Angel Martinez's Blog

A brand new ESTO Universe novel - By Imperial Decree launched today!

An Imperial prince can only hide for so long—but his solution of a hastily invented engagement could backfire spectacularly.

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By Imperial Decree

Seven books, three collections of short fiction, over seven years - this crew has made a mess of my brain rooms long enough! This is it!

I'll always love Shax and his expandable found family of misfits, but this series arc is over. There is an end. And it's only fair to let them have it for now. (You'll understand when you get to the ending. :) )



A Fine Mess: Brimstone 7

Available in ebook with paperback and audio coming soon.

https://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com/s...

https://www.amazon.com/Fine-Mess-Brim...

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https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-fi...

I've had readers ask over the past few years, "Where's Sub Zero? Why can't I find it?" It has been out of print since Amber Quill had to close their publishing doors.

But as of this week - It's Back.

Sub Zero: an ESTO Universe Story is now available from Mischief Corner Books, newly edited with a lovely new cover:

Sub Zero

Mischief Corner Books
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Coming up next in July, I have the finale of the Brimstone series coming out! A Fine Mess is 80k of Shax and company doing their best to turn the tables on the enemies who've hunted them for so long.

A Fine Mess

Eating Stars is science fiction, but unlike a lot of my other SF work, this one takes place in the near future. Our Earth, with our tech, slightly up ahead.

But it does assume several things that I hope will be true in the near future: no pandemic, a less hostile country, and a sane government for the US.

Come and hope with me in Eating Stars :

The escape pods fall to Earth one by one over the course of weeks, a mysterious and diverse alien diaspora, each pod containing a different alien race and leaving the world's governments scrambling to deal with this unexpected immigration. Serge Kosygin, still grieving and isolated after his husband's death, watches events with gray disinterest until one day he witnesses a pod crash for himself while driving home. Two of the alien visitors have died, but one survives, badly injured, and Serge is determined that if this alien is also going to die, it won't be under the harsh lights of a government facility.

Devastated by the loss of his life mates in their desperate effort to reach safety, the knowledge that Een is the last Aalana in this sector of the galaxy only compounds his sorrow. He wakes in an alien dwelling under the care of one of the native dominant builder species, a being who appears to share nothing with Een besides a bipedal structure. Slowly, with the help of his patient and kind host, he discovers they are more similar than he imagined as they share harmonies and his host assists him with language acquisition.

Their tentative first contact soon evolves into a deepening friendship, a balm for two grief-weary souls. They'll need each other and their growing bond for the troubles lurking just ahead.

Eating Stars

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087ZWTHF9

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Tomorrow is the launch of the Annual Angel Martinez Lesbian Science Fiction Humor Holiday story (AAMLSFHH) launches for 2019. Heck knows we could use some humor to end this year.

My first AAMLSFHH was based on the posts about Human Steve. If you've never read them, look them up. You won't be sorry. The second was based on the classic vacation gone wrong trope. And this year? Most of you will recognize specific horror tropes here - but I promise it's not horror at all.

The Solstice Pudding. When enthusiastic intentions go terribly wrong.


Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082PSG31R

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It's launch day for The Mage on the Hill!

M/M Urban Fantasy with magic users and peril and Oreos!

A huge thank you to Dreamspinner for taking this one on, to my amazing editor, Rose Archer, and to Tiferet Designs for the lovely, lovely cover.



The Mage on the Hill

Toby’s wild magic is killing him. The mage guilds have given up on him, and it’s only a matter of time before he dies in a spectacular, catastrophic bang. His only hope is an exiled wizard who lives in seclusion—and is rumored to have lost his mind.

The years alone on his hilltop estate have not been good for Darius Valstad. After the magical accident that disfigured him and nearly drowned Pittsburgh, he drifts through his days, a wraith trapped in memories and depression. Until a stricken young man collapses on his driveway, one who claims Darius is his last chance. For the first time in fifteen years, Darius must make a choice—leave this wild mage to his fate or take him in and try to teach him, which may kill them both. The old Darius, brash and commanding, wouldn’t have hesitated. Darius the exile isn’t sure he can find the energy to try.

Hi all! This year's holiday story released today - a space opera humor novella since I had so much fun with last year's.

Yule Planet: Escape from the Holidays



Escape from the Holidays

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Release Date: December 22, 2018

Word Count: 30,500

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase



Sofia Cancino is tired of her mundane life, her artificial environment and her large, boisterous family descending every holiday season. She's promised herself this year will be different and books a stay on the exclusive—and expensive--holiday-themed resort, Yule Planet. She looks forward to being pampered while reconnecting with Old Earth traditions steeped in the magic and mysticism of nature. Everything will be perfect and she'll leave as a more authentic human, better connected to her roots.



