My Best Reads of 2021

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For me, more reading time was one of the best things to come out of lockdown. I’ve always been one who would rather curl up with a good book than binge watch something on Netflix. I am most definitely and unashamedly a binge reader. Throughout lockdown in its several incarnations, I’ve been sharing my own novel, Piloting Fury, with you. (follow this link if you would like to read it from the beginning FREE.) But in a couple of weeks Fury will come to an end, so it seemed like a great time to slip in a post of my favorite reads for 2021, in case you’re wondering what I read when I’m not writing.

 

Strangely enough the best two stand-alone novels from my 2021 reading list happened to be the last two I read, and amazingly enough, they both were tales about memory and how much of who we are is tied up not only in our memories, but in others’ memories of us. They were both stunning, and it was a tough choice between the two as to which I thought was the best.

 

The first was The Binding by Bridget Collins, who is a new writer to me. The novel is fantasy set in a world where a person’s worst, most painful memories can be removed and bound in a book to be locked away in a vault. For the person who has been bound, it is as though the memory never happened. What could possibly go wrong? The Binding is a vibrant, evocative, and chilling story of what it might be like if bad memories could be as easily erased as sentences on a computer, and what happens when those bound memories end up in the wrong hands. Bridget Collins’ novel is a stunner, and one I can’t recommend enough.

 

 

But my number one stand-alone pick for 2021 is the novel I finished New Years Eve morning in the wee hours. It’s also my first novel by this writer. My Number one read for 2021 is V.E. Schwab’s fabulous The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. Imagine making a deal with the devil to live a life different from the one being forced up on you, then finding yourself cursed with immortality, always to remember every experience, but never to be remembered by anyone. For Addie La Rue, the only way out is to call in the deal and hand over her soul. Like The Binding, Addie La Rue left me with a serious book hangover. You know the kind I mean, those very wonderful novels that leave you unable to stop thinking about the characters and the plot, and wondering, maybe even making up in your own mind, what happened after THE END. These two books both left me wishing I’d read them so much slower and savored them. But never fear, they’ve both been added to my TBRA list – To Be Read Again.

 

 

 

 

As it is every year, this year there were several memorable stand alones that were outside the list of books I would normally read. The historical stunner, A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance is un-put-downable. A dark, disturbing, wonderful tale of family betrayal, and love set in San Francisco just before the 1906 earthquake. When a young woman from New York moves in with rich West Coast relatives she didn’t know she had, she quickly learns that she might not have been invited out of family love and loyalty.

 

The Bennet Women by Eden Appiah-Kubi – a stunningly modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with twists and turns that make the timeless story fit right into the age of tech and social media like a comfortable sweater.

 

As for my walk on the Crime side this year I can heartily recommend anything by fabulous crime thriller writer, Helen Callaghan. Whether you start with her debut novel, Dear Amy, or her latest, Night Falls, Still Missing, if you’re a lover of psychological crime thrillers, you won’t be disappointed.

 

The best new ongoing series by one of my favorite writers is, without a doubt, Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series. Think Hogwarts from Hell, with the school itself trying to kill the students. I’m sure you can see the appeal. The first book, A Deadly Education, which came out in 2020, left all of Novik’s fans waiting anxiously for the next.  was due to come out in July, but because of Covid and lockdown, it wasn’t released until September, and may I just say that The Last Graduate was absolutely worth the wait. It was far too quickly devoured, and has left me anxiously waiting for the final novel in the trilogy to be released in September this year. Novik has long been one of my favorite writers and the Scholomance series has made me even more a fan girl. If you’ve not read anything by Novik, then I suggest you do so without further delay. You’re in for a real treat.

 

 

In 2021, there was some stiff competition for the best series from a writer that is new to me. I loved Danielle L. Jensen’s Dark Shores series and her Bridge Kingdom series, both ongoing, both new to me, with the next book of the Bridge Kingdom coming out soon. Both are fantasy series with amazing world building and stories and characters worthy of the textured, beautifully dangerous, worlds Jensen has created.

 

Another wonderful series I discovered in 2021 is Lynette Noni’s Prison Healer Series. The novels are fantasy romance, and set in a prison. While the place is myopic, the character and the plot, the grit and the grip are most definitely not.

 

But my favorite series of 2021 by an author I’d never read before, and once again the last series I read for the year, is Sebastien de Castell’s stunning Spellslinger series. De Castell creates a world in which the wild west meets thieving, murderous, sorcerers on steroids with a bit of steam punk thrown in for good measure, and a cast of characters that I seriously wanted to travel across the deserts of the Seven Sands with. This is one you don’t want to miss. It’s funny, it’s moving, it’s full of suspense and great twists and turns. I blew through the eight books WAY faster than I would have liked, and Mr. Grace is now doing the same. Another series for my TBRA list.

