Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Most Definitely Enhanced

September 6, 2015 by Alexis Duran

If this is Sunday, and I’m fairly certain that it is, it must be time for Weekend Writing Warriors. I’m sharing snippets from my m/m space opera, From Mars, With Love. Last week our hero Eli has was saved from drowning in goo, but the mysterious man who released him from the stasis pod is not exactly a font of comfort and reassurance.

***

Eli’s rescuer returned the laser rifle to a shoulder holster and undid a latch to remove his helmet. He pulled it off and hooked it on his belt. His black hair was cut in a decidedly unmilitary fashion, longish around the face and shorter in back, but his eyes really caught Eli’s attention. Bluer than any blue Eli had ever seen, like a glacier mashed up with the sunny skies of Earth’s glory days, they bored into Eli’s soul and straight out the other side. Must be enhanced. Most definitely enhanced.

His blue-eyed rescuer reached out a gloved hand and helped, or rather jerked, Eli to his feet, vice-like grip digging bruises into his forearm. He held Eli at a distance, probably not wanting to slime his nifty super-secret uniform. He was about a hand taller than Eli and a good deal broader. After determining Eli wasn’t going to collapse he released him and stepped back.

***

***SUNDAY CALENDAR SNEAKS FOR APRIL 27, 2014.Scene from the movie Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) Ph: Film Frame ©Marvel 2014

Some guys adapt to being naked in space better than others. Chris Pratt from Guardians of The Galaxy

From Mars, With Love follows the adventures of Eli and his pal Rilke, two down-and-out scavengers from earth as they’re abducted by slavers, arrested by space marines, and dumped on an unwelcoming outpost on Mars. Eli’s troubles are only beginning when he finds out the ring his mother gave him contains the life force of a powerful but dormant alien and the mysterious man he has a huge crush on happens to be an alien artifact smuggler. Eli’s just trying to make it on Mars, but can he survive the dangerous political intrigue swirling around him? This erotic space opera is a work-in-progress. Stay tuned to this blog for ongoing excerpts and updates.

***

This post is part of an ongoing blog hop hosted by Weekend Writing Warriors. Every Sunday, participating authors post eight to ten sentences from a published work or perhaps their current work in progress. Then we hop to our fellow warriors’ blogs and check out all the fabulous fiction that’s happening! I heartily invite you to participate as a reader, writer, or both. It’s a great way to discover your next favorite book. Click here or use the address: http://www.wewriwa.com

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Slimy but Alive

August 30, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the blog hop where a whole bunch of really awesome writers share gems from their WIPS or published works. I’m continuing with my m/m space-opera-in-progress, From Mars, With Love. Last week Eli had a narrow escape from death-by- goo. He’s been released from the stasis pod, but might be experiencing that “out of the frying pan” moment.

***

Eli hit the floor hard and lay there on his belly in a puddle of goo, panting. Finally he noticed two boots near his head and heard his rescuer’s voice speaking out of a mic in his helmet.

“Found another one on level three. Slimy but alive.”

Eli rolled onto his side to look up at the anonymous, uniformed figure.

“Thanks,” he said, brushing tendrils of hair out of his eyes. He noticed the black uniform displayed no markings, no badge, no insignia. All the space marine holos he’d seen had shown uniforms plastered with logos, sponsorship badges and battle patches.

The figure stood still for a long time without reacting, long enough to be considered impolite considering that Eli was naked, on the floor and most likely traumatized. His rescuer’s helmet crackled with voices reporting from other parts of the ship.

***

Mr. Robot- Science fiction or paranoid fantasy? Either way, Rami Malek is pretty darn cute.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Escape from Goo

August 23, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors and another thrilling episode torn from the pages of From Mars, With Love, my m/m space-opera-in- progress. Last week we left our hero Eli stuck in a stastis pod without having been hooked up to the life support gizmos. The slave ship was under attack and the crew raced off in a panic. The goo was rising fast and things were looking grim.

~~~

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” Eli whispered to the hoped-for marines. He tried to suck in more air. There wasn’t any. His hands, still pressed against the lid of the pod, grew blurry as his vision swarmed, sprinkled with black dots.

A loud hiss followed by a pop snapped him awake. The seal split and the cover flipped back with the assistance of a black clad figure in a space helmet. The visor was black as well and Eli couldn’t see a face. He took a huge gulp of air, pushed away the arm still holding the lid, sat up and hung half way out of the pod. His body was still partially paralyzed. He choked, dry heaved, then slid out of the pod like an eel escaping an aquarium.

