November 17, 2023 • 48 mins
Stacy has the main mic for this episode to tell Amy and Liz about Mate for the Alien P*rn Star by Alexis B. Osborne. This is, by far, one of the most unique books we've gotten to talk about and has been referenced in many podcast episodes in the past.
Osborne is also a world weaver so Mate for the Alien P*rn Star is but a gateway to a huge, rich world for readers.
Books Mentioned:
- Claimed among the Stars Anthology: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59017667
- Outer Limits Quadrant Series (called the Engineering Fate Trilogy in the podcast) by Alexis B. Osbourne: https://www.goodreads.com/series/324114-outer-limits-quadrant
Music is called "Undead Bride" by Pagefire https://soundcloud.com/nerdymetalhead202/undead-bride
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
EJ (00:01):
We have a third book now to talk about.
We're ready for Stacy's booknow.
Oh, this is going to be epic.
Remember, I got questions.
Stacy (00:10):
We got questions.
Okay.
So my book is made for the alienporn star, and if you're looking
for this online, porn is spelledP Asterisk R N because I'm sure
Amazon's thumb is still firmlyup his ass.
By Alexis B.
Osborne, and it was originallyon the Claimed Among the Stars,
a sci fi romance anthology, andthis was a really fucking good
(00:33):
anthology.
This was one of those rareanthologies where, I don't know
if I've read everything, butI've read close to everything,
and I liked more than Idisliked.
It was a good anthology.
This was, so I think I had readengineering fate, which is her
fate trilogy is fucking chefscould kiss perfect and Oh God,
(00:55):
the whole trilogy is so good.
It's so good.
And it's she has the knack forwriting.
I'm to the point now where if Inever see a sassy heroine
mentioned again, I'll be fine.
But, she has a real knack forwriting strong female characters
without feeling like they'replaying in God mode.
Nice.
(01:15):
And That is a talent in thisworld.
That is a huge talent.
She doesn't, she's not playingthem like they're all Sarah
Connors from Terminator 2.
And...
I don't like reading books wherethe main female hero, heroine is
like this ass kicking marine orsomething to that effect.
But I don't like reading the Shewas a lean, mean fighting
(01:35):
machine, and she knows karate,because I can't relate with
somebody like that I am a doughywoman in her forties who my
happiest thing is when I gethome from work and I lay down
for four hours.
It's glorious, I love it, Irecommend it to everyone.
And but she has a really greatway of, she writes these very
capable women who are capablebecause they have to be, not
(01:56):
because they particularly wantto be.
And, I fucking love her forthat.
She is also really great, inthis instance, she moved outside
of traditional male female normsbecause her main character, her
main non human character, Orin,is he's what's called an, they
are what's called an ichthyoid.
(02:16):
And they are a humanoid species,but they evolved from fish,
basically, so they're notmammalian.
Orin doesn't have nipples, Orindoesn't have a belly button.
I think Orin's species may belive birth now, but I think once
upon a time they were probablyegg reared.
And What happens in this bookis, we've got our main female
(02:38):
character, whose name is Lacey.
And Lacey is a dancer who workson, essentially it's the deep
space equivalent of a cruiseship, basically.
And she's a dancer, it's hernight off, she has just had a
pretty gnarly breakup.
With a guy she was living with,and he was cheating on her, he
(02:59):
was stealing her tips.
He was just, he was a pig,basically.
Yeah.
And so she is out with herfriends, and she's just looking
to get laid, basically.
And Lacey's Laci is bi.
Laci has no issues.
She's a little intimidated bytrying to hit on an alien
because she's never been with analien before.
But it's really cool becauseAlexis B.
(03:20):
Osborne is herself a member ofthe LGBTQ community.
And it's really great becausethe way she writes it is, it's
not a, we don't have a bigblinking red arrow that goes,
Look, my character also myfemale character also likes
women.
Am I not progressive?
And there's just a case whereshe's standing there with her
friend and they're like whatabout him?
I don't know.
He's blah, blah, blah.
(03:40):
It's not really my type.
What about her?
And there's a great bit whereLacey has this thought where
she's what is this about hittingon women that is so much more
intimidating than hitting onmen?
And she decides she's a littletoo shy to hit on this hot
chick.
And she ends up seeing thisalien who she recognizes as an
ichthyoid.
And everybody knows ichthyoidsare non binary.
And they're beautiful, likethese they're scaled, but it's
(04:01):
these beautiful pearlescentscales, and the ichthyoids have
a fin on their head that drapesover to the side, so they look
like they have an undercut theirhead's shaved with the fin,
although the ichthyoids don'tgrow hair at all.
Very beautifully dressed,showing off this beautiful
chest, in this really beautifultransparent shirt.
(04:22):
And...
Loving all of this.
Lacey ends up, right?
Lacey ends up accidentallycrashing into him, knocks their
drink, or crashing into them,knocks their drink all over
them.
And the person in question,Oren, is basically if you wanted
my attention, all you had to dowas walk up to me.
And basically starts immediatelyflirting with her.
And they're both immediatelyvery into each other, orrin
(04:45):
takes Lacy up to their room,they have sex, and it's really
cool because she based theanatomy of the ichthyoids off of
flatworms.
Ah, yeah, I remember youmentioning this.
Yeah, so there's a really coolscene where when they first have
sex there's a moment where Lacyopens up her tablet and she
goes, Do you mind?
(05:05):
And Orrin's face suddenly drops.
And they say, Yeah, and shegoes, but what she's doing is
she's basically doing a scan andshe's showing him that she's
clean sexually.
And then he, then they're likeoh, okay, I thought, never mind
yeah.
And shows them hers, or showsher theirs, and so they're both
clean, they have sex.
And...
(05:25):
Lacey spends the night, and inthe midst of this, something
happens on the ship, and theyhave to abandon ship very
abruptly.
But, she has a hard timeconvincing Oren we gotta go.
Because he's it's just a drill,come back to bed.
And she's no, it's three times,if it's three times, it means
there's a disaster.
We have to go.
(05:46):
And they throw on their clothes,they get to their muster
station, but somebody jumped thegun, and...
A bunch of life that lifeboatsleft only half full.
Oh.
All of lifeboats are gone.
So she and Orrin, she's okay,there are some pods.
They're like a hundred yearsold, but they're maintained.
I know maintenance has to testthem every so often, so they
(06:08):
won't be as good as lifeboats,but they should be functional.
And so she's able to than takehim, than Exactly.
So she's able to take him andthey climb into this pod that's
like super uncomfortable.
And it's actually.
A really sweet scene becausewhen she's telling Orin we have
to go.
Orin is saying why are you sosure that it's so serious?
And Lacy just puts, pushes herfist against her sternum and she
(06:29):
goes, Something is wrong.
I can feel it here.
We have to go.
And that's when Orin listens toher.
When they're climbing to thepods are only designed for one
person.
And so Lacy puts Orin in thefirst one and is going to follow
in another one.
And Orin grabs her arm and says,you have to come with me.
And Lacey says, there's no roomfor two of us in here, and Oren
(06:50):
says, I have that same feelingin my chest that you had
earlier.
We shouldn't separate.
And so Lacey's okay, I'm gonnahave to sit on your lap.
Oren makes a dick joke.
Everything, so they climb in,and it's, again, it's very
creative because the actuallifeboats what you would imagine
to be for, technologically, thisis old tech.
(07:11):
And so when they get into it,it's just basically like a giant
circle that's filled withexpanding foam, basically.
So it's it's superclaustrophobic and when you're
in it, you can't control it.
It just shoots out like a cannonball and then just it'll start
spinning if like the min, likethe minute bit of debris hits it
and you can't control the th thethrusters and it sends out.
(07:33):
an alert and what they're afraidof is that because the boats
will go to a habitable planet,the pods will send out an alert
and you want to hope like fuckthat it's not a pirate that
picks you up basically.
And what she's built into thisbackdrop is there are some alien
species like the Tuadanon, Ithink they're called, who are
very elf like and are capable ofmesmerizing you with their
(07:55):
vision.
The males are anyway, apparentlythe females it's like spiders.
The females are like these huge,terrifying things, but the Chua
de Nan, who I think is supposedto be based, I think she took
that word from the
EJ (08:06):
Oh, that's totally Irish.
Yeah, Chua de Nana.
Stacy (08:07):
Yeah.
It's pronounced Chua de Donna.
Yeah.
And the Tudinon is never accusedme
EJ (08:13):
of being a Celtic language speaker.
Not at all.
Stacy (08:17):
My ancestors would be ashamed.
And but the thing is they'refascinated with humans and
they're fascinated with theichthyoid.
And what they will do is, eventhough it's technically illegal
now, is they will quietly.
Purchase abducted species likethis and add them to their
harems and you'll never see thelight of day again, basically.
(08:38):
And 200 years passed when theyfirst, when humans first made
contact with them, an entiregeneration of women was lost to
the two Dena'an, and there wastalk that there was, like,
genetic manipulation and shitbeing done to them.
Oh, okay.
And So there are like alegitimately scary species out
there.
And so the fear they're bothjust Fuckin hell, please don't
(08:59):
let us get picked up by that.
So they're drifting, and it's areally creepy scene, because the
pod is spinning in a circle, andthey can see the cruise ship on
fire, and then it spins around,and then they can see half of
the ship has broken off, becausethere's Like an artificial
atmosphere around the cruiseship so the fire can burn,
basically.
And then at one point they driftback around and a hand, a human
(09:21):
hand, bounces off of the tinylittle porthole and like you can
see it's frozen, it's alsobroken off.
And all...
Lacey can think is, was thatsomeone I knew?
And it's just this reallycreepy, upsetting scene.
They end up getting picked upby, not quite pirates, but
towing the line.
And so you can tell that theoriginal plan is they were going
(09:42):
to sell them to piracy, or sellthem into slavery.
But Orin comes forward, andweirdly, everybody seems to
recognize them.
And so they start calling them,oh, yes, you're sovereign.
And so Orin says, you know who Iam, right?
And they're like, yeah, we knowwho you are, and Oren says, I
will pay you to take usimmediately to, I don't remember
the name of Oren's home planet,but I want you to take us to the
(10:03):
capital city.
And they're like we want 20, 000credits, and Oren says, fine,
you get us there and I'll payyou 20, 000 credits.
How about, 10, 000 up front, andthen another 10, 000 when we get
you there?
No, I'm not stupid.
You will take me there, and thenyou'll get everything.
And then they're like how aboutwe all get a night with the
woman, and then you only have topay 10, 000, and he and Oren
(10:24):
says, I don't share what's mine,and you know that about me if
you know who I am.
And so the whole time Lacey'swhat the fuck?
Because Lacey's in a lace, she'sin a silk rope.
You know what I mean?
Orin was able to throw theirclothes back on, but Lace isn't
in the fuck, because she wassleeping naked with Orin.
So finally, they make it back toOrin's planet, and it's a huge
(10:45):
ocean planet with theseartificial cities that are
built.
And you have to have a boat, oryou have to take, there are
these underwater tunnels thatyou can take.
And while there's noparticularly...
aggressive species in that areathat will chase after them.
There are these huge eels thatwill get confused and
occasionally crash into thewalkways.
(11:07):
And Lacey's hyperventilating no,we're not.
No, because Lacey was born andraised on a space station.
She's never been planet sidebefore.
So she's low key terrified.
And so it's just this wholething where they're there,
they're in the capital city andsuddenly everybody starts
recognizing Orin.