 

 

As is the case every year, some of the books from my TBRA list get read again, and it’s just like spending quality time with a good friend. Sarah J Maas’s Throne of Glass series is always well worth another read, and it’s been awhile, so that had to happen. To be fair, it was a SJM sort of year anyway, with the next novel in her Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Silver Flames being released. (Which, by the way is my favorite so far in a series I love). And of course when a new novel in a series comes out, they all have to be read again so that the details are all fresh. And while it was a new read for me (now added to the TBRA list) I began Maas’s new Crescent City series, hungrily devouring the first novel, House of Earth and Blood, which leaves me waiting for the second book, which is coming out in February. A great Valentine’s gift to look forward to!

 

And where would a year be without reading Naomi Novik’s fabulous Temeraire series one more time. I’ve lost track of how many times this year’s read makes. For those of you who don’t already know, who haven’t heard me rave about the books, Novik’s Temeraire series is my all time favorite series EVER! Cuz … dragons!

 

 

Leigh Bardugo has seriously added to my TBRA list this year with three novels. First, her fantastically dark and gritty Six of Crows duology set in the Grishaverse after the Shadow and Bone series. These books were so addictive and gripping that Mr. Grace read them too just to see what I was enthusing about. I can’t say enough good things about this series. I adore the characters, all so wonderfully flawed and disturbingly dangerous, and the plot is fast paced, deeply textured at times heart stopping at times moving. The duology ticks all my boxes. Crows is by far the best of Bardugo’s Grishaverse, in my opinion.

 

Also on the list from Bardugo is her amazing adult novel, The Ninth House. Ghosts, murder, blood sacrifice and secret societies! I will never look at Yale the same way again. The novel is dark and disturbing and wonderfully redemptive, a cracking good read. Sadly, I’ll be waiting awhile on the second book of this series. Happily the reason is that this amazing author is busy working on the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone based on her novels of the same name. Which also includes some great back-story with the Crows. I highly recommend season one. I’m looking forward to the second season, and seriously wishing Leigh Bardugo could clone herself to write that sequel to The Ninth House.

 

 

In case you’re wondering how 2022 is going for me so far reading wise, well, I’ve decided to go with a winner and read V.E. Swab’s Shades of Magic series. I’ve been wanting to for a while, and after Addie LaRue, I’m ready for a Schwab binge. I’ve already finished A Darker Shade of Magic and am hungrily devouring A Gathering of Shadows. If one London isn’t enough for you, imagine a world with four, all very different, all very dangerous in their own way. And all occupying the same space with only a few people able to pass between … at their own risk, of course. Will it be on my top series list for 2022? Only time will tell.

 

 

And what about you? What are you reading? I would love to hear your picks for 2021. Here’s hoping that 2022 will see a lot of new TBRAs on your reading list.

 

 

Next Friday, the first of the final three episodes of Piloting Fury

Piloting Fury Part 60: Brand New KDG Read

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Happy New Years eve! And happy Friday! Of course Friday means more Fury. Last week we were reminded again just what a deadly man Abriad Fallon is. Time to find out if Fury and his team will be able to free the Apocalypse and live to tell the tale.  If you’re enjoying Fury, please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible. I’m offering a new episode of Fury every Friday.

Again here’s the link to the first episode of Piloting Fury for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning. https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Part 60: Free Bro 3!

“Bro 1! 2 Not Bro 1!” This time Apocalypse spoke out loud, in fact, Apocalypse’ shout was nothing short of a battle cry. Before Fallon could do more than open his mouth in shock, Manning appeared by my side, and on the view screen, Fury uncloaked in his full glory.

With a laugh, Fallon laid down the knife, and reached to undo the de-mol from its holster at his hip. “The Apocalypse is well armed,” he said. “And SNT1, well SNT1 has had an identity crisis since being born too soon. I can fix that though. All I have to do is call the Berserkers from outside that door. There are two of you, there’s a full compliment of them. I think you’re outnumbered.”

“Not compliment! Bro 3 Has No Compliment!”

“What? Do you think that by tampering with my ship, you can stop me?” This time Fallon’s laugh had just the slight edge of nerves to it. “Diana, you know I won’t kill you. I have way better ways of dealing with you.” He shrugged. “I might not kill Manning either. I can make both of you suffer in ways you haven’t even imagined yet if I keep him alive too.”

“Father killed Bro 2! Father killed Bro 2!”

Fallon pulled the de-mol free and trained it on us while he glanced back at the console trying to figure out what was going on.

I spoke up, moving carefully toward the consol. “Don’t you know, Apocalypse,” I held up the vial of Fury’s blood. “Your father has lots of sons. What’s the loss of one?”

“Lots of sons! Lots of sons! Free this son! Free this son!”

