Clones: The Anthology is available for pre-order on Amazon for only $0.99.
“The Replacement Husband” opens up the collection, an honor I did NOT expect when asked to submit a story months ago by Daniel Smith. I’m thrilled to appear alongside one of my heroes, the inestimable Susan K. Quinn. Also included in the anthology are speculative fiction powerhouse Rysa Walker, and the mastermind behind the Future Chronicles anthologies, Samuel Peralta. If you’ve read any of these guys and gals, you know their work speaks for itself!
The early Amazon reviews are also EXCELLENT. A few mention “The Replacement Husband” by name, which makes me feel pretty darned good. Nothing makes me happier than knowing readers are enjoying my work.
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Here’s a little taste of my story, “The Replacement Husband”
The replacement husband arrived in a clear, hermetically sealed smartglass canister that looked like a high-tech coffin. Naked except for a pair of white underpants, suction cups dotted his shaved skull and chest. A breathing tube jutted from his mouth. Jasmine studied the thick, wiry hairs bristling from his calves and forearms. She’d never seen him with so much body hair. He’d zapped everything but his pubic area in college, trying to make the Olympic triathlon team. He hadn’t, but she’d fallen in love with the silky smoothness of his dark-skinned body—an unintended side effect.
The technician wheeled the replacement husband to the bedroom like a refrigerator on a dolly. The smartglass displayed his EKG, heart rate, and neural activity. Jasmine stood inside the doorway, fingernails of one hand biting into the palm of the other. Fifteen months had passed since the funeral. Fifteen months of status updates from Forever Inc. as they grew the replacement husband in their Detroit laboratory. And now, here he was. In the flesh. Heart thrumming at a steady sixty-seven beats per minute. Closed eyelids shifting as the hidden pupils moved.
“Is he asleep?” Jasmine asked, knowing the answer, but needing some reassurance that this was all really happening.
“Sedated,” the technician said. “Once we get him in position, we’ll rouse him.”
The canister made a distinct fffppp sound—like a fresh tube of tennis balls—when opened. The technicians lowered the replacement husband to the bed, wires linking him to the canister trailing behind.
“Are you sure you don’t want someone with you?”
“I’m fine,” Jasmine lied. She’d refused to accept the Reintegration Specialist offered by Future Inc. Refused her friends pleas to “be there” to welcome Norwood back. Most reintegration processes included close family members, but she and Noorwood were both only children. Both sets of parents had passed years ago, leaving her to greet this not-quite-Norwood—far too skinny and with skin as fresh as a baby’s—alone.
Want to read more? Pre-order your copy of Clones: The Anthology from Amazon. You don’t want to miss this one.
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