Yolande Kleinn

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[This ficlet is not part of a larger work. I don't have any other stories involving these characters. It's just a fun little story written using the three prompt words in the subject line. I very much hope you enjoy it. :)]


Pretty, Fabricate, Comply

"There are rules, you know. Procedures. Safety regulations. Reasons we are not supposed to be up here." Gordon's handsome face looked a little too determined. Almost as though it were costing him conscious effort to keep his habitual stern glower in place.

Sam smirked, crossing his arms atop the sturdy metal railing that ran the perimeter of the roof. "And you comply with every rule that crosses your path?"

Gordon didn't answer. He couldn't very well answer without either lying—transparent and unconvincing—or conceding the point. The glower on his face took a faintly sullen turn, but his posture remained taut. He clasped his hands stiffly behind his back, and his gaze left Sam in favor of casting out across the city.

Sam did not mind his employer's rigid posture or sour expression. He knew how significant it was that Gordon was here at all—that he had accepted Sam's invitation despite the rules, and joined him on this inconceivably high rooftop.

It was a hell of a view. This far up, the grid-work of panels along the massive dome was visible above their heads. In all directions stood a vast array of city. Tall, sturdy buildings, fabricated in orbital construction facilities. No less beautiful for being comprised of repurposed metal and bio-filament, and the detritus of the solar system.

Sam let his own attention linger on the blocky skyline. He'd been to plenty of planets since he first started working for Gordon; none of them were compelling in quite the same way as Mars.

"It's a pretty view, though." Sam spoke loud enough to be heard over the endless wind. "You can't see nearly this far from the observation lounge."

"It's something," Gordon agreed in a tone of grudging appreciation.

The concession was honestly more than Sam had hoped for, and his smirk spread into a wide smile of genuine satisfaction. He bit his tongue, because as always he needed to be careful. Gordon knew him too well, and it became every day more difficult to guard the secret but distracting infatuation Sam had been harboring for far too long. Affection glowed brightly in his chest; if he spoke now, he would give himself away for sure.

In his peripheral vision he saw Gordon's weight shift, saw the unyielding posture ease just the barest fraction. Saw Gordon uncross powerful arms and brace them almost casually on the guardrail.

"And how long," Gordon murmured in that all too familiar rumble, "is it customary to 'take in the view' when one is trespassing on restricted sectors of corporate property?"

Sam's smile did not fade. "Technically it's not trespassing if you own the building."


 

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems.

Why you should read it: The melding of history, alternate history, and horror elements in this book is sincerely fantastic. I'm a sucker for good world building, and for a compelling POV character, and Justina Ireland delivers both those things and an action-filled story that kicks ass. Bonus for asexual representation that I hope will continue to prove out as the series continues, but I don't want to say too much on that because spoilers. All around excellent, I loved this book.

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Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There's not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley's favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.


So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone's explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.


Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer...before the killer strikes again.

Why you should read it: I went into this book based on powerful recommendations from friends, with very little idea what to expect. I knew it would be good, but reading it blew me away. I adored Mila, I thought the writing and pacing were fantastic, and the horror elements of interacting with LITERAL ZOMBIES were faced head-on. I finished reading this one faster than I've finished anything in a long time.

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Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

Why you should read it: This is the second book in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children Series. I loved "Every Heart a Doorway" (the first installment), and while #2 had a very different tone from the first, I loved this one just as much. The sense of place is so vivid even though the place itself is strange and unfamiliar. This story evokes classic horror movies and stories without ever losing sight of the stakes for THESE PARTICULAR CHARACTERS. I enjoyed it enormously.

 

[This ficlet is not part of a larger work. I don't have any other stories involving these characters. It's just a fun little story written using the three prompt words in the subject line. I very much hope you enjoy it. :)]



"Do you really have to go?" A plaintive note snuck into the question, but Alec didn't waste any effort worrying whether it made him sound desperate. So what if it did? Maybe it would convince Grant not to leave. Surely some underling could go in his place.

( Wasn't that the point of being a CEO? The ability to delegate? )

So the thing is, one of my favorite parts of re-releasing old stories is the fact that I get to design new covers for them. I don't love the revision process, or formatting the actual contents of the book. But cover design? That's more fun than it has any right to be.

I've got a handful of stories (most of them very short) that have reverted to my control this past year, and a couple more that will be coming back to me soon. Which means I need to get off my butt on formatting and re-releasing these titles. Sage & Sand is still set to come out on December 13th, after almost a year on the back burner. I'm hoping to move a lot faster in 2019, with at least two stories to re-release, possibly three (in between new things I'm working on and will hopefully be able to announce soon/along the way).

Anyway. That was rather a long tangent to preface the fact that the next story I'll be re-releasing is Anticipation (smutty PWP friends-to-lovers fic in the range of 7,000 words). I don't have a release date chosen yet, but what I do have is a cover design to share.

( I'm gonna tuck the image below a cut for the sake of the dramatic reveal... )

So. Here's a truth: I don't like writing about me.

I never really have. Even as a kid writing blatant self-insert fanfic—projecting every scrap of youthful angst onto characters I wanted to be—I only ever wrote fiction. I kept to the pretext of writing stories and nonexistent events. I never successfully kept a journal; I think I gave up on anything like a diary somewhere around sixth grade.

No matter how many issues I hash out through fictional characters, knowingly or otherwise, the hardest stories for me to write are the ones that hit close to home. The sweet but overwhelming family in "Simple After All" tracks so near to my own that drafting the story was surreal as hell. I'm working on a book now in which a character picks up their violin and discovers the joy/difficulty of playing again after years away.

