So a little while ago, my erotic dystopian Torquere Sip “We Are Such Stuff” went out of print and the rights reverted to me. It’s definitely not the best story I’ve ever written, but I have a certain fondness for it, so I went back through it, did a little editing and made a few minor changes, and I’m re-releasing it through Smashwords.

It originally sold for $1.99 but now you can have your very own spiffy DRM-free Smashwords edition in a wide variety of formats for only $.99.

Reyes is bored. A young man in a bleak future city of endless rain, he finds his entertainment in packed clubs, one-night stands, and the occasional drug. But when a mysterious young man catches his eye, he is led on a chase through a nighttime world of dreams and dreamers, a chase that could end in frustration… or a new kind of pleasure.

[HEY WHY DON’T YOU BUY ME]

And have an excerpt.

– – –

“Okay. What the fuck.” Reyes turned his face up to the sky and let some greasy spitting rain spatter onto his cheeks, running down his face like tears. “I touched you. I wanted to. I saw you dancing and I wanted to. Happy?”

“Very.” The smiling man stepped forward again, closer, and maybe it was the Sharper and maybe not, but Reyes could feel the heat blasting off him, like the man was a furnace and carried a coal in his ribcage. Reyes glanced down at the man’s hands; they were long and moving as though the man intended to do something with them, and when the lightning let off another silent explosion they seemed to twist and contort, young and ancient both at once.

“I had to chase you out here. Do you like being chased?”

“I didn’t know you were chasing me.” Reyes paused, shifting from foot to foot. He wanted to go somewhere else, wanted to get out of the rain, somewhere where he could see this man properly. “I think maybe I like being caught.”

“Okay, then.” The man stepped beside him, flashed another white smile, turned and slipped into the rain. He moved so nimbly, he almost seemed to dance between the raindrops, pristine and untouched. Reyes stared after him and hunger flared in his chest, his gut, between his legs.

“Chase me for a while,” called the man. Through the rain there waved a pale and beckoning hand, disappearing down the alleyway. The fluorescents cast pools of light on the cracked pavement, freezing the drops in their cold beams. Maybe Reyes could pass under them and remain untouched, perfect as the man gone into the night. He moved forward and it wasn’t true, but he didn’t care.

The city was lit and brilliant but it was an illusion; the streets were filthy, dark, mostly deserted. The lights flickered and danced above it all, like a tantalizing and unreachable heaven. There were people down here, huddled in doorways, skinny and dressed in ragged patchwork clothing, watching Reyes with hollow, blank gazes as he moved past them. He didn’t see them. Ahead of him there was that strong shape, those lines that caught and drew the eye, and the soft glitter of twin gems like stars, like the mirror-glare of an animal’s eyes at night.

Chase me for a while.