And finally somebody asks to geta picture taken and so Orin
(11:31):
pulls Laci really close, cuddlesher against their chest, and
then they do this peculiar handmotion like this.
Can you guys see that?
Although it's more hang on, letme do it with my left hand
because I can't really do itwith my right.
It's like that.
And so basically Laci is what?
What the hell is going on?
(11:52):
So it's the middle finger andthe thumb are pressed together,
and then the index finger ispressed to the ring finger, and
the pinky is nestled up againstthe ring finger.
Oh, okay.
Interesting.
And so Lacey, yeah, Lacey islike a weird duck.
Yeah.
And Lacey's what the fuck isgoing on?
And so Orin goes, oh, you meanthe hand motion?
Oh, it means that I'm a top.
(12:12):
And she's as opposed to?
And Orin says, oh if you're aswitch, you do, I think it's the
ring finger.
And if you're A bottom you do, Ithink it's the index finger if
I'm remembering correctly.
So this or this and then this.
EJ (12:28):
Okay, why not?
Stacy (12:29):
Why not?
And she's what the hell?
And see, that's where you findout that their society is split
up because they don't havebinary.
Genders, so it's basically, areyou a top, are you a bottom, or
are you a switch, which if youwrite it all into BDSM, that
means you're a DOM, a sub, or aswitch, or somebody who can go
between.
And part of that, what's reallyclever is this ties into Orin's
(12:51):
biology, because Like I said,the writer based their genetics
on flatworms, and if you knowanything about flatworms also
don't have binary sexes.
They all have penises that arelike knives, basically.
I think bedbugs do the samething.
And basically what it is theywrestle and they fight, and
whoever penetrates the other oneessentially deposits their
(13:14):
seminal fluid, and the one whowas conquered becomes the one
that's pregnant.
And so it, way back when, thatwas, basically the stronger ones
ran down the weaker ones and youwere impregnated against your
will, but now it's like what youidentify as, and so like Orin,
for example, has technically avagina, Orin is technically
capable of being pregnant, Orinis not penetrated, Orin is a
(13:39):
top.
And so they get there, andagain, Lace is asking like, what
the hell's going on?
And that's where she finds outthat Orin is this galaxy
renowned porn star, basically,called the Sovereign of Sin.
And so that's why The hell of atitle.
I love it.
You pirate, your title iswonderful.
We're calling him, we're callinghim your, so you know your
(14:00):
sovereign ship basically then.
And so what ends up happeningis, so do you want me to stop
there and you guys can just askme questions?
EJ (14:10):
At least.
Damn.
It was really interesting.
I'm over here okay.
I feel like I'm asking anobvious question, but I wanted
to dig a little deeper into you,Stacey.
Why this story?
Why this book in that scene,from that anthology?
Stacy (14:25):
Part of it was...
I follow Alexis B.
Osborne on Facebook, and she wastalking about the story that she
was writing.
And I thought that was reallyfascinating, because what
happens with the plot, that Ididn't get to because I got so
bogged down in minutiae, is thatif a, an ichthyoid, they're
technically called ruini, Ithink is how they're called, is
(14:49):
the name of their species.
We're humanoids, but we callourselves humans kind of thing.
The ruini, They form mate bonds.
And once they have a mate bond,they can't stray from their mate
bond.
And if Auryn is porn star, forvery obvious reasons, Auryn
cannot have a mate bond, becauseAuryn cannot perform.
Auryn accidentally forms a matebond with Lacey.
(15:10):
Ooh.
And it gets even weirder.
Because there's a, basically, soit's so he just paid, or they
just paid 20, 000 fuckingcredits, so Lacey's got this
huge guilt because she can't paythat back, she's a fucking
dancer on a cruise ship sheain't bringing in the big bucks
and Orin is great, because theentire time Orin is make
yourself at home, I don't carehow long you're here for, I like
(15:33):
having you around, you will befine, you don't have to go
anywhere until you're capable ofgoing somewhere, so it's very
sweet, I'm In that perspective,and.
And I loved the idea of, whatwould you do if you were, I just
loved the premise of what wouldyou do if you were a porn star
and you accidentally formed amate bond with somebody and so
you couldn't do your job,basically.
(15:56):
And I also loved, I just thoughtthe non binary thing was cool,
so I was really curious to seehow she was going to do this.
And I really didn't, I was Idon't know, this is outside of
my comfort zone.
Do I want to, sally forthboldly?
Or do I want to, maybe I need topoke it for a little while
before I'm brave enough.
And I ended up, I was readingthat anthology and the book, I
(16:17):
finished one story and it wasthe next one.
So I was just like, fuck it, I'mhere.
If I don't like it, I can alwaysswitch to another story.
And was, I was just likeimmediately fucking sucked in.
And it was super hot because ofthe...
Androgyny doesn't usually turnme on, but the way that it's
expressed in the Ruin Eye isreally, it's really hot.
(16:40):
Because Auryn is big, and Aurynhas broad shoulders and a broad
chest and things like that, butAuryn is also beautiful and
Auryn wears makeup, and there'sa scene where like I said, when
they get to Auryn's house, AllLaci has is a robe, and so Orin
is trying to find stuff in theirown closet for Laci to wear.
(17:01):
And so they end up giving herthis beautiful gown made up of
all of these straps that Orinhas worn.
That was made by a like, worldrenowned, or in this world it's
planetary renowned designer.
And so at one point, Laci ispoured into this dress.
And she goes this is an amazingdress, and Orin goes, keep it,
it looks better on you than itever did on me.
(17:22):
So it's the idea that Orin wearsdresses, Orin wears skirts, Orin
wears makeup.
There's a great scene where,after they've cemented their
mate bond, they're going out,because they're trying to figure
out what they're gonna do forincome.
Because Orin's manager...
Is your finances aren't greatright now, like you're gonna
have to sell some stuff, or,that's when the manager starts
(17:45):
trying to talk Oren intobottoming, and Oren is just fuck
you, I'm not gonna bottom.
And, so they go to, out to anightclub, and to meet with this
director who might have a, at anacting role for Orin something
that's not in porn.
But there's a great bit wherethey make a dress for Lacey to
wear and Orin goes, I want to doyour makeup.
(18:06):
And so it's just that, there'sjust this really cool because
Orin is very dominant, becauseOrin is a top, but at the same
time, there's also this reallycool, feminine expression.
Or at least what we perceive asfeminine expression.
And I don't know, it was justlike, like there's a great scene
at the very beginning when theyfirst sleep together and Lacey
goes to take a shower and she'slaughing to herself because
Orin's skincare regimen is like10 steps longer than her own,
(18:30):
basically.
It's like lotions and unguentsand moisturizers.
And so there's just, I don'tknow, there was, there's
something very appealing aboutthe fact that she created a
dominant partner, but it doesn'thave to be.
And I drive a pickup truck, and,and, which don't get me wrong, I
have many fond memories ofspending time in the back of a
(18:50):
pickup truck, but...
It doesn't all have to bemachismo, because Orin never,
Orin expresses aggression, butOrin never expresses machismo,
and so it was a very interestingtake on a dominant partner
without buying hard into eithermasculinity or femininity, and,
(19:10):
but it wasn't off putting withwhat she came up with,
basically.
It's very cool, honestly.
It's so good.
It's legit one of my favoritebooks.
I'm glad that
Amy (19:20):
I purchased Claimed by the Star, Claimed from whatever.
I purchased the anthology,
Stacy (19:24):
so I need to read this.
EJ (19:25):
I feel like I need to get this
Stacy (19:27):
book.
Yeah, Made for the Alien pornstar was expanded and so it's
significantly longer than it isin the anthology because what
ends up happening is, so first,Orin's okay, I'm gonna go to
work, I'll be back later and,there's a whole thing where
Lacey's being like, I cannotcatch feels for this person this
is, this was a one time thingand then this shit blew up,
(19:47):
that's the only reason we'restill together, but at the same
time, she's catching feels andthere's a really hot scene too
where she goes and she watchesone of Orin's Yeah.
Porns, basically.
And it's super hot because it's,back in the day, there, so
there's a derogatory term calleda nest invader.
And that's basically anybody whogoes into the family unit to try
(20:09):
and take the family from thetop, essentially.
And they did this likehistorical, and it's porn, but
where Orin is basically playingthis conquering warlord.
And the other Runeye is like acourtesan and the basically
Orin's character like takes themby force against the wall kind
(20:31):
of thing.
And it's wearing like longglorious robes.
It's a very like sort ofJapanese kimono kind of vibe.
And there's a great scene wherelike Lace is watching it, but
she's like imagining herself asthe courtesan basically.
And The way that the sex isdescribed is also really hot,
too, because one of the thingsOren tells Laci when they first
get together is do not struggle.
If you struggle, you are goingto trigger my, like my,
(20:56):
essentially my instinct to, to,or basically to pin you.
So if something is wrong, youneed to let me know, but do not
struggle.
And so it's this whole thingwhere every time they have sex,
too, like he basically, or theybasically fold her up into a
ball, usually on her belly.
And very aggressively pin her,and then their penises are
(21:17):
prehensile, which would benecessary if, you have to battle
for dominance, historically,with your species.
And, but there's also the sex isreally hot, because Orin doesn't
have to thrust the way that thepenis is made his cock can, or
their cock can thrust for them.
But there's also a really greatscene where, because Orin is
(21:37):
ichthyoid, So they live in thissuper luxe private island kind
of setup.
And, but there's seawater thatruns through in pools inside of
the the house.
And when Auryn is in the water,you can't see them.
Their scales are too reflective.
Interesting.
And but there's a really greatscene where they're both in the
pool, and Auryn says do youwant...
(21:58):
Do you want to touch it?
Meaning Orin's vagina,essentially.
And Lacy's I I don't, are youcomfortable with that?
And so there's a really sweetscene where Orin basically says,
I trust you, and takes herfinger and guides it up inside,
And it's this whole it's the,she's the only person that's
ever touched Oren there.
And the, their biology is alsotied up into the ma the
(22:21):
penetrator cannot climax untilthe one being penetrated has
orgasmed.
And so there's, so that's partof the reason, too Oren is very
aggressive when they have sexwith Lacey because they need
Lacey to get off so they can getoff.
Basically, but there's thiswhole thing where the climax of
the story is that someone triesto abduct Lacey and sell her to
(22:45):
pirates.
And actually, hang on, let metake a step back.
So when they the mate bondshouldn't be possible between
Lacey and Orin because Lacey isa human and Orin is not.
They find out when they go tothe doctor.
to have her looked at becausethey're trying to see if there's
a way to sever the mate bond,which kind of breaks Lacey's
heart, understandably, but atthe same time, Orrin can't work
(23:06):
if Orrin has a mate bond.
So they go to the doctor and thedoctor is looking at Lacey and
basically says, my suspicion isthat you have Tudina ancestry.
And she's what are you talkingabout?
I'm a human.
And the doctor is basicallyyeah, a lot of the Tudina
(23:26):
experiments escaped and made ithome.
So basically, They look at herteeth.
She's got teeth that sheshouldn't have that is in
indicative of the two to niner.
And so they're like, yeah, Iwould say probably a great
grandparent or something likethat was half.
And and the Teutonot and the theRuneye are genetically
compatible.
(23:47):
Okay.
And so she has just enough alienDNA that it's able to trigger
the mate bonds, basically.
