Guest Blogger Laura Hardgrave

Beauty in the Fog

 by Laura Hardgrave

Speculative and paranormal fiction resonates with its readers for many different reasons, but one of the largest reasons, in my opinion, ties into the stark contrasts that are sometimes made. That tenderness found in a bitter alpha shifter. The moonlight shining down on a spooky graveyard (yeah, Halloween’s already on the brain!). A softness beneath the hardened armor.

Contrasts residing in realms of fantasy and the extraordinary resonate with us as readers because they seem so abstract, yet stunningly beautiful at the same time. It’s a spine-tingly mixture of the foreign with the familiar.

In my debut novel that’s due out October 26^th from Musa Publishing, Captive by the Fog, I take on my fair share of stark contrasts. The book’s about an alien invasion, and yes—I know what you’re thinking. “Ew, how cliché,” right? The alien thing’s been done about a zillion times by now, and most of the attempts leave us cringing more than anything.

But that was the allure of the idea to my silly, writerly brain. I wanted to take a set of absolutely dire circumstances—being held captive by a species not our own—and spin a tale that delves into the beauty that can be found amidst that raw fear. The candlelight among the grime. Hope hiding within desperation. A budding relationship between two women lurking beneath darkened days. The power of humanity bonding together to stand strong and face that darkness.

Sometimes, beauty isn’t only found on the surface. It often lies snaking through the fog, waiting to be discovered. 

Captive by the Fog  

by Laura Hardgrave

Tagline:

In order to survive, a prisoner must confront the darkness or crumble with the world around her.

Blurb:

Sam is caught in a life she can't escape as the caretaker for her terminally ill homophobic father, but what she wants more than anything is to find the courage to escape and live her own life.

One fog-filled evening, Sam, her father, and a group of strangers are captured by beings from another world. Held prisoner by this mysterious race, the band struggles to hold on to the hope of freedom.

As Sam finds herself unexpectedly falling into a leadership role, she also falls for the shy smile of fellow prisoner Kisana. But as freedom continues to slip beyond the reach of their prison, the group must find the strength to carry on, maintain their humanity, and most of all—survive.

 

Excerpt:

I needed a better look. I headed into the living room and to the front door. To my surprise, the door was wide open and the couch empty. I sprinted out the door and found my father sprawled out on the ground, half of his body on the sidewalk, the other half on the stairs.

“Dad!” I yelled, “What the hell are you doing? What’d you do, fall off the stairs?” I bent down to help him up, and then realized he wasn’t looking in my direction. He was frozen in place, staring directly at the sky. I followed his gaze, and I too, froze. My heart leapt inside my chest, scrambling to escape.

A huge, metallic, disc-shaped object hovered in the foggy darkness above the grass of a nearby park. Round portholes on the sides emitted silver beams of light that screamed soundlessly into the fog. Three large metal beams extended from the base and onto the ground. Landing pads. I didn’t see a door. Yet.

My breath caught in my throat. My vision almost glazed over, and I had an overwhelming desire to run and escape my body and what I was witnessing. 

“I—it…c-can’t b-be…It’s…It’s a…UFO…” The words tumbled out of my mouth, rolling over themselves like a rock slide.

I averted my eyes from the object, and saw my neighbors all out on their front doorsteps. Their eyes and bodies were rigid as they stared up at the spacecraft. Some were in their robes and pajamas. One woman two doors down lay in the grass after having fainted, her hair in curlers. 

Bruce still hadn’t moved or uttered a word. He swallowed hard and gave me a quick, terrified glance. His mouth gaped open as he attempted to find words. There were none to be found, and his jaw shook with tremors. His frail frame shuddered beneath my hands, and my insides felt just as shaky.

My gaze drifted back toward the spacecraft, almost in slow motion. My mind tried to force my body to look away as if I were watching a horror movie, and the zombie was about to jump out of the shadows. A garage door-sized hull opened on one side of the UFO, and a large, metallic cube floated out. It was about the size of an RV, but had no windows or wheels. Instead, it had discs on the bottom that emitted blue beams of light down toward the ground. It hovered in the air through the power of that light. A single huge, mechanical arm extended from the front, and next to the arm were two mechanical jaws clenched shut. It reminded me of a trash truck—only sterile, alien, glistening, and unquestionably life-threatening. 

The door on the UFO snapped shut, and the smaller craft rotated toward us. It began to whirr, creating the revving noise I had heard. I could see what looked like a spotlight on the very front of the mechanical jaws. It twisted around and sent forward a bright beam of yellow light that cut through the fog like a knife slicing butter. The fog had little choice but to disappear in its path.

 Bio:

Laura Hardgrave writes science fiction and fantasy with a queer edge. Her current project is a four-part fantasy novel series involving the creation of life and magic, a GLBT host of characters, a talking rock, feline shifters, and lots of sake. She's a bit of a self-proclaimed weirdo. By day, she's also an MMORPG gaming journalist, avid gamer, reader, and animal lover.

   

Links:

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