Harper Kingsley

April 21, 2013 0 comments

Heroes & Villains, by Harper Kingsley

small-HeroesVillains In case you haven’t seen it yet, this is the new cover for Heroes & Villains, which will be coming out August 14th from Less Than Three Press. I’m super excited about this (and you know you are too, nanu nanu.)

134,000+ words of superhero/supervillain interaction and eventual romance. Set in a world where metahaumans are accepted and there’s more than just a job in superscience to fall back on, Vereint dreams of using his metabilities to become someone great. Even if that means being the bad guy.

Here’s the Goodreads page. (I have no idea how to update the cover art. That’s a bit beyond me at the moment 😛 )

VEREINT GEORGES — starts out as the superhero Starburst, but becomes the legendary supervillain Darkstar. All he wants is to be respected and admired as he makes a splash in Megacity.

WARRICK REIDENGER TOBIAS — billionaire playboy and superhero Blue Ice. Member of the League of Superheroes. Kind of a douche at first; he gets better as the story goes along and he lets himself accept what he really wants out of life.

CASPIAN DUKES — this half-Atlantean superhero and member of the League of Superheroes doesn’t even bother with a secret identity. He is Warrick’s best friend and partner in crime.

Here, because I love you, have an excerpt from Allies & Enemies:

[Warrick and Caspian are superbro’ing it up.]

Aliens. It was aliens again.

He remembered a time when the thought of aliens brought to mind awkwardly waddling glob-monsters that just wanted to go home. Now he had to deal with aliens that wanted to suck out peoples’ brains before absorbing their organic tissue into its heaving mass of pink and red ick.

“E.T., go the fuck home!” he yelled, dodging out of the way of a writhing tentacle that burned the asphalt like acid where it hit.

“Why do all aliens have to look like fucking Jell-o monsters?” Caspian asked. He’d been given a dart gun loaded with some kind of chemical that was supposed to render the blob monster helpless, crystallizing its insides or something. Only the darts he’d fired so far had all bounced. Neither one of them was having a good time.

Warrick blasted an oncoming tentacle, freezing it in mid-air. “Not all aliens are blob things,” he puffed. “Some of them are hot alien babes sent to seduce strong virile superheroes. Remember Blandromeda? She kept trying to get into my pants. I had to have Lady Arcana give her the girl-talk about why I wasn’t into her generous offer.”

Caspian snorted. “She was sent to destroy Earth’s mightiest heroes by infecting them with space herpesyphilaids. You dodged a bullet, man. Charismo’s wiener had to be surgically amputated after it started smoking and melting. Dude’s still bitter about it.”

“Didn’t the Mechanic give him a robo-dick though? Wasn’t that good enough?” Warrick froze the tentacles heading toward Caspian, giving him a chance to fire another shot.

The dart bounced.

“Dammit.” Caspian tumbled out of the way of a finger-thin tendril. Seemed like the space blob was trying to teach itself to be stealthy. “I don’t know about you, man, but I like my original parts. And if I ever decide to get anything replaced, I don’t want it to happen because I caught an STD from some space hooker.”

Warrick cackled. “Space hooker. That shit’s going in my diary.”

They had been maneuvering the blob away from the civilians trapped in the overturned bus and hazmat suit wearing police rushed in to hustle them out of the way. It was the best they could manage until their League backup arrived with better weapons.

The blob quivered with frustrated rage and a shudder went through the whole thing. There was a disgusting sucking-gurgling sound and an oozing maw lined with human-bone pseudo-teeth opened up.

“Have you ever seen the movie ‘Teeth?'” Caspian’s voice had gone up hysterically. “That shit gave me nightmares that went something like this.”

Warrick leapt up into the air and swooped down to snatch Caspian up under the arms just as the blob jumped into the spot Caspian had been standing. Angry tentacles reached for them, trying to grab a trailing foot, but Warrick carried them up high enough it couldn’t reach. He blinked sweat from his eye.

“Whoo, that almost got ugly,” he said.

Caspian gave a wordless whimper and his grip on Warrick’s shoulders was almost painful.

“You guys all right?” a brassy voice asked.

Warrick turned to find Witch Fire hovering on her broom. “We’re fine, but you better have brought something to handle that thing. If it eats one more person, it might get too strong to be stopped.”

Witch Fire made a face at him, but reached into a velvet satchel at her waist and pulled out a glass vial filled with a glowing blue liquid. “It took a while, but the lab boys whipped this up for you. You freeze it and I’ll pour?”

Warrick shifted Caspian around until the guy could clamber onto his back. “I got this.”

There was something about using his abilities that made all of the problems he faced seem tiny and far away. It was as though his metability froze his emotions too. It was one of the things that made him great in a fight–he always kept a cool head.

Focusing down on the pool of liquid ice that always seemed to lap away in the deeper corners of his mind, Warrick called it out of him and down his arms. It was distilled winter blasting out of his hands, the kind of deadly cold that nothing living on Earth could hope to survive.

