Echoes of Possibilities
INITIATION
Initiation is another story in the ongoing saga of Cedric the Sex Slave Cyborg first met in the short story "Reversal" included in Noble Romance Publishing's m/m anthology"Echoes of the Future". Both are available from Noble Romance Publishing. See here for more details.
Life has taken a dramatic turn for Cedric.
Jen was different. She was bred to be different: taller, stronger and faster than the majority of her clan. She accepted those differences because without them she could not fulfil her role as warrior and protector. What she found difficult to accept was her inability to satisfy her sexual desires. Her fellow bounty hunters managed to build meaningful, loving relationships. Why couldn't she?
Cedric was also different, but he was constructed to be different. One of a kind. On a desperate mission to learn from the best - the feared warriors of the Anasazi clan - his decision to join their all female space-faring crew as combat cyborg should mean the secret of his unusual past would be safe. Wouldn't it?
SQUEE - MY FIRST REVIEW FOR INITIATION
by Kate Cotoner ( a co-author in the Echoes of the Future anthology) from the Goodreads site.
Initiation by AB Gayle
The sequel to ‘Reversal’ in Echoes of the Future, ‘Initiation’ shows us what’s become of Cedric the cyborg after the assassination of his master/lover, Sebastian. Cedric joins up as a soldier cyborg to seek revenge for Sebastian’s killers, but first he needs to gain experience of killing, so he gets himself bought by a group of female bounty hunters. Jen is the only one of the group who isn’t into women—she likes men, and though she tries to fight her attraction to Cedric, she discovers that cyborgs make remarkably good partners in bed and at work. While ‘Reversal’ was very funny, ‘Initiation’ is a more emotional read (and more space opera, with lots of fascinating details about alien creatures). I really enjoyed seeing Cedric and Jen, two ‘outsider’ and lonely characters, coming together as lovers as well as a team.
Excerpt:
Shit. Now they were back to square one. Jen raised her glass to her lips and swallowed a huge gulp. The spirit burned her throat, but the pain would pass in a moment.
Her companions were off shopping. Shopping. Blah. Seen one food dispenser, seen them all. As long as she had food in her stomach it didn't matter what it tasted like.
Mind you, the poor excuse of a meal this bar served nearly made her barf. It was just as well she couldn't read the menu, whatever the green squiggly things had been when alive, when they were dead and cooked they tasted bloody revolting. The drinking was helping at any rate.
"Fancy a fuck, sweetie?"
Now there was an original pick-up line.
The hairy monstrosity in front of her might taste better. Maybe she should check to see if the cook would oblige before she killed him though.
The man's companion pulled at his shirt, hissing at him. "Leave her alone, Bryce. She's Anasazi. You know; those ones who've managed to eliminate men entirely from their planet."
The original speaker staggered for a second and stared at his companion in confusion. "Huh?"
"In retribution for the near-genocide of their tribe, Anasazi medicine men placed a spell on all non-Anasazi men turning them all into pansies who no longer wanted to fuck women. In desperation, the women worked out how to duplicate the medicine men's sperm to create babies. Once males were no longer needed, they just manipulated their eggs so only females were produced. That's why they all look the same. Since then, they've used genetic engineering to create women who can do all the things men used to do. Watch out for her, she'll be one mean mother-fucking fighting machine."
Well, he had most of it right. But the mother-fucking remark was a bit off. Breeders were revered.
Alcoholic fumes wafted into her nose as the man leaned closer trying to escape the clutches of his would-be rescuer. "What have you got against men, aren't we good enough for you?"
Men? It varied. If they were anything like the ugly ones in front of her, she would have agreed with him, but the memory of the cyborg's half-naked body as he worked the weights made her pause. She didn't care if they were aliens. If a human male had a body like her cyborg, she'd have gladly got as close as possible. Pity she'd had to let it go. She raised an empty bottle and swung it at the hairy face.
Initiation is another story in the ongoing saga of Cedric the Sex Slave Cyborg first met in the short story "Reversal" included in Noble Romance Publishing's m/m anthology"Echoes of the Future". Both are available from Noble Romance Publishing. See here for more details.
Life has taken a dramatic turn for Cedric.
Jen was different. She was bred to be different: taller, stronger and faster than the majority of her clan. She accepted those differences because without them she could not fulfil her role as warrior and protector. What she found difficult to accept was her inability to satisfy her sexual desires. Her fellow bounty hunters managed to build meaningful, loving relationships. Why couldn't she?
Cedric was also different, but he was constructed to be different. One of a kind. On a desperate mission to learn from the best - the feared warriors of the Anasazi clan - his decision to join their all female space-faring crew as combat cyborg should mean the secret of his unusual past would be safe. Wouldn't it?
SQUEE - MY FIRST REVIEW FOR INITIATION
by Kate Cotoner ( a co-author in the Echoes of the Future anthology) from the Goodreads site.
