Some stories come out almost like magic, blessed with functional pacing, and since mostly what I write is contemporary, I rarely have to work all that hard at worldbuilding.
But since I was young, I have loved science fiction. Ray Bradbury, in particular. In grade school, we were given an assignment to write a short story and submit it for publication. I really don’t remember the story that well, but I remember I sent it off to Asimov’s Science Fiction, where it was rejected, but with an encouraging note. I was twelve or thirteen and I hadn’t had a special yearning to publish, though I’d thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing.
I’ve written a couple of scifi short stories, one of which I’ve self-published, Stay, which is scifi erotic horror, but taking on a longer work was a special challenge. I had help from my husband, Tracy Tucker Faul, Pelaam, and of course, Thursday Euclid. Not to mention the wonderful editors at Dreamspinner Press.
I had a lot of help, but I still wasn’t sure how I’d done. So I’m pretty thrilled that the story won the praise of Honorable Mention at the Rainbow Awards.
One of the reasons I enter this contest is that the money for the entries goes directly to charity, so whether you get an award or not, the community wins.
From the judges:
1) I Loved this book. I loved it. The world building was fantastic. Rich in detail and I felt like I was THERE. I cannot gush about this book enough!!! The writing style was different, not what I expected, and it took me a minute to get into the book’s rhythm. The plot was engaging and I actually cared about the characters and the events around them. The chemistry was fantastic, with some odd hiccups in development that were easy to overlook. I’m keeping the book, and its going on my Re-read List.
2) An enjoyable story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Loved the world building, and the different character POVs.
I am so thrilled!
In a world decimated by ecological disaster, a despot named GalWon has taken charge of rebuilding and repopulating society. Using aliens to clean the air and as a threat to keep civilians in line, Deprogrammers coerce homosexuals into being straight—or else.
When Alex’s gay pornography is discovered, his brother, Christian, claims it as his own to save Alex’s life. Christian is sent to a concentration camp, only to be broken out by a resistance group bent on thwarting the new world order, including Turk, a former Deprogrammer once branded gay himself but now fighting for freedom.
However, Alex’s troubles aren’t over. With the government’s eyes still on him, he gets caught in a Deprogrammer honey pot scheme, and it’s up to the rebels, and Turk, to rescue him. In the midst of tragedy, Alex falls in love with his rescuer. But in a world where their love is forbidden, following their hearts means risking their lives when the line between good and evil isn’t what it seems. Read an excerpt
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Read now
<3