WINNER, Cinescape Genre Literary Competition The Interim, enforcing a monopoly on faster-than-light travel, stands between the human race and extinction, or so its Founders claim. The crew of the sub-light freighter Lady of Chaos wants nothing to do with it. But when two fugitives, one a scientist, the other a rogue agent of the Social Engineering Service, the Interim's death squad, come aboard, Lady becomes the most wanted ship in the galaxy. And that's even before the Interim learns the true identity of her captain. The hunt is on, and its outcome will leave the universe forever changed. Interim is non-wartime, character driven space opera with plenty of action in the vein of Peter F. Hamilton, Charles Sheffield, Frederick Pohl, David Brin, and others.

Accidentally kidnapped from ancient Greece by three youths on a joyride in an interdimensional starship, Adrastos longs to return to the tiny little patch of space and time that was his farm near Athens. But the past is gone, and the future lies down the Hard Lines. Short story, first published 2008 in *Tales of Moreauvia *#1. *Alternate-cover edition for ASIN: [B016SOYBE2](28184192-hard-lines)*