The future of Rapunzel, floating towers and braided silk

Braided Silk has released from Liquid Silver Books! This novella features a future of urban sprawl, pollution, bio-tech, and an out-of-control mad scientist. But it's also a story of self, finding what it means to be human, and love. Between primal attraction and expectations, love can get lost, but Zel and Langley struggle to find and keep that bond between them.

My second Future Tale, Braided Silk is another twisted fairytale in the futuristic setting of New Castle. Read an excerpt on my website, or check it out at Liquid Silver Books.

Braided Silk

Futuristic Romance/Twisted Fairytale/Biopunk -- Novella
Rapunzel was made with technologically advanced hair. As a trained Mother agent, Zel can't escape the DNA that makes her a pawn in corporate espionage. Kidnapped and held in a tower on Gothel Island, she falls to the sexual allure of her captor’s son, Langley, a man whose every tantalizing touch makes her forget she wasn’t born human.

Langley Gothel protests the existence of creations such as Zel, but when faced with losing her, he sees the truth: Life is precious, whether born, modified, or shaped in a Petri dish. He does the one thing he's thought he'd never do. He has to give up Zel, or become a mod. But will that be enough to get them down from the floating islands and safely to ground?

From Liquid Silver Books

Also available from
All Romance eBooks -- Amazon / Kindle

The first Future Tale, Jaq's Harp, is on sale for $1.99 through the month of November. If you haven't read it, not to worry, both novellas are stand-alone, but if you want more of the world of floating islands and futuristic fairytales, now's the time to check it out.

If you'd like a copy of Braided Silk, leave a comment! I'll pick a random commenter to win an ebook copy. Contest closes December 1st. Winner announced on the 2nd.

Contemporaries for the Spec Fic Romance reader

So you want to read a contemporary...

If you're like me, you read paranormal or science fiction/fantasy romance almost exclusively. But if you're also like me, there are times when the mood for a contemporary strikes. Recently on twitter, I butted in on a conversation between @moirarogersbree and @sknighteditor about this topic and ended up buying Below the Belt by Sarah Mayberry for my Nook Color reading pleasure. This was an easy choice for me to make, since her Anything for You (Harlequin Blaze) is one of the few contemporaries on my keeper shelf.

As I read this book and quite enjoyed it, I wondered what appealed to me as a SF Romance reader and writer. This was also intriguing to me because in addition, I don't enjoy boxing (both the hero and heroine are boxers). It's the world-building, of course! Mayberry does an exceptional job of creating a world, even if it's a "real world" contemporary. She's done her research. I felt as if I could understand boxing, the business and the personalities. I didn't get lost, there weren't too many details, just the right amount.

But that's not all. There's the obvious romantic tension, but there's also action. There are elements of physical danger. And suspense. How in the world could they make all this work?

Top all that off with a heroine who knows her business, she trains hard and well, she'd unapologetic about her sexual needs--yes! Completely unapologetic! And she doesn't change for the hero. He loves her as she is, and she doesn't get weak just because she falls in love.

So, if you're in the mood for some contemporary amid your paranormals and scifis, this is a great one.

Have any recs for contemporaries for the speculative romance reader?