Royce Sears-Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author

You can download your FREE copy of "The Elegance of Nature: Prophecies of the New World" from Smashwords from April 26 through May 2. SMASHWORDS!

Catastrophe befell Earth seventy-five years ago after an alien virus was introduced, accelerating evolution in wild and unpredictable ways. Humanity has become an endangered species, but an ancient prophecy, a Warrior of the People, and his prophetic vision of an unknown youth may be the keys to healing both the human race and the planet. After being wounded in battle, Otaktay- a warrior of the People- receives a prophetic vision which opens the door to the rediscovery of a lost and forgotten prophecy as old as the first people of North America. With the guidance of the Ma'iingan, he and his band of brothers- the Swooping Hawks- are sent on a desperate race against time to find and rescue the young man foretold by the Prophecy of the Seven Fires. In the New World, survival of the fittest is the rule as the struggle against savage, bloodthirsty predators and shifting paradigms creates an exciting and action-packed adventure where old magic and ancient prophecy shape the fut...

What’s in a Name? By Royce Sears She looked at me for a long time. She was young and pretty, in her fancy white lab coat. Her long blonde hair tantalized me. I licked my dry lips as thoughts rose unbidden to the surface of my mind. No! No! I screamed inside my head, or at least I thought I did. She looked at me curiously for a moment as she adjusted the wire frame glasses on her nose and cocked her head to the side. Her stethoscope fascinated me, draped around her neck like a snake, a boa constrictor that might strangle her at any moment. I laughed. That would be fun to watch! Watch it squeeze the life out of her, slowly. She made more notes on the papers in front of her and adjusted the snake around her neck. Could she not feel its leathery scales when she touched it? “What are you writing?” I asked. She looked at me, adjusted her glasses again, and licked her lips. Oh my God, she licked her lips. That pretty, wet, glistening, sensuous tongue. She wants me! I can tell in...

Welcome to the Brethren By Royce Sears Captain Eric Roush, a name and a man who no longer existed, had commanded a mere cargo vessel hauling other people’s junk through the lonely void of space until a few months ago. He’d taken on the occasional smuggling job, forging a container’s manifest to make a little extra money here and there, but he’d never gotten caught. He thought he’d slipped under the radar, but someone had noticed, and it wasn’t the authorities. It had been a decent living, hauling a steady stream of cargo from Meridian Station , perched halfway between Earth and the Moon, to Frontier Station, in near-earth orbit, and Luna Colony, on the Moon. The cargo had suddenly, and inexplicably, dried up. He hadn’t been able to get a single run in more than a month, and that’s when life changed for Eric. There’d been many changes in the past few months, some good and some bad, but his course was set and there was no going back. He sat at the command console of his re...

Culinary Savages By Royce Sears “Order, Order, this meeting will come to order. Let the record show the Galactic Council for Species Acceptance met on this 23rd day of the month of Yarvost to discuss the planet known as Earth. Speaker Relnak, you have visited the planet most recently, please enlighten us with your studies of the indigenous sentient lifeforms." Speaker Relnak approached the podium, cleared his throat and smacked his thick, full lips together in preparation for the delicate articulation required by the approved interspecies language. "Ladies, gentleman, various transgendered species, ungendered plant life, and of course our newest, and esteemed, fungal friends of the Muscida system. I welcome you to the Galactic Council for Species Acceptance meeting to discuss the recently discovered sentient species on the planet known as Earth." Speaker Relnak paused, breathing deeply before continuing, "The indigenous species on Earth call themselves Humans...

A Father’s Love By Royce Sears The ambulance arrived at 03:14, according to the note I had scribbled in my pocket. I had pulled it out, along with the pens, random Post-It notes, markers, scissors, and various other accoutrements that might end up in the pockets of my scrubs by the end of a twelve hour shift. I stared at it for a long moment, remembering the blaring sirens, as the ambulance skidded to a stop on the icy parking lot of the triage area. I remember thinking, was it all a dream? Or did it really happen the way I remember it? Maybe it’s time to move to a new department, they say we start to crack after a few years in the ER. We had been waiting for about ten minutes, me and two other trauma nurses, at 03:10 in the gusting winds and blustery cold of a January morning in northern Illinois. The lake-effect snow, combined with what the weathermen called an Arctic Blast had effectively frozen our little town into a standstill. Schools were closed, the city had shut down,...

The Price of Youth By Royce Sears Driving home from her second job, Sheila Lockner blinked her eyes and fought to stay awake. With the window down, the crisp bite of winter, combined with the loud music blaring from her car stereo, was usually enough to keep her awake. She yawned, and rubbed her eyes. Two jobs, a four year old to raise by herself, rent and bills to pay, it was enough to exhaust anyone, she thought. The Christmas party at the Vanderbilt Society should have been over at 11:00 PM, but the cleanup had taken longer than expected. She, and the other servers, had catered enough food, wine, and other refreshments, to feed a small army over the course of the evening. And all for less than one-hundred people, she thought. They had thrown away enough food to feed her and Aiden for more than a month. Slammed hard, the sounds of shrieking, twisting metal fill the air. I didn’t do anything wrong. Headlights up ahead, rushing at me? My head hurts, not sure what happened? Whe...