by Laura Leone
“Yes?” she prodded huskily.
“Been able to jump him and...”
“In the condition you were in?”
“Sure, I’m a...”
“What, Nick?”
By the time her panties lay on the floor beside her jeans, he decided to let the subject drop. No harm in letting her think he really was the Knight of Swords, just this once.
The End
Author’s Note
When I look at Celestial Bodies with the benefit hindsight—a tale in which, as Nick and Diana both admit, there’s no rational or earthbound explanation for some of the things that occur—it’s easy for me to see now that I would start writing fantasy before long, though I had no notion of it when I was working on this book.
Within a year of finishing this novel, I would be invited (mostly by luck and by chance) to write a short story for a science fiction & fantasy anthology. I enjoyed the work; and the prolific anthologist Martin H. Greenberg liked my story and invited me into more anthologies. Within a couple of years, I had sold twenty short stories and had won the John W. Campbell Award (Best New Science Fiction/Fantasy Writer). So people started asking me when I was going to write a fantasy novel—and that’s when I started thinking about it. Since then, fantasy novels have become the mainstay of my writing career.
I always thought my interest in fantasy began with writing short stories (and I continued writing for Marty Greenberg until he passed away in 2011); but looking back at Celestial Bodies now, I can see that I was already enjoying playing with paranormal phenomena and otherworldly mysteries even before that. So I guess my fate found me, just as the characters in this story meet their fate, too.
I hope that you have enjoyed Celestial Bodies. I’m reissuing the rest of my Leone romance novels in ebook format, so check your favorite ebook vendor to see what’s available. You might also want to try some of my fantasy novels, such as my Esther Diamond series, which are paranormal novels about a struggling actress who gets involved in supernatural misadventures while being wooed by a skeptical cop.
You can find more information about my books, some fun extras, and various excerpts on my website at www.LauraLeone.com.
Also By This Author
Romance Novels (written as Laura Leone)
(Singe Title Contemporary)
Fallen From Grace
Fever Dreams
(Erotic)
Nights of Fire
(Category/Series Romance)
Sleight of Hand
Celestial Bodies
Guilty Secrets
Ulterior Motives
The Bandit King
A Woman’s Work
Mastersons In Paradise
I: Untouched By Man
II: Under the Voodoo Moon
Fame
I: A Wilder Name
II: The Black Sheep
Oak Hill
I: One Sultry Summer
II: Upon A Midnight Clear
Fantasy Novels (written as Laura Resnick)
Esther Diamond Series
(Urban Fantasy)
Disappearing Nightly
Doppelgangster
Unsympathetic Magic
Vamparazzi
Polterheist
The Misfortune Cookie
The Chronicles of Sirkara
(Traditional Fantasy)
In Legend Born
The White Dragon
The Destroyer Goddess
Non-Fiction
A Blonde In Africa
Rejection, Romance, and Royalties (The Wacky World of A Working Writer)
Short Fiction
(Collected Works)
Highway To Heaven
Maybe You’ve Heard of Me?
The Muse Afire
About the Author
Laura Resnick is the author of many books, short stories, articles, and columns. Her Esther Diamond urban fantasy series, which features the supernatural misadventures of a struggling actress in New York, has received enthusiastic praise from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. The author’s epic fantasy novels include In Legend Born, The White Dragon, which made several “Year’s Best” lists, and The Destroyer Goddess, which Publishers Weekly describes as “a marvel of storytelling.”
Before she began writing fantasy, Resnick was the award-wining author of more than a dozen contemporary romance novels, which she wrote under the pseudonym Laura Leone. Her romance novel Fallen From Grace was a Rita Award finalist and has been listed by DearAuthor.com as one of the best 100 novels in the genre.
A longtime opinion columnist, Resnick’s book Rejection, Romance, and Royalties: The Wacky World of a Working Writer is a collection of her previous essays about the writing life and the publishing industry.
You can find her on the Web at: www.LauraResnick.com
Table of Contents
Cover
Dedication
Foreword
Author’s Note
Also By This Author
About the Author