This week I’ve had the joy of having two novels released, one by Class Act Books and one by The Wild Rose Press. Both are futuristic romances, teetering on the edge of science fiction, and one’s subject matter caused a bit of controversy and concern for the publisher. I had fun writing both of these stories because they offered such a disparity on the theme of romance.
Variation, my new novel from The Wild Rose Press isn’t, in spite of its subject matter, an M/M or ménage novel. Instead, it’s the story of what happens when a very strict, prudish man is forced to work closely with someone whose life is diametrically opposed to his own.
Blurb:
What happens when the girl of your dreams is also the man from your waking life?
Federation agent Gabriel Marsh finds himself asking just that question when he’s teamed with Aleksandr Karanov. Lexei’s pretty as a picture and deadly as a cobra; he’s also a variant, a mutant who can change sex at will, something which just may come in handy on their new assignment. Marsh, however, has some adjusting to do where his new partner’s concerned—both morally and emotionally. His association with Lexei is ambivalent at best, prejudicial at worst, and the way he’s beginning to feel about Deirdre, Lexei’s female Other Self doesn’t even bear thinking about.
Damn it, I’m falling in love with a woman who doesn’t exist!
EXCERPT:
The doors opened automatically as he approached them and he went inside. Standing in the lobby, he glanced around. It was stark and modern, done in unrelieved white and chrome, glittering and antiseptic. There was furniture in the lobby and genuine living greenery in ceramic urns making a backdrop to the set-up, but no people around. Vaguely, he was thankful for that. At least no one’s seen me going in.
From somewhere above him, he could hear music, and without knowing why, decided to follow the sound. He didn’t even check for Karanov’s name on the tenant register. Would it actually be there?
The music led him up two flights of non-escalating stairs to a door in the center of the hallway, a door which, when he tapped the inter-com pad, slowly swung open. Suspecting a trick, he stepped to one side, carefully pulled the Winchester TR-27 out of its shoulder holster and pushed the door completely open.
Cautiously, Marsh looked in. What he saw was unexpected but totally enjoyable.
A pair of softly rounded buttocks and slender white legs. A young woman, back to the door, doing some type of calisthenics. Bemidjian aerobics, if her gyrations were any indication. She appeared to be wearing nothing more than a towel and Marsh wondered how long it would be before her movements caused the tucked velourcloth rectangle to dislodge and end up on the carpet. He felt a flick of latent lust, wondering if he had enough time to wait and see. There was a headset over her ears and the way she was pausing slightly between each movement told him she was listening to a physical fitness lecture, and that, combined with the loudness of the music, was the reason she hadn’t heard his knock.
She finished the call and tossed the headset onto the counter of the little kitchenette and spun around. Damp curls bobbing, she was in the middle of a deep stretch making the breasts under the towel rise dangerously, when she saw Marsh standing there, gun in hand. Immediately, she squealed and fell against the counter. Scrambling behind it, she stood with arms crossed over her breasts, which were still pretty well covered as far as he could tell.
For just a minute, they stared at each other.
She recovered fast. Jerking the headset away from her ears, she tossed it on the counter, then touched a button on the control panel set into it. As the music died away, she said, without a quaver, “You must be Marsh, Lexei’s new partner. Come in, shut the door, and put away the hardware. We’re friendly here.”
The second novel is For the Love in Adler’s Brain, released by Class Act Books. This tale began as a 
short story and then grew into a novelette. It’s also about a threesome that’s also not the usual kind.
For the Love in Adler’s Brain, Blurb:
A man…a woman…her android lover…
When Rena Pearson hires Luc Kai’leel to find her boyfriend’s brain, he thinks the lady’s a little…shall we say…confused? Then he learns that Marcus Adler was an android, an EHR-1, to be exact, and the Federation’s best assassin. Adler wanted to quit killing and settle down with Rena. Instead, he’s blown to bits, and all that’s left is a tiny bit of his memory bank and that surviving chip is communicating with his mourning sweetheart.
