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Volume 4 in the Deviations Series
Contains mature themes and situations
About Bloodlines
Destiny Farm has fallen. Promontory's people must hunt down the escaped "Farm Yata" or starve, but they must also integrate with the Skedge Yata or their industries will fail. Their very independence relies on dangerous compromises.
Enter Jirado, a Skedge Yata and valued employee of the now-destroyed Destiny factory. Her kin, captured by the Farm before its fall, might yet be alive. But they are at risk unless she can destroy Promontory's hunters. The drive toward integration gives her an opening she cannot resist, and her first target is TripStone.
The other end of the region begins to crack under its own tensions. Crossroads and Basc struggle to maintain peace through controlled predation. Ghost's quest to end Masari dependence on Yata flesh leads to new avenues of cannibalism, while specially-trained Yata soldiers hunt Masari down in the far woods. But their rules of engagement begin to crumble, and a rogue element brings the valley to the brink of all-out war.
About the Deviations Series
Long ago the Masari and the Yata hunted together in peace, until the species they drove to extinction included those possessing nutrients necessary to Masari survival. The Yata then became the only source of those nutrients. Deviations tells how these peoples cope with the reality of being sentient creatures forced to play the roles of predator and prey, and how several of them try to thwart long-established conventions in the hope of overcoming their biological imperative. In Deviations love triumphs in the midst of death. The series focuses on the social, ethical, and spiritual dilemmas surrounding both the literal cannibalism of the societies involved and the many ways in which their different communities feed off each other.
"Bloodlines, the latest in the Deviations series, continues the riveting, intertwined tale of two sentient species: the Masari and the Yata, the latter upon which the Masari must feed in order to survive. To say this basic premise gives rise to a read that is intriguing and alluringly complex is an understatement.
"If you're looking for a tale that clearly defines good guys and bad guys, this is not your read. But if you're looking for a story filled with immense heart, rich character development, vivid world building and -oh, by the way- is nothing short of great, old fashioned storytelling, you cannot do better than Malcohn's 'Deviations' series." -- K.L. Nappier, at Manybooks
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Excerpts
The Yata lieutenant took the empty plate from Zai and carried it deliberately past the living Masari in the room. As he exited a heavy curtain seemed to lift. Zai's people stood and stretched, welcoming the initiates into open arms.
Her sons had learned restraint at these ceremonies. Now more children, less controlled, streamed in through the rear doors.
CatBird hugged her new Yata family to her, bending down to be head to head with Izzik as she embraced him with the others.
From above Zai's head a low tenor intoned, "You're a good orator."
She glared up at HigherBrook. "Is that all this is to you? Rhetoric?"
He offered a shallow smile. "No, Zai. Not at all."
Color had returned to his face. HigherBrook pinched the bridge of his sharp nose. His long shadow wavered in torch light.
Zai watched Izzik and CatBird. "If they were both farmers, or merchants, I might understand their pairing better." She shook her head. "How can they possibly celebrate each other's accomplishments?"
"I don't know." HigherBrook looked out over the crowd. "You may have destroyed the Covenant, but you were raised under it. So was I. They live in a different world than we do."
Zai bristled. "You and I have never lived in the same world, HigherBrook."
"Still." He folded his arms across his chest. His goatee tilted toward the lovers. "Tell me you know them better than you know me."
Bloodlines occurs in a world in which two ways of life have been destroyed. This excerpt from Chapter 3 highlights differences not just between Yata and Masari, but between generations, setting the stage for more instability.
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Feedback?July 2, 2010 | Edited by Elissa Malcohn | Information added by author, including synopsis, keywords, and free download sites. |
July 2, 2010 | Created by Elissa Malcohn | Created new work record. |