QSFer Marie Brown has a new sci fi book out:
After the destruction of billions of humans and hundreds of colony worlds by an unknown aggressive force, Lieutenant Wallace K. Williams must overcome his personal devastating losses and rise to the challenge of leading the few thousand survivors into a new future. Along the way, he encounters aliens, hope, despair, and the chance for an unexpected love. But will he lose everything all over again, just when things begin to go right?
Excerpt
“Walk with me?” Wallace said, looking around at the normal camp activity.
The command center sat, of course, at the heart of the camp, and guaranteed interference in any personal conversation. He didn’t have any desire to talk about this subject in front of anyone but Aran, who would understand. “We have something in common, you and I, but it is not for public discussion.”
“Of course.”
Wallace led Aran through the camp, nodding acknowledgment to the occasional greeting, and then out to the slight rise beyond the emergency shelters. He sighed as the camp fell behind them, taking some of his tension with it.
“Much better,” he said. “Over there. It’s a great place to sit and think.”
He pointed to a rocky outcropping overlooking the sea. The sun hovered near the horizon behind them, giving the rocks a warm glow. He’d never seen the rocks in the light before, instead visiting them in the dark of
sleepless night.
Once settled on the rocks, side by side, Wallace gave Aran a serious look. “Now I’ll answer your question.”
Aran looked back at him, calm, but with the shadow of pain in his eyes.
Wallace tried to speak, found he couldn’t, not while looking into those beautiful eyes. So he turned his head towards the sea, seeing in memory a different sea altogether. Calypso Bay, sight of many seaside vacations, Mel laughing as she rode the windboard over the waves. . . Mel, dead on the ground.
“You asked why I wanted to give you something to do. It’s because I know. It helps. It really does. It takes your mind off being the only one. You were the only survivor off Pyphos, well, I was the only survivor off Corinth. And the only thing that helps is staying so busy I don’t think, don’t feel.”
“You. . . you were the only survivor of your world?”
“Yes.” Wallace reached for his pocket, touched the strands of his wife’s hair. “We were outside, Mel and I, and I was pushing her in the big old swing. She was laughing, just shining in the sun, and I was in the middle of giving her a big push when the bombs hit. Near as I can tell, Mel saved my life. She took the full force of the explosion and the shrapnel that was once our house, her and the twin daughters she was carrying. Her body blocked the worst of it. My ears were all but destroyed, and I had some minor lacerations, and somehow managed to completely blow out my knee at some point. But I lived, and my wife died. So did my entire world.”
Aran touched him briefly on the shoulder. His dark eyes, so expressive, held sympathy. “You do understand. It’s not quite the same, you didn’t have to look on the ruins of an entire civilization that revolved around you, but you lost the most precious thing in all the worlds, the lives of unborn children.”
“Yes.” Wallace took a deep breath, held it, then let it out in a gusty sigh. “So. If you ever need to talk, you know, to someone who understands the pain of searching for life on a dead world, well, you know who to come
to.”
They sat in silence for a long moment, while the sun slid downwards behind them and their shadows stretched out towards the empty ocean.
“I will take you up on that offer someday,” Aran said. “Not now. The wounds are too fresh, too raw. But I will thank you.”
Wallace glanced at him, startled. “Thank me? For what?”
“For making me leave that ship and come to this embryonic world. For telling me that I am not alone. For caring enough about someone you’ve hardly met to seek out an occupation to fill my time.”
“You’re welcome,” Wallace said, and this time he was the one to reach out and touch. He squeezed Aran’s hand, feeling an uncomfortable upwelling of emotion inside. The shock of his bare skin touching Aran’s nearly undid him. It was a sensation like no other he’d ever experienced, and he couldn’t put a name to it, but decided in half a heartbeat he liked it.
Buy Links
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Author Bio
“Marie Brown has lived in many locations across the United States, but spends most of her time exploring the realms of imagination. Currently located in Colorado, her brief moments of free time are spent in front of her computer, frequently covered in cats.”
Blah.
Yeah, okay, that’s all true. But I’m tired of hiding behind a bland, third-person pseudo-bio, utterly lacking in personality.
Hi! I’m Marie Brown, and I write a lot. I self-publish through Smashwords and Amazon because I got tired of getting “well-written, but not our thing” rejection letters. Because, you see, most of my fiction tends to include characters that are either bi or just plain gay, and despite increasing acceptance of human sexuality and its many variations across the world, heroes and heroines are still supposed to be straight.
Well, mine aren’t. So if you’re brave, and you don’t mind that the main character of a story either isn’t interested in sex at all, or is quite likely to hop in bed with someone of the same gender, then give my writings a chance. Come explore my fantasy worlds, or my science fiction worlds, or even spend some time with an occasional random love story set on Earth.
And by the way, just this once, I wrote this entire blurb without a cat on
my keyboard.
My website: http://evilkittenproject.net
My blog: ball o’ yarn http://the-sithkitten.livejournal.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2012858.Marie_Brown
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010121836495
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sithkitten