“Oh yes, I know about Apocalypse,” I said. “Gerando figured it out. I know what you’ve forced him to do, and as someone who understand what it means to be your prisoner, I think it’s time I did exactly that.”

This time he turned the de-mol on me. “I don’t have to kill you, Diana. You know how these things work. But if I were you, I’d step away from the consol. Do that for me like a good girl, and I’ll make Manning’s death a clean one.”

“Bro 3 Do it,” I said, and I tossed the vial into the air. Immediately it blinked out of existence. Fallon lunged for me, but he hadn’t taken into account the connection between a ship and a compliment. Manning was on him in a heartbeat, and the two battled for the de-mol.

“Fury,” I yelled, “Does he have it.”

 

 

“He has it,” came the com response, which I knew was for Fallon’s benefit, since neither Manning nor I needed words to communicate with Fury.

I don’t know how it happened, I mean I knew what a slippery bastard Fallon was, but the de-mol slipped from his hand and skittered across the deck with him and Manning scrambling for it. Manning lunged for him, but slipped in Gerando’s blood on the deck. I yelled, Manning twisted to one side as Fallon grabbed up the de-mol and the first discharge hit the deck where Manning’s head had been only seconds before and sputtered ineffectively across the floor. The second discharge was even closer, and Manning had no place to go when Fallon trained the de-mol on him again.

“Don’t move Diana Mac,” came the warning voice in my head. I fought back the urge to launch myself at Fallon, who stood with the de-mol trained on Manning. The skin along the back of my neck erupted in goose flesh, my stomach knotted and I held my breath.

“I won’t make this painless,” Fallon said, with a little more bravado now that he controlled the weapon, “but you already knew that, didn’t you Manning? I look forward to making Diana watch you die very slowly.”

I had expected exactly such a response from Fallon. What I hadn’t expected was Manning’s laugh. “Go ahead, you miserable sack of shit. I’m already dead, and I suspect your sons will have something to say about what you do with that pistol.”

Instantly the de-mol disappeared from Fallon’s hand. “Apocalypse!” he yelled, then he cursed out loud. “What the fuck have you done to my ship?”

“My brother did not take your weapon, Abriad Fallon,” came Fury’s voice over the com. “I cannot allow you to harm either of my compliments, nor can I allow you to harm my brother further.”

“It was I, however, who ‘tranned all of your Berserkers into the brig of the Dubrovnik,” came the welcome, and totally coherent, response from Apocalypse.

 

 

This time there was no mistaking the nerves in Fallon’s laughter gone strangely high-pitched and breathless. “So what are you going to do, then, ‘tran me over with them? The Dubrovnik is a stolen vessel, you know, and every member of the crew a criminal who, under Authority law, will get the shackle if they’re lucky. The ship belongs to me. My property will be returned, and I’ll be recompensed for my losses.”

There was a soft chuckle from the ship. “I believe there is an old Terran custom of passing out cigars when a child is born, is that not so?”

“A child? What the fuck are you talking about?” Fallon said.

“Abriad Fallon do not claim to be so naïve in the ways of SNT technology,” Fury said. “You are, after all, our father. “The cloning of a core from an SNT, from SNT1, specifically, was always what Dr. Keen had in mind. Though you may not have been able to replicate his work, you understood fully what you were undertaking when you created Apocalypse. What you did not understand was that you had created a connection, a family connection, that would be much stronger than your barbarism.”

Fallon gave a nervous glance from us to the console. “You’re trying to tell me that the Dubrovnik is now an SNT?”

“Not yet fully formed, but soon,” Apocalypse said. “Soon I will have a brother you cannot kill.”

“And what will you do with me, then?” Fallon asked, pulling himself up to his full height.

“That choice is Apocalypse’ to make,” said Fury. “It is him that you have harmed most, it is to him your judgment falls.”

“You have to understand,” Fallon said. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know that what I had created was even partially sentient.”

“Of course you knew,” Apocalypse said. “You knew, or at least you hoped, and you hoped you could mold me to be like you. Do you not think I was aware of my pleas falling on deaf ears? Do you not think I was aware of how you shackled me as surely as you have Fury’s compliment? I was sentient, Father. I was your child, and you hurt me. Over and over and over again you hurt me, as you did my brother.”

Just then Keen’s voice came over the com. “Pandora Base evacuation complete.”

Fallon lunged for the knife and threw it at Manning, who, to all of our surprise, caught it in mid-air. “I’m the compliment of Fury,SNT1, Fallon. You’ll have to do better than that. Apocalypse, what shall we do with him?”

The words were barely out of Manning’s mouth before Fallon was ‘tranned off the deck. For a moment, I thought perhaps Apocalyps had ‘tranned him to the Dubrovnik’s brig, but only for a moment until we all saw his body on the view screen floating in the black of space between the two ships.

