
Now they are searching for the
truth about who hired the pirates to keep Kai from the summit—and whether the
enemy wants one side to win, or simply chaos in the galaxy. But when the allies
find the ones who double-crossed them on a terraformed resort moon, will Dek
and Sam follow their new lover’s pacifist wishes, or will the pirate code of an
eye for an eye tear their fragile threesome apart?
Buy Link: Amazon
Excerpt The Pirates and the
Pacifist :
Kaikoa
pressed his toes into the metal floor of the small cabin where he’d been kept
captive for the last two ship-cycles. He only knew the length of his
imprisonment because his jailors left the wall screen on. They wanted him to be
able to keep track of time passing—his voiceprint wasn’t authorized to change
the programming or turn it off. Thanks to the screen, he knew that in one more
cycle he would miss the meeting that had brought him from his quiet backwater
planet of Moanalani—haven for his people after the rising sea levels on old
Earth swamped their islands—to the central planets of the Trrbantu Cluster.
He hadn’t
seen his sibling Nai’a since before the pirates had boarded their small
transport ship and removed them to this larger vessel. Nai’a had been up in the
cockpit, doing whatever they did to pilot the ship, while he’d been down in the
galley making a meal.
Nai’a had
probably fought for their ship like one of the ancient demons of the depths.
Kai had been knocked unconscious by some kind of stunner almost immediately.
Not that he was ashamed by his failure to defend the ship. He’d been called to
speak at a peace conference, after all, not a battle strategy session.
The wall
screen helpfully displayed the latest news about the conference, which had
predictably devolved into posturing, name-calling, and chest-beating, at least
on the part of the media anchors. Kai had hopes that the actual delegates—who’d
been forbidden from giving interviews to the press until afterward—were keeping
their composure better.
He should
have been there already, and his absence would put several important pieces of
the treaty his faction had proposed in jeopardy. He and Nai’a had hoped that by
taking their small, independent transport, they would avoid exactly the
situation they’d landed in.
The door
of the cabin opened, and three large humanoids entered. Two were actually
human—a male and female—and the third was a splice.
If anyone
should have wanted Kai to make it to the peace conference, it should have been
a splice. If things fell apart, all of the mixed human-and-alien beings would
be at risk.
But this
one might not know that. Someone else did—someone who didn’t want Kai to
succeed, and had hired these pirates to keep him away from the summit. The
question was—was it a member of the league who wanted the insurgents eradicated,
or a member of the human faction who actually thought they could win?
Author Info
Cara McKinnon is the author of
the Fay of Skye fantasy romance series. She is addicted to adding magic to
other genres and creating fantasy hybrids. She earned her MFA in Writing
Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University, where she found her writing tribe.
She lives on the East Coast of the US with her husband, two kids, and an
oversized lapdog named Jake.
Author Links:
The Princess of Sands
M.T. DeSantis
BLURB
The solar panel that powers the
Sand Palace Hotel on planet Andala is failing. The hotel’s tyrannical owner
will go to any length to secure a new panel, including arranging a marriage for
his only daughter, Eliara Desanthar. Unable to reconcile marrying to benefit
her father, Eliara sneaks aboard a ship in the castle’s landing bay, ready to
make her escape.
But this ship is no ordinary
vessel. It carries Prince Randroth of Belmret, who is on a diplomatic mission
to Andala. When Eliara accidentally tries to hide in the prince’s chambers,
Randroth vows to protect the terrified but beautiful girl, even if it means
destroying relations between the two planets.
Unaware Randroth is her
betrothed, Eliara returns with him to Belmret, where fun-in-the-sun, deep
passion, and trapping revelations await.
And the truth might not set them
free.
Buy Amazon
Excerpt The Princess of Sands :
The door
of Randroth’s chamber slid open with a nearly silent hiss. “About time,” Idgmet
said in his nasal voice and shuffled inside. He wore a one-piece bright
lavender jumpsuit, complete with silver trim. Belmret fashion had done some odd
things over the years, but this was the strangest. Idgmet fixed Randroth with a
quizzical stare. “I hope you are not wearing that to meet your bride-to-be?”
