Beyond the Stars: Unimagined Realms - With a New AR Short Story

Who misses Alex and Caleb? It's okay, you don't have to raise your hands - I can guess the answer. Well, today I have a treat for you. A small, bite-sized short story treat, but a treat nonetheless.

Available today and for only $0.99 is the latest volume of the bestselling Beyond the Stars anthology, titled UNIMAGINED REALMS. It includes "Fractals," a brand-new short story set in the Aurora Rhapsody universe, but outside the primary timeline of the series. The official teaser reads like this:

"A mysterious signal coming from deep space attracts the attention of humanity’s scientists and the soldiers who protect them—the kind of attention the originators of the signal will do anything to avoid. When the two converge, first contact doesn’t go the way either side planned."

A mysterious signal coming from deep space? If that sounds familiar, you're not wrong. But here's the real hook for Aurora Rhapsody veterans: What if the 1st Crux War had never happened? How would that have changed the trajectories of Alex and Caleb's lives in the years leading up to the events of Aurora Rhapsody? Who or what could change history in this way, and why?

In Fractals, see Alex and Caleb in action again, but not exactly as you remember them - yet in some ways, exactly as you remember them ;). Is the story Aurora Rhapsody canon? For now, I'll just say this: I'm reminded of a quote from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

I should probably mention that Unimagined Realms also includes 11 imaginative stories by top-notch indie sci-fi writers David Bruns, T.R. Cameron, Marion Deeds, Patrice Fitzgerald, Joseph Robert Lewis, J.E. Mac, Craig Martelle, Sean Monaghan, Chelsea Pagan, R.A. Rock and Mark Sarney. And I should definitely mention that the $0.99 release price will only last through August 31st, so grab it from any of these retailers for pennies today, while you still can:

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