Naturally, things go horribly wrong. Sofia's landing pod goes off course and instead of stepping out on the landing pad at the resort, she finds herself in the snow-swept perpetual winter of the planet's hinterlands. If that wasn't bad enough, she's "rescued" by a band of criminals on work release who run deliveries to the resort from far-flung shuttle delivery sites. They refuse to take her, a paying customer, to the resort and insist on dragging her along on their parcel run. Riding giant monsters. In frigid weather. Not to mention, Marta, who handles the monsters, obviously hates her.



If Sofia survives her vacation, she's definitely yelling at someone's supervisor until she gets a refund.

This week's big news is the release of the first book in a brand new series co-written with Freddy MacKay. :)

Lijun is urban fantasy with dual-natured beings and the first book, Fireworks and Stolen Kisses, is about what happens when you find your destined mate...and they don't believe in destined mates.

Fireworks and Stolen Kisses: Lijun 1

Fireworks and Stolen Kisses

At the annual Global Lijun Alliance conference in Tokyo, Tally Bastille makes the first impulsive decision of his life. Others perceive his uktena—the enormous legendary serpent that's his dual-spirit—as a threat, which makes him all too aware that he frightens fellow lijun. But an encounter with a passionate, obviously not-straight otter lijun one evening convinces Tally that he's found his Em'halafi, his destined match. Tally is determined to barrel through all obstacles to make the match happen, including the otter's conservative, traditional family.

Trained as a Satislit—a bride son—Haru Tanaka chafes at the strict boundaries set around their life. They rebel against their clan's constant attempts to force an arranged match and wish desperately for someone who will love them. At the conference, Haru is horrified to learn their family has accepted an offer for them, one too lucrative for the clan to refuse. Not only has the Urusar sold Haru to a stranger, but the lijun is also a giant snake and one who believes in the tired old superstitions regarding Em'halafi. Threatened with banishment if they refuse, Haru has no choice but to marry the wealthy American serpent.
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Back in Tally's home in Wisconsin, Haru and Tally must navigate both the widening gulf between them as they realize how much they've misunderstood about each other, and the tricky politics of the lijun clan Tally leads. Murder, intrigue, and increasing hostility threaten to tear apart the little town of Wadiswan and the arranged marriage they've barely managed to begin.

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Also, if you've been looking for the Endangered Fae series and haven't been able to find it, the new versions are coming out through Pride Publishing.

Finn is already back out on the e-shelves while Diego comes up for pre-order July 3.

Finn

About a year ago, I started on Brandywine Investigations #5 with a huge surge of over-optimism, truly believing I could sandwich in completion between deadline commitments.

(This is the part where we all throw our heads back and laugh.)

Anyway, the long-awaited release is this month and the next Brandywine omnibus is up for pre-order now. (Yay!) So for those of you who heard me read excerpts at Bishounen Con and at Annie's in Worcester, I'm so sorry it took this long.

Without further ado, Brandywine Investigations: Family Matters, releasing February 28.

With his career firmly established and his reputation as a successful PI growing, Hades should have the perfect life with his human lover, his faithful ferryman, his dogs and the parts of his family still speaking to him. But murder and chaos are never far away for death lords as his nephew Dionysus and his oldest friend Charon are drawn into the maelstrom.

Please note: Books, Bulls & Bacchanals has been re-edited for this edition.

Family Matters includes:

Books, Bulls and Bacchanals (Brandywine #4) - the god of wine and orgies teams up with the librarian of the gods to investigate a murder. Should go well, don't you think?

Midwinter Dancing (Brandywine 4.5) - Ing's grandmother has always told her about meeting the old gods. She's never believed it until one snowy midwinter night.

Pack Up The Moon (Brandywine 5) - Death isn't working within normal parameters. Charon the ferryman needs to figure out why before it's too late, with or without the help of a certain, paws-in-everything raccoon god.

Brandywine Investigations: Family Matters

Something a little different for a holiday story this year. Mischief Corner Books was looking for diverse LGBTQ holiday stories, so I wrote one on a spaceship.

Don't look at me like that. It'll be fun. Promise.

Safety Protocols For Human Holidays has as its inspiration a series of Tumblr posts that make the rounds sometimes about Human Steve and the efforts of his alien friends to understand him. (Go find some - they're hilarious.)

In this case, it's Human Jen, the only human on an interspecies ship and her shipmates' efforts to understand why she's behaving- not like herself.

F/F science fiction holiday humor - up for pre-order now, releasing December 9. :)

Safety Protocols for Human Holidays: A Holiday to Remember

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