Spiral Publishing's August Reads
Spiral Publishing's August Reads
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Spiral Publishing authors Kari Kilgore and Jason A. Adams have put together an exclusive bundle of six fiction stories set in August and summertime, and available this August at a special price! Check out the stories below, and be sure to grab your bundle of Spiral Publishing's August Reads before it disappears at the end of the month!
Kari starts us off with A Sentient Surprise, a story about finding fantastical creatures in the most unlikely settings. And cleaning up more than one kind of mess along the way.
Jason continues the idea of Fantasy in Space with his story Cupids, albeit with a slight difference. When a feral Cupid comes to play, things get far messier than anyone could expect.
Kari's story Melting Point shares a bizarre murder mystery that only Dana Sanderson, Insurance Investigator Extraordinaire, can solve. With the able assistance of her fabulous best friend Andre, of course.
With Mick of Malvern: Seeker for Hire, Jason takes us into an alternate reality, with leprechauns, dwarves, angsty princesses, and a private eye like no other.
Never one to be left behind, Kari travels to her own otherworld in Trusting Their Magic, introducing us to young Tonn, who dreams of the day when he earns the right to ride one of the majestic airhorses.
Finally, Jason returns to our own world in The Dangers of Cat Trees, a story about the perils of do-it-yourself pet furniture, and what may come to visit because of it.
Happy August, happy reading, and don't forget to check back next month for your brand-new batch of Spiral Publishing's Monthly Reads!
A Sentient Surprise by Kari Kilgore
Friend, Foe, or Something More?
Darby Sabo knows what to expect when her hypersleep shift comes to an end.
Routine inspections, keeping deep space cargo safe, keeping herself entertained and sane.
But a surprise lurks this time, one she never dreamed of.
Will Darby discover a silver lining in the shocking break from routine?
Part of Faeries in Space, an Uncollected Anthology
An excerpt from A Sentient Surprise:
Unexpected Cargo
By the time she reached the end of the hundred-meter-long row and got a glance at ten more just like it to either side, all hopes of salvaging even a handful of food evaporated.
Whoever rampaged through here had taken their time and done a thorough job of it.
She’d just raised her wrist again, meaning to comm the rotten news to Janess, when she caught a flutter of movement to her left.
And a muted whisper of what sounded like high-pitched giggles cut through the air handlers’ constant noise.
“What the hell?” she whispered, crouching and turning that way for a better look.
That giggle hadn’t been any sort of adult, and this was a human-only crew.
Sometimes you get more than you bargained for.
Castros Bianchi lives for his Menagerie.
His vast fortune now buys the rarest specimens of the galaxy’s diverse life forms.
An old collector. A private moon. A cherub run amok.
Come along for a delightful romp reminiscent of pulp’s Golden Age.
An excerpt from Cupids:
The furry teddy ignored him, which was strange. Stranger still, Manfred was trying to crawl between the roots of one of the hybrid cypress-oaks. The trees took tremendous effort to keep alive, but Castros liked alien creatures in Terran settings.
And here came his cupid. Castros sat down to watch, heedless of his ridiculously expensive genuine linen pinstripe trousers. He loved to see the ways his different creatures found to play together.
The cupid spiraled above Manfred, beginning its eerie hum. Suddenly, it plummeted onto the teddy’s back and began to—
“Great jumping Jezebels!” Castros cried out, right before being violently sick.
Melting Point by Kari Kilgore
An Invisible Countdown to Death
A cookie-cutter suburban house. A strange aroma. A dead body, and a suspect refusing to talk.
Sometimes a stumped investigation needs a non-standard mind.
A perfect case for Dana and her best friend Andre to work their magic.
Can they solve the crime before the next victim's time runs out?
A Dana Sanderson Short Mystery
Also available in Kari's collection Hacking Cybercrime: Dana Sanderson Short Mysteries.
