Tag: SciFi (nonspecific)

Flash: Memory of a Kiss

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by YesMore Content on Unsplash

Cooling foam still dripped off the newly landed spaceship when the skin cracked and dropped a disembarking plank. Two spacers slid down the rail either side of the steps and barely caught the landing as they adjusted to full planetary gravity. Hurrying away from the ship, they ignored the person yelling words not legally usable on the planet. Local laws did treat ships like embassies, allowing some breaches in etiquette, and basically making the whole port a bastion against the religious restrictions found on Saints World.

The two ignored their fellow crewman. You snooze, you lose. Someone had to stay on ship at all times. Sucks to be Stan. Short for Standby for those who don’t spend a lot of time without gravity. After one final gesture, the figure walked away from the hole, the plank reversing course and resealing the skin. The younger of the two would apologize and trade out later. How much later remained to be seen.

A tiny bar cut out a corner of the customs area, inside the port. Spacers didn’t have to jump through immigration, visas, and tourist entry hoops to get their drink of choice.

“Beer,” were their first words in atmosphere in six weeks.

Saints World restricted words, religions, sex, genders, species, actions, imports, exports, clothing, and a host of other things. If humans could figure a way to make a law about it, Saints had a law. One of those laws was no drinking alcohol.

Except the monasteries made really good alcohol of all sorts – wine, beer, buzzbee, distilled liquors. None of it could be legally exported, except the buzzbee; too much money to be made there for the Church’s governmental coffers. For locals to drink, they had to pay an indulgence tax.

The Port of Call bar folded the tax into their fees; spacers didn’t care.

The two beers hit the smoothed, shiny local wood surface after credits transferred.

They sipped the drink slowly, swallowing carefully. Microgravity taught caution in eating and drinking; food couldn’t always figure which way was “down” when swallowing.

The younger of them shuddered, his Adam’s apple transversing up and down his throat with precision.

The elder set her drink down and sucked in the unrecycled funky air of the spacer joint, still sweeter in its own way than Far Meadows Finder, though she would never say that within the ship’s AI hearing range. She adjusted the ship’s earpod, verifying activation, something both of them should have done before leaving the ship. Mammy likely had followed the regulations to the letter, hence why he remained on ship. FMF pinged back.

The bartender leaned against the wall, watching the customs area for any clients. “Evie, Adrian, welcome back.”

“Father Andrews,” Evie nodded, taking another small sip of the nutty brew. “May as well pour Adrian another. He has the body mass for it.”

The young man hummed agreement beside her, breathing through his nose, the stein never leaving his lips.

“Done.” The monk-custom official drew another beer off the tap and placed it on the wood between them. “Sister Evie—”

“Just Evie, I wouldn’t want to be branded a heretic for assuming citizenship I had to give up.” She smiled sadly at him. “Spacer Evie if you must.”

Father Andrews leaned on the stool behind the bar, not quite sitting, likely some new restriction of when rest may be sought on a holy day. All days on Saints had some holiness to them. “Spacer Evie, may I ask a question?”

Adrian dropped one empty glass and reached for the next. The elder spacer laid a hand on his. “You only get this one, and in an hour you are reporting back to the ship. Think wisely about what is next.”

“Yes Captain.” He picked up the beer and edged toward the stained glass and plants decorating the customs waiting area.

Evie watched until he settled in the colored lights from the sunlight streaming through the glass from the local dual stars. “Please, ask away,” she said, taking another small sip.

“I know spacers can’t drink much in space. Especially crews the size of yours. Always on rotation and may need to respond with no moment’s notice in an emergency, therefore can’t afford any recreational impairment. But why is beer so important to new arrivals? It’s all they want. Not wine, not buzzbee, not whiskey or gin. Just beer.” The monk reached for the empty glass, accidently brushing the top of her hand where it lay on the bar. “I know you got The Neer, the near-beer substitute, but all spacers want is beer as soon as they arrive.”

“The Neer is worse than pis…not quite perfect.” Evie changed her words soon enough the high-ranking monk wouldn’t need to report them. The custom’s area did obey planetary regulations, mostly.

The Saint grounder shook his head. “I know it is not Blue Mountains or Crystal Stream, but the bitter and hops has a good mouth feel. Sure the foam is missing, but you can’t have that in space.”