And it's actually really funnybecause she's Can we do anything
to break it?
And the doctor's Nope! May aswell enjoy yourself! And then
there's a really sweet sceneafter that where Auryn Is
cuddling her in public, becauseshe feels terrible she feels
(24:07):
like this burden who basicallyexploded in his life and ruined
everything.
And Oren is cuddling her on thisbench outside of the doctor's
office.
And basically says, I'm gladthat we can't reverse it.
I didn't want us to reverse it.
But there's also a really funnyscene where he starts to get, or
they start to get, sexuallyaggressive in public.
Because sex in public is not abig deal with this species.
(24:28):
And Lacey's Oren, stop.
And Oren's oh, are you shy?
That's so cute.
And then they put their head upand they go, yo! And they yell
at this other rune eye.
And they're like, pointing atthemselves me, and Horny goes,
Yeah, you! This is my mate!Isn't she beautiful?
I like to fuck her! And theother one of them goes, The
other one of them goes, Oh yeah,I remember my mating days, too.
(24:51):
Enjoy it!
Amy (24:53):
Aw,
EJ (24:55):
Go ahead.
I'm sorry, I feel almost sillyasking, How do you think this?
How does this contribute to thediversity of the monster romance
genre?
I'm over here yeah, just makeyour
Stacy (25:06):
pick.
And yeah, basically, but theother thing that I like about
this too, that I think she did areally good job with is that
Orin is non binary, but Orindoes not have a problem with the
fact that Lacy is binary.
Lacy is female and Orin has zeroproblems with the fact that Lacy
is female.
There is, however, a really cutescene at the beginning where I
think right after they have sex,Orin goes, you're a female?
(25:30):
And Lacey goes, yes, I'm awoman.
And Orin goes, okay, good.
I don't usually like the malesof your species.
But Orin can't quitedifferentiate, doesn't
recognize, yeah, this is thesexual dimorphism in humans.
I'm pretty sure you're what theycall a girl.
But it's really good And you getinto Lacey's got their own
abandonment issue or her ownabandonment issues because, she
(25:52):
was raised on a shitty,overcrowded space station and
she and her best friend, likethey made best, they made
friends because they lived inthe same shitty, overcrowded
apartment and shitty,overcrowded space station.
And the reason why...
Lacey was working on the cruiseship in the first place is
because Meg got a job and madesure that Lacey had a job, too.
(26:14):
And so anywhere they've gone,they've only ever gone if the
other one can get a job there,too.
And so part of the story, too,is her freaking out.
Did Meg get it off, get off theship or not?
Fortunately, she did.
And there's a great littleepilogue.
that you can get.
You read the book and then yougo download it where Meg comes
to visit and Meg has this hugeterrifying cyborg boyfriend with
her that we're just all andwhere did that come from?
(26:35):
But it's really funny becauseOren's not home when they
arrive, and Lacy is nursingtheir baby.
And I want to say the cyborgname is like Mad Dog or
something like that.
But he comes in and isimmediately Ah, fuck my eyes!
Put the tits away! Put the titsaway! And I'm like...
(26:57):
And then in the middle of it,Orin comes home and goes into
hardcore aggressive protect thenest mode, like drop the
groceries in the kitchen, comeslike barreling down the hallway
into the room where Lacy'snursing their child, and is very
aggressive until Mad Dog agreesto go wait on the boat, or wait
(27:18):
on their ship.
It was really funny.
And that's the other, becauseagain, that's the other thing
that I like is that Orin isaggressive Orrin because the
whole species you protect yournest.
And a nest invader is to bedealt with immediately, and
usually fatally.
Because there's a scene wherethey're talking about that and
Orrin says on the books, wedon't kill each other anymore.
(27:41):
And Lacey goes, what do you meanon the books?
And Orrin goes there's a lot ofocean out there.
And that's all they say.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
So I just, it's just a fucking,I just love this fucking book.
EJ (27:53):
I do have a good question of my list of questions.
If you had the opportunity totalk to Alexis B.
Osborne what would be a questionyou'd ask them about this book
or anything?
Stacy (28:06):
I would love to know if the ichthyoid were something
that she was just like she hadthis idea and then it wasn't
until she came across theflatworm reproduction that she
was like.
That's it.
That's it.
Like coming together.
I would also like to know ifwe're gonna get a two de no
story, because I'm very cur.
There is something verycompelling about an elegant
EJ (28:26):
villain.
Indeed.
You know what I mean?
I absolutely concur.
Stacy (28:30):
Agreed.
And and so I would love to see aa two to not senator, maybe
brought around to the lightside.
Basically.
There is also'cause, because allof this, the really cool thing
about this.
Is all of this is a shareduniverse, but the way that it's
set up is really cool becausehumans, if I'm remembering
correctly, so she also has aseries that I've only read one
(28:55):
book out of.
That's actually the first bookof hers that I ever read.
And it was a Beauty and theBeast retelling, but it was a,
with a Thundercat alien.
Cool.
With a...
Two DONGs.
Thank you, Amiga.
But it's interesting becauseit's also Alpha, Beta, it's also
Omegaverse.
Oh, fun.
And, yeah, it was reallyinteresting.
Why the hell not?
Let's have some fun with it.
(29:16):
And so what it is it's the usualthis is, human society is split
up into Alpha, Betas, andOmegas.
And she, the main character, isthe daughter of a very prominent
political family.
And the fact that she was bornin Omega is a disgrace.
Yeah.
Because like her brother's analpha, her father's an alpha, I
think her mom's a beta.
And, but it's this kind of thingwhere societally omegas are seen
(29:37):
as weak and useless.
Okay.
And she ends up getting capturedby this species that our main
male character belongs to, andby and large, the species is
very aggressive towards humans.
They want to steal humans forbreeding purposes.
And so she had been on a colonyship that was hijacked, and they
were experimented on.
(29:58):
without being taken out ofcryosleep.
And so she's been madegenetically compatible with them
because they're having like, Ithink like their females are
dying out or something to thateffect, I can't remember
anymore.
And so I'm not a hundred percentif this series is tied into the
other series, but what I thinkhas happened is a bunch of
(30:20):
humans left the earth like athousand years before, because
this is very obviously in thefuture, like there's like hover
cars and shit like that.
And A bunch of colony ships leftthe planet, like four huge
colony ships left Earth like athousand years before.
So I think the people with theAlpha, Beta, Omega thing are the
ones who stayed behind on Earth.
(30:40):
And Earth has since lostcontact, like millennia ago,
with the colony ships.
And none of the colony ships, Ithink, talk to each other.
I think they're all separatedfrom one another.
And they're all in differentpositions, the four quadrants is
what it's called.
And...
In the Milky Way.
And the Engineering series isone quadrant, the Maiden for the
(31:04):
Alien Porn Star is anotherquadrant, and then I think some
of her other books touch in onthe other quadrants too.
So it's really interesting howit's a, so if you're dealing
with a story that's like inquadrant two, there are specific
aliens that are only going to bein quadrant two stories, if
you're dealing with aliens thatare in quadrant four, which I
think is what Made for the alienporn star is, you're only going
(31:25):
to be dealing with those, thealiens that are in that
quadrant.
So the like the two to none,that are like the menace of
quadrant four, nobody knows whothe hell they are in quadrant
two, basically.
And none of the colony shipshave contact with one another
either.
So it's you have A bunch of fouror five seeded areas where
humanity is now evolving at itsown pace, basically.
(31:48):
Separate from each other.
EJ (31:49):
Absolutely.
Fascinating, layered worldbuilding.
Holy shit.
It's really cool.
Honestly.
Stacy (31:55):
In one of them, in the, I think it's the Colony 2, which I
think is the Engineering Fate,or the Engineering Series, so
everybody in that, You have toessentially join Star Fleet if
you want anything to happen.
So basically it's a, if youwanna get married, if you wanna
be able to have kids,'cause youhave to apply for a license for
everything.
So you have to have served Xamount of years in Star Fleet
before you get the approval todo any of that.
(32:17):
Then you've got quadrant fourwhere none of that is happening
basically.
Lacey was never in the military,Lacey's a dancer in a fucking
cruise ship basically.
So like society has, like Isaid, has developed on
different.
Weird layers and like on Earth,if Earth is tied into this, like
Earth is doing its own thingbecause none of the humans on
(32:39):
the colony ships are part of theAlpha, Beta, Omega dynamic.
They're all just typical humans.
So it's cool the way she's takenlike a bunch of different genres
and she's tied them alltogether.
EJ (32:52):
I appreciate that.
With the original anthology.
Were there any others that youliked besides?
Yes, there
Stacy (33:01):
was a bunch.
Let me this it's part of thereason why I got this anthology
was because I recognized a wholebunch of names that were in it.
Unfortunately, their theirchapter like their table of
contents is not terribly, likeit goes, it's like name and then
lists all the chapters, like youcan't pick the name and jump to
the, you know what I mean?
So like Zoe Draven has, yeah, itis, it's definitely a more crude
(33:25):
setup than what they're doingnow.
So Zoe Draven has a story inthere and it's interesting
because she didn't pick HordeKings.
She picked Luxarian Warriors,but this is three generations
later, which is cool.
So that was a really good one.
EJ (33:37):
I honestly if you're a writer with an established world
series what a great opportunityin an anthology to just shake it
up a little bit,
Stacy (33:47):
have some fun.
And the other thing that I thinkis to the benefit of this is
that it's also a great way tosay, hey, did you like that?
I've got a whole fuckinguniverse that I've already built
around this.
Absolutely.
So if this is to your taste,because her Luxurian Warriors
just recently ended and I thinkit was on what book?
eight book nine when it endedyeah rescued by the luxurian is
(34:08):
that book and then and it wasreally good and then and it's
cool because they make referenceto the luxurian warrior series
because like the luxurian maleand this is oh you know he
didn't have any humans weregreat his great grandmother had
been a human woman you know likethat kind of
EJ (34:25):
thing
Stacy (34:27):
and so that one was really good god damn i keep
doing that I'm trying to go tothe table of contents instead of
closing the damn book.
Come on.
Zoe Dravens was really good.
Let's see.
I don't remember that one.
V.
K.
Ludwig has a Vandalar Concubinesthat's really, it's a really
(34:47):
that whole series is reallyfunny anyway.
If you haven't read any of theVandalar Concubines and you want
something that's sexy but alsoreally funny, I really recommend
that.
Because they're, essentiallyit's one of the, it's the usual
dynamic where they have way toomany males and not enough
females.
And so most of the males go to aschool to basically learn how to
be like, the ultimate, I thinkthey're called SAC, if I'm
(35:09):
remembering correctly.
And they basically become theperfect dude love machines, can
cook, great with kids, and thehope is that essentially,
females take multipleconcubines, essentially.
So we got, yeah, a legitimatereverse harem, but it's built
into the society, but theproblem is, if you're only like,
okay at part of it, odds arehigh you won't get taken on by a
(35:32):
female, and if you...
You have so many chances to try,and if you strike out your own
society will sell you intoslavery, which is how the first
book starts, yeah.
Lovely.
Yeah, and so there, what ends uphappening over the course of the
book series is the human womenare made aware of these males
and are just like, a dude whogives a shit and wants to pamper
(35:55):
me and take care of me and helpwith the kids Sign me up.
Yeah, I'd like one of those,please.
I'd like one of those.
