To what extremes would you go to return humankind to its full
creative potential after generations of game-leveling genetic tampering?
For the followers of a martyred genetic engineer named James
Illion, the answer is obvious—all the way to the very edge of the death of
civilization itself. Joshua
1011, the artificially created son of Illion, finds he is the carrier of a
deadly and life-altering viral weapon. As
his lover, Matthew Dennon, and his sometimes-enemy Adam struggle to find a way
to save Earth and themselves, an old intelligence stirs in the depths of a vast
interstellar computer network. It
has worn many masks, evolving and changing over the course of centuries. But its time to act has come because
it, too, knows that the only way forward for all of life, both biological and
man-made, will be a path both breathtaking and destructive, and that the cost
may be the end of nearly everything that came before.
From sensitive m/m romance to high adventure, from a love-sick
artificial life form to young men who begin to bridge multiple realities, Strands of Silk and Fire will lead you into a time where
intuition must become the best defense, and imagination, the sharpest weapon of
all.
Available in audio late Spring 2014 from audible iTunes and Amazon.com with narrator Gregory Peyton
Title is currently under a giveaway promotion until February 14 on goodreads.com...enter to win one of three copies.
Excerpt
Adam wove himself quickly into the shadows of the bay,
hunkered, watchful. He knew there was no
way L Group would have come at the medcenter from just one angle. They were here, silent, waiting. He just had to find them first. Otherwise, game over in a very messy way.
I am going to give you new eyes, a
voice in his skull murmured. He knew
that voice, the deep tones that the AI named Raven had chosen for himself.
A brief wave of nausea and vertigo swept over Adam and he
crouched, his fingers touching the dusty floor.
It passed quickly, and he raised his head.
“Oh,” he breathed.
It was like he could see through twisted hulks of shuttles, cranes, and
cement, could see the red heat signatures of L Groupers crouched and moving
toward his location. But everything was
slightly off, as if something was interpreting angles from a higher location
and then making adjustments for his current position. “Security feeds,” he murmured. “Nice.”
You don’t have to talk out-loud to me. Just think it, clearly.
We need to move.
You mean you need to move, Raven
retorted. Fifteen steps to your
northeast—a small hole you can block.
Metal casings will make any scans of that area inconclusive. Go now.
Small hole?
Move Adam.
Move now or I will move you.
He could see the soldiers easing ever closer, the way
they crouched and searched. They knew
they were looking for one of their own gone bad. For one moment, he simply considered rushing
them. They wouldn’t expect a head-on assault.
But before he could rise, his body dropped flat of its own accord and
slithered over the debris.
Stop it! Adam felt a piece of metal bite into his
hand, and still Raven drug him forward. It was horrific, feeling his body
animated by something outside of himself, as if he were just a ship following
the commands of the central computer.
Another long tooth of cement caught his pant-leg, ripping it cleanly
from knee to ankle and scoring his skin as well.
Let me go!
I will not let you die.
All right. I’ll go where you say, but let go of my
body. You’re leaving a bloody trail with
parts of me, don’t you get it? A trail they can follow.
I am sorry.
My comprehension of motor control is obviously still evolving.
Adam fell flat against the ground as Raven left him
again. He heaved himself up and ran low
and crouching. He couldn’t see much
cover in this direction—great slabs of heat-resistant concrete-Astazia blends
gleamed even through the dust.
There.
Where?
That shadow line—can you see it now?
He could but he didn’t like it one bit. Two plates of debris had slid over each
other, one plunging downward, the other upward into a small ridge. Right at that fault line he could see a
narrow darkness.
There is a small space just under the lip of the
lower debris plate. Even if they shine
light down, they will not see you and the Astazia ore will deflect heat signatures. GO!
Adam crept over the lip, his eyes straining into the
darkness. He forced himself to slide in
on his belly, and shoved himself up under the lip. The rock and metal hung mere inches above his
chest.
Your heart and breathing rates are accelerating in
an alarming manner, Commander. Those soldiers won’t need special
equipment—they’ll hear you. You must
calm down.
