Yay!!!!

After waiting so long and staring at that cover sitting on my desk, probably mocking me, Imposters is finally available for sale at all the usual suspects.

A bit of backstory, for those of you not playing along at home: I wrote The Shipwrecked Mermaid for an anthology that came out this last spring (Tales From An Alien Campfire). When writerbrain decided to write something longer, it latched on to Rick Pine and went totally Thriller SF on me.

Both stories are in a new universe, not Alexandria Station, but The Collective. This one is filled with aliens of all flavors, mostly watching us and trying to decide if we are the most dangerous species in the galaxy, or if we might grow up and become good little galactic citizens. There are folks up there that would just as soon wipe us out and keep a perfectly nice planet as real estate to colonize.

One day, one of them goes bug nuts and starts killing humans, convinced he can make humanity a better place if he gets rid of all the criminal deviants. At that point, it’s a race against the clock to stop him, without the Seattle Police Department tumbling to what’s REALLY going on. (Only fools fight in a burning house, if you will.)

Fabulous Publisher Babe really likes the three voicey women in this one: Laurie, Bethany, and Eleanora. I think it turned out really cool. Total thriller pacing, meaning you’ll eat the damned thing like ice cream and hit the bottom of the bowl before you realize it. It is also short for a novel, clocking in around 45k words. (Auberon is 60k. Queen Of The Pirates will be 95k. Science Officer and Mind Field are both 24k for comparison.)

Haven’t figured out where to take the story next. Or rather, have been steadfastly refusing to listen to writerbrain’s suggestions. Got too many other things I owe you folks before I go haring off on other projects. Hopefully. Popcorn Kittens, and all that.

Hope y’all will enjoy it as much to read as I did to write.

Reminder that there’s a section in the middle where we get NC-17 for a few pages, so be prepared, if you bought it for your 13-year-old, to have them come ask some awkward questions. (Or not, if you’ve been doing your job up until now, then they’re just going to ask if it’s really like that, when things get to that point.) But it’s only one scene, only a few pages, and then we’re back to car chases, gun fights , and snark to the explosive ending.

Lemme know what you think.

shade and sweet water,

b