And so the series follows that,but it's there's a really funny
fucking bit in, because they cando this thing that's, it's this
sex growl, basically, wherethey, and it's to mildly turn on
their females, and it sendshuman females into will hump
anything mode, and there's areally great bit in the third
(36:17):
book, where the human female inquestion, who has been a
secondary character in the firsttwo books, She's got her book,
and she's actually at theschool, and so she's witnessing
it.
And so whenever they do thegrowl, she has to
EJ (36:30):
put on headphones.
They do the growl without
Stacy (36:32):
warning her first, and they find her out in the
hallway, sexually assaulting acleaning cart.
It is so fucking funny.
And there's a whole bit, too,where some wires get crossed,
and they think human women havecocks.
They think that's what the clitis.
And so a bunch of them are justlike...
I didn't get into this to toucha dick.
(36:53):
And it's very fucking funny.
And they're all so desperate tofind and keep their female that
sometimes some underhanded deedsare done.
It's pretty funny.
The fourth book in particulardeals with that.
But so this was one of those,which, these are great.
And I like too, because she'salso getting into the older
males who haven't been pickedyet.
(37:13):
So it's nice to see Some oldercharacters getting some lovin oh
yeah, it's always nice there.
And then, let's see, so we gotB.
K.
Ludwig.
I don't remember the Tana Stoneone.
Didn't read that one.
Which one is the Hope Hearts?
I don't know if I've read.
This is the great thing aboutanthologies, you can really skip
(37:33):
around.
Oh, yes.
Amy (37:36):
Some people will read those authors that they're familiar
with.
Some will start at thebeginning, like me, because I'm
a weirdo.
And then it's if I'm
Stacy (37:42):
not feeling a story, I'll just skip on to the next one.
Oh, yeah.
Same.
No pressure.
Same.
I've had more success chaosreading with anthologies than I
have with trying to make myselfstart with the first story and
read all the way through.
Because if I make myself startand read all the way through,
then I lose interest and I neverget to the story that I'm
looking forward to.
Whereas, if I get to the storythat I'm looking forward to
(38:03):
first, then it might be, Oh,I'll just read the story that
came after.
You know what I mean?
Like that kind of thing.
And that's actually how I'vediscovered several authors that
I found in anthologies that Ilike.
The Hope Heart is really good.
It's part of her archive.
series, which I really like andI wish that she would give a
little bit more love to.
And Olivia Riley has Shades andBraces in this one, and that is
(38:24):
an excellent book.
That's another one where theshort is in the anthology and
then it was expanded into a fulllength novel and it is so good.
If you like your morallyambiguous main male characters,
Olivia Riley is your girl.
She, Shades and Braces is...
This really it's basically, it'sfreaky as fuck is what it is,
(38:45):
because it's this moon.
The sun is red, and it's only upfor something like, eight hours,
nine hours.
And it's this huge...
Sort of nocturnal metropolis.
It's very much feels like anunderworld essentially and a
similar premise to alien matefor the porn star or alien porn
(39:06):
stars mate where She is on aship that is attacked and she
escapes She's also a dancer andescapes in a pod and she ends up
crashing on this moon wherehumans know not to go Because
humans who go to this moon arenever seen Some of them are
eaten.
This is a higher stakes thing,and she ends up crashing into
(39:28):
this fuel distillery and causesmillions and millions of credits
worth of damage, and she runsaway because she's afraid that
if she's caught, they're gonnafucking kill her.
She ends up getting caughtanyway, and she's caught by
Shade, who is the kingpin ofthis city.
And basically tells her you oweme a debt, and until the debt is
(39:53):
paid, I own you.
And so she has to work it off asa dancer, and he's got this
nightclub.
But what's really cool is she'sa silk dancer.
So she does Cirque du Soleilkind of stuff.
And it's this whole thing whereshe and Shade are sniffing
around each other.
And Shade is terrifying looking.
I don't remember the name of hisspecies, but he's got like
silver hair, like genuinelymetallic silver hair.
(40:14):
And his skin is so thin.
And that it's almosttransparent, and you can see his
skull and his bones through hisskin.
And so he's, and so he is agenuinely, and his eyes burn
literally burn when he's angry.
So he's a genuinely terrifyingfigure.
And it's really good.
It's super hot when they finallyhave sex for the first time.
(40:34):
He literally puts her on thetable, folds her up into a ball,
and just starts rutting her.
And he's got this super weirddick where it's got this
bifurcated tip that are, and thetips are prehensile.
So they can move.
And it's, no, it's so good.
It's so fucking good, though.
And he's very much the you touchor you die like what is his and
no one else may touch.
(40:54):
Yep.
And really fucking hot.
She has another book that Ireally enjoyed that was in
another recent anthology calledThe Hallow King.
Oh, that's right, it was in theSupermelon.
You were going to say thatsounds familiar, didn't you
mention it already?
Yeah, I did, yeah, and that'sanother one where it's please
tell me you're going to expandthis because this was too good
not to.
Where it's like, they're like,humans live on a world with of,
(41:17):
they're vampires, but it's verythey're not they're winged for
starters, and sometimes theyhave antlers, and sometimes they
have horns, and.
That sounds like a whole lot offun.
Oh yeah, maybe this, and it'sone of those things where it's
like humans are like hiding intheir enclave kind of thing and
they have to offer up A bride tothe Hallow King, like every
(41:39):
blankety blank number of years,basically, and the main
characters in that one, so he'sthe Hallow King and he knows
what he's doing, she finds a, anold walkie talkie from old tech,
so basically like tech thathumans would have had when they
could take to the stars, whichhas since been lost.
And she finds a walkie talkie,and she starts talking into it,
(42:00):
and she doesn't realize it, butshe's talking to the Hallow
King, and they fall in love overthe walkie talkies.
And and it's this whole thingwhere she's going to be married
off, whether she wants to ornot, because women are, chattel.
And it's just, it's reallyfucking good, and so I really
want to see that expanded.
That's in Supervallum?
That one's in Supervallum, yeah.
Shades and Braces in ClaimedAmong the Stars.
(42:21):
And that's actually a great onetoo because she did write it.
Both of these are written ascompleted little stories.
And the way she expanded them isgreat because it doesn't feel
clunky or anything like that.
It's almost if I was going todescribe it, have you seen those
children's toys where it's acircle?
Of little plastic bits in it, soit's really tight when it's
(42:42):
together, but you can pull itout and suddenly there's like
the big spaces, but it's still acircle.
Oh yeah.
That's how I feel like, yeah,that's how I feel like they did
with these stories, where they,what you get in the anthology is
the tightly closed little ball,but then they open it up and
they expand it when it's itsown.
And it does it naturally andvery beautifully.
I really loved that one.
That one was one of my, anotherone of my favorites from this
(43:04):
this series.
S.
J.
Sanders has a really good one inhere.
It is The Wandering Star Fallen,which I believe is part of the,
yeah, the Darbell series.
I think you're right.
Yeah.
And then, I don't remember thatone.
I don't remember that one.
Nancy Cummings has a greatModfell story in here, which is
(43:28):
really fun.
It's part of the Warlord Brides.
There are a couple of differentauthors who do the Modfell, but
Nancy Cummings definitely doesthe best.
Okay,
Amy (43:37):
Stacey, one of the things you were mentioning about all of
the
Stacy (43:41):
Alexis B Osborne's Quadrants and
Amy (43:43):
Yada.
Basically, I was thinking withregards to the collided realms
and the dark spirits and thefairy tales for S.
J.
Sanders.
I'm like,
Stacy (43:51):
what sort of mind map does she have?
I actually don't know.
I want a map of okay, yeah, wecan read this.
Amy (43:59):
And then this is in that same world, but it's offset, but
then this is the sequel to this,
Stacy (44:03):
and this like how they tie together.
So she does actually have shedoesn't have a map like that,
but she does have a physical mapof the four quadrants.
And so basically she'll be like,this galaxy is where examining
fate, doctoring fate, andspeaking or Doctoring,
doctoring, and whatever theother one is.
Speaking?
Speaking fate?
(44:23):
That's not right, but it wassomething like that.
Interpreting fate, that's it.
Yeah.
And so there'll be like a, andthese are the aliens that you
can find there, and because eachof in those books, each book is
a different, the main malecharacter is a different alien,
because there's three aliens inthat quadrant, and they've all
got each other essentially in acold war.
Which, and then the humans comein, because the humans have
(44:43):
nanos, because they all served,they're all in the military when
they make this conquest, and allthree of these species badly
want these nanos.
So that they can build their ownsuper soldiers, basically, so
they can tip this Cold War intotheir own favor.
And which I think is reallyfucking genius political
maneuvering.
But yeah, so
EJ (45:02):
there's there's, it's so much more than just like a map.
There's so much world buildingin details.
By the way, I'm just amazed thatyou're, you've got this in your
noggin there,
Stacy (45:11):
Stacey.
I don't know what It isintimidating.
Stuff like this, I can shit likethis, I can hold on to forever.
Math, good luck.
Here we go.
Human brain, man.
I told a friend of mine oncethat math makes me feel like
someone put butter on my brain.
And I can feel it sliding downthe outside of my brain when
people talk about math, but itdoesn't actually get into the
(45:31):
brain.
What a fascinating,
EJ (45:33):
it, that I can see it.
That's a good description.
Stacy (45:37):
I also have, I've discovered actually late in life
that I also have synesthesia,which I think describes why I
like weird I have to describeeverything by using a weird
comparison.
Why not?
Hey, it works.
It dorks.
I discovered I had synesthesiabecause I have always
personalized numbers andletters.
(45:58):
Numbers and letters havepersonalities to me and and it
also ties into the fact that as,even as an adult, I have a hard
time getting rid of thingsbecause I'm afraid I'm going to
hurt their feelings.
Like inanimate objects.
That's fantastic.
It is, but then it sucks whenyou have 17 It also sucks.
Yes.
Yeah, you have 17 socks withholes in the toes that you can't
wear anymore but you feel likeyou're throwing them away like
(46:21):
you're discarding it justbecause it's not useful anymore
and that's exactly what you'redoing but at the same time
you're just like I'm beingunloyal I'm being disloyal to my
socks Being disloyal to yoursocks.
Yeah.
And, in a, that's the, that'sgonna be the name of my third
autobiography.
Being disloyal to my socks.
Amy (46:37):
Stacy, I just wanted to put out there, Vio says that she
Stacy (46:40):
loves you.
Oh, tell her I love her back.
I will do that.
When I get back in the store.
She's actually part of thereason I think the name Violet
is so pretty.
Agreed.
And because violets are pretty.
But, she has a pretty soul.
She does.
I'm trying
EJ (46:56):
to think of a good way to wrap all of this up, because
it's just what I love aboutwhere you went, Stacey, is like,
these anthologies, they are notjust one offs.
These are, getting intoanthologies gets you into a
whole dang world.
Absolutely, yeah.
It gives you layers into new,and also your favorite author's
(47:19):
worlds.
And I think it's just a verycool aspect that I find to be
One of the biggest sellingpoints of why you should get
into indie books and indieauthors because they have this
adaptability, this fluidity,this these layers to the story
and world building that'spossible partly because of
(47:42):
anthologies.
Who would have thought?
Such an old school way of doingshort stories and stuff can
actually really expand things.
No, it's
Stacy (47:51):
great.
And it's, I think of it asseeding a garden.
You read the anthology, and thisis the seeded plot.
But then, when you get to readthe expanded version, it's this
was the bountiful harvest,basically.
