Robert Greenberger’s “Fractured” is a Mars-set love triangle pitting husband against wife, lover and against lover, challenging all to consider what really matters most to them, and why, with deadly results.

Here’s an early look:

Fractured
By Robert Greenberger

“It’s a wicked storm out there,” Lucas Connors said as he buttoned his shirt. He was still slightly sweaty and wanted to clean up, but he was running late. His wife, Bridget, was waiting for him and he suspected the mag lev “el” would run slowly as a precaution.

Having to go home undercut the sweet sensation he was trying to savor, the scent of Dev’s own sweat, mixed with his own, creating a unique, heady perfume.

Dev Bhatia sat up on his elbows, Lucas glowing as his lover studied him. Dev was lean and angular, with a rounded face and dark, brown eyes that melted Lucas’s heart. Bhatia was inventive in their lovemaking and Lucas couldn’t get enough of their time together. The problem, though, was it had to be limited. Each encounter had to be carefully orchestrated in advance, stealing time here and there, doing nothing to jeopardize his marriage or their working relationship. Both had met when they were asked to participate in planning the next stage of development in the Apollinaris Sulci. They found they had much in common at the initial planning sessions, which led to some one-on-one meetings, and before they realized it, the two men were each looking forward to the next meeting. A part of Bhatia realized the secrecy was a spice that added to the new relationship’s heat. Continue reading

Writers often like a challenge. When presented with a title, the mind begins to spin in different directions until finally rising in on the one that tickles the creative fancy the most.

When you get a title like Love, Murder & Mayhem (our new scifi-themed anthology from Crazy 8 Press), you see three different story elements and get excited about blending them into something fresh and frothy. When the title is then assigned a specific genre, you jettison so many possibilities and begin focusing.

In my case, science fiction immediately takes me to other worlds before thinking about things on Earth. So, I wonder to myself, what would cause there to be love, mayhem, and murder on another world? After all, new worlds often represent fresh starts. True, but we’re still humans and humans can get irrational. Especially when it comes to love.

What if, I wondered, there was a love triangle that has gone pear-shaped resulting in one corner wanting to eradicate the second corner, keeping the third for him/herself? Okay, so there’s love and there’s murder. Where does the mayhem come in? Continue reading