Hello everyone!
This post is part of a blog tour for Darcy Town's new novel Wastes of Space…let’s give her a warm welcome!
Published: Self-Published - December 14th, 2011
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 142,000
Content Warning: Mature - language, sex, graphic violence,
drug use/abuse, prostitutionSynopsis:
In the early 21st century, the Cold War between the American
and Chinese Empires slogs on in a stalemate. There's a ceasefire in effect, but
the peace is artificial—secretly enforced by an alien blockade that surrounds
the planet. Earth is caught in a territory struggle between two warring
factions: the Empire and the Resistance. Lacking harvestable talents, both
groups classify Earthlings as Wasters.
Hidden among the Wasters is an alien girl with the power of moving spaceships. She teams up with Rake, a drug-addicted ex-Astronaut, to join an intergalactic war that Earth did not know existed…but first Rake has to realize he's travelling with an alien to begin with.
Hidden among the Wasters is an alien girl with the power of moving spaceships. She teams up with Rake, a drug-addicted ex-Astronaut, to join an intergalactic war that Earth did not know existed…but first Rake has to realize he's travelling with an alien to begin with.
Excerpt:
A
howl from outside the building woke Ravil up.
Her
eyes shot open as goose bumps raced across her skin. She reached for Rake, but
her hands slipped through air. Another
howl came louder than the last, followed by a faint scream. She stared at her empty outstretched hand as the
realization set in—he’d abandoned her.
Ravil
slipped out of the tub, kept low to the floor, and held her knife out in front
of her. She reached the hall and crawled
towards the windows. Weak sunlight
filtered into the apartment through the grimy glass. Every fiber of her being told her to go back
and hide in the darkness of the bathroom, but she would not wait for death to
come to her. Rake had left her; he’d
lied last night. She held back tears and
moved another few inches. She was on her
own now and she would handle it.
The
hall creaked. Ravil froze.
Rake
kneeled by her side and whispered into her ear, “Not a sound now,
Bebette.” He held one of her Bowie
knives and crawled past her, keeping his head below the level of the
windows. He crept towards the closest
and used a piece of mirror to look outside.
His shift in expression made Ravil scoot back into the bathroom. She climbed into the tub and covered her
ears.
The
howls and screams continued until they cut off in a definitive silence. Rake came in some minutes later, his face
ashen. He sat down and looked over at
her. “We cannot walk out on the
streets.”
“Wh…why?”
“We
just can’t.” Rake’s hands shook. He grabbed his left hand with his right and
pressed it into the floor; he broke into a sweat. He took a deep breath. “It’s not safe.”
“Can’t
we run?”
He
shook his head. “Do you want to end up a
screamer?”
Ravil
sank down below the level of the porcelain.
“What is out there?”
“The
low, the hungry, and the desperate.”
Rake looked nauseous. “You don’t
go to the Dead, never, even if you will get killed otherwise. Everyone
knows that.”
She
looked towards the doorway. “How did
those others get out there then, the ones screaming?”
He
closed his eyes. “Sometimes the sick and
drunk end up here by accident, stumbling in the night. Others get here through punishment, piss off
the wrong person and you’re dropped in the Dead, left bound, sometimes not,
sometimes they have a chance to run.”
Rake looked ready to throw up.
She
stared at her hands. She touched the air
with her fingers, caressed it. She
searched for the feeling she had the night previous, tried to recall it, but it
was like pulling on smoke. She frowned
and stared at her hands. Why was she
trying to run, what was the point in trying to escape quickly? Rake stayed with her now out of a misplaced
sense of guilt. The quicker they got out
of here, the sooner he would leave her.
Then she would be alone and most likely she would be just as dead. Ravil shoved her hands into her lap. “What do we do?”
Rake
sighed. “Something stupid and
dangerous.” He bumped his head against
the countertop. “Damn it.”
Ravil
watched him twitch. “You’re ill.”
“I
am not ill.” He rubbed his palms together. “Get up, we’re heading downstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because
I say so.” Rake hauled her out of the
bathtub. He looked her over and set her
on the bathroom counter. He pulled out
his knife. Ravil scooted away. Rake pinned her leg in place. Her grabbed her pants and sliced off the
material below the knee. He did the same
for the other leg. He stepped back at
stared at his handiwork. “There, no more
tripping.”
She
didn’t answer. Rake looked up and
noticed her trembling. “What is wrong
with you now?”
“I
thought you were going to hurt me.”
He
backed up. “I am not that way. Not with kids, not with girls.”
“I—”
“Come
on.” He stepped out of the bathroom and
listened. He pulled a gun from his belt
and handed it to her. “I know you can
use this, you don’t need to tell me why.”
Ravil
checked how many shots she had. “It’s
because—”
“Ravil,
I don’t want to know, that’s what I
mean by you don’t need to tell me, okay?”
He searched her eyes. “Keep your
story to yourself. I’ll keep mine to
myself and we’ll both be quiet. Okay?”
She dropped her
eyes. “Okay.”
He
gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Shoot at
anything you see that looks human understand?
No waiting, no questioning, you shoot it.”
She
nodded.
He
undid the first lock. “You stay on me
like a shadow.” He undid the second lock.
“But if I go down, leave me and run.”
“What
if I go down?”
Rake
undid the third lock and pried the door open.
He stared into the darkened hall.
“You won’t unless I do. Now, no
more words.” He slid out of the room and
took her hand, pulling her with him. The
carpet had peeled away from the floor, exposing concrete. Many of the doors were missing, the
apartments ransacked, but empty. Nothing
moved.
He
let her hand go so that he had both of his free. Ravil hooked her fingers around his leather
belt. He glanced down at her hand, then
at her, but she did not look at him. She
shook so hard she waved her gun.