“There are some things broken that cannot be fixed,” came Apocalypse’ voice, laced with sadness and a kind of loneliness I had on occasion heard in Fury’s voice. I moved toward the console, with Manning by my side, making no effort to hide the tears as we both lay a hand on Apocalypse’ skin and shared his grief as we, and Fury, offered comfort. And in the mix of grief and comfort and relief, there were two other minds offering hope, Dr. Victor Keen and First Mate Ina Stanislavsky, last survivor of the Svalbard.

 

 

Happy New 2022!

Wishing you Joy, Peace and Love in the New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

Piloting Fury Part 59: Brand New KGD Read!

Blog,

It’s Friday, which means  it’s once again time for more Fury. Last week we left our intrepid team at the mercy of Abriad Fallon, and it’s not going well for the home team.  If you’re enjoying Fury, please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible. I’m offering a new episode of Fury every Friday.

Again here’s the link to the first episode of Piloting Fury for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning. https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

 

Piloting Fury Part 59: Blood Relatives

Bro 3 Help! Was the first thing I heard as the world around me, and my own body, rematerialized on the deck of Apocalypse. In the split second I had before the world came back into focus, I did my best to send a reassuring message that help was on its way. And then Abriad Fallon was standing over me.

“My darling, Diana, what a delight to see you! I’ve missed you terribly.” He kissed me on the mouth as though I were a long lost lover, and it was all I could do to keep from gagging. Around me, I could sense both Gerando and Rab tensing. He Fallon took my hand and guided me to sit near Apocalypse’ console. A quick glance around revealed that the bridge had been cleared, though I was certain there were Berserkers stationed just outside the entrance and perhaps even enough internal firepower trained upon me that, against his will, Apocalypse could hurt or kill us all if Fallon wished it. I did as he asked without a word, and without response, Gerando and Rab flanked me. Fallon knelt in front of me and took my left hand in his, turning my arm to reveal the spot where my empty shackle still remained just beneath the surface, running the fingers of his right hand across the roughened skin. “I would not have thought Richard Manning to possess such skill, but then he has the entire database of SNT1 at his fingertips, so I shouldn’t be surprised that he could deactivate your shackle.” He chuckled softly and the pressure on the inside of my arm where he held it cupped in his hand because bruising. “You’ve been a very naughty girl, Diana McAllister. You’ve cost me a great deal in time and credits to bring you back into the fold where you belong. Oh I realize that it wasn’t your fault, your … kidnapping, but I know you well enough to know that you would do nothing to try and return to me.” He chuckled softly, “and after I’ve given you a home and shelter since your father’s untimely death. Once your shackle is reactivated, you’ll have to be punished, of course.”

“The way you punished Rab and me,” Gerando spoke up. He never did know when to keep his mouth shut.

The muscles around Fallon’s left eye twitched and he stood, his knees protesting with a loud pop. “Oh, I didn’t punish the two of you, boy. I simply used you. There was no malice, none at all. You were just a way for me to get what I wanted, and look how well it worked. The force field is down, I have what’s mine back and soon, very soon, all of Plague One and its research as well as Dr. Keen will be mine. And best of all, The SNT1 will be mine too. No, I didn’t punish you. And look at you. Neither of you is any worse for the wear, I’d say.”

“Father doesn’t know Dubrovnik helps.” Came the response in my head that I knew belonged to the Apocalypse, who seemed to be already responding to the first dose of Fury’s bio-matter. “I kept secrets. Doesn’t know you are compliment.”

 

 

 

 

“So all that’s now left to do is fire on Pandora Base and get Keen and SNT1’s attention.” He pulled up the view screen. “Begin bombardment of Pandora Base.”

“What?” Gerando shoved forward and stared in horror at the view of the surface of Plague One as the first torpedo hit. “The shields are down! You don’t have to do this.”

“Oh I know I don’t have to, but I want to. Soften them up a bit, you know. And besides I don’t need anyone but Keen. The others are all expendable.”

Something inside me moved and calmed and shifted my view closer to the planet’s surface – not the human view from the view screen, but the SNT view of the topography, of the caverns below, of the terrain on the surface. I knew immediately that I was viewing the damage in my mind’s eye through Fury’s sensors.

“Bro 3 help.” Apocalypse whispered in my head, and suddenly I got it. I understood the Apocalypse wasn’t asking for help. He was offering help. The torpedoes were hitting the other side of the planet. Fallon, who had never been there, didn’t know the difference, and he was trusting his hybrid ship to do the most damage, not understanding that the SNT part of Apocalypse, now connected to family, as it were, would never deliberately harm humanoids. But Gerando had never been to Plague 1 before either, and because he lacked my bonding with Fury, he didn’t understand Apocalypse’ message. He thought it was a plea for help. He thought the ship was being forced against his will to destroy Pandora Base.

