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Tour – Priest and Pariahs by Mann Ramblings
Title: Priest and Pariahs
Author: Mann Ramblings
Series: Ship Logs of the Santa Claus, Book Three
Genre: Gay Romance, Science Fiction
Publisher:
Wayward Ink Publishing
Synopsis
– Priest and Pariahs
Ship Logs of the Santa Claus, Book Three
Costa McQuillen is a Pariah, a para-human with tech empathic
abilities who has escaped from Earth, where being para-human is illegal—and
marks him for extermination. Arrogant and standoffish, Costa is unable to trust
anyone, but is willing to risk everyone's safety to reach the planet Omoikane. His best solution: gaining passage on board the Santa Claus.
Arbor Kittering, the crew's newest coding tech, is a medical oddity.
With the technologies available to prevent birth defects, Arbor's status as a
dwarf brings the kind of attention he could happily do without. Having spent a
short time in prison for data hacking and
falsifying government files doesn't help. The Santa Claus is his last chance at a new
start, if he can decipher the strange malfunctions plaguing the ship.
Priest, the Santa Claus’
Head Pilot, is a bit of a scoundrel. Perpetually single, Priest is attracted to
Costa for his exotic looks, and to Arbor for his unique qualities. In truth,
he'd like to have both, but it's clear such a thing isn't in the cards. Now
Priest needs to make a choice, before it's too late.
Buy Links
Don’t miss the discounted release prices on all retailer sites!
Start with Books One and Two of Ship Logs
of the Santa Claus!
The
Luxorian Fugitive
Sergeant Liam Jacks is the security chief
of transport vessel, The Santa Claus. He travels the planetary cluster with
Marc Danverse, his best friend and captain, seeking to escape his tortured past
and find some peace of mind.
Having been through a civil war together,
Danverse and Liam are close. Maybe too close....
All that changes when mysterious stranger,
Hadrian Jamison, an escaped Adonirati, books passage to Alpha Centauri. Can he
be trusted? Can the stories of his past be believed?
As Liam’s fascination with Hadrian grows,
jealousy threatens to tear apart his friendship with Danverse.
When Hadrian’s owner shows up, Liam is
forced to go against orders in order to launch a rescue mission to save him.
The ensuing conflict may be more than any
of them expected.
Buy
Links
Amazon US
:
http://www.amazon.com/Luxorian-Fugitive-Ship-Santa-Claus-ebook/dp/B00V6KO1CG/
A
Cook’s Tale
The
trials and tribulations of the crew and passengers of interplanetary transport
vessel, The Santa Claus continues in A Cook’s Tale.
After a
horrific breakup, Erron Murfin is bitter, homeless, and friendless. When the
cook’s position on the Santa Claus presents itself, Erron decides to escape his
current circumstances and join the crew. On board he reconnects with family
friend Gamin Wells, whose own secrets and issues begin to surface upon Erron’s
arrival. The least of which is the reason the pair haven’t laid eyes on one
another in over twelve years.
As Erron
settles into his new duties, the men on board take an interest in their newest
crew member. Among those intrigued by Erron are polyamorous couple, Barrus and
James. Despite Erron’s cautious nature, he’s drawn into a triad relationship
with the pair.
But
there’s something about Gamin…
Is Erron
too damaged to confront his own feelings?
Will his
past prevent him from finding what he needs?
Buy
Links
Giveaway
About the Author
Like many gay men, when Mann Ramblings grew
up, there weren’t any heroes he could relate to. The world held him back while
he tried futilely to hide the real person inside. So much has changed since
those hollow days. He finally found his voice, the voice that says it’s all
right to revel in the so-called inappropriate joys, laughs, and loves that
storm inside a man’s head. It took a long time to find that courage and now
that it’s here, he plans to use it well.
While spending years more focused on visual
arts, he never let go of his innate passion for storytelling—he wanted to write
and draw comic books when he grew up. Once he discovered M/M fiction, a whole
new world opened with new possibilities. Why couldn’t you have fantastic and
dynamic tales with an M/M cast? He started reading the online tales of authors
like, Night Tempest, Rob Colton, and Alicia Nordwell, which only fueled within
him the need to create. Eventually he found GayAuthors.org, and with a little
coercive nudge from Night Tempest, started sharing his tales with an unexpected
level of positive response. That experience and support gave him the courage to
cross his fingers and aim for the world of M/M publishing.
Born and raised in Michigan, Mann Ramblings
continues to type away, wishing it was practical to use a noisy, old fashioned
keyboard that clacks with each strike, if only to annoy his loving partner and
spoiled miniature dachshund.
Email: mannramblings@gmail.com
Here's a special excerpt for my readers.
The drink in his hand was already half empty when he spotted the man
at the bar. He was lithe and pretty with rich, dark hair. It fell in a gentle
wave, barely brushing past his shoulder line. The decorative tattoo running
along his right cheek did nothing to stall his youthful appearance, but his
confident gestures told the story of someone much older.
The bar was crowded, but he sat alone, biding his time and enjoying
his drink. He paid no attention to the people around him. Aloof and
uninterested, he presented an irresistible challenge.