Randroth
tugged on the simple black trousers and adjusted the blue tunic he wore, a
match for Andala’s oceans. He’d chosen the outfit purposefully to appeal to
Desanthar—blue for Andala’s oceans, black because it would let the blue stand
out. He would only get one chance to make a good impression. This was not the
time for Idgmet’s idea of style.
“In fact,
I am,” Randroth said.
Idgmet
made a noise in the back of his throat, either distaste or disdain. A line
appeared between his perfectly trimmed silver-painted eyebrows for only a
second before the squire schooled his features. “Very well. I didn’t come to
discuss your clothing, much as the topic needs addressing. Your father wishes
me to remind you how crucial the securing of this union is.”
“Does
he?” Randroth couldn’t keep the derision from his voice. This marriage had come
suddenly and without warning or reason, at least none Randroth could detect.
Belmret was not poor and, thus, in no need of a financial alliance with the
riches of Desanthar’s tourism business. For all his money, Desanthar was not
royalty, and so the wedding was not for political gain. In short, there was
absolutely no reason why Randroth had to wed now, and to a girl he’d never met.
“And did my father happen to explain to you why it is so important? He left out
those details when discussing it with the son who is to be wed.”
“You know
how much Belmret’s safety and future mean to your father.” Idgmet delivered his
rote response in a flat tone. The underlying meaning was clearer than Belmret’s
lavender oceans. There was still no reason for the union, or at least no reason
Randroth’s father would disclose.
“I do.”
Randroth folded his arms. The shirt pulled a bit at his shoulders. He’d filled
out some since last wearing it. “But safety with not even an implied threat is
not a reason to force marriage upon your child.”
“All due
respect, Your Highness.” Idgmet held up the pointer finger of his left hand.
His silver nail polish exactly matched the trim of his suit and his eyebrows. “I
do not have time to argue about this. We must disembark.”
Randroth
blew out a breath. There was no winning. He would leave the ship, meet
Desanthar’s daughter, and wed in three days. “Very well.”
Idgmet
spun on one heel. When he reached the door, it opened. He shuffled through,
leaving Randroth to sulk in a most unprincely manner. All his life, Randroth
thought he’d marry for love, like the princes and knights in the book of fairy
tales he kept beside his bed. Whenever royal life got to be too much, he had
read one of the old tales as a reminder of how his life could be. He should
have known reality could never resemble fanciful stories in books, especially
in matters of love. It wasn’t fair.
But then,
what in his life was fair? He was a prince. Royalty did what needed to be done.
Randroth straightened, squaring his shoulders and closing his eyes to collect
himself. He drew in a deep breath and let it go slowly. If he must wed
Lemswurth Desanthar’s daughter for some undisclosed reason, he would do it, sands
be his witness.
The
chamber door hissed open.
Randroth
expelled the last of his breath in a huff. And if he had to put up with
Idgmet’s impatience, he would do his best not to strangle the squire. “I said I
would be right there.” He opened his eyes.
Idgmet
wasn’t in the doorway. It was a girl. Her blonde hair fell in a mess of waves
to her waist, and a faint pink colored her cheeks.
A tugging
sensation pulled at Randroth’s heart. She looked like someone in trouble. He
stood. “Are you all right?”
The girl
jerked. Her head snapped up and around. She blinked wide green eyes at him, and
the pink in her cheeks drained to a terrified white. She lurched backwards.
“Wait!”
Randroth rushed to the door and captured her delicate wrist between his
fingers. She trembled under his touch. Or had she already been trembling? “How
did you get on this ship?”
The girl
opened and closed her mouth. “I…” She swallowed with an audible gulp. “I need
to get off the planet. My father…can you help me?”
The tug
now tried to yank Randroth’s heart in two. One end pummeled him with duty and
responsibility. He was supposed to stay on Andala and meet Desanthar’s
daughter. In the other direction, there was still no reason for the marriage.
The truth crumbled Randroth’s sense of duty. Forget trouble, this girl had the
look of a caged animal. She ran, maybe for her life. He couldn’t leave her to
fend for herself.
“Of
course I can,” Randroth said.
Relief
fell over the girl’s face like a curtain. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
A chill
ran through Randroth at the gratitude in her voice. An iron determination
followed. Whoever this girl’s father was, Randroth would do anything in his
power to protect her. He pulled her into the room until the door slid closed.