“Worst thing inside the skin, needing to burp and can’t because the body doesn’t know how to in the microgravs.” Evie ran a finger through the condensation, wondering at it. On ship, those drops would be breaking off into balls of water she would be needing hunt down, while the other on-duty crewman would be adjusting environment to prevent more condensation from occurring. “Neer isn’t beer, even with the trippy version providing the five minutes relaxation effect. No bubbles. The bitter is off somehow. Gravity holds the world.” She shrugged, taking another sip. “Drinking The Neer is like … a memory of kiss. When all you can have is the memory, you turn it over in your head a thousand times.” She looked at Father Andrews for a moment, pushing against at least four commandments but worth it, making eye contact with eyes that exactly matched Adrian’s in color. “But nothing can compare to being held and kissed by one you love.”

(words 1,002; first published 1/21/2024 – created 11/14/2023)

Editing Rant: Male Gaze or Empowerment?

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Dalton Smith on Unsplash

Right. So, is this manuscript I am editing awash with male gaze or empowerment?

What used to be empowerment in the 60s and 70s, an acknowledgment of a woman controlling her own sexuality and its presentation, has been turned on its head and now is seen as the male gaze.

Is the woman not wearing her bra because those contraptions hurt or because it’s time to show titties on the screen or page?

I think this manuscript could have worked even as late as the 80s, but times have changed, and the older writers and editors need to be aware of this. For heaven’s sake, READ GENRE from the last three years, not forty years ago.

Best way to explain the male gaze vs. empowerment discussion is by using two recent superhero movies: Wonder Woman (filmed by a woman) vs. Black Widow (in the Avengers filmed by a man).

Women have commented on their love of Wonder Woman landing and having her legs jiggle (not her boobs). Our heroine just goes in and gets things done. And when in combat, at least, the high heels get tossed out for combat boots.

Black Widow goes in and gets things done too, but the camera strokes her in a totally different way. Most people remember Black Widow in the Avengers scene with her tied to a chair. Yes, she is kick-ass, but it’s also her tied up and in heels, starts with a phone call and a high camera shot while she is seated. Avengers gets better once she gets into her leather armor fighting suit …. well, sort-of … not like it is an ACTUAL catsuit, even with the front unzipped to show off cleavage and she is shown in profile a lot for the boobs. I won’t start about the long hair in a combat specialist usually worn lose.

Oh.w.a.i.t.

Since she was trained to use sex as a weapon so it is all okay. It is empowering to females.

Suuurrreee, it can be considered “empowering” but who is the director trying to kid?

That is male gaze.

In this manuscript, the female main character is both a ninja and geisha – basically a Black Widow. Brought onboard the space ship and into a culture “far in advance” of her own (colonialism much?), she is expecting to have sex with those around her, but they are all Proper Men Who Would Never Take Advantage.

They do have drooling and wolf whistle issues (I’m not joking).

To her question of “do you need to use me as a geisha here?” when dealing with political situations, the male love interest is constantly answering “no, you don’t have to have sex with anyone”. It’s a running joke to the point of Kindergarten’s Cop “It’s not a TUMOR!” invasiveness (ha-ha, cue laugh track as a woman bows and asks for punishment through sex for angering the man).

The men around them are constantly going “why did anyone damage a beautiful GIRL this badly”. Clearly they are not the Horrible Types that did this to her (though they go to joy-houses where they can take advantage of this, but that only happened Before They Knew Her).

The secondary female character has been captured by the enemy and is under constant Threat of Rape by the Horrible Men.

Can you guess what happens when the two female character get together for the first time and are completely alone? Of course, we get a lesbian sex scene.

Did I mention the male love interest is married? But his wife is a shrew and cheats on him, so his interest as a forty-something man in the nineteen-year-old ninja-assassin he Rescued is totally acceptable.

All the women in this SCIENCE FICTION story have been raised and taught to use sex as a tool.

So empowering. (sarcasm font)

Note that this is a science fiction manuscript, not an erotica, not even being sold for its romantic elements.

I guess the best way to really capture why this is male gaze is the wash scene. The male is in water up to his neck and is the first to become aware of the other. The female is stretching and leaning over, half out of the water. The woman when she realizes she is not alone feels SAFER because a potential PROTECTOR is near. (Not a voyeur, secretly watching her, intentionally or unintentionally.)

It took me a moment to figure out if this is male gaze since they are both undressed and in the water, but then I realized we never “see” the male be naked or viewed sexually on the page during that scene, only the woman.

This continues throughout the manuscript.

