“I almost did it, Api. I had the Glock in my mouth and my finger on the trigger.”
Blood & Peyote is a contemporary short story originally included in Unconditional Surrender. The military anthology was made available from October 2014 through January 2015. The expanded version of this story is slotted for tentative re-release as Blood & Bear in early 2017.
Apisi Howling and Chartreuse Beaudrou returned from their Guard unit's deployment almost a
year ago. His battle buddy requested space and Apisi complied, limiting contact to phone calls. When their sergeant calls in a code black, Apisi throws out all the rules.
Currently out of print, slotted for re-release in winter of 2016:
Fragile Bond is a science fiction novella about two soldiers of different species.
Sniper Sergeant Marc Staille and his trusty rifle, Mat, are on bodyguard duty at a mining operation on a backwater planet. The resource-rich valley is crawling with tawnies, the native dirt-colored predators. Huge things that hunt in packs and kill as well with tooth and claw as Marc ever has with Mat.
The rules change when a tawny uses an unexpected weapon: pheromones.
Commander Hamm Orsonna, leader of the fefa clan, is determined to chase off the invading aliens. The one he sets out to capture for intel is scrawny and hairless, not very intimidating—until it takes out his entire squad. Seasoned warriors, felled from halfway down the valley by its metal death stick.
Their sacrifice may be worth it, though. The alien male smells like he’s interested in making things right. He smells of other things too, but nobody else seems to notice. Before long, Hamm finds himself fighting off his own kind to defend the alien, who might be his people’s only hope for peace, and Hamm’s only chance for happiness.
Currently out of print, undergoing extensive rewrites in expectation of 2017 re-release:
Blacker Than Black is an urban fantasy about chi-whores and energy vampires, preconceived notions, nepotism, and power plays.
Apparently, my twin and I are two of York’s most notorious criminals. We’ve been Nightwalkers in the blue-light district since the vamps took over the world. Don’t know how many years it’s been. Long enough that a stream of fellow ’walkers have come and gone. Most don’t last long selling their chi. End up face-down in the gutter, or worse. For us, one night and one sale change everything.
Monsieur Garthelle is the first john to hunt me down. He calls me a chi thief in one breath and offers absolution—servitude—in the next. Maybe I’m a sucker, but I like living and breathing. Strange that such a powerful vamp would show leniency to a mere human. And something’s not right with the chi I took from him. It won’t go away.
This is my story. Look through my eyes.
Released by Carina Press in August of 2011:
Dark Edge of Honor, a military science fiction gay romance, co-written with Aleksandr Voinov.
Sergei Stolkov is a faithful officer, though his deepest desires go against the Doctrine. A captain with the invading Coalition forces, he believes that self-sacrifice is the most heroic act and his own needs are only valid if they serve the state.
Mike, an operative planted within Cirokko's rebels, has been ordered to seduce Sergei and pry from him the Coalition's military secrets. His mission is a success, but as he captures Sergei's heart, Mike is tempted by his own charade and falls in love.
When the hostile natives of the planet Cirokko make their move, all seems lost. Can Mike and Sergei survive when the Coalition's internal affairs division takes an interest in what happened in the dusty mountains of Zasidka Pass...?
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