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Under a New Star

By Leo D’Entremont

Four stars

The only thing wrong with Leo D’Entremont’s novella “Under a New Star” is that is ought to be the beginning of a series. It’s part of the Advent 2014 collection by Dreamspinner Press, although the Christmas connection is hardly crucial in the story.

I love angels, and the various ways they’ve appeared in m/m novels in my recent reading history. This is a sci-fi variation, offering the fabulous premise that winged humans are genetically designed and raised on Earth to help colonize low-gravity planets light-years away. One small joke is that these created humanoids are never to be referred to as angels; they’re Morphs.

Lieutenant Michael Lopez and his Morph, Adrian are part of a cutting edge interstellar project in the 26th century. Earth has survived the Last War, and all races and cultures have mingled contentedly (happy to have not died, apparently). The genetically perfect Morphs are paired with scientist partners trained with complementary skills. They are meant to be work pairs, not friends, according to the protocols established on Earth. Michael and Adrian, however, have crossed than line and then some.

I’d love to know what it’s like to have sex with a man who has wings. Just once. Really. *shiver*

This is not a high-anxiety novella; it smacks of traditional stories of inappropriate workplace romances—with the added frisson of the sci-fi angle. But D’Entremont’s world-building is elegant and vivid, and the straightforward plot development that leads to the penultimate crisis is handled with a minimum of needless bodice-ripping.

Problem is, I wanted more when the tale was told. This is a novella that should be part one of a much longer novel that embraces the subtle shift in power on the new planet, for which the Morphs were designed.