I have a couple worse examples, but … and here is the sad thing … anything else would identify the book once it is published. EVERYTHING ABOVE IS SO COMMON, you might run across it in a dozen science fiction stories – books, television, movies, anime. In fact you already have again and again if you like science fiction. Think Firefly Inara as a companion, Fifth Element Leeloo needing love for activation (and as little clothes as possible), …

Hey – you, sci-fi writers. Update your tropes. You are embarrassing yourselves with how dated you are. Push the envelope forward, not backward.

Flash: Against the Sky

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Hassan Sherif on Unsplash

Rufus Orion Zerafshan showed up on time the day after Skyfall went black. As a middle manager in the recruitment and training department for Vella Utilities, his job wasn’t essential to the emergency but his particular job hadn’t been exempted from the blanket order of everyone report. He figured a day of shuffling paper in a heated office wouldn’t be a bad way to celebrate the success of his rebel cell group while everyone else ran around trying to get the power back on that they had taken down.

He had pulled it off. Nearly five years work to create the network needed. The big break happened sixteen months ago when the Home-at-Last terrorist attack showed the weakness in the grid. Then grooming and recruiting Taurus and Virga took another five months. With them in hand, the rest had fallen like dominoes.

Now he had proven himself. Make an impact, Scorpio had ordered. Have the city feel the grip of terror. Mission accomplished. Promotion within the organization should follow. Establishing a group raised him out of the general pool to middle management. Maybe next he could get an office with a window.

Rufus pressed the sensor under his name, smiling again at having his name with a permanent desk, and the door to his office slid open. “Scorp—” he cut himself off.

The man sitting at his desk said, “Close the door.”

Rufus slapped the inside sensor, then set it to private. “Is it…” he dropped his voice to a whisper, “safe for you to be here?”

Scorpio sat forward, his black Vella security uniform collar displaying two pips of a low-level patrolman. “Today no one is asking any questions of where security can and cannot be, thanks to you.” He gestured to the singular chair Rufus had in front of his desk for supplicants wanting to be hired into utilities.

The plastic molded seat had no comfort to its form deliberately, but Rufus sat quickly.

“No one will hear anything.” Scorpio touched a small box in the center of the desk. “Report.”

“Sir, it went off exactly as planned. What I submitted on Second-Day is exactly what happened.”

“I believe I told you to back off the Avery, compromising only one of their substations.”

“I’m sorry sir, but Taurus had infiltrated them first. Those devices have been in place since the summer, and the cell would have questioned if I told them not to attack Avery. The only way Vella remained untouched is by me lying about improvements being made to our internal security systems.”

Scorpio leaned back. “I didn’t realize the devices had been in place so long. You hadn’t indicated that. Weren’t you worried about them being found?”

“Virga is an artist, no one would suspect anything. And, sir, you did say to keep my reports to a bare minimum.” Rufus rocked back and forth to keep his butt from numbing. “Cell security. ‘You are an essential ingredient in our ongoing effort to reduce Security Risk.’ – Kirsten Manthrone. You said, the less people know the better.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Scorpio squeezed his fist tight enough the mysu-leather crackled. “Well, you did amazingly well and we will need to throw a couple of sacrifices to the Christians newsies before the hunt gets too deep. Where are Virga and Taurus and how soon can you arrange another meeting?”

Rufus jerked, a light flush rising against his skin. “Sir, I followed the plan. If successful, I dissolved the cell.”

“But you still have a way to get in contact with them?” Scorpio leaned forward. “Don’t you?”

“I mean, I still have Virga’s contact information somewhere in the … no, she helped me delete all connections between me and the others.” The ex-cell leader shook his head. “I think I remember where she lives, maybe. Somewhere in the New Hope Projects. She had scored exceptional during the vo-tech testing in third grade and became a gifted-potential.”

“And Taurus?”

“Leo hired him to move something and suggested I tap him for delivery connections.” Wiggling in the steadily more uncomfortable chair he had plucked out from the catalog for just this feeling, but never thinking he would be one in the seat, Rufus continued, “He was a dayworker for the Greens organic foods. I never learned where he lived. Perfect for cell security.”

“How about their names?”

“Virga and Taurus.”

Scorpio scoffed. “No, their real names.”

“I don’t remember.”

The security’s officer fist pounded the table, making everything on it jump. “You’ve been working with them for a year, and you don’t know their real names?”

“No sir, cell security.” Rufus leaned forward. “You said to keep everything as isolated as possible and I did. I did everything you told me to. No names, not ever.” Rufus actually knew both their names, where they lived, and their family connections, but rules were rules and Scorpio didn’t need to know he could reassemble the cell if he needed to. Because if he betrayed his people, Scorpio would think he would also be willing to betray him and Rufus didn’t think he would survive that. Better to appear to be an idiot that follows the procedures than a potential leak.

