Remember this guy? I heard that the Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance shipped early. So order soon to get your copy!
Here’s an excerpt from my story Pilot’s Forge to tide you over:
It was late when Edith drove up the mountain road to her old farmhouse, her old pickup growling in low gear as it rounded the turns toward home. Trees massed around her, and now and again her headlights reflected on the eyes of animals in the dark. A whitetail bounded on stick-thin legs across the road in front of her, its twin fawns leaping behind it. She was glad to be heading home but Sam’s lies made her uneasy. She remembered his expression when she broke up with him. Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, she thought. She would have to look out for him.
Her porch light was a welcoming sight, as she pulled in to her driveway. She got out, locking her truck, and the cool summer air swept over her. Overhead the stars glittered between the trees. She hadn’t even seen the Milky Way before she moved out here from smog-filled Los Angeles. The swath of stars filled her with peace and awe.
Edith yawned. Straight to bed for me, she thought, but she needed to check on her own horses. She let herself in, turning on lights, and went through her kitchen, with its jumble of mismatched crockery, formica table and chairs, and old stove that came with the house when it was remodeled in the 1950s. Out back was the old barn, well over one hundred years old and still sound.
The only light came from the dusty night light by the door. Katahdin, her big seventeen-hand retired show horse, nickered, but Cowboy and Blackjack both slept, Cowboy curled up like a foal. Edith made sure he wasn’t cast in his stall; a cast horse could break a leg trying to get to his feet. Cowboy had plenty of room. Edith was about to leave when she heard the noise.
She turned toward her tackroom door. It sounded like a machine was in there. She could feel the thrumming of an enginee deep in her bones. Edith backed away, fumbling for the iron prybar she left in the corner of the barn. Behind her Blackjack snorted and whinnied, and Cowboy lunged to his feet.
Katahdin kicked at the back of his stall, shaking the wall of the barn. Edith jumped. The tack room door jerked open and someone stumbled out.
She had little time to register before whoever it was, in a streamlined G-suit, collapsed in front of her.
Oh my God. There’s a dead astronaut in my barn.
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