QSFer Erik Schubach has a new lesfic sci fi book out:
This novella follows Fixit, a worker on the surface of Tau Ceti Prime in another adventure.
As Prime comes out of its perihelion orbit at the end of the pass, a new peril raises its head and only Fixit, Vega, is in any position to save the star system from calamity.
Vega and Glitch must put all of their knowledge, skills, and creativity to the test to go off world to save Vashon and the population of the floating cities of Prime from certain death.
Familiar friends and new enemies abound as Fixit races against time in the harshest environment she has ever faced… space!
A Fixit Adventure novella.
Excerpt
“Hey!” I blurted when I noticed Flower sneaking another card as I stared idly out the windows of the huge Quonset hut repair bay of pinger maintenance in Agri-Grid A1 here on Tau Ceti Prime. I had been watching the dim auroras play across the green and blue sky, the last remnants of ionization in the atmosphere from the superstorms of the Perihelion Pass. And we hadn’t felt an earth tremor in days.
I pointed an accusing finger at the innocent looking pinger, her orb-shaped body tilted to the side as her ocular port iris widened to accentuate that faux innocence. “You little cheater!” So that’s how she always seemed to get a disproportionate number of full moons in the game!
She squeed out a two-toned response which sounded suspiciously like, “Full moon,” as she ignored my accusation and laid down her eight cards in front of me.
I sputtered out, “I saw you stealing a card this time, stinker!”
She rolled her orb to mime shrugging her shoulder while my other pingers who were already eliminated from the game all warbled in what I knew to be laughter at my expense. Well, of course, they took her side, all the silly boys had crushes on her. I poked her right below her ocular port and said, “You, Flower, are no lady. Now I know why you are undefeated in Eights.”
She squeed in an oscillating high, and low pitch, the audible binary language my pingers have developed to communicate with me audibly. Over the months since they started using it, I’ve found I don’t need to count the highs and lows much anymore to understand what they are saying. It’s just like learning any other new language.
I sighed at the cheat-bot and replied as she turned her orb down bashfully. Yeah, I know, she was playing me, but she’s just so flanterskelling cute. I droned out, “Love you too, Flower.” Then I leaned forward and kissed her right on the ocular port and confiscated her cards. “No more Eights for you.”
She squeed out a disappointed but somehow smug, “Aaaawww.”
Then I looked around at the boys with an accusing smirk. “Don’t look so innocent guys. You could have warned me.”
Glitch was warbling in what sounded like a giggle. The little bootwaffle. I smiled at him as I put the cards back in their box. It was an actual pressed paper box, like the cards, which were of thick pressed paper too. They were positively antique. Any bio-matter on Prime was used to mix into the soil here dirtside to enrich the carbon content of it in the farms and to fertilize the crops.
These weren’t made of the silicate-based cerama-plastics that have been required to be used in place of bio-products the past few hundred years here on Prime. They were my mom’s cards, contraband, and I never did learn where she got them before she passed.
Author Bio
I got my start writing novels by accident. I have always been drawn to strong female characters in books, like Honor Harrington. And I also believe that there is a lack of LGBT characters in media. So one day I came up with a story idea that combines the two… two days later I completed the manuscript for Music of the Soul.
My writing style may not be the most professional nor grammatically correct, but I never profess to be an English major, just a person that wants to share a story. I maintain that my primary language is sarcasm.
Each of my books features strong likeable female characters that are flawed. I think that flaws and emotional or physical scars make us human and give us more character than simply conforming to some “social norm”.
You can follow Erik online via his website http://www.ErikSchubach.com, on Twitter @ErikSchubach, on Blogger http://erikschubachauthor.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Erik-Schubach-Author/438534946240951 for more information and to discuss his upcoming books.