From the Past to the Future

by Katherine Kingston

I’ve just finished releasing the Passions series of Medieval historical stories. I love the period and it’s been great revisiting it as I got these books ready for their re-release. But now it’s time to move onto something different. Something really different.

I’m jumping from the past to the future for my next re-release. This novella was so much fun to write! It was an assignment from my publisher at the time to write a novella to be included in an anthology of stories about space pirates. I set my imagination free to roam the universe and brainstorm the most out-there story I could come up with.

I think it worked. The story, Checkmate, has a hero and heroine who are both space pirates, though for very different reasons. They meet and fall in love, then are parted when a significant secret comes to light. But when they cross paths with the Sangari, they get trapped into competing as a team in a series of bizarre “games” that include various sorts of gladiatorial type of combat scenarios, but also some other contests that include odd sexual tests among other things.

A quick taste of one of the contests:

************

“I’ll worry about today’s problem today. I hate to ask, but…have they assigned me something to wear?”

The two men looked at each other. “I fear so.”

She sighed. “Just hand it over. I’ll do what I have to.”

He handed her a pile of fluffy, gauzy stuff that would obviously cover nothing. “You put this over it,” he added, passing something of a heavier material.

Devonne shook out the lighter fabric to find harem pants, tied together with ribbons at hips and ankles, and a tunic top also fastened with ribbons at shoulders and sides. It was all in shades of pale pink and green. “Yech. Somebody’s got really terrible taste. And pink is not my color at all. I hope it doesn’t put Raje off.”

The lawyers looked at each with a shade of relief lightening each face. They really had been worried about her reaction. Then his attorney grinned. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“Well I hope not. He’s got the tougher job today. I can hardly wait to see how they’ve outfitted him.”

“It’s…interesting,” Whetlock said. “I think he may be more embarrassed about it than you are.”

************

Want to know what Raje is wearing?

Checkmate releases on August 1 and is now available for pre-order.

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0735WJ4Q4
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/checkmate-katherine-kingston/1020150183
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1252141121
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/checkmate-71

Blurb: Devonne and Raje are space pirates who were once also lovers, until the revelation of secrets in his past drove them apart. But when they’re kidnapped and forced to compete in a drastic and devastating series of contests, they need to find a way to work together, or they’ll each end up with a one-way ticket to a slave labor camp.