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Other Worlds Than These [MultiFormat]
eBook by J. M. Snyder
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$3.99 |
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$3.39 |
eBook Category: Erotica/Gay-Lesbian Erotica/Erotica
eBook Description: Six short speculative stories of gay men celebrating love and lust in worlds vastly different from our own. The e-book version contains the following stories: * Star-Crossed--When an old crush is assigned to his ship, Reth is surprised to find he's still enamored by the flamboyant Xan, but it takes a rendezvous on the simdeck to bring this star-crossed pair together again. * Escape--On the run, Trace, an intergalactic prisoner, stumbles upon Davin, a Delta-23 clone eager for a chance to observe a "natural-born"? up close and personal. * Parking Lot Hero--Modern day superhero Vic Braunson saves his landlady from a gang of hoodlums. * The Bard's Song--Taurin is a king's knight with a soft spot for bards, and the elfin flautist at Jéànty's Inn attracts his attention. * The Fall--Forbidden love between angels Gabe and Luce costs one his wings. * World Enough and Time--It's the end of the world, and time is running out for Allan. Then he meets Ricky. NOTE: The paperback edition contains two additional stories, Navigator's Log and VR Palace, both of which are available in e-book format from the author's website at http://jmsnyder.net.
eBook Publisher: Excessica Publishing
Fictionwise Release Date: August 2009
9 Reader Ratings:
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [321 KB]
, ePub (EPUB) [278 KB]
, Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [122 KB]
, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [644 KB]
, Palm Doc (PDB) [94 KB]
, Microsoft Reader (LIT) [272 KB]
, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [153 KB]
, hiebook (KML) [388 KB]
, Sony Reader (LRF) [325 KB]
, iSilo (PDB) [110 KB]
, Mobipocket (PRC) [395 KB]
, Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [355 KB]
, OEBFF Format (IMP) [173 KB]
Words: 29833
Reading time: 85-119 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
 
I waver at the crackers, undecided between a box of saltines and a box of unsalted tops. Hmm ... it's almost like a bad joke, isn't it? Beside me someone reaches for the saltines and I look up from the slim, strong hand to a young, boyish face framed with neat black hair along the jawline and around the chin. The hair that curls from under his baseball cap looks like spilled ink against the burnished gold of his skin.
Great, I think as I stare at him, at the smooth hair lining his face, the full lips, the dark eyes. I've been searching for someone like you my whole life and when I finally find you, the world's about to end. Just my luck.
He glances at me with a slight frown on his face. "Hey," he says, a little too loudly. He takes in my lips, my eyes, my hair, and then looks back to my mouth because I run my tongue over my upper lip unconsciously. He's quite cute. And young, too, not as built as Hans and Frans outside, and I know I'm staring but so what? In a few more weeks it won't matter anyway.
A few more weeks and we'll both be dead.
He takes a step back from me, still frowning. "You okay?"
"Fine." I smile a disarming grin and hope he doesn't run, not now, not when we've just met. I force a laugh and that makes him smile, too. "Well, except for the salt."
"Yeah," he says, a breathless rush. I'm just about to say something else, something I hope is witty enough to get him to come back to my place and lie in my bed with me, we can take in the end of the world together, when he turns away. Apparently I'm not that interesting to him.
Or he's got other things on his mind, because he looks towards the front of the store where the cops stand, and then back at the shelf full of Cheez-its and Ritz crackers and Little Debbie snack cakes. He pats at his back pocket like he's feeling for a wallet then bends down for something on a low shelf, and that's when I see the gun shoved into his jeans. It rests along the small of his back and his shirt pulls up just enough for me to get a glimpse of cold, hard steel; then he stands again and it's hidden from view.
Okay.
This time when he smiles at me, I'm the one to take a step back. He's got a gun.
"Take care," I tell him. I hope he's not thinking I saw the gun but I'm hurrying as fast as I can from the aisle without trying to look suspicious, and I wonder if he's going to pay for whatever it is he's getting or if he's going to hold up the cashier or what. Then I tell myself I don't care, I'm just here for some frozen Bagel Bites and a pan of Healthy Choice lasagna and that's it. I'll think about him later, when I'm alone and lying in my bed and touching myself, thinking I'd rather have him with me, but he has a gun so I'm not even going to ask. These may be desperate times and he may be sexy as hell, but I'm not that desperate. I'm not.
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