EJ (48:03):
and on that note, we will allow this will hopefully give
our listeners the ability tocultivate their own bountiful
gardens.
Stacy (48:13):
Heck yeah.
And if you ever need somebody tolike nerd out with about these
books please
EJ (48:17):
message me because
Stacy (48:18):
I don't have enough people to Sit on basically and
shriek about books.
So because Amy and EJ keepescaping.
We have a third book now to talk about.
We're ready for Stacy's booknow.
Oh, this is going to be epic.
Remember, I got questions.
Stacy (00:10):
We got questions.
Okay.
So my book is made for the alienporn star, and if you're looking
for this online, porn is spelledP Asterisk R N because I'm sure
Amazon's thumb is still firmlyup his ass.
By Alexis B.
Osborne, and it was originallyon the Claimed Among the Stars,
a sci fi romance anthology, andthis was a really fucking good
(00:33):
anthology.
This was one of those rareanthologies where, I don't know
if I've read everything, butI've read close to everything,
and I liked more than Idisliked.
It was a good anthology.
This was, so I think I had readengineering fate, which is her
fate trilogy is fucking chefscould kiss perfect and Oh God,
(00:55):
the whole trilogy is so good.
It's so good.
And it's she has the knack forwriting.
I'm to the point now where if Inever see a sassy heroine
mentioned again, I'll be fine.
But, she has a real knack forwriting strong female characters
without feeling like they'replaying in God mode.
Nice.
(01:15):
And That is a talent in thisworld.
That is a huge talent.
She doesn't, she's not playingthem like they're all Sarah
Connors from Terminator 2.
And...
I don't like reading books wherethe main female hero, heroine is
like this ass kicking marine orsomething to that effect.
But I don't like reading the Shewas a lean, mean fighting
(01:35):
machine, and she knows karate,because I can't relate with
somebody like that I am a doughywoman in her forties who my
happiest thing is when I gethome from work and I lay down
for four hours.
It's glorious, I love it, Irecommend it to everyone.
And but she has a really greatway of, she writes these very
capable women who are capablebecause they have to be, not
(01:56):
because they particularly wantto be.
And, I fucking love her forthat.
She is also really great, inthis instance, she moved outside
of traditional male female normsbecause her main character, her
main non human character, Orin,is he's what's called an, they
are what's called an ichthyoid.
(02:16):
And they are a humanoid species,but they evolved from fish,
basically, so they're notmammalian.
Orin doesn't have nipples, Orindoesn't have a belly button.
I think Orin's species may belive birth now, but I think once
upon a time they were probablyegg reared.
And What happens in this bookis, we've got our main female
(02:38):
character, whose name is Lacey.
And Lacey is a dancer who workson, essentially it's the deep
space equivalent of a cruiseship, basically.
And she's a dancer, it's hernight off, she has just had a
pretty gnarly breakup.
With a guy she was living with,and he was cheating on her, he
(02:59):
was stealing her tips.
He was just, he was a pig,basically.
Yeah.
And so she is out with herfriends, and she's just looking
to get laid, basically.
And Lacey's Laci is bi.
Laci has no issues.
She's a little intimidated bytrying to hit on an alien
because she's never been with analien before.
But it's really cool becauseAlexis B.
(03:20):
Osborne is herself a member ofthe LGBTQ community.
And it's really great becausethe way she writes it is, it's
not a, we don't have a bigblinking red arrow that goes,
Look, my character also myfemale character also likes
women.
Am I not progressive?
And there's just a case whereshe's standing there with her
friend and they're like whatabout him?
I don't know.
He's blah, blah, blah.
(03:40):
It's not really my type.
What about her?
And there's a great bit whereLacey has this thought where
she's what is this about hittingon women that is so much more
intimidating than hitting onmen?
And she decides she's a littletoo shy to hit on this hot
chick.
And she ends up seeing thisalien who she recognizes as an
ichthyoid.
And everybody knows ichthyoidsare non binary.
And they're beautiful, likethese they're scaled, but it's
(04:01):
these beautiful pearlescentscales, and the ichthyoids have
a fin on their head that drapesover to the side, so they look
like they have an undercut theirhead's shaved with the fin,
although the ichthyoids don'tgrow hair at all.
Very beautifully dressed,showing off this beautiful
chest, in this really beautifultransparent shirt.
(04:22):
And...
Loving all of this.
Lacey ends up, right?
Lacey ends up accidentallycrashing into him, knocks their
drink, or crashing into them,knocks their drink all over
them.
And the person in question,Oren, is basically if you wanted
my attention, all you had to dowas walk up to me.
And basically starts immediatelyflirting with her.
And they're both immediatelyvery into each other, orrin
(04:45):
takes Lacy up to their room,they have sex, and it's really
cool because she based theanatomy of the ichthyoids off of
flatworms.
Ah, yeah, I remember youmentioning this.
Yeah, so there's a really coolscene where when they first have
sex there's a moment where Lacyopens up her tablet and she
goes, Do you mind?
(05:05):
And Orrin's face suddenly drops.
And they say, Yeah, and shegoes, but what she's doing is
she's basically doing a scan andshe's showing him that she's
clean sexually.
And then he, then they're likeoh, okay, I thought, never mind
yeah.
And shows them hers, or showsher theirs, and so they're both
clean, they have sex.
And...
(05:25):
Lacey spends the night, and inthe midst of this, something
happens on the ship, and theyhave to abandon ship very
abruptly.
But, she has a hard timeconvincing Oren we gotta go.
Because he's it's just a drill,come back to bed.
And she's no, it's three times,if it's three times, it means
there's a disaster.
We have to go.
(05:46):
And they throw on their clothes,they get to their muster
station, but somebody jumped thegun, and...
A bunch of life that lifeboatsleft only half full.
Oh.
All of lifeboats are gone.
So she and Orrin, she's okay,there are some pods.
They're like a hundred yearsold, but they're maintained.
I know maintenance has to testthem every so often, so they
(06:08):
won't be as good as lifeboats,but they should be functional.
And so she's able to than takehim, than Exactly.
So she's able to take him andthey climb into this pod that's
like super uncomfortable.
And it's actually.
A really sweet scene becausewhen she's telling Orin we have
to go.
Orin is saying why are you sosure that it's so serious?
And Lacy just puts, pushes herfist against her sternum and she
(06:29):
goes, Something is wrong.
I can feel it here.
We have to go.
And that's when Orin listens toher.
When they're climbing to thepods are only designed for one
person.
And so Lacy puts Orin in thefirst one and is going to follow
in another one.
And Orin grabs her arm and says,you have to come with me.
And Lacey says, there's no roomfor two of us in here, and Oren
(06:50):
says, I have that same feelingin my chest that you had
earlier.
We shouldn't separate.
And so Lacey's okay, I'm gonnahave to sit on your lap.
Oren makes a dick joke.
Everything, so they climb in,and it's, again, it's very
creative because the actuallifeboats what you would imagine
to be for, technologically, thisis old tech.
(07:11):
And so when they get into it,it's just basically like a giant
circle that's filled withexpanding foam, basically.
So it's it's superclaustrophobic and when you're
in it, you can't control it.
It just shoots out like a cannonball and then just it'll start
spinning if like the min, likethe minute bit of debris hits it
and you can't control the th thethrusters and it sends out.
(07:33):
an alert and what they're afraidof is that because the boats
will go to a habitable planet,the pods will send out an alert
and you want to hope like fuckthat it's not a pirate that
picks you up basically.
And what she's built into thisbackdrop is there are some alien
species like the Tuadanon, Ithink they're called, who are
very elf like and are capable ofmesmerizing you with their
(07:55):
vision.
The males are anyway, apparentlythe females it's like spiders.
The females are like these huge,terrifying things, but the Chua
de Nan, who I think is supposedto be based, I think she took
that word from the
EJ (08:06):
Oh, that's totally Irish.
Yeah, Chua de Nana.
Stacy (08:07):
Yeah.
It's pronounced Chua de Donna.
Yeah.
And the Tudinon is never accusedme
EJ (08:13):
of being a Celtic language speaker.
Not at all.
Stacy (08:17):
My ancestors would be ashamed.
And but the thing is they'refascinated with humans and
they're fascinated with theichthyoid.
And what they will do is, eventhough it's technically illegal
now, is they will quietly.
Purchase abducted species likethis and add them to their
harems and you'll never see thelight of day again, basically.
(08:38):
And 200 years passed when theyfirst, when humans first made
contact with them, an entiregeneration of women was lost to
the two Dena'an, and there wastalk that there was, like,
genetic manipulation and shitbeing done to them.
Oh, okay.
And So there are like alegitimately scary species out
there.
And so the fear they're bothjust Fuckin hell, please don't
(08:59):
let us get picked up by that.
So they're drifting, and it's areally creepy scene, because the
pod is spinning in a circle, andthey can see the cruise ship on
fire, and then it spins around,and then they can see half of
the ship has broken off, becausethere's Like an artificial
atmosphere around the cruiseship so the fire can burn,
basically.
And then at one point they driftback around and a hand, a human
(09:21):
hand, bounces off of the tinylittle porthole and like you can
see it's frozen, it's alsobroken off.
And all...
Lacey can think is, was thatsomeone I knew?
And it's just this reallycreepy, upsetting scene.
They end up getting picked upby, not quite pirates, but
towing the line.
And so you can tell that theoriginal plan is they were going
(09:42):
to sell them to piracy, or sellthem into slavery.
But Orin comes forward, andweirdly, everybody seems to
recognize them.
And so they start calling them,oh, yes, you're sovereign.
And so Orin says, you know who Iam, right?
And they're like, yeah, we knowwho you are, and Oren says, I
will pay you to take usimmediately to, I don't remember
the name of Oren's home planet,but I want you to take us to the
(10:03):
capital city.
And they're like we want 20, 000credits, and Oren says, fine,
you get us there and I'll payyou 20, 000 credits.
How about, 10, 000 up front, andthen another 10, 000 when we get
you there?
No, I'm not stupid.
You will take me there, and thenyou'll get everything.
And then they're like how aboutwe all get a night with the
woman, and then you only have topay 10, 000, and he and Oren
(10:24):
says, I don't share what's mine,and you know that about me if
you know who I am.
And so the whole time Lacey'swhat the fuck?
Because Lacey's in a lace, she'sin a silk rope.
You know what I mean?
Orin was able to throw theirclothes back on, but Lace isn't
in the fuck, because she wassleeping naked with Orin.
So finally, they make it back toOrin's planet, and it's a huge
(10:45):
ocean planet with theseartificial cities that are
built.
And you have to have a boat, oryou have to take, there are
these underwater tunnels thatyou can take.
And while there's noparticularly...
aggressive species in that areathat will chase after them.
There are these huge eels thatwill get confused and
occasionally crash into thewalkways.
(11:07):
And Lacey's hyperventilating no,we're not.
No, because Lacey was born andraised on a space station.
She's never been planet sidebefore.
So she's low key terrified.
And so it's just this wholething where they're there,
they're in the capital city andsuddenly everybody starts
recognizing Orin.
And finally somebody asks to geta picture taken and so Orin
(11:31):
pulls Laci really close, cuddlesher against their chest, and
then they do this peculiar handmotion like this.
Can you guys see that?
Although it's more hang on, letme do it with my left hand
because I can't really do itwith my right.
It's like that.
And so basically Laci is what?
What the hell is going on?
