So I know I've been a bit of a ghost lately, but I promise, there's a good reason. Better yet, that reason is finally ready to share.
I've been working on a new series of sci-fi folktale retellings called Escape Velocity: Feminist Folktales from Beyond the Stars.
I use the term "series" in the loosest sense. These novellas will all take place within the same sci-fi universe, involving many of the same planets and alien species, but each one will be a self-contained reimagining of a specific fairy tale, myth, or legend. Start anywhere, stop anywhere, no risk of cliffhangers.
How many of these there might ultimately be depends on you guys. If you like them, tell me! More importantly, tell all your friends! There are plenty more folktales out there itching for an overhaul involving badass ladies and laser weapons. If these are a hit, I might even get Matt in on the fun too.
For now, I've got two of these bad girls on the shelves today.
That's right, no countdown. I've been neglecting my reviews, my social media, (my laundry, my loved ones...) all for the sake of getting these ready to enter in the 2019 Kindle Storyteller contest, which closes for entries at the end of August.
I made it! And just in time for Women's Equality Day, too!
What this means for you is that you can read these right now, and if you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you can do it for free. (If not, they're only a buck each.)
If you prefer to go old school, paperback editions are coming in a few days as well.
Without further ado, let's take a look at my new lovelies!
Once upon a time, on a glamorous space station called Eris, there was a young woman who could spin base metals into gold…
At least, that’s what she tells people to separate them from their money.
Naia Mills is a con artist, a Human orphan scraping to get by in a galaxy that doesn’t want her, more than a century after her ancestors rendered the Earth uninhabitable. She travels the stars selling fake gold jewelry and elixirs, until the day she unknowingly swindles the son of a space station commander. Now confined to the station and threatened with a slow death in a radioactive penal colony, Naia has three days to buy her way to freedom with an impossible act of alchemy.
Eager to get out from under his father’s thumb, and fascinated with Naia’s profession, the commander’s son is an easy dupe and willing accomplice, but to get their hands on the gold they both need to escape, they’ll have to make a deal with the local mob, and a queenpin so powerful and private that even her closest associates don’t know her name.
(Click here to read on Kindle)
I've always wanted to adapt "Rumpelstiltskin." I honestly don't know why Disney hasn't gotten around to it yet; it's well-known and brimming with potential. For one thing, its princess comes about as close to saving herself as the Grimms' heroines ever do. Of course, in my version, her shot at survival comes in the form of an identity theft caper, and she'll have to decide what it's worth to her to save the prince as well.
Once upon a time, on the second planet from Apocrytus, there was a monster whose face men trembled to behold…
Or they would, if they knew who she was. Perhaps she should leave more survivors.
Meligora lives for revenge, but it’s not as dreary as she thought it would be. Her old life ended when the Brotherhood took control of her planet and started rounding up women for mandatory “conversion,” removing their stingers, wings, and most of their eyes, looting their bodies for their valuable reproductive organs, and leaving them docile shells of their former selves. But after her own botched procedure turned her into a lethal weapon instead of a slave, she learned to make the best of things, bending Brotherhood enforcers to her will and slaughtering them in droves each night.
She knows it’s only a matter of time before someone tries to stop her, but when a young Human bounty hunter finally follows her trail of corpses, he offers her a choice: stay a wanted killer of dime-a-dozen thugs, or join him in tracking down the man who mutilated her.
(Click here to read on Kindle)
Unlike "Rumpelstiltskin," I picked the legend of Medusa because of how abjectly horrible and in need of fixing the original story is. Seriously, look it up. Or don't, if you want to continue having a good day. Naturally, I took a lot more liberties with this one, and the result is an intense yet fun revenge fantasy that I'd roughly quantify as a blend of Deadpool, Aliens, and Ginger Snaps. I'd also unreservedly call it my most bizarre work to date.
So that's that! For today, anyway. Thanks for checking out what I've been up to this summer, and if I've sufficiently intrigued you, happy reading!
(Note: because these are on Kindle Unlimited, they're not available in digital form anywhere other than Amazon. However, if you're interested in writing a review and aren't set up for mobi files, email me.)
