Title: Starlight
Author: Lisa Henry
Series: Dark Space #3
Genre: M/M Romance, Sci-fi
Release Date: December 1, 2019
Cover Design: Mayhem Cover Creations
Brady Garrett is back in space, this time as an unwilling member of a team of humans seeking to study the alien Faceless and their technology. It’s not the first time Brady’s life has been in the hands of the Faceless leader Kai-Ren, and if there’s one thing Brady hates it’s being reminded exactly how powerless he is. Although dealing with the enigmatic Faceless might actually be easier than trying to figure out where he stands with the other humans on board, particularly when one of them is his boyfriend’s ex.
Cameron Rushton loved the starlight once, but being back on board the Faceless ship forces him to confront the memories of the time he was captured by Kai-Ren, and exactly how much of what was done to him that he can no longer rationalize away. Cam is used to being Brady’s rock, but this time it might be him who needs Brady’s support.
This time Brady is surrounded by the people he loves most in the universe, but that only means their lives are in danger too. And when Kai-Ren’s fascination with humanity threatens the foundations of Faceless society, Brady and Cam and the rest of the team find themselves thrust into a battle that humans have very little hope of winning, let alone surviving.
*Starlight can be read as a standalone but probably words better with knowledge of the first two books in the series.
The Faceless ship was silent, but the anger and the adrenaline rush of the battle ran on a constant feedback loop in our skulls. Spikes of pain, of fear, were like blasts of static in our heads. And sometimes, more than once, we felt that same dizzying sensation of sudden loss—and of that hole immediately being filled in again. The Faceless felt no grief for the fallen. The hive barely even noticed the loss of one drone.
I thought of my dad and how acutely I still missed him and how his loss was written in my bones, and in everything I did. A day didn’t go by when I didn’t think of him. And I thought of how my grief and my fear for Lucy had captured Kai-Ren’s attention in the first place.
I wondered which one of us was the most incomprehensible to the other. The most alien.
We made our way carefully down toward the core of the ship.
Everything seemed dimmer. There were fewer lights drifting in the walls, and the fluid itself seemed darker than usual. The ship was hurt. Was she dying too?
Chris and Doc carried the hybrid between them, his thin arms held across their shoulders. His pale feet dragged more than stepped, but his eyes were open now. They were dark and wide and fearful, just like mine.
Cam and Harry led the way, and Andre and I brought up the rear. I held Lucy’s hand tightly. It was warm and damp with sweat. She was quiet. Her face was pinched. But she didn’t even stumble as we moved forward through the dimly-lit curving passageway of the ship.
As we moved toward the fighting.
“If anything happens,” I whispered to her, “run back to where we just were, okay?”
She nodded, and squeezed my hand more tightly.
We kept moving, right up until we didn’t. Cam and Harry had stopped, and I craned my head to see.
“It’s okay,” Cam said. “Keep moving.”
There was a dead Faceless lying in the corridor. His mask had been removed. His eyes were covered in a white film. His yellowish skin was stained black around his throat, and over one cheek, like someone had spat ink over him. And then I realized that no, it wasn’t a stain. It was necrosis, or something like it. His skin had been ruptured in several places, punctured, and the flesh around it had turned black.
Venom. It had to be venom.
I looked at Doc and Chris, and at the way the hybrid was slung between them. The hybrid’s fingers curled around their shoulders, and I thought of claws digging into their flesh and wondered how long it would take Faceless venom to kill a human. And then I thought of every time that Kai-Ren had run his hands over my skin, and of how the Stranger had prodded my stomach, and how each time I’d been staring death in the face. I’d thought of Kai-Ren as a god once, hadn’t I? A god who could strike any one of us down on a whim.
I held Lucy’s hand tightly as we passed the dead Faceless.
There was a voice in the back of my head—mine, for once—that told me we weren’t going to make it to the pods. That told me we’d be caught here, in a curving corridor with nowhere to take cover and that the Stranger’s Faceless would kill us, but whatever was happening in the rest of the ship was keeping all the Faceless busy.
My heart was beating out of my chest by the time we descended to the bay where the pods were kept, and the doors shut behind us, the sticky seams sealing closed.
There were six pods here, and seven of us plus the hybrid. It didn’t matter, because Cam and I had shared a pod before anyway. There was plenty of room. But mostly it didn’t matter because we had no way of getting the pods to work, let alone launching them.
And then it really didn’t matter, because we wouldn’t be launching them into some tranquil sea anyway.
“Holy fuck!” Harry exclaimed from the one of the windows that looked out into the nebula.
I look past him just in time to see a Faceless ship being torn apart by a massive explosion. It was colossal. It was blinding.
And it was close enough that the shockwave hit us like a tsunami.
I thought of my dad and how acutely I still missed him and how his loss was written in my bones, and in everything I did. A day didn’t go by when I didn’t think of him. And I thought of how my grief and my fear for Lucy had captured Kai-Ren’s attention in the first place.
