Welcome to the Official Blog Tour for Steal The Stars by Mac Rogers and Nat Cassidy! The novel is based on the debut science fiction podcast from Tor Labs. Check out all the blog tour festivities and grab your copy now! Follow the tour, HERE!
Genre:
Young Adult
Science Fiction Romance
Publish Date:
November 7, 2017
Publisher:
Tor Books
Synopsis:
THE NOVEL BASED ON THE DEBUT SCIENCE FICTION PODCAST FROM TOR LABS
Dakota “Dak” Prentiss guards the biggest secret in the world.
They call it “Moss.” It’s your standard grey alien from innumerable abduction stories. Moss still sits at what looks like the controls of the spaceship it crash-landed twenty-five years ago. A secret military base was built around the crash site to study both Moss and the dangerous technology it brought to Earth.
The day Matt Salem joins her security team, Dak’s whole world changes.
It’s love at first sight—which is a problem, since they both signed ironclad contracts before joining the base security team, vowing not to fraternize with other military personnel. If they run away, they’ll be hunted for the secret they know. So Dak and Matt decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: They’re going to steal the alien body they've been guarding and sell the secret of its existence.
And they can’t afford a single mistake.
*Excerpt*
“I’M ASKING, was your daddy a thief ?”
I’m asking myself how a guy’s mouth can smell so much of feet. I usually have one drink on the way home. No more and, if there’s a just and loving God, no less. I could just as easily have that one drink in my house, but for whatever reason I prefer not to drink in silence.
There are a surprising number of bars around this tiny town—or maybe it’s not that surprising, if you’ve ever lived in a tiny town—but I usually stick to this one, the Heron. It’s got a better juke. Also, of course, consistency helps avoid unwanted run-ins with co-workers. Again: fraternization.
“Because he musta been a thief—” Here it comes.
“—cuz he musta had to steal the stars from heaven—” Feeeeeet.
“—to put them in your eyes.”
Uuuggh. At last, I turn to him, hoping these eyes he’s so fond of have somehow found the ability to shoot poison.
“No.” I turn my attention back to my glass.
It’s a word I’m sure he’s heard a lot. It whisks off him like a drop of water off a windshield.
“I, uh, I see you in here a lot, you know.” He’s rubbing his fingers back and forth across the bar while he talks, absently, clumsily. Like a piss-poor massage. I put my rocks glass down as close to those knobby worms as I can, trying to send out the signal that I’m okay with crushing any part of him that gets too close to me.
“I’m not gonna fuck you.” I make direct eye contact once again.
His eyes widen. “Whoa! Who said anything about—? Jesus, I’m just trying to talk to you here. Just talk to me for a second! People always look at me cross-eyed but once we get to talking, they like me!”
There’s a trace of sullenness there. I’ve hit a sore spot. And here’s my next mistake: I’m a sucker for accidental vulnerability. It fascinates me. It makes me want to stay and watch what happens. So I don’t get up and leave. I let him talk a little bit longer.
“So . . . you work at Quill Marine.”
“What was your first clue?” I ask, picking up my glass again. “Hmmmm. The uniform!” he responds with a smug smile. Oh, no, it thinks it’s clever. I’m, of course, still wearing the charcoal canvas coveralls that I foolishly hoped would be shapeless enough to render me invisible. Stitched on the arm are the words “Quill Marine.”
“That’s really impressive,” I say.
“Hey.” He pulls out the stool next to me and sits down— actually sits down next to me, and somewhere in the back of my mind I’m already preparing for violence. “What is it you guys do in there, anyway?”
His voice has dropped to a conspiratorial tone. I match it. “Are we going to have a problem here?” I ask.
“I mean,” he chuckles, “we kinda already have a problem here.
You guys . . . you don’t hire local. Why is that?”
He’s still smiling, but poisonous clouds are gathering around the edges of his voice. Another sore spot. I have little doubt he came over here to flirt first, but, if that mission winds up being a failure, he might as well air some grievances. Never underestimate the ability of a spurned man to shuffle emotions like a monte dealer.
I don’t respond and he keeps going: “No, seriously. Why is that? It’s not like there’s a ton of jobs out here. But then there’s big ol’ Quill Marine, taking up valuable real estate and refusing to let people sign on. I mean, what, we don’t make ’em good enough for you guys out here?”
He’s still smiling, trying to show me this is all just harmless, charming ribbing, but his mouth has tightened and the look is grotesque.
I don’t hear the bar door open behind us.
“I bet I know why,” he goes on. “You guys are making weapons in there. That’s it, isn’t it?” He nods at my lack of comment. “Yeah. You know . . . my cousin made a delivery there once. He says he saw weapons inside. He swears it. Just lying around.”
No. No. It’s too much. Too stupid, too confident, too goddamn aromatic. I have to respond.
“I can promise you,” I finally say, regretting the decision immediately. “Nobody’s cousin saw weapons in there.”
His face lights up.
“Ah! See, but: now you’re interested in me.”
Copyright © 2017 by Nat Cassidy and Mac Rogers
Episode Fourteen:
As Fierce, As Colossal, As All-Consuming
In an epic final showdown in the Texas desert – as Sierra closes in from all sides – Dak and Matt finally learn the truth about Moss.
In an epic final showdown in the Texas desert – as Sierra closes in from all sides – Dak and Matt finally learn the truth about Moss.
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**About the Authors**
Nat Cassidy is an actor, director, musician, and playwright. He has appeared on shows such as The Following (Fox), The Affair (Showtime), Red Oaks (Amazon), High Maintenance (HBO), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), as well as on stage in numerous productions and workshops both Off- and Off-Off-Broadway. Nat’s plays have been nominated for a combined total of 17 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, including 3 times for Outstanding Full-Length Script (which he won in 2009, and in 2011 for Outstanding Solo Performance for his one man show about H.P. Lovecraft). In 2012 Nat was commissioned by The Kennedy Center to write the libretto for a world-premiere opera, and in 2014 his play Any Day Now was chosen to be part of Primary Stages’ ESPADrills (The Duke Theatre, directed by Tony-nominee Moritz von Stuelpnagel). He is also thrilled to be writing the novelization of Steal the Stars, which will be published by Tor Books in November 2017.
Stay connected with Nat Cassidy
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Mac Rogers is an award-winning audio dramatist and playwright. His audio/podcasts dramas The Message and LifeAfter have been downloaded over eight million times. His stageplays include The Honeycomb Trilogy (winner of the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Premiere Production), Frankenstein Upstairs, God of Obsidian, Ligature Marks, Asymmetric, Viral, Universal Robots, Hail Satan (Outstanding Playwriting Winner at FringeNYC 2007), and Fleet Week: The Musical (co-written with Sean Williams and Jordana Williams; winner of Outstanding Musical at FringeNYC 2005). He has earned acclaim from The New York Times, The Guardian, Backstage, The Wall Street Journal, Time Out New York, New York Post, Flavorpill, io9, Fangoria, Tor.com, Show Business Weekly, New York Press, and many others.
Stay connected with Mac Rogers
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***The Giveaway***
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| Photo Content from TOR Labs |
Giveaway Is Open Internationally | Must be 13+ to Enter
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