~~~

Classic SF slime. Eli is in good, gooey company.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors~ Goo

August 16, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. The rains have come and it’s about thirty degrees cooler than it was the last time I whined and moaned about having to sit in my hot office. Unfortunately none of this real world stuff does poor Eli any good. The hero of my erotic space opera From Mars, With Love is still stuck in the stasis pod and things are looking grim.

***

Eli could see enough to watch the asteroider run from the room. Then the lights went out and the goo stopped rising. Everything went quiet. He waited for a moment, heart pounding, and then started to thrash again. Maybe the slaver hadn’t had time to properly seal the pod. Maybe he could force it open. He pushed with his hands and knees against the lid. It didn’t even pretend to budge. He gulped for breath. The goo was supposed to sustain a prisoner in stasis and no fresh oxygen was being pumped in.

***

As often happens when searching for sexy space guys with guns, I find sexy space guys with sticks instead. Here’s Alex Malleri, Jr. from Dark Matter.

From Mars, With Love follows the adventures of Eli and his pal Rilke, two down-and-out scavengers from earth as they’re abducted by slavers, arrested by space marines, and dumped on an unwelcoming outpost on Mars. Eli’s troubles are only beginning when he finds out the ring his mother gave him contains the life force of a powerful but dormant alien and the mysterious man he has a huge crush on happens to be an alien smuggler. Eli’s just trying to make it on Mars, but can he survive the dangerous political intrigue swirling around him? This erotic space opera is a work-in-progress. Stay tuned to this blog for ongoing excerpts and updates.

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Hostile Boarding Protocol

August 2, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to another round of Weekend Writing Warriors. It’s a hundred jillion degrees here today and my office is the hottest room in the house (surely from all the steamy scenes penned herein) so I’ll make this short and sweet. I’m continuing to share from my erotic m/m space-opera-in-progress, From Mars, With Love. Last week the slave ship in which Eli is held captive came under attack. Alas, have the marines arrived too late to save Eli? (I know you’re on pins and needles about this.) Here’s last week’s post. One of these days I’ll assemble them all on this website so those who are interested can catch up.

***

The flexi-steel walls of the ship shuddered. The bot’s eyeball light went out and it crashed to the floor.

“Well, isn’t that a fine—” the asteroider wrung his hands, frozen with indecision.

“Hostile Boarding Protocol – Level One,” the loudspeaker crackled. The asteroider spun around and with a flick of his fingers, erased the stream of data about the ring. The screen flashed DELETED and disappeared. He then scrambled around the pod, detached Eli’s wrist, shoved his arm in the pod and slammed the lid shut. Eli heard the hiss of the seal and immediately began to pull at the wires attaching him to the machine. He wanted to be awake for this, and most of all, he didn’t want to lie there helpless a second longer.

There was no release mechanism inside the pod, all the more irritating when it started to fill with gelatinous goo.

***

Hang on, Eli. Sexy help is on the way!

***

Weekend Writing Warriors ~ Now What?

July 26, 2015 by Alexis Duran

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors. It’s time for another thrilling episode of From Mars, With Love! Many of you have kindly poked me about returning to this story, and I’m happy to oblige. Writing this m/m space opera makes me unreasonably giddy and I hope some of that writerly glee spills over onto the reader. When we last left our hero, Eli, he was in a status pod being prepared to be shipped to Titan by the slavers who captured him. An asteroider (altered human with mechanical parts) and crab (floating security robot) discovered something strange about a ring on Eli’s pinkie.

***

“Eli, son of Serene, it appears your dear mother’s trinket is an alien. A dead alien though, so there should be no harm in removing it.”

“Finally!” the crab zoomed closer again. “Let me do it.”

“What’s it worth to you?” the asteroider asked. The two bickered over what a bit of torture might cost the security bot operator and the potential risks to the asteroider’s position as head researcher. Eli attempted to meditate on far away, pleasant thoughts like . . . like . . . he had nothing.

An ear-splitting siren went off, accompanied by flashing red lights.

“Oh, for Criton’s sake, now what?” the asteroider complained.

A loudspeaker provided the answer; “Marine Patrol, prepare for evasive protocol.”

***