A Culture Wars Novel
by
The year: 2238. The Culture Wars are in full swing, with the Freedom Alliance fighting the Moral League for control of Washington D.C., which now stands in ruins. The symbols of America have been looted and destroyed, but the war goes on for the P.R. campaign, with both sides trying to claim they have won the nation.
Gabriel Green, runaway from the League, joins the Alliance’s Ground Force to fight back against the persecution and oppression he has witnessed. Sent to the front in the midst of a bitter winter, a mortar hits his position and he is wounded. He finds an unlikely savior in the form of Angel Ramirez, a devoutly religious albino League medic with a heart of gold and a big secret.
Doubting the war they once both believed in, Gabriel and Angel trade the battlefield for exile on the neutral Melvana Colony, but Angel struggles to reconcile his religion with his feelings for another man. Torn between two sides of a war, Angel must find a middle ground between faith and love or risk losing both forever.
Publisher: Independently Published
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 3
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 18-25
Protagonist 2 Age: 18-25
Tropes: Coming Out / Closeted, Enemies to Lovers, Find Love and Come Out, First Time, Forbidden Love, In Uniform
Word Count: 60000
Setting: Washington D.C.
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
Gabriel snapped back to the present and the short line he stood in. He nervously tapped his foot as he waited to be called to the recruitment desk. He pushed his memories away, but the residual feelings remained. I should have done something, said something. He closed his eyes. I was only eight. How could I have understood?Sometimes I wonder if this is my punishment. Now I have to stand in that man’s shoes. Now I have to live with these feelings and either hide them or fight for them. What kind of a choice is that?
“Excuse me.” The voice woke him from his reverie and Gabriel realized he had been summoned over to the desk. He walked over calmly, trying not to appear over-eager.
“Sorry,” he said. “I’m here to sign up.”
“Ground or space?” The female recruitment officer’s tone was all-business, her hair tied up in a tight bun behind severe features.
“Excuse me?” Gabriel asked.
READ MORE“Do you want to join the Ground Force or the Space Force?” The lady explained, busily arranging the papers in front of her. “You need higher aptitude scores to join the Space Force, and at least a high school diploma.”
“Oh.” Gabriel said. “I didn’t finish high school. So I guess the Ground Force.”
The lady handed him an application. “Fill it out and put it in the box. Wait in Area B. Your name will be called for an interview.”
“Okay.” Gabriel wandered away, feeling nervous and lost. I would have finished high school, but I couldn’t stand the things they wanted to teach me any more. The League breathing down our necks, checking every essay we wrote, looking for signs of corruption. I disappointed Mom and Dad, and left for the border as soon as I turned eighteen. Now I’m here, just another runaway. They’ll never know what happened to me. They’ll never know why I had to come here. Dad would put a bullet in my head himself.
He filled out the application with careful, deliberate handwriting and slipped it into the box, then found Area B and sat down. He reached in his pocket and drew out a cigarette, but was stopped by a man clearing his throat. He looked up to see a young recruit in the Alliance’s blue uniform looking down at him.
“No smoking in here.” The young man broke into a smile and extended his hand. “I’m Joshua Lindblum.”
Gabriel shook it, letting the cigarette go. “I’m Gabriel Green. How long will I have to wait here?”
“So eager to die. The war will wait five minutes, you know.” He pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Come on, then. The General will see you now.”
Gabriel was led into a small office, richly furnished with real wood furniture and green leather chairs. It looked more like a psychiatrist’s office than the office of a military man. Joshua saluted and left Gabriel alone with the General, a stocky, middle aged man who sat behind a large mahogany desk.
“Sit, sit.” The General bid him to sit down with a robotic arm. Gabriel found he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the prosthetic limb, and his shaky legs barely held him as he eased himself to sit.
“What, does it scare you?” The General asked, seeing Gabriel’s eyes following his arm.
“No, sir, I just...”
The General exploded into a hearty laugh. “It’s all right, kid. Everybody stares the first time. Until they go off to war and see much worse. Then they realize this is nothing.”
“Yes, sir.” Gabriel’s mouth suddenly felt dry.
COLLAPSEWritten in the Snow is the second book in Victoria Zagar’s Culture War series. The blurb says that it is a prequel to Written in the Stars. While this book may have started slightly before Written in the Stars, it really runs parallel in time.
This time we enter the story with 8 year old Gabriel Green standing with his mother watching while a man is forced to burn his GLBT books in the streets of San Francisco by the Moral League forces. Immediately you realize that this man is Major Tom from the first book. Then we jump ahead 10 years where Gabriel has run away from the League and is entering the Alliance forces on the ground. Now we are right back to the war raging on between the Moral League, worshiping God to an extreme, and the Freedom Alliance, fighting to protect human rights.
Sam and Major Tom from the first book are absent from this time but we understand that they are fighting the space war while Gabriel, Josh Lindblum, and Angel Ramirez are fighting the ground war. Gabriel and Josh are on the Alliance side of the war while Angel in on the League side. When Gabriel is injured it is Angel, who is a medic that saves his life. Angel has been forced into celibacy by the League for his homosexuality. The connection between Gabriel and Josh is intense and they wind up leaving the war, marrying, and moving to the neutral Melvana Colony. When the League plays upon Angel’s beliefs and fears he runs from Gabriel and rejoins the League forces.
Where is Josh in all of this? Well he really is a pawn for the League forces who is secretly in love with Gabriel. For some reason I felt more for Josh throughout the story than Gabriel and Angel. By the end of the story Gabriel believes that Josh is dead but we know differently.
Again what we have here is a well-developed sci-fi adventure with angst and true love between these two, a happy ending, and sorrow in our hearts because of the league’s beliefs. What we are left without is Josh’s fate. If you like Sci-Fi and believe in true love, give this series a try. I was uncertain before I started these but stories so far have been a pleasure to read.
