Sometimes writing is like breathing; you don’t even have to think about it. Ideas crystallize into prose, in a process that is as effortless as it is mysterious.
On the other hand, there are the times when you have wrestle with every sentence. You emerge from a writing session aching and mentally bloodied, wondering how you’re ever going to get the story out of your head and onto the page.
Writing Free Fall was like that. I started it back in April of this year. These days I don’t have much time to write; my day job sucks up huge amounts of time. Still, 33K words in seven months is pretty sad. My online crit group was a huge help, but given their feedback, I found myself doing significant rewrites to every chapter.
Aside from the work, I was dogged by uncertainty. Until the very end, I really didn’t know how I was going to bring Rain and Mariel’s story to a satisfying conclusion and tie up the loose ends. Anxiety, frustration, a sense of inadequacy – that’s how I am going to remember the process of writing this book.
Still, now that it’s done and published, I am fairly happy with it. When I view the cover, which was my original inspiration, I feel I’ve captured the mood and brought the two women seated at that table to life. Love, desire and desperation: that’s what the cover says to me, and I think that’s what I’ve written.
Blurb
Welcome to Xanadu. For its elite customers, a space-based paradise of pleasure. For the slaves who work there, hell orbiting Earth.
Innocent and inexperienced, Mariel Linderman sells herself to Xanadu to rescue her farming family from starvation. Streetwise Rain Delgado accepts assignment as a Pleasure Rep in lieu of a prison sentence for murder. In a world that strictly prohibits same-sex relations, the passion that flares between them brings terrible risks. Their unexpected heart-and-soul connection turns their already precarious existence into a clandestine struggle for survival.
The Hook
Mariel arrives at the cafeteria at 1245. It’s bustling. She scans the rows of tables and locates Rain in the far corner, in a less crowded area. Using her wristband, she orders a soy-cheese sandwich and reconstituted orange juice, then takes her tray over to Rain’s table. Her heart slams against her ribs as she approaches her lover.
Rain is dressed for work, in pale, lace-trimmed lingerie that highlights her tawny skin. She’s so desirable that she steals Mariel’s breath and makes it hard to speak.
“Uh—do you mind if I sit here?” Mariel feels shy and flustered, despite their history.
Rain’s mouth quirks in the hint of a grin. “Of course not. I’m happy to have company.”
Mariel takes a chair across from Rain. She is dying to tell Rain how much she has missed her, how she dreams about holding the other woman close, how she wakes with the memory of Rain’s taste in her mouth.
Does Rain feel the same overwhelming longing? Her beautiful, exotic face gives nothing away.
Mariel wonders if Rain has had any ideas about how they can get away from Xanadu. She wants to ask if her friend has had further contact with the technician who’s infatuated with her. Stuart, that was his name. Apparently he doesn’t have a lot of responsibility, but he seems to be skilled at ferreting out useful information.
Of course she cannot talk about any of these topics. Instead she addresses herself to her sandwich. The silence grows along with her frustration. Their times together are so rare, but this feels like a waste. It’s almost like punishment, to be so physically close to Rain and be forced into this distance.
She remembers wondering about Rain’s past. Would that be safe? Would Rain be willing to share?
“Where did you grow up?” Mariel asks. She hears the uncertainty in her own voice.
Rain skewers her with a sharp look before answering. “New York. Manhattan. But I was born in Dominica. Gangs and riots. Blood and hunger. My mother and I escaped. She sold the only thing she had to get us to America.” She glances down at her seductive costume and shrugs. “I was seven—less than a year before Enbro came to power.”
“So—so you’re not a U.S. citizen?” Mariel remembers how it was, in the months after the coup, when the Army had swept up tens of thousands of “illegals”, dumped them onto boats and pushed them into the sea. “How did you…?”
“My mother got a job as a cleaner at the New York Public Library. The board let us live in the basement. They’re all billionaires, but none too fond of Enbro Marks and his crew.”
“You were lucky.”
“Luckier than some, anyway.” She seems to sense Mariel’s concern. “Couldn’t go to school, but I grew up surrounded by the world’s knowledge. I probably got a better education than you did.”
Mariel giggles. “Likely so. I was more concerned with cheerleading and make-up than chemistry and math. Though I did win the Miss Witchita beauty contest in my senior year.”
Rain’s expression melts into tenderness. “I’m not surprised. You’re a true all-American beauty.”
Mariel drains the last of her ersatz orange juice and grimaces. “That didn’t do me much good, did it?”
“Ah, but you wouldn’t have gotten this prime job as a Xanadu Pleasure Rep if you’d been less gorgeous.”
They laugh together, the precious moment of shared intimacy confirming their bond. Mariel is dying to reach across the table to grasp Rain’s hand. With the greatest of difficulty, she suppresses the urge.
Rain catches and holds her gaze in a long moment of potent silence. In her lover’s dark eyes, Mariel sees desire and need that mirror her own.
“It’s getting late,” Rain says at last. “I’ve got a client at 1500.”
“That’s when I go on duty, too.” Despair settles like a damp blanket on Mariel’s spirit. She feels suddenly exhausted.
“Let’s leave separately.”
Mariel wants to scream, to protest, to beg for another few minutes of Rain’s company. She knows that’s impossible, though. “When…?”
“Soon,” her companion murmurs. “As soon as I can. I’ll let you know.” For an instant, Rain drops her guard and Mariel understands: she’s just as desperate for them to be together.
Books2Read UBL: https://books2read.com/u/mKeK0E
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242662867-free-fall
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/free-fall-escape-from-xanadu-by-lisabet-sarai
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