I wondered which one of us was the most incomprehensible to the other. The most alien.
We made our way carefully down toward the core of the ship.
Everything seemed dimmer. There were fewer lights drifting in the walls, and the fluid itself seemed darker than usual. The ship was hurt. Was she dying too?
Chris and Doc carried the hybrid between them, his thin arms held across their shoulders. His pale feet dragged more than stepped, but his eyes were open now. They were dark and wide and fearful, just like mine.
Cam and Harry led the way, and Andre and I brought up the rear. I held Lucy’s hand tightly. It was warm and damp with sweat. She was quiet. Her face was pinched. But she didn’t even stumble as we moved forward through the dimly-lit curving passageway of the ship.
As we moved toward the fighting.
“If anything happens,” I whispered to her, “run back to where we just were, okay?”
She nodded, and squeezed my hand more tightly.
“It’s okay,” Cam said. “Keep moving.”
There was a dead Faceless lying in the corridor. His mask had been removed. His eyes were covered in a white film. His yellowish skin was stained black around his throat, and over one cheek, like someone had spat ink over him. And then I realized that no, it wasn’t a stain. It was necrosis, or something like it. His skin had been ruptured in several places, punctured, and the flesh around it had turned black.
Venom. It had to be venom.
I looked at Doc and Chris, and at the way the hybrid was slung between them. The hybrid’s fingers curled around their shoulders, and I thought of claws digging into their flesh and wondered how long it would take Faceless venom to kill a human. And then I thought of every time that Kai-Ren had run his hands over my skin, and of how the Stranger had prodded my stomach, and how each time I’d been staring death in the face. I’d thought of Kai-Ren as a god once, hadn’t I? A god who could strike any one of us down on a whim.
There was a voice in the back of my head—mine, for once—that told me we weren’t going to make it to the pods. That told me we’d be caught here, in a curving corridor with nowhere to take cover and that the Stranger’s Faceless would kill us, but whatever was happening in the rest of the ship was keeping all the Faceless busy.
My heart was beating out of my chest by the time we descended to the bay where the pods were kept, and the doors shut behind us, the sticky seams sealing closed.
There were six pods here, and seven of us plus the hybrid. It didn’t matter, because Cam and I had shared a pod before anyway. There was plenty of room. But mostly it didn’t matter because we had no way of getting the pods to work, let alone launching them.
And then it really didn’t matter, because we wouldn’t be launching them into some tranquil sea anyway.
“Holy fuck!” Harry exclaimed from the one of the windows that looked out into the nebula.
I look past him just in time to see a Faceless ship being torn apart by a massive explosion. It was colossal. It was blinding.
And it was close enough that the shockwave hit us like a tsunami.
What is the biggest influence/interest that brought you to this genre?
I’m a romance author who never liked romance when I was growing up. And I know now that’s because I had a very narrow idea of what the genre was about. My nan had a whole lot of Mills and Boon books—I think they were from the seventies when doctors and nurses were the big thing, and I hated them. I found the heroes horrible and arrogant, and the heroines ridiculous and needy. But I did like reading the smut! So I steered away from romance for a while, and honestly I don’t know what brought me back, but it was a revelation, because suddenly I was reading a romance book that was fun, and exciting, and it was about two people who were actually good together, and the plot wasn’t just all focussed on someone pining over the other person. And I was hooked! I wish I’d discovered earlier that romance was a much more diverse genre than I’d assumed from those old Mills and Boons. And it was just such a fun ride that I began reading a lot more of them, and decided to try my hand at writing one. And here I am!
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process (outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
I’m a total pantser, so definitely not the plot! That comes as I write, with no real detailed planning beforehand. I know where I’m starting and I know where I want to finish, and everything else is revealed as I write. I’m also not a huge fan of editing, although as a pantser that’s when I do all my heavy lifting. I enjoy having edited, but not the actual editing!
I actually love it when I finally get something to share with my beta readers, although that can be nerve wracking too, because what if they hate it? What if it falls flat? What if I have to rewrite the entire thing? But it’s great to get that feedback, and suddenly see your characters and your story in a new light. I find it really breathes new life into the whole thing, and leaves me really excited to make changes.
I think my favourite part of the creative process is when I get to scroll through pages and pages of photographs of people, looking for someone who fits my characters. I don’t share these around, but they’re handy to have so I don’t suddenly contradict myself on eye colour or something halfway through.
And I do love naming characters. It’s funny how a character just doesn’t work until you hit on exactly the right name, and then you go “Ah, there he is!” And after that it all just falls into place.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I think romance is my favourite genre, because it’s what I consider an umbrella genre. Romance is probably the least-restrictive genre there is. I’ve written historicals, and contemporary crime capers, and books about spies and police, and Romans, and cowboys, and aliens… at the moment I’m working on a steampunk trilogy!