With luck on his side this evening, Priest could be patient and wait
for the blond sitting next to the beautiful man to vacate his position. Winning
the poker game and collecting his drink without incident left him feeling
invulnerable. The nameless blond paid his tab, and before anyone else could
close the gap, he swooped in.
“Is anyone sitting here?”
The pretty man turned to Priest, giving off the slightest hint of a
smile before shaking his head. As Priest mounted the stool, he noticed how the
young-looking man’s gaze roamed over him, and he turned back to his near-empty
glass.
“Are you traveling or arriving?” Priest asked.
“I suppose that in a space station this size it would have to be one or
the other, wouldn’t it?”
“Pretty much.”
“A bit of both, really. Just arrived, but I’m heading out again soon.”
Priest flagged the bartender, ordering another round for both of them.
“Where ya hoping to land?”
“I’m booked to leave tomorrow to settle on Omoikane.”
“Really? We end up in port there, but have a stop on Gamma Centauri
first.”
“Who’s we?”
“I’m the head pilot for the cargo vessel, the Santa Claus. We have
contracts with about half the planets in the cluster, but Omoikane is a new
one. What’s so special about it?”
“Oh, they have the most amazing technology. Light years ahead of
everybody else, they have the first prototypes for anything worthwhile. The
data coding techniques they use there are nothing short of revolutionary.
They’re building new memory caches that make the current ones look obsolete as
soon as they’re perfected. I even read about the first life-like android,
complete with synth-flesh and artificial intelligence capacity that rivals
human beings.” The pretty man paused, his posture suddenly awkward. “Sorry, the
subject excites me, but I know that it can be painfully dull to others.”
It was adorable how his cheeks colored as he averted his eyes. With a
nervous hand, he ran a lock of his hair behind his ear. Priest couldn’t help
but notice how he turned in his seat, opening his body a little more towards
him.
“No worries. I’m Priest, by the way.”
“Priest? I’m willing to guess that’s a nickname. Why would you be
called Priest? You’re hardly dressed like one.”
He leaned in closer, taking in the smaller man’s fresh scent. “It’s
like a big guy named Tiny. He’s nothing of the sort.”
A graceful snort turned his smile up a notch. “Well, that I can
believe. My name is Costa. It’s nice to meet you, Priest. I wanted to thank you
for the drink.”
Oh yes. All the signs were there and Priest was feeling good. This was
a guaranteed bet. Why stand on ceremony when you can get the party started and
make it last longer?
“Tell you what, Costa. We’re both on borrowed time here, so let’s just
skip forward and find a place to smash your back doors in.”
Costa’s drink was in Priest’s face almost as fast as his expression
flashed its outrage. The alcohol stung his eyes almost as much as the slap to
his face, nearly knocking him off his stool.
“What the fuck’d you do that for?”
Prizes: 1 ebook copy – The Luxorian Fugitive; 1 bundle – Books 1 & 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d3e3d66a90
“You pompous ass! I knew you were gearing up for some arsehole move.”
And here's a special blog post!
Fear and Prejudice
It's no secret that my series, Ship Logs of the Santa Claus
is set in a far undisclosed future where people of Earth have migrated to the
planetary cluster surrounding Proxima Centauri—the closest solar system to our
own—to escape overpopulation and environmental collapse. The migrants take the
five-year journey for a chance at a new life in a new universe, outside of the
corruption back home. Priest & Pariahs opens with Costa McQuillen's arrival
in new space, setting the stage for a new beginning.
A new wave of hope exists in the cluster when genetic
engineering can erase diseases and give the population a chance to flourish.
Even so, no matter how elaborate the technology becomes or how magical the
medical advancements, not everyone is equal. Not everyone is seen as valid.
It's an insanely small fraction to fight for acceptance, but they're there
nonetheless. Some of the battle is external. Such as the derision Dr. Saarken
experiences in the Luxorian Fugitive among the flawless elite on Luxorian. Some
of it internal. Such as Arbor's self-loathing over his achondroplasia in Priest
& Pariahs.
Some people ask, “If the future has so many advances and can
cure most illnesses, why is there prejudice against anyone who's different?”
But I think therein lies the problem. People fear what they don't know, or have
every had the opportunity to witness.
I imagined that in a future where disabilities are virtually
unknown, why would they make the effort to cater to the disabled, a
non-existent category of people? If they're not there, why bother? But random
nature creeps in, no matter what, refusing to be contained or controlled. By
accident or design, the utopian condition begins to fray and people with
incurable conditions and birth defects begin to make extremely rare
appearances, from Dr. Saarken's MS, to Arbor's dwarfism. And when this unlikely
situation presents itself, the population has little personal understanding.
They've been raised to be ignorant of things that only existed before in medical
histories.
This isn't to say my world is overfilled with bigotry. There
are plenty of people in it that don't raise an eyebrow when a dwarf walks in
the room or sneer when a man with compromised motor functions shuffles by. But
for some, the understanding is a harder battle, just like in the present. Even
in the future, real-world struggles exist.
That, I believe, never changes.
