I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump lately so there haven’t been many books read this week. But, it’s Friday and we have to read something, haven’t we? So I did what I often do when I can’t pick a book—I go to Amazon and browse the short fiction lists. Today, I looked at the one-hour-reads, and there I found Until We Meet Once More by Josh Lanyon.

Now I know that the world is filled with raving Lanyon fans. I’m not one of them. Don’t get me wrong, I like her books just fine, but I’ve only read a few and I’m not one to stand in line to click the pre-order button. That being said, sometimes it’s nice to get something you know will be good—because Lanyon is good, she’s very skilled. So for the amazing price of 0.00 Swedish crowns (which amazingly enough is the same as 0.00 £, 0.00 €, and 0.00 $) I got a story about an Army Ranger and a Navy SEAL getting a second chance.

Last I checked, it wasn’t free anymore.

books2read.com/UntilWeMeetOnceMore

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Nothing cracks Army Ranger “Stone Man” Vic Black’s granite front. A mission to retrieve an injured Navy SEAL from the treacherous mountains of Afghanistan is all in a day’s work — until he learns the missing SEAL is his former lover. This time it’s personal.

Publisher’s Note: This short story was previously published in the “Because of the Brave” anthology.

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* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Sometimes you want long stories. You want to soak up a different world and disappear, but sometimes you just want something short. I was in the mood for something short. I wanted that feeling of having accomplished something at the same time as I was juggling kids, trying not to scald them with my coffee while answering emails and phone calls.

As always when I want a short story but don’t really know what kind I want, I go to Amazon and look at the short fiction lists. The Trash Collector by Monica Shaughnessy was what ended up being my escape from the wrestling children in my living room. It’s a seventeen pages long story about a widow watching the neighbourhood hoarder picking up things others have thrown away. There’ve been some thefts in the area and she’s set out to prove that he’s behind them. It’s a perfectly good story for a few minutes timeout, and that was what I needed.

 

Head on over to Smashwords and check out their Summer Sale! There are all kinds of books on sale. Enter SFREE as code by the checkout and my 0.99 stories becomes free, with SSW50 you get 50% off those that are more than a dollar. You’ll find my titles here.

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When objects begin to disappear from porches, Lydia Strichter suspects the neighborhood hoarder, Dale Kreplick. He’s a strange man with an even stranger habit of digging through people’s garbage. But when she sets out to prove the “Trash Collector” is behind these thefts, she discovers more than the culprit. She discovers some things can’t easily be discarded. A heart-warming story of tolerance, grief, and the persistence of memory.

I should be reading Camp Hell by Jordan Castillo Price now—that was the plan, but the other day a story by Twisted Hilarity showed up in my feed on Goodreads. I thought damn I’ve read something by her and went to her author page but I hadn’t rated any of her works. I shrugged it off thinking maybe I’ve just seen her around, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been certain I’d read someone only to realise I actually haven’t, so I let it go. But then the day after I saw someone asking for a book where the MCs got these markings when they had mated, one got one on the chest and the other on the bum. I knew I had read that story, and wouldn’t you know it? The Last Pure Human by Twisted Hilarity. I then remembered that there were some pretty annoyed readers when the book suddenly was removed from Goodreads a while ago.

But, having been reminded of Kasan and Max, I went looking for it again. There are so many things I normally grumble about here, the epithets, quite a few repetitions, men unable to control their sexual urges—the sole purpose of the story is sex, but cat aliens people! Cat aliens! *snigger* I have a hard time putting it down even though I’ve already read it once.

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Kasan, a prince of the feline Kyashin race, is in deep shit. He’s in heat, he needs a consort to help him survive it, and his uncle has locked him away from every available candidate. When he’s offered a small human male at the last moment, he’s quite happy to accept. His new consort, on the other hand, is a little less than pleased with the situation. So what’s a human to do when he finds himself in the bed of a hot, sexed-up alien? We’re about to find out.