RUBBERMAN'S EXODUS IS OUT!!!

At the time of this writing, just the paperback, but hardcover and kindle are being processed by team Bezos at we speak. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981396054/

This is readable on its own, but nicely caps off the Rubberman Series. It's a biggie, at nearly 300 pages.

I recently was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, (yeah, on top of my 20-years-plus of paraplegia, yaaay!) so my concentration is kind of a mess these days. Thankfully, Exodus was in late editing when the MS hit hard. It's nice to finish off the series the way I wanted, but it does likely mean it's my last novel. I have plans to eventually redesign all my covers, and maybe do new editions of my older stuff with a bit of re-writing. But that's later.

133 years. Time is up.

Lead Engineer Tara and her partner Sasha face the coming end of the facility generator. For generations It has served thousands of people who have been hiding underground from the ravages of the war, and the lingering Enemy above.

Up and down the Grand Elevator, though the entire facility, every resident's life will be shaken when the generator sparks its last amp. The Great Actual, the anarchistic Citizens, and all of the regressed sub-societies in between will have to face the unknowns of the surface.

Old fears will pale against new circumstances beyond their imagination, and new attention brings judgment upon all.

So the initial intent was for Tara and Sasha (sweeties 4 ever!) to be the main focus of the book for most of it, but the events were so big that other parties had to have focus for notable chunks, most notably Messenger, who's the fella in charge of running the Grand Elevator that connects the different sections of the 40-story deep bomb shelter.

Other characters get their moment in the sun, from Lenth of Rubberman's Cage, and Leena of Rubberman's Citizens. This story affects every resident of the facility. Other per-established characters play important roles too, many of which (and some new ones) are named after real-life (and/or FB) friends. I gave them every chance to object to how I was having them behave!

It's launch day, and many things are nuts... but I'll get some nice excerpts posted here soon...

Eeeeheeheee... so many new things brought up that I think will surprise my long-time readers...

And they held each other. Fresh excerpt from WIP Rubberman's Exodus

Fresh scene, barely edited, so proceed with caution. Tara and Sasha are among hundreds of others in what equates to an internment camp built out of a repurposed fish processing facility. They recently had a very bad time in a bombed-out ruin, which was not helped by Sasha's agoraphobia.

Book progress is at 92k words. The ending is in sight, but it's got a fair chunk to go yet! Oh, and here's the current cover I have. The final will probably look a lot like this.

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“How ya doin'?” Tara said, putting an arm around Sasha's shoulders for a squeeze.

“Oh. You know. Spectacularly.” She grabbed Tara's hand and gave is a squeeze. “Same as the rest of us. Grateful to our kind hostess, and looking forward to trying to sleep in a room with a couple hundred other people again. With this stink. Oh, and there's that little wet spot outside looking at me.”

“Wet spot?” Tara glanced out towards the direction of the ocean. “Uh, yeah. That's... that's something all right. Hey. We gonna talk about what we saw in those ruins?”

Sasha's gaze shifted into a distant nowhere. “Can... can we not?”

“Okay.”

Sasha wrapped herself into Tara, burying her face into her shoulder, and squeezing at tight as she could. “Tell me that's not the world,” she mumbled into Tara weakly.

“Well... yes, we're told that place is like one in two places like that, and the vast majority of the world isn't... that.”

“No good,” Sasha said, squeezing desperately, even tighter. “Tell me that didn't exist.”

Tara nuzzled into the hair near Sasha's ear. “I don't know what you're talking about, Sash. We're home. We're in our room on our own bed. The generator's doing fine, and we even have the day off. I'm going to keep you in bed all day, and not let go.”

“Never let go,” Sasha whispered.

“Of course not. You're my Sash.” Tara gave an extra bit of squeeze, unsure if it could even be felt against how hard Sasha was squeezing.

“You won't let go because I'm weak?”

“You're my Sash.”

A few moments passed as they held each other, doing their best to ignore their surroundings.

“I hate being weak. I hate that it makes you have to … to deal with me.”

Tara moved back enough to look Sasha in the eye with a stern expression. “You. Are. My. Sash. I know how big it is out there. I know how that's making you feel. I have trouble logically understanding that hugeness out there. You can't help how much it affects you, but you push through. I've never been prouder of how you handled that run to the AirLimb back at home, or how you followed me into those ruins. I've never been so ashamed of myself for bringing you there.”

“Tara, no...”

Tara grabbed Sasha close again, almost forcefully. Hints of sobs struggled to push their way through Tara's voice. “Y-you are my Sash. You're so strong, hon. You're my...”

And they held each other. And others held each other. Some needed comforting, others chose to explore cautiously. Others stared at the sea.

And night eventually came.

And they held each other.