Featuring scifi romance Slaves of an Alien Game by Nina Schluntz
Game Wardens rule most of the galaxy by a fierce empire built on enslavement and brokered deals. The only means to earn one’s freedom is by playing in the Alien Games. Two slaves go in the arena, the survivor, if there is one, is given their freedom and crowned a king, earning them a small country to rule and slaves of their own.
To make the battle more fun for spectators, genetically enhanced monsters, sahalias, are given to the combatants, but they must found in a scavenger hunt. Five orbs, each hatching into a lizard that will bond with their keeper, are hidden on a random planet. If the competitor finds all five, they have a great imbalance of power over the other, who will have none. The sahalias are created with one purpose, to battle to the death and destroy the other competitor.
Caden works at an all night diner in a small town near the interstate. When a man comes in late at night, asking for access to the roof, Caden knows the man is a bit off. But his ruffian nature and a small bribe makes Caden decide to let him go up.
“It’s a scavenger hunt,” the man says. Caden thinks he’s being helpful when he finds the item, a black orb, but when he touches it, he unknowingly becomes a competitor in an intergalactic competition that ends in a battle to the death. Manipulated and lied to, drugged by the alien Incubus, Raghib, whom he is now allied with, he must train his lizard battle creatures to fight for him on an unknown planet with rules he barely understands.
He has little chance to survive and although he wants to trust, Raghib, who will earn his freedom if Caden wins the battle, he worries he is simply being used. A bit of truth is revealed when one of the Game Wardens takes a liking to Caden, but his alien species is known to eat humans, so Caden isn’t sure if the desire is that of hunger or true romance.
Either way, Caden is nothing but a slave to their alien games.
Caden is free. He won his battle and got what he wanted. Sent back to Earth with his won kingdom given to the slave, Raghib. However, life on Earth, back at the diner isn’t the same after living on an alien planet. He still suffers from withdrawals from the Incubus influence and drugs Raghib forced on him, and nightmares from the horrible battle to the death.
When a woman arrives, the latest competitor in the alien games, she offers him a chance to visit Raghib. All he has to do is be her slave during the games and help her find the orbs. He agrees and finds she is a higher level competitor than Raghib was, the hunt is on a deadlier planet, one covered in darkness and monsters.
Caden is eventually reunited with Raghib and gets to see the kingdom he won. Raghib is more broken from the battle and haunted by the brutality of it than Caden. He has a new lover and is driving his country to poverty so he can buy drugs to forget the pain. Caden turns to the Game Wardens for help, offering to go back in the arena again, with the woman he helped in the scavenger hunt. He is a fan favorite and knows their ratings will improve if he goes in again.
He arranged to go in as her pretend slave, in a role that will have safety features turned on so he will be in no real danger. He thinks its his idea to go back in. Confident he’s messing with the structures in place and trying to leverage the Game Wardens to change the deadly games into a nonlethal form.
However, it was their plan for him to go back in from the start. Caden is still nothing but a slave to their alien games.
Caden’s long-term girlfriend on Earth is pregnant, and Caden is missing. Jenny worries he has been kidnapped and drugged again. A strange woman arrives, saying she knows Caden and where he is. She offers to take Jenny to him, if she helps her… they just need to find some orbs in a scavenger hunt. Jenny agrees, but is careful to not touch the objects. She doesn’t trust this woman.
They find four orbs and encounter the other competitor. The fifth orb is there, and Jenny is forced to pick it up. The other competitor forfeits and Jenny finds herself now in the games, the woman she’d been helping now announced as her deadly competitor.
She is taken to an alien planet and united with a distraught Caden. He confesses that he has a relationship with a man, an alien man, an Incubus named Raghib, and the woman Jenny must fight is Raghib’s daughter.
Caden is in an impossible situation, either his lover’s daughter dies or his childhood sweetheart dies, but there is a rule in the games, a protection for slaves and their offspring, who are viewed as profitable future slaves. A pregnant woman may not enter the arena, instead the sire must.
Caden is again forced to play in the games, but this time he has no sahalias to battle on his behalf, and safety features are not allowed. If Caden is to survive, he must find a way to not be a slave in their alien games.
Excerpt from Slave of an Alien Game, book 1
I reached what looked like the bar and surveyed the drinks. I needed alcohol.
“You do not disappoint.” The voice was male and silky. I pried my eyes from the beverages I couldn’t identify and aimed my angry glare at the speaker.
He was tall and lanky, sporting a sharp graying goatee and a braided ponytail that trailed down past his waist. Both matched his gray suit and sparkling blue eyes. He was handsome but in an unnatural way, as though it was a quality designed to lure in prey. Instinctively, I knew who this man was.
“You’re one of the Game Wardens,” I said. He smiled like a tiger soothing a mouse.
“And you are the man making me rich. The fans love you. And that rant back there…” His eyes fluttered, and he groaned softly as if what I’d just done turned him on, or maybe the thought of how his TV ratings would spike was the reason. “You can’t buy that kind of drama.”
“You’re welcome,” I said because what the hell else was I supposed to say?
“I can’t decide if I want you to die or win in the battle.” He stepped closer, and I felt fear for no reason other than an instinctive fear you get when you know you are around something more powerful than you. He had this hungry look in his eyes, and I couldn’t help the words that came out.
“Is that because you can’t decide if you want to eat me or fuck me?”
His eyes widened. Perhaps no one had ever spoken to him like that before.
“You think I eat the people who die in the arena?”
“Why not? You’re already a sicko for making money off watching people battle to the death.”
“And you also think I have sex with the victors? Or are you implying it’s what you want, should you survive?” His eyes went down my body, appraising me.
“What? Don’t be weird,” I said. I pointed to the bottles on the counter. “Are any of these similar to alcohol on Earth? I want to get drunk.”
“You are the one who suggested it. And now you want me to get you drunk?”
“It’s the least you could do since I’m getting you such great ratings.”
“Oh, I do like you.”
“How flattering,” I said. “Buy me a drink then?”
Raghib finally appeared next to me. Where the fuck had he gone? Had he been apologizing to the pervert? I glanced at him to say as much, but mister slick put a finger on my cheek and turned my head back to him.
“If I am buying you a drink, you should keep your attention on me,” he said.
“Really? You think the viewers want to watch you schmooze me?”
His jaw fell open, and he gaped speechlessly at me. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of fire I was playing with, but I didn’t want this guy to request me to personally entertain him or some shit either. And that look on his face was really starting to come across as sexual predatory-ish.
“Never mind,” I said. “I’ll just take some glamour. Nice talking.” I pushed on Raghib’s arm and moved away from creeper number three of the night.
“I leave you for two minutes, and I find you with a Game Warden?” Raghib hissed in my ear.
“He was thanking me for all the great ratings we are getting for his show,” I said. “What happened to you anyway? We’re tethered. How did you lose me?”
About Nina Schluntz
Nina Schluntz is a native to rural Nebraska. In her youth, she often wrote short stories to entertain her friends. Those ideas evolved into the novels she creates today.
Her husband continues to ensure her stories maintain a touch of realism as she delves into the science fiction and fantasy realm. Their three cats are always willing to stay up late to provide inspiration, whether it is a howl from the stray born in the backyard or an encouraging bite from the so called “calming kitten.”
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Happy Friday! I love the cover art, synopses and excerpts, the Slaves of an Alien Game series is a must read for me. Do you have any specific reading or writing plans for the weekend?
I like the covers. They set the stage for books.
Thanks for hosting!
I liked the excerpt.
Thanks for hosting! Glad you guys like the artwork.
Looks like a very interesting book.
The book sounds fascinating. Great cover.