Hi, everyone! I'm doing a Book Hooks post again this week. Today I'm featuring my Rainbow Award winning dystopian MM romance, Quarantine. And, to thank you for dropping by, I'm giving away a copy of my MM short, Crossed Hearts. All you have to do is leave a comment with your email address!
Blurb
When
love is forbidden, the whole world's a prison.
Dylan
Moore will do anything for freedom. Seven years ago, a gay plague
spread to heterosexuals, killing millions and sparking brutal
anti-gay riots. The Guardians rounded up men who tested positive for
the homogene and imprisoned them in remote quarantine centres like
desolate Camp Malheur. Since then, Dylan has hacked the camp's
security systems and hoarded spare bits of electronics, seeking some
way to escape. He has concluded the human guards are the only
weakness in the facility's defences.
Camp
guard Rafe Cowell is H-negative. He figures the lust he feels
watching prisoner 3218 masturbate on the surveillance cameras must be
due to his loneliness and isolation. When he finally meets the young
queer, he discovers that Dylan is brilliant, brave, sexy as hell –
and claims to be in love with Rafe. Despite his qualms, Rafe finds he
can't resist the other man's charm. By the time Dylan asks for his
help in escaping, Rafe cares too much for Dylan to refuse.
Dylan's
plan goes awry and Rafe comes to his rescue. Soon they're both
fugitives, fleeing from militant survivalists, murderous androids,
homophobic ideologues and a powerful man who wants Dylan as his
sexual toy. Hiding in the Plague-ravaged city of Sanfran, Dylan and
Rafe learn there's far more than their own safety at stake. Can they
help prevent the deaths of millions more people? And can Rafe trust
the love of a man who deliberately seduced him in order to escape
from quarantine?
Excerpt (PG)
He brought the
cycle to a stop some thirty feet beyond the moat and let his lungs
empty. He stared back at the ugly bulk of Malheur Camp. The
floodlights came on, bathing the ground around the fence in a sickly
yellow glare. The barren soil where he stood, outside the range of
the lights, was still a featureless grey. Evening deepened as Rafe
perched there on the trike, trying to figure out what to do next.
If Dylan had made
it past the moat, he’d be on foot. Rafe could easily catch him on
the cycle, but only if he knew which direction the boy had taken.
Dylan was probably too smart to keep to the road. On the other hand,
he’d said he was headed for the city. Rafe guessed he meant
Sanfran. Ellay was too far away and since the eruption of 2024,
nobody really considered Portland a city anymore.
Southwest, then. If
he wanted to find the boy, that’s the way he should head. But maybe
he should give up, go back to the camp and admit that they’d all
been outsmarted. The Guardians would probably discipline both him and
Turk, but what could the higher-ups do, really? Fire them for
incompetence?
Rafe gave a bitter
laugh. As the sound died away, he thought he heard something
else—something like a moan, barely audible but definitely human.
He listened
carefully to the quiet night. There it was again—a soft sound of
someone in agony, coming from near the bridge.
Dylan! Rafe
scrambled off the trike and headed towards the sound, holding his
breath once again. He scanned the bank. There! By the edge of the
moat, in the shadow of the criss-crossed girders, there was something
that looked like a pile of rags. He inched closer, trying to ignore
the sting as the toxic vapours attacked his skin. The bundle of cloth
stirred and coughed. Rafe rushed over, crouched down and turned the
body onto its back. Then he gasped and choked himself as noxious
fumes rushed into his throat.
Dylan’s cheeks
and brow were peppered with oozing sores. His eyes were swollen shut.
His thick tongue protruded between cracked lips. His fingers twitched
feebly.
Rafe half-dragged,
half-carried the younger man away from the river of poison. He
stretched the limp body out on the ground, shielded by the trike.
“Dylan!” he cried, as the fresher air filled his chest. “It’s
me, baby. Oh God, Dylan!”
Dylan coughed and
sputtered. Greenish spittle trickled from his mouth.
“Breathe, kid.
Breathe!”
Dylan seemed to
hear. His raw lips moved, as though he wanted to say something.
Rafe needed water,
to wash the man’s wounds and clean away the chemical residue. He
needed anti-bacterial salve and collagen strips and enzyme patches to
stimulate healing. Not to mention an oxygen tank to force the poison
out of Dylan’s lungs.
That meant
civilization, or what passed for it here in the wastelands of Oregon.
The closest settlements, though, were at least two hundred miles
away.
Rafe lifted Dylan’s
body once more and settled it on the seat of the trike. Dylan slumped
against the windscreen. Rafe mounted the bike behind the inmate,
slipping one arm around his waist for support while steering with the
other.
“Rafe?” Dylan’s
voice was weak but intelligible. He raised his head then let it flop
back onto Rafe’s chest.
“Yeah, it’s me.
Just relax, boy. Hang on. I’m going to get you some help.” Rafe
started the cycle and turned it towards the ribbon of crumbling
asphalt that stretched westward.
The other man
leaned against Rafe’s body. “Mmm,” he murmured. “Good.”
Strangely enough,
it was good. Despite his worry about Dylan, Rafe felt a kind of
contentment as they raced off into the night. The wind was fresh and
cool in his face. The motor hummed between his thighs. Dylan’s
weight was a welcome reminder that for once, Rafe was not alone.
The cycle ate up
the miles. Dylan slept, curled against him. Inside Rafe’s chest, a
quiet joy took root and grew stronger. For the first time in years,
Rafe felt free.
Buy
links
Amazon:
Pride
Publishing:
Barnes
and Noble
Goodreads
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6 comments:
i need to read this. The scale of your world building took my breath away
Thanks, Kryssie!
I love dystopian novels. Would never write one, much too dark. But this one looks really good. I totally agree with Kryssie's comment.
INTENSE!!!! Tweeted.
Wow, I can totally "see" the setting. Awesome post!
Jeez, I like Portland and you just . . . blew it off the map. ;-)
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