To him, it felt warm. Like a shot of straight whiskey burning in his belly, only it went through his whole body.

The alien blob was frozen solid, though it only held a few minutes. Whatever was at the heart of that thing had a molten core and a hunger for living flesh.

It was frozen long enough.

Witch Fire unstoppered the vial, releasing a puff of noxious black smoke she kept well away from her face, and she zipped down to pour the thick, viscous blue straight down the creature’s maw. Making a mouth had been a mistake.

“We need to get back!” Witch Fire yelled, zooming past him.

Warrick didn’t hesitate to follow, ducking behind the safety of a skyscraper. “What’s going to happen?”

“Oh…” There was a thunderous BOOM! and the wet splatter of regurgitated organic matter slapping against buildings and the ground.

“Just that.” Witch Fire’s grin was positively demonic. “Enjoy the clean up, boys.” She zipped away in a flash of trailing red hair.

Warrick came back around the building to see the result of their actions. “I feel like we just got F’d in the A.”

“Word.”

Gobs of red and pink stuck everywhere like half-digested steak tartar. There was already a rancid smell happening and Warrick’s mouth watered in the way that warned he was about to vomit.

Caspian made a heaving noise behind him and Warrick twisted so Caspian fell loose, then caught him around the waist from behind. He gripped Caspian by the hips as Caspian bent forward and began to throw up, the vomit hitting the ground below with a sickening splash.

Warrick squeezed his eyes tight shut and tried to hold his breath and picture kittens. Cute, cuddly, furry, non-vomiting kittens.

“Sexy alien babes would be so much better,” he said.

“Yeah,” Caspian garbled agreement.

December 28, 2012 3 comments

“Paradigm Shift,” by Harper Kingsley [science fiction, mm]

Well, I’m currently working on “Paradigm Shift,” a story about a world where people are broken up into three sub-species: Firsts, Twos, and Thirds.

Firsts are stronger, faster and more aggressive, all of their senses and reflexes having been amped up by the genetic changes made by the Cure. They are type A personalities, no holds barred. They fill up the military and police. They run corporations and build empires.

Twos are normative humans. Not hyper-aggressive or super protective or dominant; they are normal people living normal lives. Some are brilliant or brave. They make up every walk of life.

Thirds were the lucky few that were naturally immune to the Phage Virus that took so many. The Cure changed them, giving them all — male or female — the ability to impregnate or be impregnated.

At first the Thirds were viewed as a genetic oddity, to be pitied or exploited. Then, decades later, the Plague hit and billions of people were instantly sterilized. Only the Thirds were immune to the Plague, just as they were immune to the Phage. They are humanity’s last hope, as any children they have will be fertile.

SUMMARY: Gregor Tierney has been hiding as a Two for most of his life, but now his cover has been blown. His status as a Third has been permanently tied to his Identity and all he can do is make the best of a bad situation.

He has been forced to enter the Duadenora Family as the chosen Bondmate of the Family heir. He can choose to Bond, or refuse and hope for a better offer. But he WILL be Bound, or he will be declared property of the State, all his rights and freedoms revoked.

He must choose and choose quickly. It’s just too bad his attention has been caught by someone else. Someone he can’t have.

A/N: That’s right, it’s an mpreg. I got to talking with someone and a request was made and I promised a somewhat realistic mpreg. So when the Idea Fairies started fluttering their wings, I got to writing.

It’s somewhat difficult creating a feasible idea for male pregnancy, but I hope I did better than the movie Junior. And I promise the story is more sci-fi intrigue, than horrible traumatizing ass babies. There is DEFINITELY none of that.

There’s romance brewing, but there’s more than that going on. Gregor is suspicious and schemy, and the Duadenora Family is full of secrets and half-truths. Plus there’s a huge story-breaking reveal that will hopefully blow the hell out of some minds.

I’ve had such fun with this project and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it just as much.

~Pax

Ubiquitous EXCERPT:

December 21, 2012 0 comments

Faizel, by Harper Kingsley

Title: Faizel
Author: Harper Kinsgley
Genre: mm supernatural, vampire
Word count: 10,400
Rating: Adult

Available as KDP Select. If you’ve got an Amazon Prime membership, go read it for free.

EXCERPT:

He was a handsome stranger in painted on pants and Chuck Taylors. His dark brown hair curled around his ears in enticing tousled waves. He had rich olive skin and a straight nose with perfect nostrils. He was built in lean lines and looked like he should be an endearingly dorky guy, completely oblivious to his own good looks.

Except he walked like a predator. He tried not to, but his hips insisted on falling into their natural position when he didn’t concentrate. An arrogant, rolling walk that caught and held the eye, luring in his prey.

He’d always been so well-known that he couldn’t have pretended to be anyone other than himself. He was more easily recognizable than the Master. The name FAIZEL was synonymous with power and prestige. He was always near the top of every Most Wanted list the Resistance put out.

He’d always enjoyed playing with the Resistance. Hunting them down and spoiling their plans had been endlessly entertaining. It was why he’d never just completely exterminated them all the way the Master wanted.