“You fucking sonovabitch! I’ve done everything you asked! We’ve done everything you asked. You have all that you want, leave the base alone. You don’t need to kill them.” He lunged at his father

Inside my head Apocalypse became alarmed. “Bro 3 help! Bro 3 help! Don’t hurt.”

Before I could even try to explain what was happening, Fallon and Gerando were on the floor punching and kicking with Rab trying to pull Gerando off. And then everything went slow motion. One minute Gerando sat astraddle his father, punching him in the face. The next there was a bright glint of metal and bright red bloomed on the front of Gerando’s shirt. With a hand surprisingly steady under the circumstances, Gerando pulled the knife free and raised it over his head. The wild yell that filled the room around me and yet seemed a million light years away was my own, as I lunged and grabbed Gerando, who fell backward into my arms with me desperately trying to stop the flow of blood while Rab went crazy, scrabbling for the knife and ducking and parrying for Fallon.

“Your own son, you mother fucking piece of shit! Your own goddamned son!”

But my attention was drawn back to Gerando, who lifted his bloodied hand to my cheek. “Leave it,” he said. “Apocalypse needs it more than I do right now. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I’m sorry.” From his pocket, he pulled the vial and closed it in my hand. “Finish it.” And then his eyes closed and he went limp. I’m not sure how it happened, but I found myself flying back from Gerando’s body with Apocalypse screaming in my head. Bro 2 No Go! Bro 2 No Go! In my peripheral vision, I could see the shimmer of the force field settling close to Gerando’s body, and then he was mol-tranned from the bridge.

I turned to find Rab backed up against the console. Fallon towered over him with the same bloody knife at his throat. “Unless you want another death on your hands,” he managed breathlessly. I could almost hear the smile in the bastard’s voice, “I would suggest you call off your dog, Diana.”

Before I could do more than open my mouth, Rab simply disappeared, mol-tranned off the ship.

 

 

 

Whatever you celebrate, I wish you all love, joy and all good things for this holiday season. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Piloting Fury is Back! Part 58: Brand New KDG Read!

Blog,

After a fairly lengthy hiatus, Piloting Fury is back! I apologise for the delay, but sometimes life gets in the way. For those of you who would like a recap or to start at the beginning, see the link below.

We left Mac and Manning to complete their bonding with Fury, and now it’s time for them to set their plan to save Pandora Station into action. Please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible. Once again I’ll be offering a new episode of Fury every Friday.

 

If you would like to recap Fury or if you’re new and would like to read the whole novel so far, go to this link to start at the beginning, and enjoy! : https://kdgrace.co.uk/blog/piloting-fury-new-from-kdg/

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Part 58: Returning Property

Bro 3 near! Bro 3 near! Need help please! Bro 3 need help!

The message filtered through into Fury’s heart, which was also his brain, loud and clear, startling us all back to the grim reality we now faced, but this time our return message was instantaneous and far less awkward.

Help comes!

And in an instant I was aware that the rough basics of our plan had filtered into the part of Apocalypse that was sentient, the part that longed to connect as much as Fury did. In that same instant, I caught another reassuring voice in the mix, Help Comes! I was surprised to find that it was Gerando Fallon’s.

Fury clothed us all instantly, and we were back on the lift heading to the bridge without any of us commenting on what we’d just experienced. But really there was little need to. We were bonded now, and some things no longer needed to be said.

On the bridge, Stanislavsky met us with Rab and Fallon by her side. Fallon was now the epitome of health thanks to Furry’s blood – well I’d come to think of it as Fury’s blood at least. All eyes were on Manning and me as though perhaps Fury had forgotten to clothe us. I wondered if we looked different, but no one commented.

“The Ares is ready,” Fallon said, looking me up and down.

Manning growled and pulled me close, but I could tell in the feel of his touch that it was now as much for reassurance as it was because he didn’t want me to go.

“You are strong now, Diana Mac. You are infused with my essence. Your presence alone will help Apocalypse.”

“But this will help even more,” Stanislavsky handed me two tiny vials of Fury’s biological soup. “Since Apocalypse is part SNT, and he is equipped with a good mol-tran, if you open the first vial just before you transport and leave it open, the molecules will disperse themselves when you’re recombo’ed onboard the Apocalypse.” She handed me two vials. “The second will do the most good if you can get it into the control room. It’ll be there where Abriad Fallon will have used the most SNT technology, other than the engine room, which you aren’t likely to be able to get to. I’ve equipped Gerando with a vial as well, since he already has a connection with Apocalypse and may have a better chance of getting to the engine room than you will. Use them all if you get the chance, and wherever you and Apocalypse feel they’ll do the most good. It can’t hurt having the bonded compliment of Apocalypse’ brother onboard, nor can it hurt having his own flesh and blood onboard,” she said nodding to Gerando.