(11:52):
So it's the middle finger andthe thumb are pressed together,
and then the index finger ispressed to the ring finger, and
the pinky is nestled up againstthe ring finger.
Oh, okay.
Interesting.
And so Lacey, yeah, Lacey islike a weird duck.
Yeah.
And Lacey's what the fuck isgoing on?
And so Orin goes, oh, you meanthe hand motion?
Oh, it means that I'm a top.
(12:12):
And she's as opposed to?
And Orin says, oh if you're aswitch, you do, I think it's the
ring finger.
And if you're A bottom you do, Ithink it's the index finger if
I'm remembering correctly.
So this or this and then this.
EJ (12:28):
Okay, why not?
Stacy (12:29):
Why not?
And she's what the hell?
And see, that's where you findout that their society is split
up because they don't havebinary.
Genders, so it's basically, areyou a top, are you a bottom, or
are you a switch, which if youwrite it all into BDSM, that
means you're a DOM, a sub, or aswitch, or somebody who can go
between.
And part of that, what's reallyclever is this ties into Orin's
(12:51):
biology, because Like I said,the writer based their genetics
on flatworms, and if you knowanything about flatworms also
don't have binary sexes.
They all have penises that arelike knives, basically.
I think bedbugs do the samething.
And basically what it is theywrestle and they fight, and
whoever penetrates the other oneessentially deposits their
(13:14):
seminal fluid, and the one whowas conquered becomes the one
that's pregnant.
And so it, way back when, thatwas, basically the stronger ones
ran down the weaker ones and youwere impregnated against your
will, but now it's like what youidentify as, and so like Orin,
for example, has technically avagina, Orin is technically
capable of being pregnant, Orinis not penetrated, Orin is a
(13:39):
top.
And so they get there, andagain, Lace is asking like, what
the hell's going on?
And that's where she finds outthat Orin is this galaxy
renowned porn star, basically,called the Sovereign of Sin.
And so that's why The hell of atitle.
I love it.
You pirate, your title iswonderful.
We're calling him, we're callinghim your, so you know your
(14:00):
sovereign ship basically then.
And so what ends up happeningis, so do you want me to stop
there and you guys can just askme questions?
EJ (14:10):
At least.
Damn.
It was really interesting.
I'm over here okay.
I feel like I'm asking anobvious question, but I wanted
to dig a little deeper into you,Stacey.
Why this story?
Why this book in that scene,from that anthology?
Stacy (14:25):
Part of it was...
I follow Alexis B.
Osborne on Facebook, and she wastalking about the story that she
was writing.
And I thought that was reallyfascinating, because what
happens with the plot, that Ididn't get to because I got so
bogged down in minutiae, is thatif a, an ichthyoid, they're
technically called ruini, Ithink is how they're called, is
(14:49):
the name of their species.
We're humanoids, but we callourselves humans kind of thing.
The ruini, They form mate bonds.
And once they have a mate bond,they can't stray from their mate
bond.
And if Auryn is porn star, forvery obvious reasons, Auryn
cannot have a mate bond, becauseAuryn cannot perform.
Auryn accidentally forms a matebond with Lacey.
(15:10):
Ooh.
And it gets even weirder.
Because there's a, basically, soit's so he just paid, or they
just paid 20, 000 fuckingcredits, so Lacey's got this
huge guilt because she can't paythat back, she's a fucking
dancer on a cruise ship sheain't bringing in the big bucks
and Orin is great, because theentire time Orin is make
yourself at home, I don't carehow long you're here for, I like
(15:33):
having you around, you will befine, you don't have to go
anywhere until you're capable ofgoing somewhere, so it's very
sweet, I'm In that perspective,and.
And I loved the idea of, whatwould you do if you were, I just
loved the premise of what wouldyou do if you were a porn star
and you accidentally formed amate bond with somebody and so
you couldn't do your job,basically.
(15:56):
And I also loved, I just thoughtthe non binary thing was cool,
so I was really curious to seehow she was going to do this.
And I really didn't, I was Idon't know, this is outside of
my comfort zone.
Do I want to, sally forthboldly?
Or do I want to, maybe I need topoke it for a little while
before I'm brave enough.
And I ended up, I was readingthat anthology and the book, I
(16:17):
finished one story and it wasthe next one.
So I was just like, fuck it, I'mhere.
If I don't like it, I can alwaysswitch to another story.
And was, I was just likeimmediately fucking sucked in.
And it was super hot because ofthe...
Androgyny doesn't usually turnme on, but the way that it's
expressed in the Ruin Eye isreally, it's really hot.
(16:40):
Because Auryn is big, and Aurynhas broad shoulders and a broad
chest and things like that, butAuryn is also beautiful and
Auryn wears makeup, and there'sa scene where like I said, when
they get to Auryn's house, AllLaci has is a robe, and so Orin
is trying to find stuff in theirown closet for Laci to wear.
(17:01):
And so they end up giving herthis beautiful gown made up of
all of these straps that Orinhas worn.
That was made by a like, worldrenowned, or in this world it's
planetary renowned designer.
And so at one point, Laci ispoured into this dress.
And she goes this is an amazingdress, and Orin goes, keep it,
it looks better on you than itever did on me.
(17:22):
So it's the idea that Orin wearsdresses, Orin wears skirts, Orin
wears makeup.
There's a great scene where,after they've cemented their
mate bond, they're going out,because they're trying to figure
out what they're gonna do forincome.
Because Orin's manager...
Is your finances aren't greatright now, like you're gonna
have to sell some stuff, or,that's when the manager starts
(17:45):
trying to talk Oren intobottoming, and Oren is just fuck
you, I'm not gonna bottom.
And, so they go to, out to anightclub, and to meet with this
director who might have a, at anacting role for Orin something
that's not in porn.
But there's a great bit wherethey make a dress for Lacey to
wear and Orin goes, I want to doyour makeup.
(18:06):
And so it's just that, there'sjust this really cool because
Orin is very dominant, becauseOrin is a top, but at the same
time, there's also this reallycool, feminine expression.
Or at least what we perceive asfeminine expression.
And I don't know, it was justlike, like there's a great scene
at the very beginning when theyfirst sleep together and Lacey
goes to take a shower and she'slaughing to herself because
Orin's skincare regimen is like10 steps longer than her own,
(18:30):
basically.
It's like lotions and unguentsand moisturizers.
And so there's just, I don'tknow, there was, there's
something very appealing aboutthe fact that she created a
dominant partner, but it doesn'thave to be.
And I drive a pickup truck, and,and, which don't get me wrong, I
have many fond memories ofspending time in the back of a
(18:50):
pickup truck, but...
It doesn't all have to bemachismo, because Orin never,
Orin expresses aggression, butOrin never expresses machismo,
and so it was a very interestingtake on a dominant partner
without buying hard into eithermasculinity or femininity, and,
(19:10):
but it wasn't off putting withwhat she came up with,
basically.
It's very cool, honestly.
It's so good.
It's legit one of my favoritebooks.
I'm glad that
Amy (19:20):
I purchased Claimed by the Star, Claimed from whatever.
I purchased the anthology,
Stacy (19:24):
so I need to read this.
EJ (19:25):
I feel like I need to get this
Stacy (19:27):
book.
Yeah, Made for the Alien pornstar was expanded and so it's
significantly longer than it isin the anthology because what
ends up happening is, so first,Orin's okay, I'm gonna go to
work, I'll be back later and,there's a whole thing where
Lacey's being like, I cannotcatch feels for this person this
is, this was a one time thingand then this shit blew up,
(19:47):
that's the only reason we'restill together, but at the same
time, she's catching feels andthere's a really hot scene too
where she goes and she watchesone of Orin's Yeah.
Porns, basically.
And it's super hot because it's,back in the day, there, so
there's a derogatory term calleda nest invader.
And that's basically anybody whogoes into the family unit to try
(20:09):
and take the family from thetop, essentially.
And they did this likehistorical, and it's porn, but
where Orin is basically playingthis conquering warlord.
And the other Runeye is like acourtesan and the basically
Orin's character like takes themby force against the wall kind
(20:31):
of thing.
And it's wearing like longglorious robes.
It's a very like sort ofJapanese kimono kind of vibe.
And there's a great scene wherelike Lace is watching it, but
she's like imagining herself asthe courtesan basically.
And The way that the sex isdescribed is also really hot,
too, because one of the thingsOren tells Laci when they first
get together is do not struggle.
If you struggle, you are goingto trigger my, like my,
(20:56):
essentially my instinct to, to,or basically to pin you.
So if something is wrong, youneed to let me know, but do not
struggle.
And so it's this whole thingwhere every time they have sex,
too, like he basically, or theybasically fold her up into a
ball, usually on her belly.
And very aggressively pin her,and then their penises are
(21:17):
prehensile, which would benecessary if, you have to battle
for dominance, historically,with your species.
And, but there's also the sex isreally hot, because Orin doesn't
have to thrust the way that thepenis is made his cock can, or
their cock can thrust for them.
But there's also a really greatscene where, because Orin is
(21:37):
ichthyoid, So they live in thissuper luxe private island kind
of setup.
And, but there's seawater thatruns through in pools inside of
the the house.
And when Auryn is in the water,you can't see them.
Their scales are too reflective.
Interesting.
And but there's a really greatscene where they're both in the
pool, and Auryn says do youwant...
(21:58):
Do you want to touch it?
Meaning Orin's vagina,essentially.
And Lacy's I I don't, are youcomfortable with that?
And so there's a really sweetscene where Orin basically says,
I trust you, and takes herfinger and guides it up inside,
And it's this whole it's the,she's the only person that's
ever touched Oren there.
And the, their biology is alsotied up into the ma the
(22:21):
penetrator cannot climax untilthe one being penetrated has
orgasmed.
And so there's, so that's partof the reason, too Oren is very
aggressive when they have sexwith Lacey because they need
Lacey to get off so they can getoff.
Basically, but there's thiswhole thing where the climax of
the story is that someone triesto abduct Lacey and sell her to
(22:45):
pirates.
And actually, hang on, let metake a step back.
So when they the mate bondshouldn't be possible between
Lacey and Orin because Lacey isa human and Orin is not.
They find out when they go tothe doctor.
to have her looked at becausethey're trying to see if there's
a way to sever the mate bond,which kind of breaks Lacey's
heart, understandably, but atthe same time, Orrin can't work
(23:06):
if Orrin has a mate bond.
So they go to the doctor and thedoctor is looking at Lacey and
basically says, my suspicion isthat you have Tudina ancestry.
And she's what are you talkingabout?
I'm a human.
And the doctor is basicallyyeah, a lot of the Tudina
(23:26):
experiments escaped and made ithome.
So basically, They look at herteeth.
She's got teeth that sheshouldn't have that is in
indicative of the two to niner.
And so they're like, yeah, Iwould say probably a great
grandparent or something likethat was half.
And and the Teutonot and the theRuneye are genetically
compatible.
(23:47):
Okay.
And so she has just enough alienDNA that it's able to trigger
the mate bonds, basically.
And it's actually really funnybecause she's Can we do anything
to break it?
And the doctor's Nope! May aswell enjoy yourself! And then
there's a really sweet sceneafter that where Auryn Is
cuddling her in public, becauseshe feels terrible she feels
(24:07):
like this burden who basicallyexploded in his life and ruined
everything.
And Oren is cuddling her on thisbench outside of the doctor's
office.
And basically says, I'm gladthat we can't reverse it.
