QSFer Kage Harper has a new MM superhero romance out (bi, gay): Transparent is a Color.
Perry’s mother told him he’d develop the superpower of flight, like his grandfather. She even named him Peregrine, so folks would call him “The Falcon.” Spoiler— they don’t. Because when he did come into his power, all he got was the ability to change colors. Not even himself, like some kind of Chameleon Man, but the color of objects. He can de-pukify the shade of his bedroom curtains, turn a bully’s sweatshirt pink, or even turn a red traffic light green. (Not a good idea.) He hasn’t told anyone except his disappointed mom about his power. What would they call him? The Interior Decorator?
Back in high school, under stress, he did convince his power that transparent was just another color. Now that ability’s sometimes fun in an illicit way. Then one morning, in the mailroom at work, he turns a cardboard box transparent and sees a bomb inside. And Perry’s ordinary life explodes.
Sergeant Deckard of the Nova City Bomb Squad never thought much about superheroes, or supervillains for that matter. He has plenty of work with ordinary humans and their explosives. Until he and his bomb-sniffing dog, Nix, get called to a possible-explosives situation in a highrise mailroom. The guy who reported the bomb is a nerdy twink in dark-framed glasses who pushes all of Deck’s buttons. When he finds out the young man has a weird superpower and may be the target of a villain, every protective instinct comes into play.
Deckard’s goal is to keep his job, his dog, Nova City, and Perry intact. His libido can just sit down, shut up, and take a number. But as their attraction gets hotter and the villain closes in, their future might be blown apart before it even has a chance to start.
Transparent Is a Color is a part of the multi-author Subparheroes MM romance series. (Content warning for abduction, parental emotional abuse)
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Excerpt
Peregrine Crawford stared in horror at the box sitting on top of his delivery cart. That’s a bomb.
He peered through the transparent side of the carton at the wires and electronics and cylinder-things he was pretty sure were explosives. Yep, bomb. Crap!
Perry took three big steps backward.
Is that karma for getting nosy and misusing my power again?
He’d vowed to stop spying. No more peeking inside residents’ package deliveries, using his not-so-super power to turn a two-inch section of the cardboard clear as glass and give him glimpses. It’d started as a game. A creative exercise. He’d get a little look at some wrapping, a bit of fabric, or a curve of plastic, and invent a story about what that was. A writer needed fuel for their imagination, and his menial job in the luxury high rise was boooooring.
Except who was he kidding? He’d never be a real writer. And spying was bad manners. Maybe even creepy. Sometimes very much none of his business, like when he found out a middle-aged woman on the tenth floor was a sex-toy tester by spotting tentacle dildos inside a box from Product Quality Control.
Those did look awesome, though.
Still, Perry had sworn he’d keep his eyes to himself from now on. Until he’d had an odd feeling about that package sent to Justice Matthew Carpenter with no return address, and fuck, he’d been right to peek. One look, then he’d expanded the peephole to an entire transparent side, revealing a fucking bomb!
What do I do?
With a gulp, he framed the box on the cart between his raised fingers and used his power to push “back-to-normal.” The section he’d turned transparent faded to its original opaque, tan cardboard. He lowered his hand. The box lurked there, looking like any ordinary package again. Like there wasn’t destruction waiting inside it.
His first impulse was to call the cops. Except… what if they asked how he knew an ordinary parcel was dangerous?
Of course they’d ask. Then he’d have to confess to being a package peeping Tom. Spying was probably illegal. He’d go to jail and his mother would kill him. Or someone who wanted his stupid superpower would grab him up and draft him into the army and he’d end up in a war zone and get shot…
If this bomb doesn’t kill me first.
One way or another, I’m gonna die!
Perry took two deep breaths and told his inner drama queen to fuck right off. Now was not the time to melt down into a blob of panic. Think, you dork. What do we do now?
The door of the mailroom swung open. “Perry! Get a move on,” his supervisor demanded from the doorway. “People are waiting for their deliveries. Important people.” Unlike you was the obvious subtext.
“Yessir.” Perry said automatically, then gulped. I’m not pushing that cart. I’m not touching that damned cart.
His supervisor disappeared before Perry could ask for advice. “Mr. Brown, what’s the correct protocol for delivering a bomb?” He choked a panicked laugh.
Mr. Brown would be heading outside for his lunch now, right on the dot of noon, and wouldn’t be back for an hour. Not to mention, he wasn’t the kind of man Perry could ask difficult questions. And definitely not someone Perry wanted to know about his snooping.
After a bunch of dithering, he eased the other packages off the bomb-laden cart and onto the backup cart while hyperventilating, not sure if he was more scared about what Mr. Brown would do if he failed to deliver the residents’ precious goods, or about the bomb going off…
Fuckit. Bomb!
He scrambled back and called 9-1-1.
“Emergency services, what’s your emergency?”
“Um.” He felt ridiculous, but… “There’s a bomb? I think?”
“Where, sir?”
“In the package.” He didn’t need the dispatcher’s huff to tell him that was a useless answer. “I mean, in the delivery room of the Hoffward Building, 17 North Plaza. It came addressed to Justice Matthew Carpenter. I think someone wants to blow him up!”
Author Bio
I get asked about my name a lot, but it’s not something exotic. “Kaje” is pronounced like “cage” – it’s an old nickname; my pronouns are she/her. My books are primarily M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have a few Young Adult stories.
After decades of writing just for fun, my husband convinced me I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out in May 2011. I have a weakness for closeted cops with honest hearts and teachers who speak their minds, and I was delighted and encouraged by the reception Mac and Tony received. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks, print, and some audio, both free and professionally published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Awards Best Mystery-Thriller Tracefinder: Contact. A complete list with links can be found on my website “Books” page.
All my social media links can be found at https://linktr.ee/kajeharper
| Author Website | https://www.kajeharper.com/ |
|---|---|
| Author Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/KajeHarper/ |