From, “Souvenir”, Bright Star:

“How did you get that scar?” Jackson asked raising a fingertip to her face. Against his own better judgment, he traced the angry pink mark from her widow’s peak down between her copper brows and under her softly rounded cheek. The injury’s puckered ridge served to punctuate the softness of her pale skin. His fingertips tingled at the touch. He put his hand in his pocket.

“Rush left it for me,” Bright Star answered with a flippant shrug of her  shoulders even though the words were spoken with reverence and joy. Her red hair rustled and settled with the movement. Her eyes were heating up, casting blue light all through the room.

No blue light warmed Jackson: she still would not look at directly at him. For a second, he thought, she hid a bashful and girlish smile.

About the story:
 
Jackson Rush has just used his High Energy to save the life of a girl named Bright Star. Her red hair, incandescent blue eyes, and endless vulnerability draw Jackson to her as no other woman has. But, saving this woman’s life comes with complications Jackson could never anticipate.

Jackson discovers that two years earlier, this same woman was saved by his brother Jacob Rush, believed by some to be the most powerful Talent the world has ever seen.

Bright Star is a believer. She understands that Jacob Rush’s destiny is to be the salvation of the world despite Rush’s insistence that he will not.  Amassing a devoted following for Rush, Bright Star forces him to demonstrate his strength again and again by viciously endangering her own life and all of the lives around them.

 Both Rush and Jackson try to stop Bright Star’s increasingly violent and far-reaching actions, but Bright Star will not be stopped, even if she has to risk the world to get Rush to accept who he is, who he must be… Bright Star is a contemporary fantasy and horror novel characterized by a heady mix of psychological tension with beautifully creepy and surreal moments.

The reviews are in:

GhostWriter Literary Reviews gave Bright Star 5 stars and had this to say:

Bright Star is an intriguing book that delivers on several levels.  Reyes-Cole does an excellent job of raising questions in the reader's mind, which keeps the story consistently compelling.  Those questions are all answered in a satisfying manner as Bright Star's twisted personal mythology is revealed.  The Rush brothers are both interesting characters, and the tension between them provides an excellent human dimension to this fantastic tale.  The ambiguity of Bright Star herself is also fascinating.  For most of the book, the reader is left in suspense as to the true nature of this character.  Grayson-Reyes Cole is an incredibly imaginative and original writer, and fans of dark fantasy, modern fantasy, and science fiction will enjoy Bright Star.

Click here for the full review.

Click here for a full length (unedited) excerpt.

From, “Dog Years”, Domina:

Jackson rarely ventured out of his home anymore, even considering it compact size. Five rooms only when he had taught the custom of a palace.

An apartment. A beach bungalow, really, outfitted with modern conveniences. Empty of all things that symbolized or reminded him of the year that led up to the Union . Even the photos, videos, mementos that reminded him of his mother, his father, his brother, were locked away and not easily recovered. Jackson was not prepared to think of them.

If he thought of them, then, inevitably, those thoughts would turn to his brother… and to her.

Then he would grieve.

His grief had changed him. His soul had been corrupted, soiled in a way from which he could never recover. He was bitter, angry, disillusioned. He had grown lean and hungry, but like a starved, tortured animal, he was likely to bite any hand that offered him sustenance. Grief, would become his sustenance for long, seemingly unending stretches… when he allowed himself to think.

His grief was, understandably, for them all. His grief for her, was nothing short of embarrassing. She’d never loved him, never wanted him, had only used him as a tool to pressure his brother. She might have been Talented, but she was disturbed, a murderer without remorse. She had become the ultimate challenge to the world as he or anyone knew it.

A beast.

Soft, vulnerable, pretty.

Smart, funny, Talented in a way that the world had never seen.

A single-purposed beast.

He was thinking of her again. And his heart was burning. His eyes stung.

Jackson would rather die than feel this way.

He would have died, if he hadn’t known that somewhere out there, a child could one day need his protection.

About the story:
 
Domina is having an identity crisis. She’s claiming two sets of biological parents, she’s spent her growing years under close scrutiny of the Service as well as tribal elders, and she just turned three years old.

Jackson is mourning his brother and his love. He has taken three years to rebuild his life, to free himself from Followers and the Service. But, his one remaining tie, his one remaining responsibility, has just appeared on his doorstep. A vision isn’t needed to see that Mina is going to destroy the peace that he and the stars have sought.