I didn't want us to reverse it.
But there's also a really funnyscene where he starts to get, or
they start to get, sexuallyaggressive in public.
Because sex in public is not abig deal with this species.
(24:28):
And Lacey's Oren, stop.
And Oren's oh, are you shy?
That's so cute.
And then they put their head upand they go, yo! And they yell
at this other rune eye.
And they're like, pointing atthemselves me, and Horny goes,
Yeah, you! This is my mate!Isn't she beautiful?
I like to fuck her! And theother one of them goes, The
other one of them goes, Oh yeah,I remember my mating days, too.
(24:51):
Enjoy it!
Amy (24:53):
Aw,
EJ (24:55):
Go ahead.
I'm sorry, I feel almost sillyasking, How do you think this?
How does this contribute to thediversity of the monster romance
genre?
I'm over here yeah, just makeyour
Stacy (25:06):
pick.
And yeah, basically, but theother thing that I like about
this too, that I think she did areally good job with is that
Orin is non binary, but Orindoes not have a problem with the
fact that Lacy is binary.
Lacy is female and Orin has zeroproblems with the fact that Lacy
is female.
There is, however, a really cutescene at the beginning where I
think right after they have sex,Orin goes, you're a female?
(25:30):
And Lacey goes, yes, I'm awoman.
And Orin goes, okay, good.
I don't usually like the malesof your species.
But Orin can't quitedifferentiate, doesn't
recognize, yeah, this is thesexual dimorphism in humans.
I'm pretty sure you're what theycall a girl.
But it's really good And you getinto Lacey's got their own
abandonment issue or her ownabandonment issues because, she
(25:52):
was raised on a shitty,overcrowded space station and
she and her best friend, likethey made best, they made
friends because they lived inthe same shitty, overcrowded
apartment and shitty,overcrowded space station.
And the reason why...
Lacey was working on the cruiseship in the first place is
because Meg got a job and madesure that Lacey had a job, too.
(26:14):
And so anywhere they've gone,they've only ever gone if the
other one can get a job there,too.
And so part of the story, too,is her freaking out.
Did Meg get it off, get off theship or not?
Fortunately, she did.
And there's a great littleepilogue.
that you can get.
You read the book and then yougo download it where Meg comes
to visit and Meg has this hugeterrifying cyborg boyfriend with
her that we're just all andwhere did that come from?
(26:35):
But it's really funny becauseOren's not home when they
arrive, and Lacy is nursingtheir baby.
And I want to say the cyborgname is like Mad Dog or
something like that.
But he comes in and isimmediately Ah, fuck my eyes!
Put the tits away! Put the titsaway! And I'm like...
(26:57):
And then in the middle of it,Orin comes home and goes into
hardcore aggressive protect thenest mode, like drop the
groceries in the kitchen, comeslike barreling down the hallway
into the room where Lacy'snursing their child, and is very
aggressive until Mad Dog agreesto go wait on the boat, or wait
(27:18):
on their ship.
It was really funny.
And that's the other, becauseagain, that's the other thing
that I like is that Orin isaggressive Orrin because the
whole species you protect yournest.
And a nest invader is to bedealt with immediately, and
usually fatally.
Because there's a scene wherethey're talking about that and
Orrin says on the books, wedon't kill each other anymore.
(27:41):
And Lacey goes, what do you meanon the books?
And Orrin goes there's a lot ofocean out there.
And that's all they say.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
So I just, it's just a fucking,I just love this fucking book.
EJ (27:53):
I do have a good question of my list of questions.
If you had the opportunity totalk to Alexis B.
Osborne what would be a questionyou'd ask them about this book
or anything?
Stacy (28:06):
I would love to know if the ichthyoid were something
that she was just like she hadthis idea and then it wasn't
until she came across theflatworm reproduction that she
was like.
That's it.
That's it.
Like coming together.
I would also like to know ifwe're gonna get a two de no
story, because I'm very cur.
There is something verycompelling about an elegant
EJ (28:26):
villain.
Indeed.
You know what I mean?
I absolutely concur.
Stacy (28:30):
Agreed.
And and so I would love to see aa two to not senator, maybe
brought around to the lightside.
Basically.
There is also'cause, because allof this, the really cool thing
about this.
Is all of this is a shareduniverse, but the way that it's
set up is really cool becausehumans, if I'm remembering
correctly, so she also has aseries that I've only read one
(28:55):
book out of.
That's actually the first bookof hers that I ever read.
And it was a Beauty and theBeast retelling, but it was a,
with a Thundercat alien.
Cool.
With a...
Two DONGs.
Thank you, Amiga.
But it's interesting becauseit's also Alpha, Beta, it's also
Omegaverse.
Oh, fun.
And, yeah, it was reallyinteresting.
Why the hell not?
Let's have some fun with it.
(29:16):
And so what it is it's the usualthis is, human society is split
up into Alpha, Betas, andOmegas.
And she, the main character, isthe daughter of a very prominent
political family.
And the fact that she was bornin Omega is a disgrace.
Yeah.
Because like her brother's analpha, her father's an alpha, I
think her mom's a beta.
And, but it's this kind of thingwhere societally omegas are seen
(29:37):
as weak and useless.
Okay.
And she ends up getting capturedby this species that our main
male character belongs to, andby and large, the species is
very aggressive towards humans.
They want to steal humans forbreeding purposes.
And so she had been on a colonyship that was hijacked, and they
were experimented on.
(29:58):
without being taken out ofcryosleep.
And so she's been madegenetically compatible with them
because they're having like, Ithink like their females are
dying out or something to thateffect, I can't remember
anymore.
And so I'm not a hundred percentif this series is tied into the
other series, but what I thinkhas happened is a bunch of
(30:20):
humans left the earth like athousand years before, because
this is very obviously in thefuture, like there's like hover
cars and shit like that.
And A bunch of colony ships leftthe planet, like four huge
colony ships left Earth like athousand years before.
So I think the people with theAlpha, Beta, Omega thing are the
ones who stayed behind on Earth.
(30:40):
And Earth has since lostcontact, like millennia ago,
with the colony ships.
And none of the colony ships, Ithink, talk to each other.
I think they're all separatedfrom one another.
And they're all in differentpositions, the four quadrants is
what it's called.
And...
In the Milky Way.
And the Engineering series isone quadrant, the Maiden for the
(31:04):
Alien Porn Star is anotherquadrant, and then I think some
of her other books touch in onthe other quadrants too.
So it's really interesting howit's a, so if you're dealing
with a story that's like inquadrant two, there are specific
aliens that are only going to bein quadrant two stories, if
you're dealing with aliens thatare in quadrant four, which I
think is what Made for the alienporn star is, you're only going
(31:25):
to be dealing with those, thealiens that are in that
quadrant.
So the like the two to none,that are like the menace of
quadrant four, nobody knows whothe hell they are in quadrant
two, basically.
And none of the colony shipshave contact with one another
either.
So it's you have A bunch of fouror five seeded areas where
humanity is now evolving at itsown pace, basically.
(31:48):
Separate from each other.
EJ (31:49):
Absolutely.
Fascinating, layered worldbuilding.
Holy shit.
It's really cool.
Honestly.
Stacy (31:55):
In one of them, in the, I think it's the Colony 2, which I
think is the Engineering Fate,or the Engineering Series, so
everybody in that, You have toessentially join Star Fleet if
you want anything to happen.
So basically it's a, if youwanna get married, if you wanna
be able to have kids,'cause youhave to apply for a license for
everything.
So you have to have served Xamount of years in Star Fleet
before you get the approval todo any of that.
(32:17):
Then you've got quadrant fourwhere none of that is happening
basically.
Lacey was never in the military,Lacey's a dancer in a fucking
cruise ship basically.
So like society has, like Isaid, has developed on
different.
Weird layers and like on Earth,if Earth is tied into this, like
Earth is doing its own thingbecause none of the humans on
(32:39):
the colony ships are part of theAlpha, Beta, Omega dynamic.
They're all just typical humans.
So it's cool the way she's takenlike a bunch of different genres
and she's tied them alltogether.
EJ (32:52):
I appreciate that.
With the original anthology.
Were there any others that youliked besides?
Yes, there
Stacy (33:01):
was a bunch.
Let me this it's part of thereason why I got this anthology
was because I recognized a wholebunch of names that were in it.
Unfortunately, their theirchapter like their table of
contents is not terribly, likeit goes, it's like name and then
lists all the chapters, like youcan't pick the name and jump to
the, you know what I mean?
So like Zoe Draven has, yeah, itis, it's definitely a more crude
(33:25):
setup than what they're doingnow.
So Zoe Draven has a story inthere and it's interesting
because she didn't pick HordeKings.
She picked Luxarian Warriors,but this is three generations
later, which is cool.
So that was a really good one.
EJ (33:37):
I honestly if you're a writer with an established world
series what a great opportunityin an anthology to just shake it
up a little bit,
Stacy (33:47):
have some fun.
And the other thing that I thinkis to the benefit of this is
that it's also a great way tosay, hey, did you like that?
I've got a whole fuckinguniverse that I've already built
around this.
Absolutely.
So if this is to your taste,because her Luxurian Warriors
just recently ended and I thinkit was on what book?
eight book nine when it endedyeah rescued by the luxurian is
(34:08):
that book and then and it wasreally good and then and it's
cool because they make referenceto the luxurian warrior series
because like the luxurian maleand this is oh you know he
didn't have any humans weregreat his great grandmother had
been a human woman you know likethat kind of
EJ (34:25):
thing
Stacy (34:27):
and so that one was really good god damn i keep
doing that I'm trying to go tothe table of contents instead of
closing the damn book.
Come on.
Zoe Dravens was really good.
Let's see.
I don't remember that one.
V.
K.
Ludwig has a Vandalar Concubinesthat's really, it's a really
(34:47):
that whole series is reallyfunny anyway.
If you haven't read any of theVandalar Concubines and you want
something that's sexy but alsoreally funny, I really recommend
that.
Because they're, essentiallyit's one of the, it's the usual
dynamic where they have way toomany males and not enough
females.
And so most of the males go to aschool to basically learn how to
be like, the ultimate, I thinkthey're called SAC, if I'm
(35:09):
remembering correctly.
And they basically become theperfect dude love machines, can
cook, great with kids, and thehope is that essentially,
females take multipleconcubines, essentially.
So we got, yeah, a legitimatereverse harem, but it's built
into the society, but theproblem is, if you're only like,
okay at part of it, odds arehigh you won't get taken on by a
(35:32):
female, and if you...
You have so many chances to try,and if you strike out your own
society will sell you intoslavery, which is how the first
book starts, yeah.
Lovely.
Yeah, and so there, what ends uphappening over the course of the
book series is the human womenare made aware of these males
and are just like, a dude whogives a shit and wants to pamper
(35:55):
me and take care of me and helpwith the kids Sign me up.
Yeah, I'd like one of those,please.
I'd like one of those.
And so the series follows that,but it's there's a really funny
fucking bit in, because they cando this thing that's, it's this
sex growl, basically, wherethey, and it's to mildly turn on
their females, and it sendshuman females into will hump
anything mode, and there's areally great bit in the third
(36:17):
book, where the human female inquestion, who has been a
secondary character in the firsttwo books, She's got her book,
and she's actually at theschool, and so she's witnessing
it.
And so whenever they do thegrowl, she has to
EJ (36:30):
put on headphones.
