The delightful @omokers tagged me, so I'm going to oblige with as many lines from my published works as I can. I put the first set in chronological order for the sake of ease.
And the Stars Will Sing - book 1 of The Meaning Wars. This short, friendly novella tells the story of a young wormhole engineer's first foray into deep space, clashes with her coworkers - and the escalating danger that descends on the ship.
Dear Sarah,
So, I find myself preparing for my first job, and I should be excited, but I'm really just dithering. I hope you don't mind if I ramble at you.
2. The Stolen: Two Short Stories - book 2 of The Meaning Wars; this features a collection of short stories (though the old edition had only two) set through different periods of the Human Conglomerate, including one from before it all went wrong. The opening comes from "The Fields," the first story in the (now multi-story) collection.
It was a dry spring - that was one of my last memories before the reformatory. As I recall it now, it plays like one of the old films from the beginning of Earth cinema. Dry yellow-green fields, dusty roads whirring past.
3. The Meaning Wars - book 3 of the same series; this is a soft reboot that picks up a little while after book 2's ending. Crystal and Sarah finally catch up after a few years apart!
Crystal wiped her mouth and straightened. Space-sick again. It was one of the things she hated about small craft like these.
4. Poe's Outlaws - book 4 of The Meaning Wars, and the beach episode book.
As he leaned against Paulo's side, trying to get a good hold on his arms, Toby's face was turning red. Paulo twisted away, writhing with more agility than she expected from such a large man.
5. A Jade's Trick - book 5 of The Meaning Wars, the last one in the series; this sees Sarah, Crystal, Toby, Paulo, and Patience bring the fight against the Human Conglomerate back to the Solar System.
"We have a problem," said Paulo grimly, leaning against the ladder-side wall up to his loft bed. His glowing irises stood out sharply from his ceramic white sclera, but there was nothing unnatural about the scowl he was giving all of them.
6. The Underlighters - book 1 of the Nightmare Cycle, is told through journal entries written by Janelle, a scrappy young electrician living in Underlighter City - a bastion of civilization after the fall of the mysterious Dust killed much of humanity and forced the survivors deep underground. Janelle is starting to see things, and if that wasn't bad enough, her relationship with her girlfriend is on the rocks. And then the children start going missing...
The conversation went like this.
"You seem tired, kiddo. And...uh, what happened to your shirt?"
"Uh...I killed a dragon on my way home from work."
7. After the Garden - book 1 of the Memory Bearers Saga. Set in the same world as The Underlighters, though quite a bit later, this features the adventures of Ember - a young woman who's erased her own memory and left her secretive home village to search for the truth of her mysterious memories. Fortunately, she runs into some people like her along the way. Unfortunately, she also runs into a vicious cult that hunts those same people - Memory Bearers, individuals gifted (or cursed) with fragmented recollections of people from The Time Before the world broke.
The girl paused on the hill, shading her eyes from the sun. It had been a long journey, and she was getting tired of it - especially with the sun blazing down. Too exposed.
8. Bad Things That Happen to Girls - this standalone novella is a dive into literary fiction, featuring the disintegration of a family, fairy tale themes, and a queer awakening.
The day my sister fell in love was a gorgeous, sunny Tuesday afternoon in March. We were sitting on the roof of the shed behind our house when she told me about what had happened in school that day.
I'm not sure if there's a theme, but I'm tagging @pinkchaosart @dyrewrites @ventela1 @the-chiefster @jpohlmanwriting @the-chaotic-writer @careful-fear @thechaoscryptid and @palebdot anyway!