Initiation by AB Gayle
The sequel to ‘Reversal’ in Echoes of the Future, ‘Initiation’ shows us what’s become of Cedric the cyborg after the assassination of his master/lover, Sebastian. Cedric joins up as a soldier cyborg to seek revenge for Sebastian’s killers, but first he needs to gain experience of killing, so he gets himself bought by a group of female bounty hunters. Jen is the only one of the group who isn’t into women—she likes men, and though she tries to fight her attraction to Cedric, she discovers that cyborgs make remarkably good partners in bed and at work. While ‘Reversal’ was very funny, ‘Initiation’ is a more emotional read (and more space opera, with lots of fascinating details about alien creatures). I really enjoyed seeing Cedric and Jen, two ‘outsider’ and lonely characters, coming together as lovers as well as a team.
Excerpt:
Shit. Now they were back to square one. Jen raised her glass to her lips and swallowed a huge gulp. The spirit burned her throat, but the pain would pass in a moment.
Her companions were off shopping. Shopping. Blah. Seen one food dispenser, seen them all. As long as she had food in her stomach it didn't matter what it tasted like.
Mind you, the poor excuse of a meal this bar served nearly made her barf. It was just as well she couldn't read the menu, whatever the green squiggly things had been when alive, when they were dead and cooked they tasted bloody revolting. The drinking was helping at any rate.
"Fancy a fuck, sweetie?"
Now there was an original pick-up line.
The hairy monstrosity in front of her might taste better. Maybe she should check to see if the cook would oblige before she killed him though.
The man's companion pulled at his shirt, hissing at him. "Leave her alone, Bryce. She's Anasazi. You know; those ones who've managed to eliminate men entirely from their planet."
The original speaker staggered for a second and stared at his companion in confusion. "Huh?"
"In retribution for the near-genocide of their tribe, Anasazi medicine men placed a spell on all non-Anasazi men turning them all into pansies who no longer wanted to fuck women. In desperation, the women worked out how to duplicate the medicine men's sperm to create babies. Once males were no longer needed, they just manipulated their eggs so only females were produced. That's why they all look the same. Since then, they've used genetic engineering to create women who can do all the things men used to do. Watch out for her, she'll be one mean mother-fucking fighting machine."
Well, he had most of it right. But the mother-fucking remark was a bit off. Breeders were revered.
Alcoholic fumes wafted into her nose as the man leaned closer trying to escape the clutches of his would-be rescuer. "What have you got against men, aren't we good enough for you?"
Men? It varied. If they were anything like the ugly ones in front of her, she would have agreed with him, but the memory of the cyborg's half-naked body as he worked the weights made her pause. She didn't care if they were aliens. If a human male had a body like her cyborg, she'd have gladly got as close as possible. Pity she'd had to let it go. She raised an empty bottle and swung it at the hairy face.
Other Stories in the Anthology
Fight or Flight by Jenna Byrnes
Robert Mackenzie is running for his life. In 2145 Chicago, the police have bounties on their heads and if caught, are forced to fight, to the death, in arena type matches. In a seedy pub, Mac discovers a woman who looks very familiar. Although she denies it, he quickly realizes, she’s the one person who’s more hunted than anyone else in the civil war fractured United States. Katherine Garza is wary, stubborn and more beautiful than anyone he’s met in ages.
Exhausted from months of hiding and being on the run, Mac knows he doesn’t look like anyone Katy could trust. But he might be her only chance as Progressive soldiers dig deep into the trenches in order to wipe out the opposition. Katy’s determined to do things her way. Mac is all for that, as long as he’s really calling the shots. Together, they must work as a team to stay alive. If they don’t kill each other, first. (sci-fi, m/f)
Star's Embrace by DC Juris
Captain Jacob Meryl has lusted after Maltinian Ambassador Arlite Parvone since he first laid eyes on her, but the timing has never been right. At least not until now. A late night call for help from Arlite sends Jacob on a mission to investigate a potential slave vessel - and to win Arlite's heart.
The Monitors by Stevie Carroll
Stuart is a monitor: a human back-up to the computer controls on a deep space colony transport. Working alone for months at a time, with long periods between shifts spent in cryogenic stasis, his contact with other people is limited to the change-over of shifts, and brief stays on distant planets between jobs. Born blind into a universe where genetic 'abnormalities' are screened out at conception, Stuart has come to see himself as superior to the 'normals' in some respects, but lacking in others that have nothing to do with sight. He dreams of an academic research post, a family and a permanent home, always wondering what woman will love 'a guy like him'.
Claire, deaf since a childhood illness, has broken away from her overprotective family, and wants to see as much of the universe as possible. Having spotted Stuart from afar before joining the ship's crew, she is delighted when their shifts overlap, and is unafraid to demonstrate her attraction to him. The instantaneous, intense chemistry between them breaks down Stuart's inhibitions about sex on duty – and on a first date at that – but will Claire willingly put her travel plans aside until he's ready to travel with her?
