Let’s welcome a new author
to the Scribbler!
I had the good fortune to
meet Grant at one of our book events. He’s an affable gentleman with a positive
view on life. I know you’ll enjoy learning more about him and his stories.
Read on, my friends.
Hello, and my
name is Grant Edward Miller. I am originally from Toronto, Ontario, but have
lived in many provinces, including Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and British
Columbia. I now call Nova Scotia home. I live in the small community of Fox
Point, in “Otter Cottage” — named for my spirit animal. I was a French
immersion teacher for 10 years here in Nova Scotia, and I taught elementary in
British Columbia and Quebec. I am now retired and enjoy writing, gardening,
cooking, traveling, watching sci-fi, and spending time with my canine friend,
Finn the Border Collie.
Title: Life-Line: Origins
Synopsis:
Over a million years in the future, a desperate stowaway lies concealed in a space freighter’s cargo hold. Tam Amergan is bound for the prison world Corustloth, where his partner Brogan has been abducted. Ever since the Senate took over the planetary system decades earlier, gay men like Tam and Brogan—degens, as they are labeled under Senate rule—have been forced to live in secrecy. But Brogan is Tam’s life-line, bound to his soul in a ritual performed by a secret sisterhood of women with ancient, unknown designs. Tam has no choice but to follow Brogan wherever he goes. What Brogan sees, Tam sees; what Tam feels, Brogan feels. Neither can live without the other.Thousands of lightyears away, an ancient brotherhood of mentalists works at uncovering the mystery of humanity’s long-forgotten origins. Their leader, Father, enlists the help of Bennett, who is able to connect with the mind of a space freighter stowaway on the other side of the galaxy. Is Bennett the key to humanity’s origins? Could Tam’s quest to find Brogan have a wider purpose?
Writing has
always been a part of my life. Since childhood, I’ve written many stories,
plays, and video manuscripts, but never considered publishing any of them.
Early in my life, I felt that I was different from those around me. I knew from
the age of five that I was gay. As a result, I wrote many stories and immersed
myself in books – most of them science fiction, as well as science fiction on
television. I’ve come to realize that it was a survival mechanism because I
lived in a very heterosexist world that often denigrated those who were of a
different sexual orientation. I experienced a lot of alienation, hate, and
bullying, so I immersed myself in something I loved: science fiction. I could
dream of any possible world in those fantasy stories or shows. It gave me hope
and the will to continue.
Later in life,
I became aware of the lack of representation for gay men in science fiction,
and on a whim, I wrote a short story in 2009 about a gay man hiding on a
spaceship. It was a claustrophobic story of not having hope in a world that did
not accept gays. The main character stowed away and, without any hope or plans,
would try to rescue his partner, who was arrested for being gay.
Clearly, it
ran parallel to my past life experiences, in which I felt like a stowaway in a
world that did not accept me. This short story sat untouched until 2017, when I
pulled it out of hiding on my hard drive and began working on it. It blossomed
into a story that grew from ten pages to over 300 pages and 62 chapters. I
entitled it Life-Line: Origins. I hoped that the book would reach LGBTQ+
readers keen to see themselves reflected in the literary world of science
fiction. I’m currently working on the final edit of the second novel of the
series, entitled Life-Line: Diversions. The third and final will appear
in the next couple of years.
Website: Please go HERE.
*** In this chapter, Tam, the main
character is in a café known for helping people find a sexual partner. It is a
straight establishment in a world that frowns on gay men. He hopes to meet a
man to have sex with – even though it could get him arrested. A final note: Tam
is a mentalist and can read minds and communicate with others mentally, which
could also get him arrested.
Chapter 4: Passages
The light of the moons continued to travel across the sky, casting
glimmering shadows on the table in front of him. His empty glass and
nearly-finished meal made him wonder if he would be able to remain much longer
without raising doubts about his reason for being there. The last thing he
wanted to do was make an accidental connection with a woman.
He stared out the window as he toyed with his food, pushing it
around with his fork, dreaming of an ideal encounter. What kind of man would I like? Let’s see... a man that has blue
eyes and is very muscular. Someone who is sure of himself and clear about what
he wants. Maybe short hair? He
imagined the instant connection they would feel. Maybe this time it would be
more than just casual sex. Most of his past hookups had been in some back alley
or behind a market stall. Mental communication had helped him find sodbent, but
nothing more. What would it feel
like to be in love?
Tam opened his eyes and returned to reality. Surely nothing like
that would come to pass! After all, he did not have the luck of an Alorion
sapphire ring, though he could have bought the superstitious trinket at the
market. He stared out the open window at the cobbled streets and sighed.
Suddenly sensing something very different in his mind, he looked
away from the window and back to the room. Oh, Goddesses! There, to his rising
excitement, was an enchanting man at the table across from him. He was dressed
in a light blue tunic and a dark blue sash, with a multicolored scarf tied
loosely around his neck. His light skin was very different from Tam’s darker
brown skin. His tawny hair was cut short and swept to the side, with a short
tail of hair on the back of his neck. Tam was taken aback by his bright blue
eyes, which he had somehow predicted only a few minutes earlier. Blue eyes were
rare on Zemitis, as brown eyes were most desired by parents, and other colors
were being slowly weeded out of the gene pool—including green ones, like his. The
man’s blue eyes glowed like the turquoise-speckled light from the shadow-laden
moons outside. The stranger was fending off women nonchalantly, declining all
invitations to join them at their tables.
