Now Available to Pre-Order:
The Star Host by F.T. Lukens
Once at the hangar, Ren broke away from
the two guards and entered the lancer, walking up the stairs, irritation a
heavy feeling in his chest.
“Reporting for work,” Ren said, his
tone heavily laced with annoyance.
Janus popped up from a console she had
been working under, goggles on her face, gray hair sticking up everywhere.
“You!” she snapped. “I told you not to come back.”
Ren rolled his eyes. “It’s not my
choice. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”
“Where are your guards? I told the dumb
one not to bring you back, Abiathar’s orders be damned. I don’t want your kind
working on these ships.”
She poked a finger hard into Ren’s
chest and he staggered back, and rubbed his hand over the spot.
“What the stars do you mean by my
kind?”
Her eyes grew comically large behind
the goggles. “You don’t know?” She laughed, bordering on hysterical. “You’re
more dangerous than I thought. You can’t try to control it if you don’t even
know what you are.”
Ren frowned. His tolerance for the
cryptic nonsense everyone had spouted since he arrived was gone. He took a step
toward the hull and Janus stiffened.
“Don’t,” she barked.
“Don’t what? Touch it? What will
happen, huh?”
Her face paled and her chest heaved
with panicked breaths. “You don’t know what you’re capable of.”
Ren laughed. “I’m capable of nothing.
I’m a duster, planet-born with very limited experience with tech. You have no
reason to be frightened of me.”
He moved closer to the hull, hand
outstretched, fingers splayed.
She whimpered. “Please, don’t.”
Ren slammed his hand against the hull,
his fingertips leaving greasy marks on the shiny surface. As he predicted,
nothing happened.
He turned back to Janus. “See? Nothing–”
His word tangled in his throat, cut
off, because suddenly, Ren was consumed with power, rushing from his toes to his fingertips. A blue tint clouded
his vision, and his body suffused with golden warmth. And then he was floating
amongst the wires, connected to the ship, to the energy source, to everything.
The lancer pulsed under his skin, tangling in his veins, its systems integrated
with his senses.
It
was freeing and frightening.
His
consciousness raced along the circuits and he could fix it. He could fix everything. He found the tangle of wires in
the artificial gravity system and bypassed it. He found the broken circuits in
the air recyclers and with a pulse of power, refurbished them. He saw the
static in the com system, a physical entity, and he cleared it away with a
brush of his metaphysical hand.
The
longer Ren floated through the ship, the less connected he was to his physical
body. And if he thought about it, he didn’t need his body. Why would he need
his body? He was free here. He moved around with ease, the wires and the
systems his route, and the more he pushed, the more he felt the other ships
too. They were nearby, on the edge of his perception, and he could go to those,
he could jump to the other ones and repair them too.
He
could.
He
could.
* * *
Summary
Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among the neighboring drifts. When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.
He finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet, and an eventful ride on a merchant ship, Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home. Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.
* * *
From Duet Books for LGBTQ Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: March 3, 2016
US/Canada: Pre-order the print edition of The Star Host from the IP Web Store and receive the multi-format eBook free with the discount code STARHOST*
International: Order the print edition of The Star Host by May 3, 2016 from your favorite book retailer and receive free multi-format eBook by submitting a copy of your receipt to contact@interludepress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-941530-72-6 (print) // 978-1-941530-73-3 (Multi-Format eBook)
Pages: 258
Price: $15.99 US print*/ $6.99 US multi-format eBook
*Print editions pre-orders available for US and Canada only. eBook orders available worldwide.
* * *
About the Author
F.T. wrote her first short story when she was in third grade and her love of writing continued from there. After placing in the top five out of ten thousand entries in a writing contest, she knew it was time to dive in and try her hand at writing a novel.
A wife and mother of three, F.T. holds degrees in psychology and English literature, and is a long-time member of her college’s science-fiction club. F.T. has a love of cheesy television shows, superhero movies, and science-fiction novels—especially anything by Douglas Adams.
Connect with F.T. at authorftlukens.wordpress.com on Twitter @ftlukens, on Tumblr at ftlukens.tumblr.com and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/ftlukens.
