Genre: Alternative (MM) Sci-Fi Romance Heat Level: 3 Word Count: 51, 240 ISBN: 978-1-77233-327-5 Editor: Karyn White Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Future Imperfect by Pelaam

Heat Level 3
$4.99
SKU 978-1-77233-327-5
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Sterling Rossi thinks he's just made history as the world's first chrononaut. But if he's the first to travel back through time, who is the attractive blond he sees during his jaunt, and why is his team so keen to deny his existence? 

Sterling soon realizes there are more forces at work than he ever imagined and wonders just what's really happening, and who he can trust. 

As the truth unravels, Sterling has to go back in time to save his lover, while a creature from the fabric of time threatens to destroy the world. 

Be Warned: m/m sex, rimming

 

Excerpt:

Sterling’s eyes watered, and he dabbed at them with a handkerchief, before slowly opening them and taking in his surroundings. No pod, no chamber, and no complex. He stood in a dingy alleyway, at the end of which he could see a street where people passed back and forth. He grinned, flexing his fingers, and his toes inside his tight boots. He pulled out his pocket watch and flipped the lid open.

“Rossi recording. I hope this works and you hear it on my return.” Sterling’s voice shook with excitement. “We’ve done it. The first successful jaunt. I don’t know how exact we are with timing. I’m securing the spare gold coins, but since the jaunt here was successful, I have every faith you can recall me. Rossi out.”

A successful jaunt. Sterling felt like dancing, but settled himself down. “I didn’t get to the space station, Ma, but I’m the first man to successfully travel back in time. Now let’s see if they got me when they wanted.” He murmured quietly to himself as he cleared aside some of the debris that littered the alleyway.

There was no concrete beneath his feet, just earth. He cleared some dirt, surprised to see a grating nearby. Shrugging, Sterling dug a small hole, and buried some of his surplus gold. If, God forbid, he couldn’t be returned to his own time, he had on his person, and now buried, more than sufficient gold to be able to settle in this time, and live comfortably. He sent a fervent prayer that it would be nothing more than a precaution.

Smoothing down his frock coat as if he was going to be walking on a catwalk and stared at by everyone, he walked slowly toward the end of the alley. The smell didn’t improve, and Sterling hoped his nose wouldn’t be permanently damaged by the unrelenting stink.  

He knew not to touch anything as far as possible, but more importantly, no matter what he saw, no matter how much of an atrocity he witnessed, he couldn’t interfere. He was an observer only. He had no intentions of breaking that prime directive. Not only his life, but the lives of all his family and friends depended on it. It was a huge burden, and Sterling could not let his emotion overrule his judgment. Everyone he saw today was long since dead and buried. That was what he needed to remember. 

Product Reviews

Score: 5 out of 5 (based on 2 ratings)
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5/5
2015 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention
Written by Elisa on 5th Jan 2018

The book is narrated from Sterling's third person point of view. Pelaam is quite smart in setting the story. At first I thought the whole setup was about space exploration: after all, Sterling is an aspiring astronaut - but you soon realize that it's time travel that he's been training for. Then you get the first plot twist: Sterling meets Jex. It's obvious that something is going on in two fronts. First, there is more than one time traveler. Secondly, the program that Sterling belongs to is more than what we were set to believe. Then there's another twist: Faer is a time policeman and Sterling has to save both his lover and the Universe. I read the book in one sitting. Could not put it down. The characters are very real and I fell in love with them right away. I was rooting for Sterling, Jex, and Faer the whole time. The book ends in what I assume is the perfect setting for a sequel and I hope it comes out soon. Can't wait to read it.

5/5
A must read! - Highly recommended
Written by Carlos T. Mock on 12th Nov 2015

Sterling Rossi is a young man who was training to be an astronaut. Born to a very big Italian family, he still deals with a protective mother who calls him to remind him he needs to get married, even though he's come out to her as gay. Sterling has been recruited to work in New Zealand in a very secretive project. At first i though we were dealing with space travel, but it soon becomes evident it's about time travel. As Sterling does become the world's first successful "chrononaut" by traveling to 17th century London, he meets a very attractive blond young man and he's immediately drawn to him. As he comes back to the present, his handlers, Carey Hopkins and Noc, deny that the blond man exist, and have erased all proof from the recordings that Sterling brought back. This makes Sterling suspicious - a thing encouraged by a strange man he meets at the gym - Faer. Sent back to London, but a century later, Sterling runs again into the blond man - Jeff Cosgrove, a British citizen who has become a time traveler himself. They become friends. This time, Sterling - not trusting his handlers - destroys all evidence of Jex's existence. Sterling shatters the camera and its recordings. Sterling's handlers sent him back again, and this time their love for one another is clearly evident. They have great passionate sex. Unfortunately, Sterling is recalled again to the present - but Jex teaches Sterling how to access his time machine and how to manage traveling London's sewers to access both his home and the hiding place where his time machine is kept. As Sterling comes back to the preset, his confronted by Noc and Casey. Sterling had covered the camera lens to prevent it from recording his amorous adventures with Jex. But Noc and Casey have figured it all out. On the way to his apartment, Sterling is attacked by one of Noc's employees. Sterling manages to force the car that was chasing him off the road. Once inside his home, Sterling gets an education from a "guardian of time." As it turns out, Faer is from another galaxy and is a "time policeman." "...time isn't an abstract, it's more like a living, breathing entity. You humans use a saying beyond the veil. You normally use it to refer to something that separates the living from the dead. But time also acts as a buffer. One between the likes of us, and the creatures that exist beyond time's veil, or fabric." (p. 94) The only reason Sterling can travel through time is because "Times let's (him) travel." (p. 96) Faer tells Sterling that Noc is a very dangerous person and has managed to go back in time and killed Jex. Faer explains "Let's just say the creatures can break through, and that's where I and others like me come in. Time travel cannot be for the masses. That's a given. Time is damaged, hurt, if someone goes back and changes the past. That's when these creatures—we call them Outsiders as they exist outside normal dimensions—force themselves into your world, or mine. By going back and killing Jex, time was damaged." (p. 94-95) "People like me, like you and Jex, we are the real keys to time travel. Time protects herself the best she can, and she does a very good job. Only a tiny number of beings can travel as we do. The others who try—they either don't come back, or only their remains are recovered." (P. 96) It is of utmost importance for Sterling to travel back in time and save his lover - just as it is important for Faer to destroy the "Outsider" who's enter the planet. So Sterling travels back in time, saves Jex, and then travels back to the present with Jex, and both Jex and Sterling help Faer kill the "Outsider." The story ends with all of them in Eistir - an asteroid in our solar system - and Jex and Sterling join the "guardians of time." The book is narrated from Sterling's third person point of view. Pelaam is quite smart in setting the story. At first I thought the whole setup was about space exploration: after all, Sterling is an aspiring astronaut - but you soon realize that it's time travel that he's been training for. Then you get the first plot twist: Sterling meets Jex. It's obvious that something is going on in two fronts. First, there is more than one time traveler. Secondly, the program that Sterling belongs to is more than what we were set to believe. Then there's another twist: Faer is a time policeman and Sterling has to save both his lover and the Universe. I read the book in one sitting. Could not put it down. The characters are very real and I fell in love with them right away. I was rooting for Sterling, Jex, and Faer the whole time. The book ends in what I assume is the perfect setting for a sequel and I hope it comes out soon. Can't wait to read it.

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