He felt a thrill as he realized his fantasy was perhaps becoming
real. His head was coursing with energy as he felt the possibility. But was
this man interested?
Tam closed his eyes, sought the stranger out, and found him almost
immediately, seeing his face in his mind. He was smiling! The stranger was
indeed interested in him, and he was able to mentally link with an ease Tam had
never felt before. He peeked through his half-open eyelids at the man and could
see his blue eyes doing the same.
[Meet me under the wooden bridge, near the shore of the warm sea
that laps at its boards.]
Seeing the image of the place, Tam reasoned he could leave,
so he called up the holobill. He paid for his meal, slapping his holocard
against the silently rotating holobill. He only had a hundred hard-earned
credits left. That was not much good for finding a decent place for the night.
But he had more important things to do than worry about sleep!
He stood up, quickly closed his eyes, and pictured the stranger’s
face. The signal was still there—and an unmistakable message.
[We’ll meet soon. Make Goddesses’ speed to the wooden bridge on
the sandy beach.]
He left the Tigress Eye Café without turning his eyes towards the
stranger. Tam knew, however, that he was nearby, making his way to the bridge
as well. He pulled out his holopad and proceeded to find the best route.
Tam wandered the streets, weaving in and out of booths bathed
in the inky light of the city. The pungent smells and brash sounds of the night
market wafted around him. He was so excited about what might happen that he
failed to notice the smell of salts, exotic spices, and vegetables side by side
with illicit drugs in many stalls. The sounds of marketers hawking their wares
rang through the night air, enveloping Tam as he tried to vanish into the
crowd.
“Hey, stranger, do you want some gear spice to make you feel
good?”
Tam shook his head, looking down at the cobbles, and hurried
away from the shady-looking man. He switched from one side of the street to the
other to prevent others noticing him heading to the beach beneath the bridge. Why must I feel guilty for what I am about to do?
His sandaled feet made a loud, worrisome slapping sound on the
smooth brown cobblestones. It seemed to draw unnecessary attention. If the
streets were cleaner, he would have considered going barefoot, but that was out
of the question. The dirt of the parade of marketgoers would stick to his feet
and follow him for the next two months, betraying his foray into the darker and
more dangerous sections of Ali-Alorion. Why risk drawing yet more attention to
himself by showing he had been wandering around these parts?
Down the street and through more stalls, he continued. He would
sometimes catch a glimpse of the stranger through the thick smoke of fires as
he passed along another row. Despite the danger of what he was doing, his mind
was full of anticipation. He felt a rush in his groin and pushed onward to his
goal, his heart pounding. He was nervous and excited at once.
He turned a corner
suddenly and came face-to-face with patrolling police dressed in tunics of red,
with yellow sashes across their waists. They stood out against the dark clothes
of the people around them, who were trying to fade into the background. The
policemen were roughing up some poor soul. Tam held his breath and carried on
his way, sweat running down his brow and across his broad nose as he prayed to
the Goddesses that he not be discovered committing a crime against the Senate.
He convinced himself to relax. They were not Life-Line police
searching for mind-reading sexual deviants, but ordinary officers reacting to
something involving the man they were now beating. The poor unfortunate’s
pleading voice made Tam shiver and falter in his quest. Was he risking too
much? Would they also notice him and beat him, too? One eyed him as the other
continued clobbering the poor sap, now lying on the cobblestones. The victim’s
begging became shriller, distracting the policeman from Tam. He didn’t wait for
the opportunity to be noticed again. He left the scene with his heart pounding,
his emotions stirring inside him.
More switching of side streets allowed him to calm down and return
to his plan of finding the beach near the bridge. Tam continued to weave his
way slowly to his destination on the sandy beach below. Soon, there were fewer
and fewer stands with people calling for him to come and see their wares. He
kept going until there was just the empty and silent cobblestone street winding
down the hill toward the wooden bridge.
The three blue moons were lower in the sky now, and the light was
more diffuse and mysterious. As he reached the bridge, Tam cautiously glanced
around to see if there were any people present. There were none. He closed his
eyes and sensed the stranger nearby. His heart leaped and he swallowed, feeling
both the panic and the rush of the sexual hunt.
Tam stepped off the street, over the barriers of the walkway
and allowed his sandaled feet to dip into the soft, cool sand that glowed in
the moons’ light. The sound of nearby waves gently breaking on the shore wafted
up the beach along with their salty smell.
He slipped silently under the bridge and sat down, waiting
breathlessly. As he closed his eyes in anticipation, Tam sensed the stranger’s
presence. Then, there was the unmistakable, glorious smell of a man’s musky
scent beside him. He opened his eyes to find the stranger with blue eyes
sitting with his face close to his. Tam swallowed nervously and smiled.
Thank you for being our guest this week, Grant, and for sharing an excerpt. We wish you continued success with your writing.
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