The Skinny

“Ko maua Ia Moana Male’ana (Our Ocean Wedding Day),” the third story from my upcoming Prelude to Spiral Legion collection has been published as an ebook on kindle! If you love action, adventure, oceans, weddings and mermaids, this is the short story for you! Warning for you sensitive types, the mother-in-law to be is a real b*tch! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JOARK3M

The eBook Blurb

2176, Off the Coast of the California Islands

A stormy morning in June, nearly fifty years since the Great Quake, Coast Guardsman Lieutenant Derrick “Dee” Keyes, first mate of the 310 foot, MYSTIC-Class Cutter Zyrfass, had cut his bachelor party short to join a rescue operation. Semper Paratus, “always ready,” was the call to duty that drove him to become a Guardsman in the first place, but he sure hoped the op wouldn’t spill into his wedding day.

His fiancée, marine agriculture technician Anjaneia Nui Waikamali`i, a third generation mermaid, homo sapiens aquarius, was teardrop-shaped for aqua-dynamics; she had long, webbed hands and feet that looked more like flippers; and gills that ran along her neck and ribcage for long term submerged breathing. She was funny, fierce and had a voice like a Hawaiian sunset.

Architeuthopolis shook and groaned with the churning of the sea. City maintenance teams worked tirelessly to batten down the hatches
and fortify connecting corridors in the vast ocean floor habitat composed of thirty-five interlocking modules.  Each module was self-sufficient, at least in the short-term, and, if necessary, could be rearranged or moved according to environmental conditions or the needs of the inhabitants. Many of the modules were designed after sea creature archetypes and had been given their counterpart designations like Crab Hall, Sand Dollar Station, and Coral Row.

Derrick’s family had arrived three days before, from Florida, and his mother Gladadale had complained from the moment she had set foot in the undersea habitat. Sand Dollar Station was too cold, Lobster Pavilion was too hot, and the whole thing was claustrophobic. Oh, and she hated seafood. Anjaneia took this all in stride. Derrick had warned her that his mother hadn’t been the same since his father died in one of the last great quakes, and she had made the difficult decision to move back to Florida to live with her folks. So she was a little bitter and angry, but once she warmed up to Anjaneia—and how could she not?—she would be fine.

Anjaneia felt three years, never mind days, wouldn’t be enough to warm this woman up.

There was going to be a wedding.

And there was going to be a tsunami.

Would love survive?

Behind the eBook and Beyond

Ko maua Ia Moana Male ‘ana (Our Ocean Wedding Day) is set in a timeline of future history that leads into Spiral Legion, the Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game. I have written a number of stories inspired by fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast, so I thought, why not a story about a mermaid? Though this one is based in science rather than mythology, and explores the future of family and tradition, overpopulation and natural disasters, while still having a love story at its core. It may not be the most sci-fi horror story I’ve ever written, but for those that know me, I’m a pretty big sap. (i.e., love Sarah McLachlan, Casablanca, Spider-Man and, guiltiest of pleasures, Days of Our Lives)

In the next few years I will be releasing the Prelude to Spiral Legion short story collection, Spiral Legion: The Havel Imperatives and the
roleplaying game itself, as well as a series of resource guides. For more information on the game, and for the latest updates, please visit https://facebook.com/Spiral Legion!

Ko maua Ia Moana Male ‘ana (Our Ocean Wedding Day) is the third in the Prelude to Spiral Legion short story collection to be made available independently. Cleaner than Spotless and The Skies of Mars were made available on kindle April 2012 and November 2013 respectively. Pick up your copies today!

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