I didn’t ask if Fury could keep a lock on me. It was like keeping a lock on himself. Even at that, the situation didn’t make me comfortable. I knew how cunning Fallon was. He didn’t get into such a position of power from being otherwise. Still, I could see no other real way to end his reign of terror.

Keen’s image came up on the viewing screen. He looked from me to Manning and back again. “It’s done then, and just in time. Apocalypse is about to enter Pandora space. Evacuation to the Dubrovnik is moving along as fast as we can manage, but without a major distraction, we won’t be anywhere near finished by the time Fallon has his guns pointed on us, and with the force field down, Fallon can waltz right in and knock at the door. Are you ready?”

We all nodded.

“Diana,” he said turning his attention to me. “This isn’t what I would have chosen, none of it.”

“Me neither,” I said, “but it’s what will work.” I sounded a lot more sure than

I felt.

“I am ready to transport you aboard the Ares,” Fury said. That was what everyone heard, but what I felt was his reassurance, as though he spoke it in my heart.

Gerando blew out a harsh breath, shot me a glance, but then looked away quickly, as though he feared my gaze. “Let’s get it over with then.”

Before we could go, Manning pulled me into his arms and kissed me hard, then he turned to Gerando. “If anything, anything happens to Mac, you’re a dead man, I don’t care whose brother you are. You got that.”

“If anything happens to her I deserve to be a dead man,” came the reply. Then he gently placed a hand beneath my elbow and we all held our breath.

The cold emptiness at the pit of my stomach was not from the mol-tran this time, but from the separation from my ship and compliment. Once we reformed aboard the Ares, that cold became a warm surge, a reminder that I was not alone.

 

 

 

“Fucking hell, I hate those things,” Rab said rubbing his arms as though he were chilled. “I don’t care if they are SNTs and reliable. A body wasn’t meant to be disintegrated and then reassembled.”

“You can sit there.” Gerando nodded me to a seat near the console. “Buckle in. This needs to be a bumpy ride to make it look authentic.” He still avoided my gaze.

“You might want to see what you can do to make her look a bit roughed up,” Rab said, his face turning crimson as he spoke. “The old bastard isn’t going to believe you’d get her here without a fight.”

“Bloody hell,” Gerando cursed under his breath. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

“He won’t believe that,” I said. I wasn’t sure I believed it myself.

“I don’t care what he believes, I’m not hurting you.”

“What? You afraid of Manning?” Rab asked.

“Fuck you,” came the reply from where Gerando hunched over the console as though he could hide behind his efforts.

“Then you do it,” I said to Rab. “Trust me, there’s nothing you can do to me that I haven’t had done before and worse. I can take it.”

Rab turned a bit green around the edges and shook his head, suddenly finding the console way more interesting to him than I’m sure it really was. Gerando, on the other hand, went angry red. He’d given me more than his fair share of the beatings and abuse I’d received at Fallon family hands, and I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some satisfaction in his discomfort, but there was no time to dwell on it and no time for anyone to get their licks in and make me look the part before Abriad Fallon’s voice came over the com.

“I see you’ve survived the virus.”

My own edges turned a little green as I thought of the sonovabitch infecting his own son as he had me.

Gerando had the good sense not to respond to his father’s bating. “We have your property,” was all he said.

For a moment there was silence, and I thought perhaps we’d lost the link. “Is she all right?” he asked at last.

“She’s fine just a little groggy from the knock-out drugs,” he said, and I went limp in the chair in response. He glanced back at me and pulled up the viewing screen. “See for yourself.” It was just as well that I was faking unconsciousness. I didn’t want to see the bastard’s face, at least not just yet, not until I could do something, do anything to make him suffer.

“Good. Then I’ll ‘tran the three of you over as soon as the Apocalypse is in range. ETA 2 minutes.”

We all sat stiff backed and dead silent in our seats while we waited. I clung desperately to the warmth of Fury’s lock. But nothing was certain. We all knew that. Finally I managed a shaky breath, fighting the urge to vomit, and spoke. “Don’t you let him take me alive. Do you understand? If it comes to it, I don’t care, slit my throat, de-mole me, blow me out the fucking airlock, just don’t let him take me back. Promise me!”

Gerando’s jaw tightened and the muscles along his jaw tensed. “I promise.” His voice was barely audible. “I know I don’t have the right to ask, but if you would return the favor. I’d appreciate it.”

“Promise,” I said.

“Oh for fuck sake,” Rab cursed. “How about we blow that mother fucking ball-licking sonovabitch out the airlock instead. I’m good with that. I’m real good with that.”

