Aerovoyant is available on Amazon. Print copies $12.99, e-copies $4.99, free on Kindle Unlimited.
Coming soon: Telomeric, a stand-alone story from the world of Aerovoyant. E-book available for preorder now, free on Kindle Unlimited.
Free stories.
Below you’ll find some stand-alone short stories from the world of Aerovoyant. These aren’t ‘ready for prime time’ but they are canon, and for anyone who enjoys taking a look under the hood, or who wonders how a story comes into being to begin with, I’m providing them here.
I’ve temporarily pulled these short story PDFs off the website in order to revise and improve them. If you’re interested in reading the old versions, shoot me a note through the contact page.
SISTERS
A secondary character from Aerovoyant plays a prominent role in this story. Like Aerovoyant, Sisters is set on Nasoir, the western continent of Turaset. Events here occur roughly 30 years prior to Aerovoyant. This tale spends some time with Turaset’s indigenous and intelligent ocean-dwelling life.
Expect one or two very minor spoilers to the novel.
(Sisters provided the germ of an idea to create the polished novella Seven Strengths, coming soon to Amazon.)
Blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Celeste bakes another batch of country muffins while fantasizing of life in a vibrant city. She’d leave her parents’ miserable inn in a hot second if she could. When she learns that Narona’s central university offers free classes to country folk like her, she persuades her parents to sign her up.
Celeste soaks up city life. She asks handsome young Anson on a date, he says ‘yes,’ and soon they’re discovering Narona together and spending nights in each other’s arms. Life back home could never be so fulfilling.
But love sours when Celeste begins to suspect she’s no more than a country novelty to Anson. Narona City may be exciting, yet with no family will it ever feel like home? Celeste must choose between the safety of country tradition and an uncertain future in a wildly different culture.
THE VASTOL VENDETTA
This prequel follows two secondary characters from Aerovoyant. Again, the setting is Nasoir, the western continent of planet Turaset. Events here occur roughly 20 years prior to Aerovoyant and ten years after Sisters. I played more heavily with the genetically modified traits that make Turasetians so distinct from Earth humans.
ThE VASTOL VENDETTA CONTAINS major spoilers to the novel. I recommend reading the novel first to avoid these spoilers, but if you aren’t concerned, then so be it.
Blurb:
Career politician Berna Vanther is pushing a bill to clean up her city’s drinking water. The river’s been fouled by coal ash, and the industry dumping that ash denies responsibility. If the industry keeps declaring innocence, Berna knows her colleagues will agree to regulate their operations—and the river will be cleaned.
Young Melville di Vaun once killed for the industry, taking out anyone that posed a risk to profits. He left that life after a crisis of conscience and now cares for his dying cousin as penance. He’d give her painkillers if he could, but they were banned over concerns of addiction.
The head of the industry approaches Melville with an offer: Assassinate one of the councilors to send a message to the political class, and in return he’ll give Melville as much banned medicine as his dying cousin needs. Melville thought he’d left the assassin’s life forever, but with each cry from his cousin’s throat he finds himself edging back.
THE ARRIVAL
The Second Great Death was a pivotal era in Turaset’s history. It was a time of plague following the establishment of trade routes between far-flung sites on Nasoir.
During our own stay-at-home orders in the year 2020 (on Earth), it seemed a good idea, to me, to develop a story around Turaset’s similar moment. This very short story is the result. The Arrival will appear in the anthology Writers in Lockdown, available in August of 2020. The story is free of spoilers to Aerovoyant and could take place on any-world, including Earth.
Blurb:
Breaking from her work as an herbs trader, Bette visits her lover Harald. He falls ill. Bette nurses him as best she can but grows disquieted, fearing his illness is the one she’s heard of on the trading route. Some call it a death, even a great one. Can Bette’s knowledge of herbals see him back to health, or will she too fall to the scourge?
P. L. TAVORMINA 