The Master was talking synthetic blood and genocide. He had wanted a world completely devoid of normal human life. The Phageless would cease to exist and only the New Breed would remain. He wanted a world of rules and restrictions, a totalitarian empire with himself at the top.

Faizel enjoyed being powerful, but he wanted the thrill of the hunt. He was young and virile and he’d been Reborn without a soul. But he still remembered his human days and all that burning hate and rage was still there, bubbling under the surface of his skin.

He’d killed most of the people that had made his living life so miserable in one wild spree of blood and viscera. After that though… he’d spent enough time around the Master to realize that he didn’t want to live in that sterile, cruel world with only his own kind for company.

He hadn’t been able to stand it.

He had secretly begun to sabotage his own mission plans so there were weaknesses able to be exploited by a clever but desperate human. He’d sifted out the weakest of the Resistance to leave the best behind, separating the wheat from the chaff.

Then he had waited and enjoyed being able to toy with his new playmates. He was going to kill them, but he built them up first before he hunted them down. He loved that sweetest first sip of panicked blood, packed with all of that desperate will to survive. It made his heart sing.

He slid through the crowded club to one of the tables at the front. He sat down with such a charming smile that the women already there giggled and gave him flirty welcomes. He smiled but didn’t really interact, just nodding his head here and there when they spoke to him.

Faizel gazed up at the main stage and absorbed the sight of a supernatural cabaret show. It was like Rocky Horror Picture Show with even more garters and lace; there was a bit more skin showing, and both men and women wore short-shorts and a mixture of glitter and glamour.

Dancing and singing men and women, some entirely human while others stretched and bent with supernatural ease. Here and there one of the dancers would flash a mouthful of fangs as they playfully “menaced” their delighted audience. Their faces would twist and turn into a monstrous mask of bulging bone, glaring yellow eyes, and a double row of teeth that were nothing but jagged points.

Money was offered at the end of each set and a pretty girl with flaxen curls and a smattering of glitter on her cheeks went around with a cloth bag to collect the cash. She was wearing a flirty red skirt and a black crop top vest that revealed a toned stomach and a sparkling silver bead dangling at her navel. She wore high-heeled gladiator sandals that crisscrossed up her shins to just below her dimpled knees.

Faizel fumbled in his pocket for a few crumpled bills. He stuck them in the bag quickly so no one could get a good look at them in case money was different here.

Vampires sure were.

He was utterly fascinated by their monstrous faces and the claws he thought he’d spotted amongst them. They were like a mix of human and animal. Even when they weren’t trying to be frightening, their mouths easily shaped snarls.

He was utterly captivated, his eyes trailing up and down the beautiful bodies on display, but what he was really drawn to was the feral nature of them. They were apex predators, of that he had no doubt, though he had to wonder why they were so intent on living amongst the humans, working with them. The idea of it intrigued him.

Faizel had been suppressing his Allure from the minute he’d fallen out of the glowing portal and discovered that he was in a world not his own. The air had smelled different and there was the caressing vapor of distant, strange Power.

His first impulse was to ride in under the radar, to look around for himself and see what kind of world this was. And so far he had been very pleased.

There were vampires here, though a much different kind than he was used to. He could practically see the souls binding them to their bodies, and though their faces turned to those of monsters when they let their Hunger show… they were human on the inside. Beautiful, fragile humans.

He had never seen anything so entrancing. He wondered how hard it was to break them, these dancing, singing, oh-so-human vampires.

November 22, 2012 0 comments

EXCERPT: Allies & Enemies, by Harper Kingsley mm superhero

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
Genre: mm, superhero, action adventure, drama
A/N: Still trying to get a hold of a good cover 🙁 Paid good money for a load of nothing. Might end up with a generic quivering camera photo of flowers or fruit or something for a cover; still deciding.

Summary: Starts where “Heroes & Villains” left off. Vereint could be a terrifying and unstoppable force and it was just luck that he showed even the tiniest bit of concern for other people. If he had been completely amoral he would have been a monster so terrible he could almost be seen as a force of nature.

The sun was struggling to shine through the clouds, but it was just one of those days guaranteed to be miserable. Not just because of the weather, but because of the girl sobbing out her heartbreak on a sterile hospital bed, the sheets pulled up around her shoulders as she buried her face in the rather flat and lumpy pillow.

Vereint clenched his hands together on the handle of the shopping bag he held in front of himself. It took all of his will to keep from running into the room and scooping her up into his arms. Instead, he stood on the other side of the glass and watched her mourn the loss of both of her parents all alone. Behind and to the left of him, he could hear Warrick fast-talking the doctors and the police and anyone else he had to and Vereint was sure everything was going to work itself out.

They were going to take that little girl home and give her a family and make sure she grew up knowing that she was loved. He didn’t think they could ever wipe away the loss of her parents, but they would try their best to make her realize that she still had a whole life to live and that they would always be there for her.