About Rocks and Hard Places
by JJ Massa
77 pages / 26000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-899-9, 1-60370-899-5
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, and Sony Reader pdf
Micah and her enigmatic brother, Granite, are both manufactured
people, grown in a lab, and a lot of people think that means they're not
real, that they can't think or feel. Micah knows better, and she knows
that her brother had feelings that run deep, which is why she's willing
to help her fellow Science Officer and shipmate, Willy, who thinks her
brother is the hottest thing around.
Granite has no problem sharing his physical love with Willy, but he
isn't sure about emotions. Micah has the opposite problem with the man
she's learning the art of love from; Commander West has all of the old
prejudices against manufactured people, and Micah isn't sure how to
fight them. Can she and brother Granite both learn how to express their
love the right way, before the dangers of intergalactic war overwhelms
them?
Julia Talbot, author of
Jumping Into Things, writes: Granite and Micah are test tube babies,
lab-created people who cause a lot of superstition against regularly born
humans. They're stationed on a spaceship, and in Rocks and Hard Places, this
brother and sister pair are having love troubles. Granite isn't sure he can
feel love, because conventional wisdom says manufactured people can't
produce real emotion. Willy has a profound affect on him, though, and he's
not sure he can resist. Micah knows she can love, but the man she wants
thinks she's not a real human being, so she's not getting any joy from their
relationship.
What I loved about Rocks and Hard Places was the seamless creation of this
future world where test-tube folks are the new outcasts. Micah becomes great
friends with her brother's love interest, Willy, and their interactions are
hilarious and yes, embarrassing for their lovers respectively. Granite is
hot, hot, hot, and he turns out to be the kind of guy you want to get to
know. Micah's interactions with her man are just as hot, even for this
veteran reader of m/m romance. I found myself rooting for all of them, even
when I wanted to kick them in the butt!
Highly recommended.
Sample
With a concentrated effort, Willy managed to ignore his new work mate and
her incessant chirping. He allowed himself a faint smile as he thought about
her excitement for their work. She'd been so eager to please and so bubbly.
Had he not been so nervous about his feelings for her brother, he would have
warmed up to Micah right away. It didn't take long to learn that they had
much in common. In fact, he was pleased with the nickname she'd tagged him
with. He'd never had a nickname before.
Somehow he'd gotten through the hours of work and dinner and finally, the
hours of evening nothingness. If it weren't for his thoughts of her brother,
Willy would have taken Micah up on her invitation to dinner and gotten to
know her better. Instead, he watched the clock, fretting and thinking. As
the time grew later, Willy became more and more agitated.
He steeled his resolve. Tonight, he was going to do it. This mission was six
excruciating months old, and he had to get closer to Granite Bayonne. He
couldn't help it--he had to. He knew it was reckless, but he couldn't fight
the feelings anymore.
At twenty three hundred and twenty hours, nearly midnight, ship's time,
Wilhelm spoke to the computer. "Computer, status of Lieutenant Commander
Granite Bayonne."
"Lieutenant Commander Bayonne is alone in his quarters. Heart rate and
respiration activity indicate sleep."
"Request site-to-site transport, dim lights to two percent and return on
activation."
Only officers above the rank of Lieutenant had the ability to transport in
this automatic fashion, to say nothing of altering the other man's quarters'
atmosphere. As it happened, Wilhelm Schmidt was a computer geek and could
reprogram anything. He'd already given himself the ability to transport.
He'd been creative enough to ensure that nobody would find out that he'd
done it.
Willy materialized inside Granite Bayonne's bedroom doorway and edged a step
closer to the bed. If the room's occupant moved he would leave immediately,
no questions asked. The light was almost non-existent, he'd made sure of
that, but he could see as well as he needed to.
Listening to the sleeping man's even breathing, Willy relaxed. He was safe.
He stood where he was for a few minutes reveling in the fact that he was so
close to his heart's desire. The first time he'd laid eyes on him, he'd felt
the magnetic pull of attraction. As time passed, it turned into obsession.
If pressed, Willy would have had to confess he cared about, and maybe even
loved, Granite Bayonne.
After several minutes, Willy edged closer to the bed. Granite rolled over
onto his back, startling him. Willy stood silent again, listening to the
other man's regular breathing and finally relaxed.
Fifteen minutes had passed and eventually, Willy stood at the edge of the
bed with his fingertips resting on the mattress. Carefully, he leaned
forward, hoping for a better look at the object of his fantasies.