And then there's Ilsa Vance, my asexual space detective who has a falling out with a close friend in "Open Skies". She's by far the most difficult character arc I've ever written—not least because I was determined to give her the support and acknowledgment I never received from the friend who said the same hurtful things to me.

This habit isn't likely to change. Projecting onto fictional characters has its merits. Even better, the blatant escapism and entertainment of my less personal stories is satisfying in ways I've never really known how to express. (My family, bless them, has supported me at every turn, despite my inability to articulate why I sometimes bury myself in fiction for days or weeks at a time.)

But. Maybe it would do me good to branch out a little. Take a more direct approach now and then. Try and shake off the fierce but irrational voice in my head insisting The Real Me is too boring to waste words on, and instead put myself out there a little more.

That's what this is. No promises, but I'm going to do my best. And hey, if you're reading this and there's anything you'd like to know, go ahead and ask. I may not possess a whole lot of insights or life-hacks, but what I've got I'm happy to share.

Cheers.

There's no real unifying theme to this recs post. None of these are in corresponding genres, they're just things I've read recently and thought were truly excellent. I've got a couple more recommendations to wrangle (I've been reading more as the weather gets colder, because it's tough to write during my commute when it's rainy and chilly and unpleasant out), but for now I have these to offer.

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Hamilton's Battalion by Courtney Milan, Alyssa Cole, Rose Lerner

On October 14, 1781, Alexander Hamilton led a daring assault on Yorktown's defenses and won a decisive victory in America's fight for independence. Decades later, when Eliza Hamilton collected his soldiers' stories, she discovered that while the war was won at Yorktown, the battle for love took place on many fronts...

Why you should read it: The three novellas in this collection were wonderful, and incredibly distinct. I appreciated the realistic intersection with events that interest any Hamilton musical fan, while exploring a fascinating variety of romances and characters. The concept uniting the stories is tenuous at best, but the romances all stand alone beautifully without the framework imposed on them. I think you can buy all three stories individually at this point as well. Whatever format you prefer, read for a damn good time.

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Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways--farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

Why you should read it: I know this book is a classic, but I just read it for the first time this year. I loved the main character, I loved the bleak but vivid world building, and I absolutely adored the writing. The horror elements got under my skin in a way that was downright visceral, and I spent every page tensely wondering how it could end in anything but heartbreak. Gorgeous and horrifying and beautifully crafted.

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A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota by Sun Yung Shin

Essays that challenge, discomfort, disorient, galvanize, and inspire all of us to evolve now, for our shared future.

Why you should read it: This is an incredible collection of writings, and that summary is perfectly on the nose. The book was a tough read, because the truths it talks about aren't pleasant ones. All of the essays are good. Some of them absolutely flattened me with their honesty. I'm glad as hell I picked this one up, and I recommend it with all my heart.

 

Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee

Mattie is chosen to play Romeo opposite her crush in the eighth grade production of Shakespeare’s most beloved play in this Romeo and Juliet inspired novel.

Why you should read it: I don't read a whole lot of middle grade, but I saw the blurb for this one and needed it instantly. Sweet and charming and honest, it's a quick and wonderful read. Strongly recommend.

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Dreadnought by April Daniels

Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have much time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Why you should read it: This is such a satisfying superhero fantasy story, and I appreciated how complex a character Danny is. She's a teenager with a lot to contend with, including a complicated (not so great) family situation. All of these elements are given the space to really have an impact on the character, and the result is a fiercely believable teenager. Dreadnought is a first book in a longer series, and book two is already out if you finish and are craving more.

[Warnings for bigotry and transphobic language among those complicated things Danny is contending with.]

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The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Paris, at the dawn of the modern age:
Prince Sebastian is looking for a bride―or rather, his parents are looking for one for him. Sebastian is too busy hiding his secret life from everyone. At night he puts on daring dresses and takes Paris by storm as the fabulous Lady Crystallia―the hottest fashion icon in the world capital of fashion!

Sebastian’s secret weapon (and best friend) is the brilliant dressmaker Frances―one of only two people who know the truth: sometimes this boy wears dresses. But Frances dreams of greatness, and being someone’s secret weapon means being a secret. Forever. How long can Frances defer her dreams to protect a friend?

Why you should read it: This graphic novel is indescribably lovely. Sweet characters, gorgeous art, a wonderful conclusion. It reads like a fairy tale though there's no literal magical elements in it. Just superb.

Matters of Heart
M/M, Contemporary Romance
[56 Pages / 15,000 Words]

Marco Spinelli has made Spinelli Medical Technologies an international power house; but there's no way he could have done it without Adam Callaghan, his best friend and resident entrepreneurial genius. Together they've spent years making their dream a reality.

Marco can't imagine life without Adam at his side, exactly like this—until a gala and an unexpected encounter make him realize he wants something more. Now he must repair a rift he never intended to cause, before he loses Adam for good.

[Click here for more info and an excerpt...]

Available for purchase:
LT3 / Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Smashwords

 

Simple After All
M/M, Contemporary, Holiday Romance
[55 Pages / 17,400 Words]

Noah Fiore, contracts attorney and dedicated curmudgeon, spends every Christmas with his family on the shore of Lake Superior. It's practically tradition for his sister to invite a tragic tagalong to the festivities. But this year Kara's guest is no pity case. Riley Coto is a friend, and his warmth and charm quickly win over the Fiore family.

When Riley overhears Noah complaining about Kara's habit of bringing home strays for the holidays, he feels more than a little out of place. But Riley finds himself drawn to Noah. Something tells him there's more to the man than the bad attitude he shows the world. With Christmas coming fast, Riley is falling for Noah, and there's nothing simple about that.

[Information and Excerpt: HERE]

Available for purchase at:
Dreamspinner Press / Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo