A Sneak Peek at Upcoming Projects by Keri Kruspe

 

As a writer, I sometimes find myself at a loss when finishing a book, much less a series. But this time, I have the opposite problem! I’ve got too many stories vying in my head for attention, clamoring to get out. Instead of jumping into another series, I decided to attempt something I’ve never done before, write a collection of three short stores. I’m calling this compilation An Alien Heritage. These novellas serve as a continuation of some of the minor characters from my last two series, Ancient Alien Descendants and An Alien Exchange.

            Here are the first two tales from the Ancient Alien series:

Qhasheik's Pod

        This is a groundbreaking romance genre for me to write. Not only is it a love story that plays out between three aliens from different species: Qhasheik, Abiditan and Katsuki (two males and one female), but it's also my first time writing a m/m love segment. For inspiration, I relied on Tracy St. John's Clans of Kalguor series as inspiration with writing the love scenes. When I included the female, I put careful thought into ensuring the relationship between the three of them was respectful as well as sizzling.

These three characters were first introduced in Alien Legacy: The Vampire, the fourth book of the Ancient Aliens Descendants series. They also play a part in the finale of the series, Alien Legacy: The Mage. At the end of that story, Katsuki and her loves were given the distinct honor of determining the fate of Sub Prince Murduk, the arch villain. It was decided since he was a despotic leader of a patriarchal culture, his fate should be left up to a fellow member of the Federation Consortium, Katsuki's home planet, Runihura. That planet’s government is a democratic one with a monarchical head in a matriarchal society. What better place for a man who looked down on women to find his life (or death) now rests in their capable hands?  

Of course, things don’t go as planned. Here is the tag line I’ve come up with for it as well as the short blurb:

What if you were told you didn’t exist?

As Qhasheik, Abiditan, and Katsuki journey to her home planet with the disposed dictator Sub Prince Murduk, they are faced with unexpected challenges.

Upon arrival, Katsuki discovers she’s been declared dead, and her loves are at risk of being arrested for being males without a legitimate female owner. Faced with the threat of banishment and the loss of her loved ones, Katsuki must use her wits to challenge the cousin who betrayed her and conspired to make her a prisoner on Akurn.

Will she be able to reclaim her freedom and protect those she loves, or will she be overpowered by the forces conspiring against her?

Claude & Amata

For a complete change of pace from the first novella, this story stays on Earth and involves a love story between a human man and an alien female. Claude is a fifty-something man from the CIA while Amata is an alien Akurn woman who has the appearance of someone in their early to mid-twenties. Since her lifespan is tied to her home planet (one year for them is 3,600 years for us) is for all practical purpose’s immortal. 

Having lived so long, Amata experienced marriage to a human man a couple of hundred years ago. When he died of old age, she swore she’d never put herself out there ever again to love another human. Claude too lost a beloved wife years before he met Amata but was willing put himself out there to woo and win the alluring alien.

If only life was that easy. Here is the blurb and tagline for that story:

 Can an immortal and a mortal live happily ever after?

Claude, a battle-weary former spy with a broken heart lost his beloved wife to cancer and faced a lonely life on Earth. Amata, an ageless immortal from the planet Akurn, vowed she’d never endure the anguish of losing a loved one again after her husband of long ago passed from old age.

As fate threw these two strangers together to save Earth from an alien invasion, the irresistible attraction between them was undeniable. But their opposing states of mortality created a rift that seemed impossible to bridge.

When Amata is kidnapped by a dangerous criminal, Claude risks it all to save her. Even though he knows full well that the person he loves would live forever while he won’t.

Can these two lonely souls find a way to survive together… for eternity? 

Lok's Love

Now, the long anticipated short story from An Alien Exchange series is finally here.

I admit I never understood why I kept this story in the background… until I finished this last series. Once I tied the second series into my first one and the end of book 5, it became clear why I held onto Lok’s tale so long. I needed it to launch the next book series that involves the four hunky men [caution: spoiler alert!] that we thought were lost in the series prologue (offered for FREE when you signed up for my newsletter), titled The Day Behind Tomorrow.

            The last time we were with Lok is at the end of Chloe’s Turn. There the villain of that series, Chancellor U’unk (who is also Lok’s twin brother) meets his end. I’ve had readers ask me over the years what happened to Lok after that? He deserves his own HEA!

            I couldn’t agree more.

            While I’ve finished the other two novellas, Lok’s Love is still in the planning stage. I do have his lady love’s name… Althea. I can’t give you a lot of details except for the tagline:

Could you let go of everything you hold dear for the chance of something better?

And After That...

Lok's Love is not only the launching point for my next series, Alien Legacy Brotherhood, but it’s giving me the chance to introduce my newest villains, the Varrlii. These aliens hail from the Andromeda galaxy from a planet known as Xeutov. The new bad guys are blue crystal-based humanoids that discovered a way to jump from their galaxy to ours through an undetected wormhole-like black hole.

 Lord Baelon is their narcissistic leader, who was instrumental in eliminating all but their own species in their galaxy. And now they plan to expand their agenda to other galaxies.

And we’re next.