The Stolen: Two Short Stories (Book 2 of The Meaning Wars)

Now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo eBooks

The city of Corinth is beautiful, but a cancer eats at its soul. Sarah Jean White is that cancer. The tube city is a tranquil, clean paradise--exactly the wrong place for her. She steals words, swears, and indulges in forbidden vices. When someone finally notices her heresy, her status as a threat to peace of mind will be dealt with...

A strict Caste system rules dry, distant Indus. Clarice dares to break through the taboos the old-fashioned way: with sex. Finding herself at a moral rehabilitation facility once again, she doesn't expect things to be much worse than before. Soon, she figures, she'll be back outside, free to 'sin' privately once again. Then her classmates start to disappear... 

When Sarah and Clarice reach for basic human rights and challenge the law, their playful indulgences are treated as dire crimes. The peace and harmony in their separate worlds comes at a horrifying price.

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Breaking News: Amazon Reviews for "The Stolen: Two Short Stories"

Hello hello!

Well, You lovely, lovely people have gotten me to the 150 mark on my fan page, and as it happens, I finished my present for you just earlier this afternoon! I'll try to have it up by about Thursday. If you didn't catch my tweets, well, stick around--it'll be a pleasant surprise, that's all I'm saying. I've had my serious face on to tackle a few important issues, but the short story is going to be rather less solemn.

Okay, fine, you get two hints about the story: GLADoS and Jonathan Coulter. That's all! No moar! Now you must wait.

I also want to share a rather awesome review from my Amazon page for The Stolen: Two Short Stories.

This one is by rising horror star J.C. Eggleton, author of Brookhaven.

The Review:

"I must say, I rather enjoyed the short stories in this book. Ms. Browne does a great job of crafting a dystopian future of censorship and sexual repression. She hurdles the most common pitfall of the genre by avoiding staking too much on concocting futuristic technologies. There are a few gizmos, certainly, but they take a backseat to the oft-overlooked, all-important detail: People. The first story takes a gritty look at the growing sub-culture in the modern world, prisoners, and never deviates from the point.

The second was perhaps more interesting because it hits Ms. Browne so close to home and that's censorship. It's obvious from the text that Shakespeare is a passion and I was impressed by the genuine pain her characters go through while having to chop and delete and muddy the wording of our language's finest craftsman. The story focuses less on futurism and does a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters. A great deal of it focuses on their day to day lives, makes the horrors of their actions seem almost the norm, and I enjoyed that.

As much as I wanted to rate this a perfect five, I had to be honest. If there was any way I could rate the book four and a half stars, I would. I'm simply not a big fan of short stories in general, they always leave you wanting more. That's exactly what this book did: I left me looking forward to more of this rising star's work and I would recommend any fan of the genre to do the same."

There you have it, folks. If you've somehow skipped this story until now, wait no longer. Go forth to Amazon! Here is the Amazon link, on top, and the Smashwords link, below it.

The Stolen: Two Short Stories on Amazon

The Stolen: Two Short Stories on Smashwords

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. You'll be getting a treat on Thursday, so tune in for the short story! In the meantime, you can keep an eye on me on Twitter and on Tumblr. Don't forget to check back for short stories, more politics, analysis, scraps of science, and even some reviews. This is your SciFiMagpie, over and out!

IT'S HERE: The Stolen: Two Short Stories

Hi everyone!

Well, as those of you who follow me on Twitter already know...The Stolen: Two Short Stories has been released!

Here is where you can buy the Smashwords edition.

...and here is where you can buy it for Kindle.

I don't think I really need to tell you how excited I am about this. I am truly ecstatic and was swearing joyfully all over Twitter as I finally finished the cover edits, formatting, and uploads. Believe me, it was...hard to miss. Still, if you've somehow missed my press releases, tweets, and updates this week, I'll give you a quick run-down.

Source. The illustration was done by the marvelous Karissa Richards, and, of course, I own the image. And yes, that is a hamster on Mars.

The first short story, The Fields, is based on a nightmare I had, and concerns the exploits of a hardened criminal within the penal system of a hardened, technologically backwards colony. Clarice is not a good person, but she's about to learn a whole new level of criminality during her re-education. The literary traditions I follow had a big impact on the writing style in the work, and I hope you will enjoy sharing this nightmare.

The second short story, Wordthieves, was actually mentioned on here a few times. Later this week or thereabouts, I'll have a lovely long post about my influences for this work. Suffice to say, if you like hamsters, religious extremism, candy, hippies, and totalitarianism, with just a sprinkling of sex--I have the book for you! There is also a generous pinch of untranslateable words and some non-English cussing, so you can improve your vocabulary while you're enjoying a gripping story. Of course, I have official summaries posted on both Smashwords and Amazon as well, but you heard the real scoop here first!

A quick PS before I close this post off--the Smashwords link has an extended sample, so if you want a good taste of the work, download that sample!

*****

That's all for today, but there will be more awesomeness in the days to come--including that backstory treat! Keep an eye on new releases by following on Twitter at SciFiMagpie and on Tumblr at SciFiMagpie. Don't forget to buy and share The Stolen: Two Short Stories; you'll be glad you did. This is your SciFiMagpie, over and out for now!