The Federation also wants Adler’s brain, in order to access the secrets it holds. The android knew too much and they don’t dare let that information get away.
So Luc agrees to help, but only because he’s a romantic at heart. You see, he’s fallen in love with the damsel in distress. Now all he has to do is rescue Adler’s brain while he tries to convince the woman he loves that a real man is better than an artificial one.
How can you fight a rival when he exists only in a woman’s mind?
EXCERPT:
“Marcus was killed three weeks ago. Someone spot-bombed his car.” For just a moment, she looked tearful and, whether she was crazy or not, the sight momentarily tugged at his heart. “They didn't find enough to bury.”
“We can’t assume his brain went the way the rest of his body did?”
She ignored his remark. “I think the Federation was behind it.”
Oh, great! So she has a government-persecution complex on top of everything else. Silently, he wondered if this was a punishment of some kind. Out of all the investigation agencies on the planet, why did she have to choose his to bring her delusions to?
“The Federation?” he echoed, thinking just how stupid he sounded.
“There were Marshals everywhere immediately afterward. One of them found something in the wreckage. I saw him put it in a small plasticon-baggie.”The picture she was painting displayed itself luridly in his mind…twisted remains of what had been an automobile… black uniformed agent holding a soft, bloody object in his hands. “Later, when I asked him about it, he denied having found anything but I know better. It was Marcus’ brain. I know it was.” A hand brushed at her eyes.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Marcus told me!”
Uh-oh! She’s worse off than I thought. Definitely certifiable, positively winged-out. Maybe dangerous?
Slowly, Luc’s left hand inched toward the red Emergency button in the telephone console on the left side of the desk. One tap and the med-techs at the local psychiatric hospital would be alerted; they and their air-borne ambulance could be here in three minutes, armed with tranquilizer guns and restraining gear. He had a moment’s regret at what he was about to do, but the girl definitely needed help. And not from me.
“I wouldn’t do that!” She saw the movement. His hand stopped, but as he started to deny the action, she placed her own on the little purse resting in her lap. “You might not like what would happen if I give this a squeeze.”
“What’ve you got in there?” A bomb? Some type of poisonous gas in a capsule which would break when pressure was applied? He wasn’t going to do anything to find out. He placed both hands in the center of the desk, one over the other.
“That’s better.”
“Miss Powell, just tell me what’s so important about your boyfriend’s brain that someone would want to steal it?”
“It’s a positronic brain, Mr. Kai’Leel.” With her hand still on the purse, she relaxed a little, settling herself
“What’s your boyfriend’s last name?”
“Adler, after his creator.”
Turning to the desk unit, he typed in the two words. In a moment, he looked back at her. “There’s no Marcus Adler listed, deactivated or otherwise.”
“There wouldn't be.”
“No?”
She gave him a quiet, triumphant stare. “Have you ever heard of Moondeath, Mr. Kai’Leel?”
Of course, he had. Everyone had heard of Moondeath…the Federation’s ultimate killer, with a perfect record, the only assassin whose identity was a well-kept secret. No one knew his human name or what he looked like, and because of that, he’d achieved near folk-legend status among the civilian population, as well as making millionaires out of several men who’d bet their every tangible bit of property on his kills.
If Marcus Adler was Moondeath, and Moondeath was now defunct... She certainly had his attention now.
“Maybe you’d better tell me everything.”
Buy Link for Variation: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_139&products_id=4711
Buy Link for For the Love in Adler’s Brain: http://www.classactbooks.com/For-the-Love-in-Adlers-Brain-by-Toni-VSweeney-PDF_p_313.html
This time of year always gets to me, in a good way. It’s a whole season of excitement filled with family and friends and even strangers wishing you a wonderful life. I’m grateful for each and every one of them. Even though 2011 has been a challenging year for my family, in many ways, it has been a year of renewed strength, shared wisdom and open embraces. I will never forget this year. And now, that the time has pushed us to the end of the calendar where we say goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012, I have the same itch coursing through my veins that I get ever year at this time. It’s time to set my New Year’s goals.
