Happy February! Not at all in time for Valentine’s Day, here is the next up in my series of science fiction fairy tales set in space. This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and is titled The Silver Arm!
When I originally attempted to draft this story (six years ago), I couldn’t get it to work. It lacked tension, the main character wasn’t very well defined, and I just felt like it wasn’t right. Fast forward to 2019, and placing the basic concept in the Rove City universe just sort of fixed it. I will say, it doesn’t particularly resemble the original story, other than the robots and the part about the cyborg.
One thing I loved about this story was including details about living metal again. Those of you that have read The Stalk (book 2) are already intimately familiar with living metal and what it is. I really liked taking a look at it from a slightly different perspective—and don’t worry, it will be playing a role later on in the series!
The story begins on Rove City in Maybelle’s apartment, where she is cooking breakfast for her two sisters. her father, a merchant, has been gone for too long, and she’s starting to get worried.
Maybelle works as a mechanic fixing bots and ships on Rove City and she loves it. Her life should be good. Except that her merchant father hasn’t returned from his most recent trip, her younger sisters need more than she can give them, and the family is quickly running out of money. Not to mention, Gabor, a local security guard, has decided he deserves Maybelle’s affections—at any cost.
She’s managing, until Gabor takes his attentions one step too far: he threatens her sisters. Maybelle realizes that she can’t protect them alone—it’s time to track her father down. But when she finally finds him, she discovers that it’s not that simple. He’s being held prisoner by Amarok, a temperamental cyborg who will only let her father go under one condition: Maybelle stays behind in his place.
For the sake of her sisters, she agrees, but soon discovers that there is far more to Amarok than meets the eye. The longer she stays on board his ship, the clearer it is that something strange is going on—but she doesn’t know what it is or how to fix it.
If you’re interested in the series, keep in mind that it can be read in any order! The stories are cohesive in and of themselves.
Hook’s Regret (coming soon!)
Stay tuned for the next book in the series, Hook’s Regret. After that, I have to take a short break to work on the Land of Szorneyk series, but don’t worry—more are coming!