“Fuck.” Scorpio stood, circling the desk.

Rufus rose to meet him. The office barely had space for two men standing.

Gripping the rebel by the shoulder, the security officer asked, “You sure? The dogs are yelping for blood and tossing them some bones could save a lot of trouble.”

“Sir, I’m loyal. I do what I’m told.” Rufus looked as earnest as possible. “I did everything asked. We did a great work. ‘Individuals do not create rebellions; conditions do.’ – H. Rap Brown. These are the perfect conditions. The FirstLanders have to listen to our needs.”

“A rebel to the end.” Scorpio frowned. “We really could use more like you in this world Rufus.”

The manager stood a little taller under the grip of the other. “Thank you sir.”

“Too bad you died resisting arrest.”

A blast blew through Rufus’ belly and traveled part-way into the next office. The Vella security officer sent a second blast through the other man’s head, destroying the brain casing to keep any Pisces psychics from looking for evidence where they shouldn’t.

(words 1,045; first published 1/7/2024)

When the Stars Align series

  1. When the Stars Align (12/24/2023)
  2. Against the Sky (1/7/2024)

Book Review: Knight Errant (Knights of the Flaming Star Book 1)

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Amazon Cover (for audiobook)

Knight Errant (Knights of the Flaming Star Book One) by Paul Barrett and Steve Murphy

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Some days your past just won’t stay buried, not even among the stars….

The Knights of the Flaming Star are an elite space mercenary company, one of the best in the business, no matter which star system you’re in. But when an old friend turned arch-nemesis lays a careful trap for them, their leader Hawk falls right into it.

Well, he never could resist a pretty face. Or a good fight. And now he’s got both.

The Knights go from one end of known space to the other hunting down the people who are trying to smear their good name, chase down the folks that want to kill them, and maybe. Just maybe, bury the ghosts of their past once and for all.

Knight Errant is the first book in the thrilling space opera series Knights of the Flaming Star from rising stars Steve Murphy and Paul Barrett. With a Firefly-style band of lovable misfits and Star Wars-level action, Knight Errant is a rollicking space adventure story for a new generation.

 

MY REVIEW

A multiplanet ranging space opera with long-standing feuds, cyber-wear addicts, sleek spaceships, and mustard-eating aliens. Following the Knights of the Flaming Star as they do good provided a delightful couple days of reading.

Fun, if a little predictable to people who love this genre. One of the things I liked best is the good guys have to break into places quietly several times and not once were the obstacles they face the same – Everything from animals to old-fashion mechanical barriers, guards to locks. Great problem-solving!

I did find the cyber-magic a lot overpowerful and hope the next book has bad guys with these abilities. Superman needs to face off Superman. On the other hand, the equation magic is really, really cool!!!

Flash: When the Stars Align

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Image from freedigitalphotos.net

“Second moon rising.” Leo glances over at me.

“I see it,” I grunt as I continue to mess with the wires.

“You sure about this?” Taurus asks from where he leans against a bula-bula tree.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” I mutter. “When do you ever leave the house if you aren’t sure about it?”

He laughs. “But are you sure, Virga?”

“By the stars, of course I am sure.” I press the last of the wires into place then snap the soldering stick and shake it to heat the tip.

“Our little Virga is always sure, you know that Taurus.”

“So help me, I will solder you mouth shut Leo if you call me little one more time.”

“Little girl, little life, little soft lips.”

“Little patience.” The tip of the stick turns blue, so I tap my glasses, activating the safety feature and they mold to my face.

“Big boobs.” I see Taurus gesture like I have mammillarias the size of a cow, big enough to weigh down his huge hands. Leo makes some gesture back that sets Taurus laughing again.

Gemini arrives with Sagittarius and the first question out of her mouth is, “Did I miss anything?” Her fear of missing out was high.

“Is the city still lit?” Leo waves at the sprawling slums rising into rundown tenant shacks to somewhat sturdy worker class apartments, and finally the soaring sparkling towers of the ultrarich, the few middle-class dwellings hidden under their glare.

“Of course it is,” Gemini walks over to beside Leo at the edge of the cliff, while Sagittarius sits down beside me. “Damn, this is beautiful. Are we sure about this?”

“What is it with everyone?” I ask, setting the spent stick on the purple grass. “Look, if you want to back out now, this is the last moment.” We hadn’t made the kick-off box until now to prevent the damn Pisces psychics from seeing anything. With the soldering done, all the links were clicking in place.