“What is your name?”
“Eliara,”
the girl said.
“A lovely
name,” Randroth said. It fit her well. He bowed his head. “I am Prince Randroth
of Belmret, at your humble service.”
Eliara’s
emerald eyes widened. “Prince?” She lurched into a bow. “Forgive me, Your
Highness. I—”
“It is
nothing.” He tipped her chin up with one finger. A current like electricity
seemed to spark where his skin met hers. The current spiraled into a desire to
pull her closer, feel her delicate body against his. “Please,” his voice rasped
with the desire coursing through his blood, “call me Randroth.”
Author Info
M.T. DeSantis currently resides
in a small city on the U.S. eastern seaboard. When not writing, she can be
found practicing yoga, attempting to answer trivia questions at restaurants, or
plotting her next adventure.
Author Links:
Renewal
by Oriana Maret
BLURB
She’ll brave the arms of
destruction to shed the arms that betrayed.
When Kestrel discovers Mercer is
alive and well, she embarks on a dangerous journey to escape the pain of his
jilt. When Mercer turns the tables, Kestrel discovers the true meaning of
betrayal, and the ultimate cost of love.
Buy Link:Amazon
Excerpt Renewal:
Kestrel
plucks the buds from her ears and taps her temple. The ocular screen behind her
eyes flickers and cancels the antique film’s rolling credits. Her Galaxy
Delivers Inc. queue slides in place and flashes amber for her attention, but
her vision blurs. Next time when she’s supposed to be sorting Galaxy delivery
jobs and not doing her volunteer museum job she’ll preview a sci-fi
meat-grinder like The Whirling Vortex for the annual ancient films festival.
She palms her eyes dry. Not some thrashing B-list not happily-ever-after
space-love pile of…
“Rot,”
she whispers.
A film in
which the leading lady dies of Veneda Syndrome is no romance. Veneda’s a
horrible illness of rogue cell necrosis. The Vortex’s star dies in her lover’s
arms within meters of the molecular diagnostic tool that could have saved her
life. The guy is no hero.
With a
burst of heat, Kestrel kicks the size twelve feet entangled with her size
sevens. The guy’s cubicle is in the next row over, and she’s never met him, so
who cares?
“Hey!”
His complaint is muffled behind the tall gray partition. “Watch it.”
“Keep
your feet to yourself,” she mutters.
Unlike
her co-workers’ empty, gray desktops, hers is littered with antique novelties.
All gifts from him. Mercer.
Kestrel
picks up the tarnished silver spoon and taps the scented candle. A calendar of
curling paper the color of jaundiced skin leans against the back partition, and
a busted pair of wire rim glasses rest like a paperweight on top of her spacer
license.
Mercer
helped her earn the license. It’s worth spit these days because of Tabara
Gold’s desquamation. A sister planet that peels off chunks of its surface the
size of mountains tends to discourage transportation and trade.
She grips
her chair’s metal arms and rollers back because the room shrinks. Her cubicle
wedges into a precise row of ten cubicles in a room of ten rows. The room is
the in the bowels of a building stretching one hundred stories into the world’s
ocher skies. The circulator pump hisses chemicals smelling of antiseptic. She
sips air with shallow breaths.
The
yellowed calendar’s single digit number mocks her, and she can’t look away
because Mercer proposed marriage exactly one year ago. Then he disappeared. Now
he’s back.
The
gossip grills who document Adalon City’s social scene breathlessly welcome him
home. Apparently Mercer’s shadow is enough to send females ages two to
one-hundred-seventeen into vapes. Men want Mercer for cards, bar jaunts,
investment advice, jet races….
Three
days have passed since she’s learned he’s alive. Three. Days.
His
silence roars.
There’s
only one answer why he hasn’t blasted down her door and fallen to his knees to
beg forgiveness for agony she’s suffered. He regretted his proposal because she
never fit Adalon’s scene—that rarified air that makes the gossip grills
slather. His silence means she should move on with her life because he is.
Love is a
like a sponge. It absorbs and expands beyond its capacity, but when it dries up
it’s stiff and useless. Her friends say she just has to get back in the
game—rewet that sponge! If not for Tabara Gold’s annoying skin peel, she’d
blast through Adalon’s ochre skies, break clean of Jaster’s gravitational pull,
and run and run and never stop.
