I’m so stoked, release day is almost here!!! Only three more days left until Playing with Fire is available for purchase. We’re trying very hard to make the USA Today list with this box set, so absolutely every sale is critical.

Why is this box set the most exciting thing you’ll ever purchase for .99 cents? Well, in addition to eleven other talented authors’ stories, you’ll be getting A Fated Exception, Book One of the Enhanced series. If you purchase it now during the pre-order stage, you can get fourteen free reads while you’re waiting for release day. All the details are on our website:
https://playingwithfireboxedset.com/
Check out the Free Gift menu for instructions on how to get all the awesome free reads, including Spliced, an Enhanced series prequel.

Here are the links for purchasing Playing with Fire:
iBook: https://apple.co/2PgS1Og
B&N: http://bit.ly/2WK3IzB
Amazon: https://amzn.to/33aqTau
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=AQSQDwAAQBAJ
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/za/en/ebook/playing-with-fire-boxset

A Fated Exception features a technomage, an android, and a shapeshifter, and it was a ton of fun to write. I’m especially looking forward to writing the second book in the series! Here’s the blurb for it:

Cass is just a brilliant programmer to the outside world, a super geek paid millions to fix unfixable computers. What no one knows is she’s really a technomage – she has the ability to communicate with any program or machine through touch.

The world Cass lives in is one that fears her kind. She is one of a dwindling number of “enhanced,” people whose DNA was optimized at birth. Hunted by OCEI, an organization that will stop at nothing to eliminate the enhanced, Cass and other enhanced hide their abilities to survive. Relationships are forbidden—the chemical reaction of fluids exchanged with super-charged DNA can be deadly.

When Cass is called in to troubleshoot an unresponsive android, she makes an alarming discovery: humanity is on the verge of extinction. Her only clue is a sexy shapeshifter, Tyler, who sparks a desire within her she can’t control. No matter how much she tries to avoid him, she can’t deny the intense attraction she feels. But that attraction is dangerous, for both of them.

Can Cass discover the plan to wipe out humanity before it’s too late? And can she resist Tyler, or will her desire for him be her undoing?

Here’s an excerpt, the scene in which technomage Cass meets Victor, the android. Hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think! 🙂

A Fated Exception Excerpt

The problem android was strangely sitting upright with his eyes closed on a long desk in the middle of what appeared to be a lab. A mirrored glass took up an entire wall behind him. The first thing that struck me about him was his how lifelike he appeared. The only clothing he wore was a pair of white cotton pants with a drawstring, so I could see his entire upper body. I was amazed by all the little details—from the thousands of tiny little hairs on his arms to the beauty mark on his shoulder, and even his toned muscles—he was indistinguishable from any other human male. Apart from the low technological hum I could sense with my power, I wouldn’t have known he was a machine. It appeared as if he was in some kind of stasis, or suspended mode.

To say I was fascinated would be a gross understatement. His skin was so realistic, his complexion a neutral kind of tan that would have made it impossible to speculate his ethnicity, had he’d been human. His hair was also a style and texture that could’ve belonged to any number of ethnic groups, or perhaps it was designed as a composite from several. It made him seem more universal somehow, friendlier and accessible. I was certain that was intentional, and I wondered what his purpose was.

“He was created here?” I asked Lisa. “What do the scientists who worked on him say?”

“They’re stumped. That’s why we called you. Even if it is a long shot, you’re our last hope.” She handed me a small binder with a cover sheet entitled, Victor. “This is the important stuff about this model.”

And with that simple statement, she left me to my own devices. That’s it? No real background of the problem, no explanation at all? It was a nice departure from what usually happened—drinking from the firehouse of an IT guy, being bombarded with a lot of useless information. But whether I’d liked it or not, I’d come to expect it, and this was feeling more and more like a setup.

To my surprise, I suddenly felt relaxed, which didn’t make sense given I was presented with a problem I didn’t know how to solve and was likely under surveillance to boot. The sensation was similar to the one I felt in the lobby, when…

I glanced around, but Tyler wasn’t there. Weird. I couldn’t shake the feeling I wasn’t alone, but I wrote it off to most likely being observed. By whom, I wasn’t sure, but there were too many odd things about this job to not be a little paranoid.

I cracked open the binder and read through its contents. It outlined the things I’d already asked about or Lisa had mentioned: his off button, where his batteries were stored, and a brief overview of his programming and functionality. I had a trickle of hope when I encountered a chapter called, How to Run a Diagnostic, but that fizzled out quick when I realized it required the android to be online.

For sanity’s sake (and because clients often lie) I went through the steps Lisa had said they’d already taken—to reboot the android. The low hum I felt remained unchanged.

Though I was apprehensive about using my power there, I had reached an impasse with the android. I covertly touched one of his hands.

“What’s your story, Victor?” I said aloud. “Are they overworking you here?”

I didn’t expect a response of any kind, I mean, I didn’t do anything. He was still in suspended mode, so it’s not like there was anything to interface with. But that low hum grew louder and more complex. I could sense his systems come online, as the POST occurred. His code base was a language called Dalia that I’d never heard of.

His eyes opened, but they were all white—no irises or pupils, only the sclera. Which was just a little totally terrifying.

Then light began to shine through his eyes, projecting an image on the wall in front of him. I turned around to see none other than Tyler in a video playing from his eyes.  The timestamp was two weeks into the future.

Tyler’s veins were bulged out and darkened, and his breaths were labored. “This isn’t just about eliminating enhanced, don’t you see that?” he said. “The strain has evolved. It’s killing regular humans now.”

“We can fix that. We’ll develop an antidote.” The voice was garbled, and I couldn’t see its speaker in the video.

“Before…it…kills you?” Tyler spoke in uneven gasps, appearing to be on the verge of death. The illness seemed to be spreading. It was as if some kind of black substance had taken hold of his circulatory system and was now coursing through him, sucking his life force away.

“If it wipes out enhanced, it was worth it.”

I watched as Tyler collapsed. Then the video skipped to a different scene. The timestamp was later, about two months into the future. This one was much quieter. The video panned the streets of New York City. Bodies strewn about silently decomposed.

“No survivors,” Victor said, his voice so close I guessed he was the one filming it. “They’re all gone. Everywhere.” He turned the camera towards himself. “You have to stop this. For the sake of humanity, don’t let them release that serum, it—”

And then the video cut out.

What the hell was that? Victor appeared to continue booting and his eyes became normal, complete with irises and pupils. They were a strange color—more of a brownish hue, with hints of green and blue. 

It was so real—the voices, the disease, the bodies. I doubt he could’ve fabricated something like that. But watching the future? That’s not possible.