{"id":10997,"date":"2017-05-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=10997"},"modified":"2017-04-26T20:02:09","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T02:02:09","slug":"gunslinger-to-the-stars-excerpt-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/gunslinger-to-the-stars-excerpt-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunslinger to the Stars \u2014 excerpt 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo, what happened after the slave auction?\u201d<\/p>\n

She sighed. \u201cI was bought by a band of empath shapeshifters. They were kind enough to free me, so long as I signed an employment contract. I\u2019m working for them now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpath shapeshifters?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a race we haven\u2019t catalogued yet. They feed on emotional energy, and can alter their physical form to match most alien races.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like an interesting bunch,\u201d I said, accepting my cocktail from the barkeep. I drizzled some of my home brew into it and handed the flask to Jane. To my dismay, she refused it. Guess her trust only went so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been treating me all right. Humans are new to them, so they\u2019re eager to learn as much about us as they can. They run a sort of host club for alien races, catering to their emotional needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA host club?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. They do what they can to pleasure their clients, and feed off of the positive emotions that ensue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, a brothel, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stiffened. \u201cI\u2019d rather not call it that. Sex isn\u2019t the only service they offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

To my credit, I kept my mouth shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any case,\u201d she continued, \u201cthey offered me a secretarial position and free room and board, with the understanding that I would help them adapt their skills to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like a cushy job,\u201d I said, taking a drink.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like that,\u201d she said, her cheeks blushing red. \u201cI swear, most of the time, I just\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this man bothering you, my dear?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange enough to meet another human on the far side of the galaxy, but it\u2019s even stranger to hear an alien speak English. Not that the empath shapeshifter didn\u2019t do a good human impression. He looked a little like a young David Bowie, which is to say that he\u2019d crawled out of the uncanny valley, if just barely. High cheekbones, pursed lips, and eyebrows that looked more than a little metro, with a wild red carrot top.<\/p>\n

I looked from him to Jane and back again. \u201cEmpath shapeshifter, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Gunslinger<\/a><\/div>

\r\n\tGunslinger to the Stars<\/a>\r\n<\/h2>
$15.99<\/span><\/span>eBook:<\/span> free sale!<\/span><\/span><\/span>Audiobook:<\/span> $2.99 sale!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>
\r\n\tAuthor:<\/span> J.M. Wight<\/a><\/span>
\tSeries:<\/span> Gunslinger Trilogy<\/a>, Book 1<\/span>
\tGenres:<\/span> Action & Adventure<\/a>, Science Fiction<\/a>, Space Opera<\/a><\/span>
\tTag:<\/span> 2017 Release<\/a><\/span>
<\/div>
\r\n\t

Sam Kletchka here, freelance gunslinger and interstellar privateer. This, my friends, is how I went from being stranded in the armpit of the galaxy to becoming the luckiest human being in the universe.<\/p>\n More info \u2192<\/a><\/div>

Get the ebook for $2.99 until August 31st!<\/a><\/div>
FREE ebook when you buy the paperback direct!<\/a><\/div>
FREE ebook when you buy the audiobook direct!<\/a><\/div>
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<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo, what happened after the slave auction?\u201d She sighed. \u201cI was bought by a band of empath shapeshifters. They were kind enough to free me, so long as I signed an employment contract. I\u2019m working for them now.\u201d \u201cEmpath shapeshifters?\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s a race we haven\u2019t catalogued yet. They feed on emotional energy, and can alter… Continue reading Gunslinger to the Stars \u2014 excerpt 4<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1002,1080],"tags":[474],"class_list":["post-10997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gunslinger-to-the-stars","category-gunslinger-trilogy","tag-excerpts","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-2Rn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10998,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10997\/revisions\/10998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}