There’s nothing that you can’t put under the romance umbrella, because all romance requires is two people connecting, and that can happen against any background. I think romance is the one genre that gives you the most wriggle room as an author, and that’s absolutely fantastic.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
I’m lucky enough to have already co-authored with some of the best writers in the m/m genre, so I’ll reach way outside that here and say, no question, Neil Gaiman. Everything he writes is pure perfection, and I would love to shadow him for a month (in a total non-stalkery way, I swear!) and just listen to him talk about writing. There’s nothing he’s written that isn’t amazing.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
I don’t actually remember a time when I didn’t write. Which isn’t to say that I always wanted to be a published author, it’s just that I was always writing. From the time I was four or five I was writing little poems and stories for my parents and my grandparents, and demanding they be put on the refrigerator. I always wanted to be able to paint and draw though, but I was never very good at that. I can remember sitting in Year Eight art class and that saying suddenly hit me: a picture is worth a thousand words. And I told myself well, you’ll never be able to make a picture look the way you want it to, so you’d better make sure your thousand words are amazing. And I think I’ve been trying to do that ever since!
I’m a romance author who never liked romance when I was growing up. And I know now that’s because I had a very narrow idea of what the genre was about. My nan had a whole lot of Mills and Boon books—I think they were from the seventies when doctors and nurses were the big thing, and I hated them. I found the heroes horrible and arrogant, and the heroines ridiculous and needy. But I did like reading the smut! So I steered away from romance for a while, and honestly I don’t know what brought me back, but it was a revelation, because suddenly I was reading a romance book that was fun, and exciting, and it was about two people who were actually good together, and the plot wasn’t just all focussed on someone pining over the other person. And I was hooked! I wish I’d discovered earlier that romance was a much more diverse genre than I’d assumed from those old Mills and Boons. And it was just such a fun ride that I began reading a lot more of them, and decided to try my hand at writing one. And here I am!
When writing a book, what is your favorite part of the creative process (outline, plot, character names, editing, etc)?
I’m a total pantser, so definitely not the plot! That comes as I write, with no real detailed planning beforehand. I know where I’m starting and I know where I want to finish, and everything else is revealed as I write. I’m also not a huge fan of editing, although as a pantser that’s when I do all my heavy lifting. I enjoy having edited, but not the actual editing!
I actually love it when I finally get something to share with my beta readers, although that can be nerve wracking too, because what if they hate it? What if it falls flat? What if I have to rewrite the entire thing? But it’s great to get that feedback, and suddenly see your characters and your story in a new light. I find it really breathes new life into the whole thing, and leaves me really excited to make changes.
I think my favourite part of the creative process is when I get to scroll through pages and pages of photographs of people, looking for someone who fits my characters. I don’t share these around, but they’re handy to have so I don’t suddenly contradict myself on eye colour or something halfway through.
And I do love naming characters. It’s funny how a character just doesn’t work until you hit on exactly the right name, and then you go “Ah, there he is!” And after that it all just falls into place.
When reading a book, what genre do you find most interesting/intriguing?
I think romance is my favourite genre, because it’s what I consider an umbrella genre. Romance is probably the least-restrictive genre there is. I’ve written historicals, and contemporary crime capers, and books about spies and police, and Romans, and cowboys, and aliens… at the moment I’m working on a steampunk trilogy!
There’s nothing that you can’t put under the romance umbrella, because all romance requires is two people connecting, and that can happen against any background. I think romance is the one genre that gives you the most wriggle room as an author, and that’s absolutely fantastic.
If you could co-author with any author, past or present, who would you choose?
I’m lucky enough to have already co-authored with some of the best writers in the m/m genre, so I’ll reach way outside that here and say, no question, Neil Gaiman. Everything he writes is pure perfection, and I would love to shadow him for a month (in a total non-stalkery way, I swear!) and just listen to him talk about writing. There’s nothing he’s written that isn’t amazing.
Have you always wanted to write or did it come to you "later in life"?
I don’t actually remember a time when I didn’t write. Which isn’t to say that I always wanted to be a published author, it’s just that I was always writing. From the time I was four or five I was writing little poems and stories for my parents and my grandparents, and demanding they be put on the refrigerator. I always wanted to be able to paint and draw though, but I was never very good at that. I can remember sitting in Year Eight art class and that saying suddenly hit me: a picture is worth a thousand words. And I told myself well, you’ll never be able to make a picture look the way you want it to, so you’d better make sure your thousand words are amazing. And I think I’ve been trying to do that ever since!
Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.
Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn't know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she's too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.
She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.
She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.
Lisa has been published since 2012, and was a LAMBDA finalist for her quirky, awkward coming-of-age romance Adulting 101.
EMAIL: lisahenryonline@gmail.com
Starlight #3
Series
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