An excerpt from Melting Point:
Mira took a long drink of her coffee, staring out over the trees outside before she focused on Dana again.
"We've got the suspect, sure. Sitting in lockup, smug as hell, and not saying a word. What we need from you, Dana, is how on earth she did it."
Dana drew back, blinking. "Me? I'm just an insurance investigator. This is your field. Surely the GBI has people on this."
"They do. And they're coming up empty so far. Some of these cases are months old. They're afraid this woman had a longer list of people she was paid to knock off."
Mira took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds.
"They'll probably find it," she said, "but I can't stop wondering what would have happened if someone totally innocent had walked into that bedroom instead. Like maybe her niece or nephew."
A Hard-Boiled Fairy Tale
Mick of Malvern lives a quiet life. Mainly due to a lack of clients.
That all changes when Lady Gwendolyn enters his office and his life.
An ailing queen. A missing princess. A chance to finally pay his bills.
Quick wits. A custom crossbow. Ten silvers a day plus expenses.
Join Mick on a quest to save his favorite person. Himself.
An excerpt from Mick of Malvern:
“Our huntsman took Princess Ambrosia for a stroll in the forest yesterday morning,” the queen said. “According to his report, someone struck him on the head. When he came back to himself, she was gone.”
“And where is the huntsman?”
“The huntsman is no longer any concern,” Gareth said, his voice cold and flat. “Her Majesty is relying on you to correct his failure.”
My dagger shrank into a needle. No point asking what would happen if I couldn’t bring her back. Besides, this was an important case, for an important client. An important rich client.
“I shall succeed or die,” I said.
“We are well aware of that,” the queen said.
I knew then it wasn’t the princess’ skin I needed to save.
Trusting Their Magic by Kari Kilgore
Pure Joy and Fierce Competition
Tonn thrills at the sight of airhorses, even after tough months as a rider-in-training.
Knowing every day brings him closer to a pairing of his own.
And the ultimate freedom of taking to the skies.
But conflicts with other riders prove the bigger challenge.
Can Tonn learn to overcome difficulties and trust himself?
Also available in the collection Fantastic Side Trips: Side Characters Take Center Stage
An excerpt from Trusting Their Magic:
The Match That Defines a Lifetime
Tonn jumped at Master Adur's sharp voice.
"How did the airhorses learn the flight pattern we're observing right now? Tonn?"
He was certain he knew the answer, but a rush of nerves sent his belly twisting anyway.
"Same way landhorses do, or fish or fowl or anything else, Master. They're playing. Or at least that's how it starts out."
"Exactly so." Master Adur's warm smile balanced out her sometimes harsh tones and fierce expressions. "The wild colony of airhorses not far from here does much the same every morning when the weather's fair. Have any of you had a chance to observe them in their own play?"
Every hand shot up.
Tonn took every chance he got to take the long walk out past Maestar's towering city wall, cutting through the low, wide passage out to the rocky cliffs overlooking the sea. He wasn't the only one who made the trip by the faintest light of dawn, hoping to catch a display even more breathtaking than the one over their heads.
Into every marriage, DIY must fall.
Anne and Drew need a new roost for their three cats.
Drew loves his toolbelt.
Anne loves projects with fewer surprises
Will this relationship survive...
The Cat Tree?
An excerpt from The Dangers of Cat Trees:
Anne got closer, making a show of inspecting all the different cat perches and slings.
“I like the way you finally got rid of all that torn-up carpeting.”
“Told you it would come in handy someday.”
To her credit, she didn’t swat him, just picked Tibby-Tab the kitten up and put her on a piece of horrid beige shag. Tibby-Tab jumped down immediately and scooted out through the kitchen.
“Did you put it over a hole in the floor or something?” she asked.
“No, why?”
“Nothing, never mind,” she said, feeling around inside the cat cave.
She could have sworn she felt a breeze coming from the big knothole. A breeze that smelled of seawater.
Nah. Just her imagination. Had to be.