They do the growl without
Stacy (36:32):
warning her first, and they find her out in the
hallway, sexually assaulting acleaning cart.
It is so fucking funny.
And there's a whole bit, too,where some wires get crossed,
and they think human women havecocks.
They think that's what the clitis.
And so a bunch of them are justlike...
I didn't get into this to toucha dick.
(36:53):
And it's very fucking funny.
And they're all so desperate tofind and keep their female that
sometimes some underhanded deedsare done.
It's pretty funny.
The fourth book in particulardeals with that.
But so this was one of those,which, these are great.
And I like too, because she'salso getting into the older
males who haven't been pickedyet.
(37:13):
So it's nice to see Some oldercharacters getting some lovin oh
yeah, it's always nice there.
And then, let's see, so we gotB.
K.
Ludwig.
I don't remember the Tana Stoneone.
Didn't read that one.
Which one is the Hope Hearts?
I don't know if I've read.
This is the great thing aboutanthologies, you can really skip
(37:33):
around.
Oh, yes.
Amy (37:36):
Some people will read those authors that they're familiar
with.
Some will start at thebeginning, like me, because I'm
a weirdo.
And then it's if I'm
Stacy (37:42):
not feeling a story, I'll just skip on to the next one.
Oh, yeah.
Same.
No pressure.
Same.
I've had more success chaosreading with anthologies than I
have with trying to make myselfstart with the first story and
read all the way through.
Because if I make myself startand read all the way through,
then I lose interest and I neverget to the story that I'm
looking forward to.
Whereas, if I get to the storythat I'm looking forward to
(38:03):
first, then it might be, Oh,I'll just read the story that
came after.
You know what I mean?
Like that kind of thing.
And that's actually how I'vediscovered several authors that
I found in anthologies that Ilike.
The Hope Heart is really good.
It's part of her archive.
series, which I really like andI wish that she would give a
little bit more love to.
And Olivia Riley has Shades andBraces in this one, and that is
(38:24):
an excellent book.
That's another one where theshort is in the anthology and
then it was expanded into a fulllength novel and it is so good.
If you like your morallyambiguous main male characters,
Olivia Riley is your girl.
She, Shades and Braces is...
This really it's basically, it'sfreaky as fuck is what it is,
(38:45):
because it's this moon.
The sun is red, and it's only upfor something like, eight hours,
nine hours.
And it's this huge...
Sort of nocturnal metropolis.
It's very much feels like anunderworld essentially and a
similar premise to alien matefor the porn star or alien porn
(39:06):
stars mate where She is on aship that is attacked and she
escapes She's also a dancer andescapes in a pod and she ends up
crashing on this moon wherehumans know not to go Because
humans who go to this moon arenever seen Some of them are
eaten.
This is a higher stakes thing,and she ends up crashing into
(39:28):
this fuel distillery and causesmillions and millions of credits
worth of damage, and she runsaway because she's afraid that
if she's caught, they're gonnafucking kill her.
She ends up getting caughtanyway, and she's caught by
Shade, who is the kingpin ofthis city.
And basically tells her you oweme a debt, and until the debt is
(39:53):
paid, I own you.
And so she has to work it off asa dancer, and he's got this
nightclub.
But what's really cool is she'sa silk dancer.
So she does Cirque du Soleilkind of stuff.
And it's this whole thing whereshe and Shade are sniffing
around each other.
And Shade is terrifying looking.
I don't remember the name of hisspecies, but he's got like
silver hair, like genuinelymetallic silver hair.
(40:14):
And his skin is so thin.
And that it's almosttransparent, and you can see his
skull and his bones through hisskin.
And so he's, and so he is agenuinely, and his eyes burn
literally burn when he's angry.
So he's a genuinely terrifyingfigure.
And it's really good.
It's super hot when they finallyhave sex for the first time.
(40:34):
He literally puts her on thetable, folds her up into a ball,
and just starts rutting her.
And he's got this super weirddick where it's got this
bifurcated tip that are, and thetips are prehensile.
So they can move.
And it's, no, it's so good.
It's so fucking good, though.
And he's very much the you touchor you die like what is his and
no one else may touch.
(40:54):
Yep.
And really fucking hot.
She has another book that Ireally enjoyed that was in
another recent anthology calledThe Hallow King.
Oh, that's right, it was in theSupermelon.
You were going to say thatsounds familiar, didn't you
mention it already?
Yeah, I did, yeah, and that'sanother one where it's please
tell me you're going to expandthis because this was too good
not to.
Where it's like, they're like,humans live on a world with of,
(41:17):
they're vampires, but it's verythey're not they're winged for
starters, and sometimes theyhave antlers, and sometimes they
have horns, and.
That sounds like a whole lot offun.
Oh yeah, maybe this, and it'sone of those things where it's
like humans are like hiding intheir enclave kind of thing and
they have to offer up A bride tothe Hallow King, like every
(41:39):
blankety blank number of years,basically, and the main
characters in that one, so he'sthe Hallow King and he knows
what he's doing, she finds a, anold walkie talkie from old tech,
so basically like tech thathumans would have had when they
could take to the stars, whichhas since been lost.
And she finds a walkie talkie,and she starts talking into it,
(42:00):
and she doesn't realize it, butshe's talking to the Hallow
King, and they fall in love overthe walkie talkies.
And and it's this whole thingwhere she's going to be married
off, whether she wants to ornot, because women are, chattel.
And it's just, it's reallyfucking good, and so I really
want to see that expanded.
That's in Supervallum?
That one's in Supervallum, yeah.
Shades and Braces in ClaimedAmong the Stars.
(42:21):
And that's actually a great onetoo because she did write it.
Both of these are written ascompleted little stories.
And the way she expanded them isgreat because it doesn't feel
clunky or anything like that.
It's almost if I was going todescribe it, have you seen those
children's toys where it's acircle?
Of little plastic bits in it, soit's really tight when it's
(42:42):
together, but you can pull itout and suddenly there's like
the big spaces, but it's still acircle.
Oh yeah.
That's how I feel like, yeah,that's how I feel like they did
with these stories, where they,what you get in the anthology is
the tightly closed little ball,but then they open it up and
they expand it when it's itsown.
And it does it naturally andvery beautifully.
I really loved that one.
That one was one of my, anotherone of my favorites from this
(43:04):
this series.
S.
J.
Sanders has a really good one inhere.
It is The Wandering Star Fallen,which I believe is part of the,
yeah, the Darbell series.
I think you're right.
Yeah.
And then, I don't remember thatone.
I don't remember that one.
Nancy Cummings has a greatModfell story in here, which is
(43:28):
really fun.
It's part of the Warlord Brides.
There are a couple of differentauthors who do the Modfell, but
Nancy Cummings definitely doesthe best.
Okay,
Amy (43:37):
Stacey, one of the things you were mentioning about all of
the
Stacy (43:41):
Alexis B Osborne's Quadrants and
Amy (43:43):
Yada.
Basically, I was thinking withregards to the collided realms
and the dark spirits and thefairy tales for S.
J.
Sanders.
I'm like,
Stacy (43:51):
what sort of mind map does she have?
I actually don't know.
I want a map of okay, yeah, wecan read this.
Amy (43:59):
And then this is in that same world, but it's offset, but
then this is the sequel to this,
Stacy (44:03):
and this like how they tie together.
So she does actually have shedoesn't have a map like that,
but she does have a physical mapof the four quadrants.
And so basically she'll be like,this galaxy is where examining
fate, doctoring fate, andspeaking or Doctoring,
doctoring, and whatever theother one is.
Speaking?
Speaking fate?
(44:23):
That's not right, but it wassomething like that.
Interpreting fate, that's it.
Yeah.
And so there'll be like a, andthese are the aliens that you
can find there, and because eachof in those books, each book is
a different, the main malecharacter is a different alien,
because there's three aliens inthat quadrant, and they've all
got each other essentially in acold war.
Which, and then the humans comein, because the humans have
(44:43):
nanos, because they all served,they're all in the military when
they make this conquest, and allthree of these species badly
want these nanos.
So that they can build their ownsuper soldiers, basically, so
they can tip this Cold War intotheir own favor.
And which I think is reallyfucking genius political
maneuvering.
But yeah, so
EJ (45:02):
there's there's, it's so much more than just like a map.
There's so much world buildingin details.
By the way, I'm just amazed thatyou're, you've got this in your
noggin there,
Stacy (45:11):
Stacey.
I don't know what It isintimidating.
Stuff like this, I can shit likethis, I can hold on to forever.
Math, good luck.
Here we go.
Human brain, man.
I told a friend of mine oncethat math makes me feel like
someone put butter on my brain.
And I can feel it sliding downthe outside of my brain when
people talk about math, but itdoesn't actually get into the
(45:31):
brain.
What a fascinating,
EJ (45:33):
it, that I can see it.
That's a good description.
Stacy (45:37):
I also have, I've discovered actually late in life
that I also have synesthesia,which I think describes why I
like weird I have to describeeverything by using a weird
comparison.
Why not?
Hey, it works.
It dorks.
I discovered I had synesthesiabecause I have always
personalized numbers andletters.
(45:58):
Numbers and letters havepersonalities to me and and it
also ties into the fact that as,even as an adult, I have a hard
time getting rid of thingsbecause I'm afraid I'm going to
hurt their feelings.
Like inanimate objects.
That's fantastic.
It is, but then it sucks whenyou have 17 It also sucks.
Yes.
Yeah, you have 17 socks withholes in the toes that you can't
wear anymore but you feel likeyou're throwing them away like
(46:21):
you're discarding it justbecause it's not useful anymore
and that's exactly what you'redoing but at the same time
you're just like I'm beingunloyal I'm being disloyal to my
socks Being disloyal to yoursocks.
Yeah.
And, in a, that's the, that'sgonna be the name of my third
autobiography.
Being disloyal to my socks.
Amy (46:37):
Stacy, I just wanted to put out there, Vio says that she
Stacy (46:40):
loves you.
Oh, tell her I love her back.
I will do that.
When I get back in the store.
She's actually part of thereason I think the name Violet
is so pretty.
Agreed.
And because violets are pretty.
But, she has a pretty soul.
She does.
I'm trying
EJ (46:56):
to think of a good way to wrap all of this up, because
it's just what I love aboutwhere you went, Stacey, is like,
these anthologies, they are notjust one offs.
These are, getting intoanthologies gets you into a
whole dang world.
Absolutely, yeah.
It gives you layers into new,and also your favorite author's
(47:19):
worlds.
And I think it's just a verycool aspect that I find to be
One of the biggest sellingpoints of why you should get
into indie books and indieauthors because they have this
adaptability, this fluidity,this these layers to the story
and world building that'spossible partly because of
(47:42):
anthologies.
Who would have thought?
Such an old school way of doingshort stories and stuff can
actually really expand things.
No, it's
Stacy (47:51):
great.
And it's, I think of it asseeding a garden.
You read the anthology, and thisis the seeded plot.
But then, when you get to readthe expanded version, it's this
was the bountiful harvest,basically.
EJ (48:03):
and on that note, we will allow this will hopefully give
our listeners the ability tocultivate their own bountiful
gardens.
Stacy (48:13):
Heck yeah.
And if you ever need somebody tolike nerd out with about these
books please
EJ (48:17):
message me because
Stacy (48:18):
I don't have enough people to Sit on basically and
shriek about books.
So because Amy and EJ keepescaping.
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