Tara Maya's Tales

Have you had a change to check out my new science fiction anthology? You can download it on Kindle for only $2.99!  And if you've already read it, don't forget to leave a review! A science fiction anthology about that classic career of the future… space pilot. A young pilot thinks he knows the cost of war. Until he opens a forbidden door… If you’re piloting a cargo of convicts on Titan, you’re already in trouble. Things can still get worse. After the war, humanity gave up dreaming of the stars. But not him. Can a fleet of ships run by citizens stop famine from being used as a weapon? Every time he traveled to another world, he lost a little more of himself. Now they wanted him to make one last trip.... And more! The anthology includes ten short stories, two novelettes, and one full novella, featuring stories by: Scott Whitmore  | Ethan Rodgers |  Algis Budrys  | Steve Brady Jonathan Von Post | Adrian Tymes |  M. Pax  |  Tara ...

"Moth Dancer" by Electric Rainbow The Unfinished Song: Initiate ( Start at the Beginning of the Novel ) Chapter 3  Brena Before dawn, the clanhold of Sycamore Stands already throbbed with the sounds of women pounding nuts. The astringent smell of acorn drifted from the leeching ditches between the clay domed huts. Once Zavaedi Brena made certain her snoopy neighbor, Auntie Ula, was not following her, she urged her two daughters, Gwena and Gwenika, past the clanhold stocade, down the embankment, to a spot hidden by sycamore trees. They did this every morning, yet every morning Brena had to battle all over again to force them to move, as if it were the first time. Gwena, the oldest, spent an inordinate amount of time combing her hair. On the way to the woods, she craned her neck to attract the attention of young men burning brush for gardens. Several of the hoolilgans smiled at her like idiots, until they saw Brena and hastened back to work. Gw...

In the icy, monster-plagued world of the Frost, one wrong move and a person could end up dead—and Lia Weaver knows this better than anyone. After monsters kill her parents, she must keep the family farm running despite the freezing cold and threat of monster attacks or risk losing her siblings to reassignment by the village Elders. With dangers on all sides and failure just one wrong step away, she can’t afford to let her emotions lead her astray. So when her sister finds a fugitive bleeding to death in the forest—a young stranger named Gabe—Lia surprises herself and does the unthinkable. She saves his life. Giving shelter to the fugitive could get her in trouble. The Elders have always described the advanced society of people beyond the Frost, the “Farthers,” as ruthless and cruel. But Lia is startled to find that Gabe is empathetic and intelligent…and handsome. She might even be falling in love with him. But time is running out. The monsters from the forest circle the farm at...

"Captured" by Arwen Danelle Robertson,  arwenart.com The Unfinished Song: Initiate ( Start at the Beginning of the Novel ) Kavio …the men cudgeled his back. The blows brought agony without the solace of oblivion —the warriors knew their art, and steered their blows away from his head, aiming to hurt and subdue, not kill—yet. They tied his hands and feet, yanked his hair to expose his neck. A mountain of muscle tattooed on both arms and both cheeks loomed over Kavio. “The death blow is mine, blame or fame. You are all witness,” the leader barked at his men. They grunted back. This man knows who I am . Unfortunately, their acquaintance was not mutual. “I know why you plan to kill me,” Kavio announced. Bold lies worked best. “But just the opposite is true.” The leader shot a beefy hand out to grip Kavio’s neck. “Don’t waste my time.” “Let me prove it.” “How ?” Good question. Kavio would bet his mother’s goat and toss bones th...

The Unfinished Song: Initiate ( Start at the Beginning of the Novel ) …follow him into exile. Or maybe some would-be enemy wanted to make certain he would never return. Kavio climbed higher into the mountains. The peaks met like clapped hands to divide the rains of the world in half. All waters of the eastern fingers cascaded into a drought-dry landscape of sand- stone phantasmagoria—stone rainbows, stone islands, stone waves, striated stone flavors of pepper and cayenne. All the waters to the other side flowed west, through terrain sweetened by late summer storms, down, gently down through valleys of oak and golden poppy, down, gently down to coastal forests and the sea. In the mountains, however, autumn had already given way to winter, and he found the pass already thick with snow, where he sacrificed a night and a day to lay a trap. He had to choose his spot, plan his moves against possible countermoves, dance a spell without making it obvious to any hy...

"89" by yag65 The Unfinished Song: Initiate ( Start at the Beginning of the Novel ) Kavio “…accept being smoked out of the Labyrinth like a rat?” cried Nilo. “You’re just going to let Zumo win? You know that none of us will ever follow him as War Chief !” “It’s too early to say it will come to that.” “His blood flows from the Bone Whistler, and so do his ambi- tions. He’s already got you out of the way!” said Nilo. “With the White Lady under the Curse of Obsidian Mountain and your father growing older, and now you exiled—who else is there to stop him?” “You going into exile with me won’t help,” said Kavio. Nilo exchanged glances with some of the others. “It will—if we go to the Yellow Bear tribehold to raise an army against him. There are many of our people still living there who would follow us, who would follow you, Kavio. You could return in a year’s time with Tav- aedies and warriors at your back! We could finally wipe out—” ...