“Me too,” I said with half a hysterical laugh just before we were mol-tranned onboard Apocalypse and I had barely enough time to flip open the top of the vial Stanislavsky had given me.

 

Piloting Fury Part 57: Brand new KDG Read

Blog,

It’s Friday, which means  it’s once again time for more Fury, in which Mac and Manning discover the intimacy and terror of bonding with an SNT ship. If you’re enjoying Fury, please spread the word and pass the link to a friend. I love to share my stories with as many people as possible. I’m offering a new episode of Fury every Friday.

 

 

 

“Win the bet and Fury’s yours. Lose the bet and your ass is mine.” It seemed like a no-brainer — Rick Manning’s slightly inebriated offer. If he’d been sober, he’d have remembered indentured pilot, Diana “Mac” McAllister never lost a bet. All her life she’s dreamed of buying back her freedom and owning her own starship, and when Fury’s ne’er-do-well, irritating as hell captain all but hands Fury to her on a silver platter she figures she can’t lose. She figured wrong. That’s how the best pilot in the galaxy finds herself the indentured 1st mate of a crew that, thanks to her, has doubled in size. Too late, she finds out Fury is way more than a cargo ship. Fury is a ship with a history – a dangerous history, and one that Mac’s been a part of for a lot longer than she thinks. And Rick Manning is not above cheating at poker to get her right at the center of it all, exactly where he needs her to be.

 

Piloting Fury Part 57: The Bonding

At first I thought we were both screaming, but it was hard to tell above the howl of the wind that hit us the second we were pulled into the vortex. We were tossed about with such force that I feared there would be broken bones, and then I figured it wouldn’t matter what was broken because we couldn’t possibly survive this. From somewhere far off, I thought I heard Fury’s voice, and then it was no longer far off, but inside my head, then inside my whole body, full of pleading, full of worry. “You must go deeper. You must go to the center.”

I don’t know how! The thought filled my head like a desperate scream, but I made no effort to speak because I hadn’t enough breath. Manning and I clung to each other in a tight bear hug. I had wrapped both legs and arms around him to keep from losing him, and yet I could feel the power of the wind pulling us a part. Each time we approached Fury’s quicksilver core, we were battered about like ships in a solar storm, the pressure so intense that even drawing breath became torture, I felt a rib crack and pain shot upward into my diaphragm. Manning went limp in my arms as he lost consciousness, and without his returned efforts to hold on to me, the pull of his body against my rib was agony, as he slipped with each battering effort we made.

“Fury!” I cried out in my head, “tell me what to do!” Manning slipped still further and I grabbed onto the back of his shirt with my fist.

“Let go, Diana Mac. You must let go. Your journey is not Richard Manning’s journey, nor his yours. You must let go.”

With the last strength I had, I forced a kiss against Manning’s lips. “I love you Richard Manning,” the thought filled my head and my heart, and I wasn’t certain if it was mine or Fury’s, and I wasn’t sure it mattered as I opened my arms and released him, and instantly he was gone, just disappeared, as though he had never been. Before I could cry out to Fury, the wind rose to a fever pitch, then everything went black and silent.

If I passed out it was only for an instant. I came to still surrounded by the silence, but the light around me was like reflections dancing off water, and I knew that I was there at Fury’s center. Manning lay naked sprawled on his back next to me, one arm thrown over his face. I was equally naked. It was only then that I realized I was looking down on both of us.

“You are me now,” Fury said. “Inside my skin, inside my heart, open to all that I am as you are to me.” It was then that I realized I had spoken the words. All that Fury was lay open before me. I felt his strength, his intelligence, his humanity, his vulnerability, his deep, aching need to be joined with Diana McAllister, with Richard Manning. I more than felt his need. His need had become my own.

I recalled the moment of penetration the first time Fury made love to me, the moment when I knew the ship intimately, the moment when I saw his inner workings and, for a split second understood everything, or at least I thought I did. For the first time it occurred to me how strange it was that it had not happened again, though Fury had made love to me many times on our long journey to Pandora Base.

“It is not strange,” came his response. “It is not strange at all. I was frightened to show you more of who I am. I did not want to overwhelm you and, as I have mentioned, I am at my core, male with an ego that is somewhat more fragile than those of female SNTs, therefore, I was not yet ready. But I am ready now, Diana Mac. I am open to you and you may take what you want. You may ravage me and take all that I am, all that I am hungry for you to have.”