Sagittarius places his hand behind my neck and massages my tight muscles. “We aren’t backing out now. We’ve tried everything else. ‘A riot is the language of the unheard.’ – Martin Luther King Jr.”

“It’s not exactly a riot, Sag.” Taurus argued. “We are turning off the electric to four million people.”

“’A populous never rebels from passion for attack, but from impatience of suffering.’ – Edmund Burke.” Our resident archer moves behind my back and starts massaging me in earnest. “We are only applying a little suffering. It’s fall – not too cold, not too hot. But maybe we will wake the sheep.”

“Careful,” I say, “I hurt my left shoulder earlier, don’t rub too hard.”

“Well, I’m tired of waiting. You all may be of two minds about this,” Leo strides over to where I sat. “Give it here and I will set it off.”

I happily pass him up the activator, taking a little enjoyment at watching the pompous ass juggle the hot object. After pulling his cardigan over his hand, he turns it over in his hand and nods. Returning to his previous position overlooking Skyfall, he announces, “Now they must hear us.” He snaps the switches close, completing the circuit.

After a few moments, with the skyline lights remaining unchanged, he turns the switches to their previous positions carefully then snaps the again. The rapidly switches them back and forth between what he obviously thought were the on and off positions. “Nothing’s happening!” he yells before yeeting the device over the cliff.

I’m not even mad.

I lean against Sagittarius and just say, “Wait for it.”

“Everything is in the right place.” Taurus reaffirms behind us.

Seconds later, a quarter of the Needle, the skyscraper belonging to the Greens, the FirstLanders family owning the terraforming machines who are inching the creation of agricultural land to maximize food prices without anyone *important* starving, flicks off. The west side slums follow. The Crown Cathedrals, owned by the Christians – purveyors of news, entertaining, and publishing, darken one after the other with their surrounding tenant slums. Only the Avery Tower is left of the ones we could figure out on the electric grid how to access.

The lights turn off from the bottom to the top, one floor at a time, with matching rays shooting out of blackness running through the poor sections as though reaching for the full moon opposite us. There will be no banking tomorrow until that gets sorted out. To the East side, the Vella Conglomerate remain shining. Of course the family running the government and governmental services made sure their stations were updated as soon as the rebels in Home-at-Last showed the weakness in the utility structure, but they didn’t bother spending the money they collected in taxes to protect anyone else.

That is going to come back to bite them if the Christian press agents interpret the clues we left for them to find correctly. Some FirstLander infighting will only help the cause.

“We did it.” Leo says.

“Of course we did.” I snap. “Have a little faith.”

Sagittarius stands, “Now we go. I shall miss you. ‘We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.’ – Tim McGraw.” He holds out a hand to help me up, which I need after being huddled over the switch since the first moonrise.

After shaking out my legs, I say. “I shall miss you too Sag, Bull.” I nod to each. “Gem.” I grab her in a huge hug.

“Virga.” She holds me tight in return.

“Hey, what about me?” Leo opens his arms wide.

I walk away to where I left my backpack giving him the finger behind me.

After the last year, I’m ready to go back to being just Elisa, electrical student at the Vella Training Grounds where Sagittarius had recruited me for his rebellion cell.

Being Elisa again would be nice. At least until those in power figure it out. Best guess, I might live to see tomorrow’s nightfall. If they find Leo first, we won’t last until dawn.

Behind me, I hear motors start for the richer members of our group. Taurus will be going back to wherever he came from on foot. Like me, he was recruited for just this mission. I slide on my backpack and turn around to stare at the half-lit cityscape. Fires brightened some of the darker areas as the riots start.

I did that. Me and Taurus really. We had the know-how they needed.

Now we are on our own again and their super-secret cell will hide among the rich and wealthy.

I shall miss Virga and all the excitement she brought to my life for the last year.

But I shall miss Elisa more. The me from birth.

I drop my IDs on the ground with the two of the trackers the elite put into workers, one for me and one for Taurus. He dug out mine and I dug out his before the bigwigs got here.

“This is the last moment.” I tell myself, looking at the pile. Am I really going to do this?

I pour acid over the batch. “Rest in peace Elisa.” I drop the plastic container that held the acid onto the pile then pull out my two backup solder sticks. Cracking them, I drop them onto the flammable acid and walk away quickly from the cliff and from my life in Skyfall.

(words 1,246; first published 12/24/2023)

When the Stars Align series

  1. When the Stars Align (12/24/2023)
  2. Against the Sky (1/7/2024)