J.M. Snyder

Neal James is a space station navigator whose lover, Dylan Teague, left him for a starmapping mission. But when Dylan radios in a distant signal one night, Neal discovers that he hasn't managed to put the relationship behind him in the two months they've been apart. When he's one of the crew members sent to investigate the signal, he finds that his ex-lover feels the same.<br><br>The source of the signal is a lost colony ship. Only a handful of the original colonists remain, survivors of a deadly disease that killed most of their fellow shipmates twenty years ago. To keep the threat of disease to a minimum, the colony adheres to strict laws, including the prohibition of same-sex relationships.<br><br>When the same fatal virus seems to appear again, Neal and Dylan find themselves in the midst of an irrational panic and hate that threatens to destroy everything the colonists have worked so hard to attain.

Operation Starseed

“I don’t want you lonely,” he said,


licking his lips to wet them. I remember the feel of his hands in


mine, rubbing my fingers, warming them. “What if I don’t come


I shook my head. “Don’t say that,” I


whispered. “Why wouldn’t you? Don’t talk like that, Dylan—”


“I’m just saying things happen, baby.”


He kissed my fingertips, his lips soft and damp where his tongue


I asked if there was someone else, but he


“I want you happy,” he told me. Tears


faceted his eyes like jewels, and they sparkled like sapphires in


the low lighting of my room. In the dream he’s hurting, he doesn’t


want to do this, and I try to tell him that he doesn’t have to, we


don’t need to break up when things are going so well—but even after


all this time, I still can’t find the words to say that. I still


turn my face from his so he won’t see my own tears. His lips still


brush along my cheek in a thwarted kiss.


Chapter 5