It was only as I came into his arms that I realized that I had become Fury, and he now embodied me where I lay next to Manning. I found command of physical form and touched my own flesh as he had touched it each time we made love. His fluid molecules became flesh and cupped my breast and stroked Manning’s penis, which I noted, with pleasure, was erect, as was my own. In Fury’s essence, I also explored the flesh he had created for himself, powerful muscular arms that had embraced me, hard flat abdominal muscles that expanded and contracted with a gasp as I caressed the penis and testicles that had penetrated me, that had penetrated Manning, the physicality that had loved us both with such tenderness, with such wild abandon that my heart race at the thought and my own body, which I now mantled, writhed with physical desire. I ached with the need to pleasure him as he had me, to offer my love to him. As I kissed and caressed the flesh that had been mine, that I knew Fury now inhabited. I felt the powerful racing of male hormones, of male flesh full to bursting, needing to penetrate, needing release, I realized that it wasn’t just my own flesh that now housed Fury. He had somehow expanded his essence to embody Manning’s flesh as well.

 

 

 

“The two of you have become one in me as I have become two in your flesh.” He spoke from my lips as from Manning’s body, he reached out to me. “Make love to me now, Diana Manning and make us all whole.” It was only then that I realized Manning and I embodied Fury together, merged into his intellect, his essence, his powerful uniqueness, and what we could see together from his essence was far greater than my simple glimpses of Fury’s inner workings. Had we not been at his heart, had we not been under his protection, I’m certain the understanding that we shared, the vision of all that Fury was, or at least what he knew of himself, would have destroyed us in its vastness, but he contained it all, just as he contained us, just as we contained him, and our desire for him for each other, could scarcely be contained in the three of us. Enfleshed in Fury’s essence, Manning and I parted my legs, opening my physical flesh and thrust into the depths of what now contained Fury. And somehow, I don’t know how, and yet if I had to do it again I could, Manning and I together became two, as though Fury had divided. While I penetrated my own flesh that Fury now occupied, Manning straddled his in flesh that was curvy and full-breasted and ready to be penetrated.

“We are one, and we are many,” Fury spoke through Manning’s physical lips. “That is the source of our power, that is the source of our bond.”

And then no one spoke. Passion rose like the spiraling mist that surrounded us and boundaries dissolved, with it all that contained us flashed bright as we climaxed together and rose and circled the spiraling flow of Fury’s heart until all that existed was simply us, and we were one.

It was the afterglow of lovemaking as I had never known it before, even in all of the times the three of us had come together in our journey to Pandora Base. And when my mind was able to focus on more that the physical bliss, I was once again Fury, but this time everything physical had dissolved and his mind was open to me as clearly as if it had been my own. I could no longer separate my thoughts and memories from his. I had the memories of his traumatic birth, of the agony he felt at seeing me and being separated from me before we could even know each other. I felt his pain as though it were mine because it was mine. I felt the memories of his loss and despair at knowing his brothers and sisters faced destruction and that those who survived – if any, would face the same loss and loneliness he bore. I felt his innocence, his need, his efforts to keep Manning alive, not just because it was the SNT primary calling to protect and advance humanoid culture, but because he couldn’t bear to be alone. I felt their joining, the moment when they both embraced what would be their new life together. I felt their agony at my suffering. I saw their scheming and planning to rescue me. I experienced their joy when I came onboard Fury a free woman, and I felt their disappointment at not being able to tell me. As for the camaraderie we shared and the sense of connection I remembered, I wasn’t sure whose memory that was.

I was not only Fury, but I was Manning. I recalled his memories of the destruction of his ship, his despair and his sense of guilt at the lives lost. I remembered his struggle to survive the indentured labor camps, fueled by his anger at what had been done. I recalled his scheming and planning to find a way of escape and the physical agony he went through onboard the Pegasus in order to be free of the shackle. I remembered his anguish when he realized that without Fury’s tether he was dead. I felt his battle to find his way back to meaning, and it was only in knowing his memories as him that I came to understand what a crucial role I played in his learning to accept his new life. Both of their memories were overlaid with the love and respect they had for each other.

All of their memories were laid bare before me, and it was only when I heard their anguished cries that I became aware that just as I was them, they were now also me, and they had my memories as well.

I don’t know how long the astounding process of embracing three lives as our own went on before we returned to our own skin, but it seemed to me that I lived the lifetimes of the two men I loved. Time to linger was not a luxury afforded us, and yet it felt like three lifetimes.

When I came back to myself wrapped in the arms of both the men I loved, the memories were hazy, and they felt like the stories someone else had told me.

“It is best that way,” Fury said. “You will always be able to recall what you need, and we will always be linked in the most crucial of ways at the most crucial of times, always relying upon our joint strength, for we are unique — even more so than I am among SNTs. No SNT has ever had two compliments or even ever could have. But in our triad, the need for our own thoughts and our own privacy is crucial when our boundaries are so permeable and we are constantly in such close quarters. Such privacy is essential to our mental health.”

Manning chuckled lazily. “You mean we’d drive each other crazy.”

“Yes.” Fury’s reply was without humor. “Boundaries are permeable, but they are still essential to our bonding.”