Martial Hearts -- a new short story Heart skipping like a dancer in Swan Lake, April pushed open the door to the Kenpo Karate school. Glare from the late afternoon sun flashed across parents’ faces as they watched the students. She nodded shy hellos to the parents and flicked her gaze to the office to find Mari at the desk. With quiet steps, she cut between the adults and the back corner of the mat where the Kenpo Kids class, seven- to eleven-year-olds, awaited their turn. Would that were true, sir. 
Austin Li, Kenpo Karate instructor and first-degree black belt, is everybody's favorite. Gregarious and talented, he’s as popular with adult students as with the kids he teaches. After a hot day at the karate school's annual picnic, shy nurse April is anxious to get him alone. If she risks rejection and wrestles Austin to the mat, will she be defeated by disappointment or stand victorious in love?
Excerpt:
Mari waved a hello under the phone receiver. “What brings our newest yellow belt here outside of class?”
The sudden lump warbled April's attempt to speak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’d like a private lesson. Does Mr. Li have any appointment time?”
A smiling stare met her discomfort. “I think he can squeeze you in.” Mari pulled out the schedule book and peered inside. “You want Thursday at eight, or next Monday?”
Thud. Start again, heart. “Thursday will be fine.”
“Anything I should note you want to work on?”
“Grappling. Escapes, really. The guys are afraid of squashing me, I guess. I wanted more…useful instruction I might need on the street if I ever—”
Mari laughed, brushing highlighted brown hair out of her eyes with a carefree swat. “Grappling. Got it. Twenty-five, please.” One hand stretched out for April’s bankcard.
While the machine printed her receipt, they chatted about the picnic—the food everyone brought, wading in the river, sunburned shoulders.
Austin Li appeared through the open back door of the office and plopped two file folders onto a shelf behind Mari.
April jumped, heart pounding like a girl caught gossiping by the object of her affection. Oh, wait.
“April wants a private lesson with you. Better be here Thursday night.”
A sparkling grin crawled onto his square Asian face, his hands on his black belt. “Excellent. Eight o’clock.” He skated his gaze up and down. “I’m all yours.”
Twenty years of expansion have brought the
Leah, daughter of the First House, has no intention of giving up her freedom. But the king makes her a decoy to find a rebel—one out to stage a coup—and arranges her marriage to an aloof army captain. Leah plans to return to her home when her assignment is finished, the marriage annulled.
Driven by desire to earn status, not have it handed to him, Jeren Vassal reluctantly joins his bride at the altar, knowing marriage is necessary to his new commission. Yet from the moment she stands before him, Leah tantalizes him. Full of grace and intelligence, she sparks thoughts of home and family, a life beyond that of a soldier. But she doesn't know about the coming invasion...
Royal secrets and questions of loyalty will soon force Leah and Jeren to unite, to find a reason for the disappearance of the mountain wyrms and pacify a culture intent on revenge. But first they must find the source of unrest inside their kingdom, an insurgent who threatens to topple the royal dynasty from the inside.
Mickey's Flight --
What if the boy you couldn't stand in high school grew up to be the sort of man you want at your side in adulthood?
Earth has been watched long enough to establish Earthlings aren't the best neighbors. Now overcrowded Earth is dying and people are fleeing. Exodus Corporation employs hundreds of specialists to man their colonial spaceships on a quest for a habitable new world.
Six years from Earth, planetary survey biologist Katheryn Jane has yet to realize her dream of first contact with a sentient race. Her latest mission pairs her with pilot Todd Ashman, someone she hasn't seen since high school and never liked; a constant reminder of a past she's run from. A malfunction in orbit sends their shuttle to the planet's surface. As they await rescue after their failed rendezvous with the mother ship, Katheryn learns they're not alone in this star system—and that this planet may be the Earth colonists' final hope of survival. Will their new neighbors be willing to share space?
