Angel Martinez:

Lioness on the Knife - Coming Soon From Red Rose Publishing!

Eight steamy short stories about women in power.

 

An excerpt from 'Aphrodite's Rubicon' :

She reversed direction, hurrying to Dionysus' quarters. Outside the arched grapevine pergola that served as his doorway, fauns and maenads sprawled in untidy heaps like leaves strewn before the storm of the wild god's passage.

"Must have been quite a party," she murmured in dismay.

A faun with dapple-gray markings opened one eye. "No shit. Um, I mean — indeed it was."

"Is he in?"

"Himself is in there somewhere." He belched none too delicately. "But I can't vouch for his mood."

She picked her way carefully over roots and fallen twigs, the stench of stale wine mingling in unpleasant combinations with the results of rebellious stomachs. Vines parted for her as she passed, leaves rustling in languid murmurs, pergola giving way to arbor and then to thicket. In the center of this maze lay Dionysus' sleeping chamber, a clearing hung with honeysuckle and freesia, the god's bed a moss-covered mound beneath a spreading oak.

Large cats lounged here like a living rug. A leopard startled at her entrance, a panther lifted his head with a sleepy growl, but the low, miserable moan was no feline noise.

Dionysus looked as if someone had dropped him facedown on his bed, limbs flung out in all directions. The tangled mass of long, black hair hid his face while his body lay mostly exposed except for a leather jacket festooned with altogether too many buckles and rings. Late twentieth century, she supposed. Bloody nail tracks crisscrossed his muscular buttocks and bruises mottled the backs of his thighs.

She sank down beside him to stroke some of the hair from his face. "Dio? Are you in there?"

A bloodshot eye regarded her balefully, without recognition, and for a moment she feared the madness had him in its grip.

"Hello, beautiful," he rasped finally. "Don't suppose you can make me mortal for a bit?"

"Why ever would you want that, dear?"

"So you could kill me," he moaned and heaved himself over onto his back. More bloody tracks covered his chest and stomach. Even his penis hadn't escaped unscathed.

She smoothed his hair back and bent to kiss his forehead. "That bad, is it? What in the world have you been doing?"

"Good question." His forehead wrinkled in concentration and he caught her hand to press it to the side of his face. "Oh, your palm is so cool. Leave it right there, please."

After a few pained whimpers, his eyes snapped open. "I remember. Orpheus was playing a gig in New York. He wanted me to come play bass. Everyone always loves the bass player, so I went. There was a lot of crowd surfing. And this huge after party. Things are fuzzy after the orgy started. Hands and lips and nails and teeth everywhere..."

"And now you regret going?"

"Never." He grinned up at her. "I feel like crud but I don't regret a single minute."

 

A little something for everyone in this collection. Some serious, some humorous, some fantastic and some in the "real" world.

"Hero" - Cedric's too young to be a proper knight but he's still determined to rescue the princess. Too bad she has other ideas.

"Blood Borne" - Selena's illness takes stranger turns every day. Can she live with the terrible need growing within?

"Zilar" - captured as a child and raised by Amazons, Zilar is still considered 'wild' by most of the community -- and now it's past the time he should be married.

"Aphrodite's Rubicon" - most students know the story of Aphrodite's affair with Ares. See what really happened.

And so much more...