Instead,
she’s here.
Operators’
voices hum as each processes color-coded delivery jobs. Giant boards rule the
walls. Electric blue letters flicker and scroll with jobs pouring in at a rate
of two every fifteen-point-three seconds. Topside, a swarm of Galaxy’s delivery
jocks in the company’s blue and gold receive the orders, upload the message or
take possession of the package, and speed away on jetters Adalon’s enforcers
decry as a public menace.
“Thrashing-A,
Kes,” Yallo’s voice drags her back. “You got a thrashing blue.”
Heads pop
up. Blue…ah, blue…rolls off every tongue.
Kestrel
launches to her feet. A job coded red is bound for Jaster’s far side; pink is
for local delivery. Blue—beautiful, brilliant, and rare blue—is OWDR: off-world
delivery required, baby. The blue’s five minutes old. She snatches her spacer
license, and the universe propels her into the lift.
Adalon’s
delivery industry is no place for swimmers afraid of sharks. Theodosia Galaxy’s
balls live in one tower, and her body in another. Theo will go for the other
companies’ jugulars to win the off-world job, especially since Tabara Gold
chokes Jaster’s economy.
Kestrel
taps the quarter-sized button marked 100, and the reflective gold doors slide
shut. She’s a big-eyed, tight-jawed slash of pale skin in loose clothing
drenched in shadows.
There’s
only one way to clear the dust of this past year’s desert experience. Theodosia
will want the blue’s fat commission, and Kestrel will fly the mother-thrashing
package down the throat of a black hole if it means putting space, and lots of
it, between her and Mercer.
Author Info
Oriana Maret is a science fiction
writer whose careers include the military, corporate sales and management in
cancer genetic diagnostics, and nonprofit brand management. She'll earn an
M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2018.
Author Links:
Guest Post for Love Across the
Universe Interview Question #6
We
asked the Love Across the Universe authors
to tell us how they decided what sort of setting to pick for their stories. We
also asked if they were considering writing longer fiction in that world or if
it was a one-off interesting idea. Finally, we had them explain part of their
creative process for us.
Elsa M. Carruthers—“All B+ut You”
The
idea came to me after reading about the global cosmetic surgery industry. This
merged with all of the recent cases of horrific police brutality. I was
dismayed. I may expand it. I usually get an idea or a character forms in my
head and I roll with it. I never plot or outline; I just write until the story
is done.
M.T. DeSantis—“The Princess of Sands”
Initially,
I wanted to write about a princess who was somehow trapped in her home, a giant
sand castle. Then, I wanted her to meet her prince but not necessarily be
rescued by the prince. Then the prince became a princely engineer. As this idea
got more and more confusing, I finally settled on a castle without a princess
who finds herself an actual prince. I don’t see myself writing more in this
world, but I had fun crafting this tale.
Traci Douglass—“A Dream to Build a Kiss On”
LOL.
See the interview question where we described our future world! But yeah, I’d
originally created this world and story concept for a longer full-novel length
trilogy that I’m working on which leans more toward paranormal romance than
sci-fi, though there is definitely a technology component to it.
A.E. Hayes—“Tristan’s Tryst”
Delmar
(“of the sea”) seemed to be the right name for a planet that contains nothing
but oceans and beaches—as well as a bizarre little coastline of trees, but that
is explained within the story—and since my main character works for the
government and knows about this mostly-deserted planet, things sort of come together
pretty easily. I’m not saying that writing or storytelling is an easy art—it’s
not—but it’s wonderful when a plot and the characters do come together,
especially in a genre I absolutely adore. I don’t think I’ll expand the
story—it’s meant to be a short, and expanding it would give away too much or
add unnecessary detail. The entire plot came to me as I was reading the
anthology expectations, and I wrote, by hand, every detail that I wanted on
that print-out. It’s sitting near me as I type these blog replies.
Serena Jayne—“You Only Love Once”
I knew
I wanted to set the story on a future Earth, but I didn’t want the beach to be
as it is today. The first thing that came to me after I thought of a toxic
environment due to pollution was a mutant monster. Once I had the monster and
the couple, the cute meet came naturally to me and the story took off in my
mind. I’m not sure if I’ll write longer in this world, but I do plan on playing
in the Science Fiction sandbox again. Calls for submission like this one can
really get the plot bunnies multiplying!