I can’t do this.
I can’t do…small spaces. Adam
shut his eyes, his hands knotted at his sides, burning with anxiety. Just a little settling of the tons of weight
above, and he would be just so much jelly.
Yes you can.
Remember your beach. Think of the
blue sky above you, the sound of waves.
It’s too close. I’ll be crushed here. I’ll die here. It’s a grave.
A fucking grave.
And then Adam felt a soft weight touch him. He opened his eyes and could see only Raven’s
face above him, gold-flecked eyes and wild tangled hair framed by the sky. One
hand rested on his breastbone, light but steady, a living raft riding the wave
of his breath. Stay with me. Just look at me. Yes.
Better. His lips didn’t
move, but Raven smiled, his lips curving up enough to show just the edge of his
teeth.
They’ll find us. They’ll kill us.
No. Just
breathe. Raven leaned closer, his breath smelling of cinnamon and
coconut. Breathe with me, Adam.
What…what do you want from me, Raven?
The smile widened.
Maybe I want to work on my fine motor control.
Adam stopped breathing as the dark-hair illusion dropped
closer and kissed him. It was not hungry
nor was it chaste. It was a kind of
tasting, lips murmuring against each other, then the barest tip of a tongue,
running the fine line between soft skin and stubble. Erotically scientific, he
supposed. Adam tried to turn his head away, confused, but Raven’s hand caught
up his blond hair and held him firmly.
Kiss me back.
I…no...I…
You want to, Adam.
It’s not like I have to second-guess you. I can feel it, rippling in your brain’s
pleasure centers. Kiss me.
He supposed he couldn’t argue with that. Adam felt his imaginary arms raise, folding
around Raven and drawing him closer.
This was a delicious pressure, and he opened his mouth to the other,
their tongues contending until he fairly lapped at the taste, the ridged peaks
of teeth, the smooth gums. Raven shifted
lower, his whole body lengthening over Adam’s, and he could feel the arousal
there, nudging his own. Raven moved
against him, a slow pelvic tilt as he continued to kiss and be kissed. His long
body was so lean, the feel so much like Joshua’s had been, all muscle gliding
beneath dark skin, sliding against his own strong frame.
But there were still clothes in the way, just loose pants
again, like in his beach dream. He tried
to reach down, to shove the fabric away, but Raven caught up his wrists, holding
him. Clothes do not matter.
What? Adam
struggled a little against Raven grip.
Raven lightened abruptly, his features smoking. Adam could feel a presence extend into him
first like a covering of silk, and then, sinking, as if Raven were pouring himself
through the very pores of his skin.
Adam’s vision went dark, but he could feel Raven curling in his cock,
his balls, riding along the lines of his bones, his lips, and then a bright
light burst in his brain, brilliant, spacious.
For one moment, he sensed streams of data rushing at him as if he were
standing just beneath a newly awakened waterfall. He was looking up and almost cringed away,
all those shards of brilliance crashing down on him, but they never hit—they
flowed around him, swirling around him, now a swarm of fireflies and everywhere
they touched there was heat and pleasure. He gasped, hanging in a place where
every nerve ending vibrated with music, with light, and through it all, the
sweet, cloying taste of Raven.
The fire dropped into one center of his brain, and he
could feel only his passion then, the need to take and be taken, a union and
sweet contention.
He came then, his back arching but even then, he was held
upright without his feet touching anything at all, his cock jerking yes, but
that was incidental, far away. The
space, the light, it was all. No
boundaries, Raven and he dancing together, closer than any skin ever allowed
two lovers to touch.
And then Raven was settling him back down in the sand,
curling around him, laughing, petting him with human feeling hands, stroking
him, chest and belly as he curled up in the crook of a machine mind’s
arms. Sleep, my Adam. You must sleep. But I will hold you. I will watch over you.
Adam couldn’t form a coherent answer, but sleep? That he could do. For days he had not really closed his
eyes. Despite the close ceiling and the
L Groupers poking around above him, he let himself go.