Rake
let her keep her hand on him as he walked them towards an empty elevator
shaft. He looked into the darkness. He put his knife in his mouth, pushed her
hand away, and jumped in.
Ravil
squeaked.
Rake
held on to the rungs along the side of the shaft. He motioned for her. She grabbed his outstretched arm and stepped
into the darkness. He brought her to the
ladder, putting her body between his and the metal. They climbed down together.
The
descending floors each had a number painted on the concrete, barely visible in
the low light. They reached the first
floor, but kept moving. Rake pointed
down.
He
stopped at the basement level and listened.
The faint light from the floor above did not penetrate the parking
garage. He leaned in and
spoke softly, “There may be a car, a motorcycle, a
bike, anything. Do you know how to get
one working if I have to kill things?”
She
shook her head. “I am not a Fix-It.”
He
sighed. “Fine, you get to shoot then, I
fix it. I hope last night was not just
lucky shooting on your part.” He wrapped
an arm around her midsection and they dropped the final few feet to the
ground. They crouched below the entrance
to the basement, listening for movement.
Hearing
nothing, Rake pulled out his gun and put his knife away. He put his hands together and slapped them
against Ravil’s thigh, motioning for her to step up. Ravil put her foot in his hand. She held on to him, unsure if he was going to
toss her and run. He sensed her hesitation
and rolled his eyes. He bounced his hand,
urging her to climb.
Ravil stepped up onto the concrete
floor. The garage was hot and immense; the
air was stale. She focused. She pushed her senses outward, measuring the
size of the space. There were motionless
shapes that broke up the monotony.
Rake
stepped up beside her. Ravil grabbed his
wrist and gave him a tug. They moved
slowly. She reached out to the first
shape; she touched rough cloth over metal.
She grabbed Rake’s hand and moved it to the machine. He slipped back the cloth and dropped to his
knees. He felt the shape of the wheels,
the handles. He found a key and grinned.
Ravil
turned her back to the motorcycle and remade her mental image of the
darkness. Things had moved. Alarmed, she focused. Things moved towards them. Human-sized things.
I earned a degree in Comparative Religion, so themes-wise that certainly pops up here and there in my writing (okay, more than a little here and there in some books).
I write what I enjoy reading/watching – which is fantasy/sci-fi with dark humor and a bit of romance. What I consider romance however is to some…a bit off (and kinked out). And when I say dark humor I mean black. But I always have lighthearted moments (I do not believe a story should be all one way or another). Gotta spice things up!
Speaking of…I like to write stories that cater to all sexual preferences in one story. I have your typical male-female romances. I have male-male, female-female, transgender, bi-sexual, etc. This is mostly due to the fact that well…1. I like writing about it. 2. I see it in my everyday life. 3. I like having a well-rounded cast of characters from all walks of life.
I am the author of the Morningstar Trilogy and the Wastes Series.
…A split second later in the
same galaxy as before, but pretty far away…
Rake and Ravil have escaped Earth and the Empire, towing the rest of their friends and new allies with them. They flee to an abandoned Empire colony known only as Seed Planet 15.
Out of fuel and common sense, they crash and nearly wreck their ship, stranding them in the middle of a seemingly endless swamp. On first glance the place looks mostly harmless, but what they've landed on is anything but. Seed Planet 15 has a nasty history.
The planet has more hidden in the mist than just ghosts and rumors. And if the crew doesn’t get off the planet soon, there will be nothing left of them but spare parts and a rusted ship.
Rake and Ravil have escaped Earth and the Empire, towing the rest of their friends and new allies with them. They flee to an abandoned Empire colony known only as Seed Planet 15.
Out of fuel and common sense, they crash and nearly wreck their ship, stranding them in the middle of a seemingly endless swamp. On first glance the place looks mostly harmless, but what they've landed on is anything but. Seed Planet 15 has a nasty history.
The planet has more hidden in the mist than just ghosts and rumors. And if the crew doesn’t get off the planet soon, there will be nothing left of them but spare parts and a rusted ship.
Synopsis for Waste
Not, Want Not – Book Three:
Barely making it off Seed
Planet Fifteen with their lives, Rake and the crew are content to hang out and
lick their wounds for a while, if it weren't for the fried wiring and Stalker
damage that have left the ship prone to reoccurring blackouts.
Needing supplies for repairs, the crew decides the best course of action is to raid abandoned Ampyr outposts for gear. Smart, no foreseeable problems there. Except one of the outposts they hit isn't empty, Lincoln's personality issues are getting worse, food is going missing, and their Rexos is about to hit puberty and apparently that's accompanied by uncontrollable rages. As if that wasn't enough bad news, there seems to be a sentient black hole chasing down Ravil and attempting to eat her.
But not to worry, Danny's reforming their squad and apparently ranking still flies out in space. No more messing around, things are getting serious. At least seriously screwed up.
Needing supplies for repairs, the crew decides the best course of action is to raid abandoned Ampyr outposts for gear. Smart, no foreseeable problems there. Except one of the outposts they hit isn't empty, Lincoln's personality issues are getting worse, food is going missing, and their Rexos is about to hit puberty and apparently that's accompanied by uncontrollable rages. As if that wasn't enough bad news, there seems to be a sentient black hole chasing down Ravil and attempting to eat her.
But not to worry, Danny's reforming their squad and apparently ranking still flies out in space. No more messing around, things are getting serious. At least seriously screwed up.
Giveaway Details:
There is a tour wide giveaway! There are ten (10) eBook copies and five (5)
print copies of Wastes of Space (Book
One). There are five (5) eBook copies and five (5) print copies of Wastes Away (Book Two) and also five (5)
eBook copies and five (5) print copies of Waste
Not, Want Not (Book Three). The eBooks are International. The print books
are US and Canada only!a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment