Sub-genre: LGBT Science Fiction
About Twisting Fates, Book One:
It knows your joy.
It knows your fear.
It knows your desire.
After decades of war, a battered Earth begged the Routine—our most powerful artificial intelligence—to take control of the solar system and unite humanity.
Now, forbidden lovers must help the AI solve the mystery of a rising threat:
Itself.
A SCIFI ADVENTURE BEGINS
Weeks away from graduating into blissful civilian anonymity, Owen discovers that his fate has been hijacked by the Routine. Trapped within the Screening Complex, training school for the Routine's chosen leaders, Owen is determined to resist the influence of his all-seeing artificial taskmaster.
...If only he could stop dreaming of the man with dark eyes.
Who is that stranger, and why has his presence stirred a new hunger in Owen—one more desperate than he'd ever imagined? Questions lurk around every corner, but there’s one truth Owen will never forget:
The Routine is lying to us all.
Excerpt:
“What?”
No response.
He hung silently
for an
immeasurable
amount of time.
Frozen ...
[Tell me the secret you keep from yourself.]
“I don’t—”
Owen abruptly stopped talking as he realized he wasn’t talking.
In point of fact, he was having trouble figuring out if he even had a mouth anymore—or ears to hear it with.
Or a body.
Were they even in the same room?
Was this a room?
He tried to open his eyes (please still have eyes), but couldn’t seem to figure out where they were in his body (please still have body).
Fruitless.
He perceived nothing but a vast, impenetrable grayness, surrounding him like … like … what?
[You shouldn’t speak.]
“I’m sorry.”
[You shouldn’t be able to speak.]
“I’m … super sorry?”
Had he sensed irritation in the voice?
Was it even a voice?
Then a tug of astounding force, like the feeling of falling in a dream but amplified to an unbelievable degree, so
he didn’t think
he could bear
even a
moment
more—
—//—
He breathed once, long, his whole body shuddering while a tingling shiver ran up his legs to his forehead. He was murkily aware of the other students doing the same thing, the whole group gasping as if the oxygen had only just been switched back on.
He had confirmation about what this all meant, somehow, the knowledge instantly asserting itself in his mind—a bright narrative of explanation. Planted there, he understood, just now. Either by the slabs or through them.
Whatever the mechanism, he finally comprehended something about the broad parameters of what was happening here.
They were indeed Selected. They would serve as leaders, functionaries, or representatives of the Routine in pursuit of the administration of civil and military society. This whole installation was the Screening Complex, in which they would receive education from the Routine and its subordinates, focused on their likely role in society, and eventually (dim) to complete their training.
He blinked and shook his head slightly. Wait, what?
They would receive education and … eventually … (dim).
He couldn’t seem to hold onto the second half of that idea. The words he was reaching for slipped away as soon as he tried. He hated the sensation, like he was extending his arm out to touch a hot stove just before reflexes kicked in to make him recoil—but in his thoughts.
Okay. Fine. They would receive education and eventually something to conclude their training. The nudge would direct them as necessary, and they were to obey it completely whenever it asserted itself.
They were to leave the chamber now and transfer to the initiate dormitories where they would familiarize themselves with the facilities and await the start of their first day of instruction tomorrow morning.
Even as he had the thought he was raising himself off the slab, joined by the rest of the initiates.
In contrast to the muffled atmosphere he remembered initially, the air in the chamber now felt crisp and resonant, so the rustle of the group’s clothing filled his ears as they all moved in unison. It felt like sweet relief after the endless seconds of stifled stuffiness.
About SMA:
SMA writes LGBT-themed scifi from his home base in the United States. Book One of his debut series “Twisting Fates” is available now, with Book Two releasing on September 9, 2019. His untitled Four Seasons quartet will begin releasing Autumn 2019.
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