Thus we have Bane.
Over the course of
the Bane blog tour, I’ll be sharing a
free post-Bane short story, Refuge. How far post-Bane? Well, you’ll have to read and see.
Some developments that happen in Bane
are referenced, but not in any great detail, which means the reader should only
encounter a few very broad, non-specific spoilers. Obviously, though, it will
be best enjoyed if you’ve read Bane
already (and Bane, of course, is best
enjoyed after Juggernaut and Strain.)
Refuge introduces
us to three new characters, Kal, Billie, and perhaps my favorite, Zeus. It’s a
completely sex-free story, so you’re safe reading it at work. If my nebulous
thoughts on how to continue the Strain
universe ever take shape, it’s very possible a lot of material in this short
story will be folded into a larger plot with Kal and Billie as the
protagonists, and if that happens, you’ll find the smut there.
Each day, at least
one stop on the blog tour will contain a section of the story. These segments
may end or begin a little abruptly or clumsily at times, as I tried to split
them in such a way that no one section would be to long and cumbersome for a
single stop on the blog tour. In its linear form, it would simply be a five
chapter story. By the end of the tour, all the sections will have been posted.
If you need to catch up, you can check out the blog tour page (linked above),
or my website, or the “Extras” tab on the Bane
product page at Riptide for sequential links to all the posts.
Anyone who follows
along on the tour will qualify to win store credit at Riptide. To enter the
drawing, leave a comment on this post including a way to contact you (email,
Twitter, or Facebook.) Each stop along the blog tour that you visit offers you
another chance to enter. Be sure to check the
Riptide blog tour schedule for a complete list of other stops. The
contest will close 9/26/15. Any entries made without a way to contact the winner
will be invalidated, so please don’t forget to provide your email, or your
Twitter or Facebook address.
Good luck, and enjoy Refuge!
*****
Bane
The
weapon that nearly destroyed humanity may be their only salvation.
Rhys Cooper’s unique immunity to all three strains
of the virus that nearly annihilated humanity has brought him the unwanted
attention of Clean Zone scientists. They’ve summoned him for testing—ostensibly
in the hopes of finding a vaccine—but Rhys’s partner, Darius Murrell, has good
reason not to trust any government. He and his comrades in Delta Company were
unwitting test subjects for Project Juggernaut, the military experiment that
gave them superhuman abilities and unleashed the pandemic. Doubting the
government’s intentions, Delta Company refuses to let Rhys go alone.
Fear of infection has kept Zach Houtman and his
lover Nico Fernández apart for a decade. They meet rarely, just long enough to
coordinate their spying on the head of the government’s virus research
division. Secretary Littlewood is a vicious predator, and they suspect he’s
trying to acquire the strain of the virus that would make him superhuman. To
stop him, they need the perfect bait: Rhys.
For Rhys, helping them might cost him his
relationship with Darius—or his life. For Zach and Nico, even if their plan
succeeds, they still face the ultimate question: can infected and uninfected
people ever live together safely?
*****
Amelia C. Gormley published her first short story in the school newspaper in the 4th grade, and since then has suffered the persistent delusion that enabling other people to hear the voices in her head might be a worthwhile endeavor. She’s even convinced her hapless spouse that it could be a lucrative one as well, especially when coupled with her real-life interest in angst, kink, social justice issues, and pretty men.
When her husband and son aren’t interacting with the back of her head as she stares at the computer, they rely on her to feed them, maintain their domicile, and keep some semblance of order in their lives (all very, very bad ideas—they really should know better by now.) She can also be found playing video games and ranting on Tumblr, seeing as how she’s one of those horrid social justice warriors out to destroy free speech, gaming, geek culture, and everything else that’s fun everywhere.
You can find her self-published Impulse trilogy almost anywhere ebooks are sold, and check out her catalog of Riptide Publishing releases at their website.
Glad to see everybody get an HEA!
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Congrats on the new release!
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Thanks for the post! amaquilante(at)gmail(dot )com
ReplyDeleteSo glad they get their HEA
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This is already on my wishlist!
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