Claudie Arseneault

Roanna Sylver

C. T. Callahan

Common Bonds is an anthology of speculative short stories and poetry featuring aromantic characters and centering platonic relationships.

Common Bonds: A Speculative Aromantic Anthology

The city of Parole is burning. Like Venice slips into the sea, Parole crumbles into fire. Trapped inside is an entirely unlikely population of people with bizarre, beautiful, and terrifying abilities. When Regan, an anxiety-ridden hit man with the peeling skin of a lizard, meets Evelyn, a singer, revolutionary, and unofficial superhero, it's up to them to get to the heart of the mystery of Parole and its quarantined inhabitants. Along with a diverse group of misfits, they will evade a deadly totalitarian police force, uncover the truth about their entwining pasts, and fight to survive a cataclysmic disaster.

Chameleon Moon

ARC 1, IN WHICH: A cute punk-rock vampire and a disabled firefighter-turned-mall-cop with a dark past join forces to battle the forces of evil. Jude used to leap out of helicopters to rescue/protect people from terrifying infernos. Now, by day, he protects the local mall from rowdy teenagers who ride their skateboards inside. By night, he protects the the parking lot, and the rest of Portland, from undead, bloodsucking creatures of the darkness. Or would if he could find them. But he's just about ready to give it up (living with PTSD and pain from the traumatic event that cost him a leg, a friend, and a lot more is hard enough), when something crashes into his life. And his window. It's one of these creatures of the darkness - and he's a lot less scary than expected. More cuddly, with dark fuzzy wings, and neon-bright hair. His name is Pixie, and he refuses to bite anyone. Assault/murder/draining fluids isn't punk, even if being a vampire really kind of is. He's very hungry by now, and the much bigger, meaner, deadlier vamps kick him around on the nightly. Jude would love to find and fight some actual undead bullies. And Pixie could use some help staying... 'alive.' Time to make a deal. Of course, life still sucks when you're a vampire who refuses to suck blood. Fortunately, there's a really interesting new barbecue restaurant in the mall, with an intriguing new recipe. (We hear that the secret ingredient is... love. No, really.)

The Secret Ingredient Is Love. No, Really

Stake Sauce Arc 1

Living in a city whose population has been quarantined and imprisoned over an eternally burning lake of fire isn't what most people would call a 'normal life.' Then there are the superhuman abilities. Thousands of people with wings, scales, telepathy, sonic blasts - 'normal' seems long gone. But life goes on. Eventually, everyone discovers that life within Parole is just as real, meaningful, fun, frightening, mundane, and survivable, as any other. Sometimes it's just a little more intense. This collection of seven short stories from the universe of Chameleon Moon gives readers a look at everyday life in Parole, and the colorful, memorable, and thoroughly human characters who call it home. 1. Happy REGARDS 2. The Library Ghost 3. Group Therapy 4. Runtime 5. Phoenix Down 6. Un-Dead 7. Come Home Alone 8. "What You Remember," theme to Chameleon Moon, Book 19. "Dream Sweet," Memory Lullaby Waltz

Roanna Sylver

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