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:
Santa Claus
the Ship, Not the Man.
When
I started world building for The Luxorian Fugitive, I wanted my cast to travel
between planets, but not be a military vessel per se. It sounded too cliché for
my taste. What non-military ship would make sense passing through my planetary
cluster around Alpha Centauri's binary star? A transport ship. Once I settled
on the idea, I moved to the captain's penchant for ancient Earth history I'd
already designed while making character sketches. The captain and crew would bring
packages from planet to planet, for a profit, of course.
Thus,
the Santa Claus was born. (The ship, not the man.)
I
spent a lot of time making the ship the central setting without bogging
everything down in the technical side of sci-fi. As important as the Santa
Claus is, I didn't want the ship to dominate the crew and cast.
Mrs.
Claus became the ship's AI, the only female on board, among the mostly
ex-military men living together on voyages that last weeks at a time. The crew
and passenger quarters were built on Beta deck, with the idea that they ran in
a circle surrounding the lavatory, gym, lockers and a large shower room without
enclosures. (I'm not a fan of privacy inside the locker room. Don't judge. LOL)
The bridge was placed towards the fore of the vessel, along with observation,
mess hall and sick bay on various decks. Mechanical and engineering departments
were sent to the aft, with cargo bays all the way back. I had to do research on
navy ships to get proper terms and placements on various parts of the ship, to
keep it sounding plausible yet not anachronistic. So far, I think I did okay
there.
I
know my fantasy setting of a group of thirty or more rough and tumble
non-hetero guys living together is a bit telling. It does create an environment
for wonderfully racy moments, but it's a lot more than that. Having the
potential for a cast this size gives me a lot of fertile ground to write
stories from. Each book (yes, there are more coming...) can have its own set of
characters, touch on previous tales, but be a single, contained narrative. And
the setting gives me a host of backgrounds to choose from. Why would anyone
want to escape planet-side and live amongst the stars on a ship not built for
luxury? What makes the Santa Claus so important to each and every one of them?
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
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