L.J. Longo—“Breathless”
So
there was in this anthology call for sci-fi romance on a beach…
While
working morning shift at a Starbucks and hating everyone on the closing shift for
not doing their jobs, I had the idea of a coffee shop was secretly on a
Hell-mouth and night shift spent all their time fighting back the demons. But
there was one guy on nightshift who was in love with someone who opened so
while he was beating back the demons he’d be prepping the coffee and putting
away inventory. It was meant to be a silly, light-hearted idea and I doubted I
would ever have written it, but it was fun to think about while I was
navigating the long twisting hallway pulling a cart of trash. Then this
anthology call happened and I asked, what if it was aliens instead of demons,
and the reason night-shift has to operate in secret is because no one wants to
scare off the tourists?
There
will be a longer version of this story simply because I didn’t get to touch on
all the fun character traits I discovered along the way and I ran out of room
for my favorite bits, i.e. the sex scenes.
Oriana Maret—“Renewal”
Ideas
come to me in all kinds of ways: in scrap of thought spurred by words or pictures
or the question “what if?” I wrote this piece as a short story, but as a
writer, I’m responsive to feedback or to my own ideas about whether or not
there’s more story to tell. Once an idea comes to me, I write down the premise,
the characters, the goal-motivation-conflict for each; and if I have time, I’ll
sketch a very big picture outline.
Cara McKinnon—“The Pirates and the Pacifist”
My
story began as an attempt to write a shorter piece for an erotic pirates
anthology. I think that historical pirates are a well-trod topic, and I wanted
to play with something futuristic. I’d also recently seen Moana and wanted to write about a Polynesian main character. I gave
him a largely water-covered homeworld called Moanalani (Heavenly Ocean), and
the somewhat ironic name Kaikoa (it means sea warrior and he’s pacifist), and
came up with a situation in which he would be encountering space pirates.
Everything snowballed from there, and I now want to write stories about all of
the members of the pirate crew! Look for this story to eventually be
re-released in an anthology focusing on each of the members of the Varuna.
Sheri Queen—“Red Sand”
The
theme was related to beaches and space/future earth, so my first thought was
Mars. The red planet with an underground filled with water, yet habitable for
humans. I’ve seen some NASA research on Mars, and it’s the next Moon adventure,
so it was perfect for my story.
Mary Rogers—“Breakfast on Pluto”
I was
hurt and upset for poor Pluto, underdog of the planets, and now, downgraded. It’s like Jack Welch was in charge of the
whole thing. I chose it because if there are sentient beings out there, and
they’re humanoid, they’d be drawn to more light, and proximity to the sun. What
if climate change goes that badly, and we lose earth, would such beings want to
help us? I’m sure they might, but they wouldn’t be handing us Park Place and
Boardwalk, would they? I’m going to bet they’d give us Pluto.
Emmerite Sundberg—“Fluid”
The
concept for my story was actually given to me by my husband. With a beach as a
theme, I asked him what he thought would be an interesting love story and he
told me the concept of one living on land and one living in the ocean. Really a
kind of romance that can only happen on the beach. I ran with it. I think it
would be interesting to follow Iyonne and Sissiasandra after the events of the
story, but I don’t anticipate this happening any time soon.
K.W. Taylor—“Reprogramming”
I did
begin my work based on the collection’s requirements and prompt, and the
challenge of it was exciting. I started with a few different ideas before
hitting on a space shipwreck idea. A castaway story seemed logical to turn on
its head. In the days following my original idea, Amelia Earhart was back in
the news from some supposed evidence that she’d been captured instead of
marooned on an island. I’ve always wondered about Earhart and her navigator
Fred Noonan’s fate, how he was her aviation partner but not her husband, and
what would have happened if they’d survived. That greatly influenced this piece
in the end. I had some allusions to Earhart in my novel The Curiosity Killers, too, as aviation pioneers fascinate me
generally. All of that helped inspire this work, and now that it’s finished,
I’m strongly considering writing a longer piece set in this world.
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