Title:
The Enduring Legacy
Author:
Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Genre:
Science Fiction—agripunk
Book Blurb:
WHAT PRICE DO YOU PAY FOR HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER? Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere have made it. They’ve defeated Philip Martiniere, and Philip’s suicide leaves them an opening to reform the Martiniere Group as well as the Martiniere Family. To create their own, positive legacy. But. The legacy of the Martinieres isn’t so easily repaired. Forty-five years of dominance by Philip doesn’t just go away overnight. Gabe and Ruby have a lot of work to do, especially since Philip’s toxic legacy endures in unexpected places. New foes arise—including the specters of age and health. The mysterious worm that interferes with digital and living memories, and glitches their newest biobot designs. Then Gabe begins to wonder—is Philip truly defeated? Can he keep his legacy safe? Or is he doomed to lose his second family, only in a slower manner than the plane crash that killed his first family? What will it take for Gabe to guarantee that his legacy endures?
Excerpt:
Ruby Barkley scowled as she held up one of her favorite nice winter sweaters, a green cashmere. Was this going to work for her first official Family functions in Paris? Or was it too worn and shabby?
Trying to figure these things out was hard, damn it. She had some appropriate clothing, but those were mostly for official and/or formal gatherings, or summer business casual dress. The jeans and Western snap-button shirts she regularly wore around her Double R Ranch and for other occasions were too informal even for at-home in Paris.
And she definitely didn’t want to come off as a hick hayseed rancher. Paris was the beginning of an entirely new life. She had been dancing around this realization ever since Gabe had become The Martiniere in October. And now, with the big Martiniere Family Christmas celebration bearing down upon them—
A huge sigh from her husband distracted her. Ruby put the sweater down, glad to think about something besides appropriate wear for at least a few minutes.
“What’s wrong, Gabe?”
Gabriel Martiniere looked up, face solemn.
“Oh, nothing.”
“That sigh didn’t sound like it was nothing. Damn it, Gabe. You promised to stop hiding things from me. What’s wrong?”
Gabe shook his head, a smile quickly twitching his lips before fading. “You caught me, Ruby.” He sighed again, but softer. “It’s—it’s just become real for me. This is the first Family Christmas I’ve been to since my testimony against the Group thirty years ago. And I’m returning as The Martiniere. Not the rebel I used to be.” He waved a hand. “I’m The Martiniere. I have the authority—and the responsibility.”
Ruby absorbed this information silently, putting her arm around Gabe and giving him a squeeze. When they were here in Northeastern Oregon, either at her Double R Ranch or Gabe’s Moondance Ranch near Pendleton, it was easy to forget that Gabe—once a flat-broke saddle bronc rider on the run—was now one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. The Martiniere, head not only of the interlocking structures that formally made up the Martiniere Family—with a capital F, always—but of the Family’s privately held conglomerate, the Martiniere Group.
“I’m quaking in my boots, myself,” she said finally. “I don’t have the right clothing, and I’ve never done anything like this. Two weeks in Paris. Yeah, some of it is business, but you know what really scares me? Will I measure up to everyday clothing and manners? I don’t have the right casual wear, and as the Matriarch, I know I can’t come across as a hick hayseed rodeo queen.”
Gabe laughed softly and slid his arm around Ruby, pulling her close. “Clothing can be remedied pretty quickly in Paris, Ruby.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Duh, damn it. I should have been thinking about that. Too accustomed to not having money. Another attitude I have to work on.”
“It takes getting used to. I’m—” he hesitated, frowning thoughtfully. “After thirty years away from the Family, there’s still some things I’m readjusting to.”
“Yeah,” she said slowly.
Gabe kissed her again. “I’m planning to do some shopping, because I need to upgrade my wardrobe. I’d say pack light, with plans to invest in high-quality winter business and casual attire in Paris.”
“Fussing about clothes is silly, next to your worries.”
“Your concerns aren’t silly. Just new experiences for you—and I’m not that worried, really. It’s just—I suddenly realized that thirty years ago, the last time I was in Paris for Christmas, I showed up late, and between Serg and Piotr; Kendra and Scott and some of the other cousins, I was shambling, staggering drunk. When I wasn’t fighting with Philip and Joseph. This time is going to be so different.”
Ruby leaned into Gabe, providing comfort through contact.
He continued after a significant pause. “It’s the contrast. If it hadn’t been for my allies dragging me out to get drunk back then, things could have gotten pretty ugly. Philip and I nearly got into several fistfights, as it were.” He shivered. “And honestly? If I had started beating on him, it wouldn’t have stopped until he was dead. If he hadn’t locked me down with mind control vocal tones and killed me first, that is. It was too damned close for comfort at times. One or the other of us would have died. It was just that bad. My first Christmas here at the Double R, rough as it was, was still pleasant by comparison.”
“Oh, Gabe.”
Gabe exhaled. “I haven’t missed that experience.”
“And then there’s going to be wondering who’s on our side and who isn’t.”
“Mmm, that’s always been part of Family life.” Gabe rubbed his face. “I keep being struck by the difference. Thirty years. Coming back as the Martiniere, not simply a high-level heir. That’s going to be different. Starting with the accommodations. Before, I had a junior suite. Now we’re in the penthouse’s primary suite.”
“Penthouse? Junior suite?” Ruby’s voice screeched out of control.
She hoped—probably futile, but a woman could dream—that Paris was a chance to take a holiday from business. Gabe had promised that this would be their belated honeymoon, but Ruby knew their businesses too damn well to imagine that they could completely get away from work. Even in Paris. Especially in Paris, with Gabe’s responsibilities as the Martiniere.
Gabe nodded. “Yes. We’re in the penthouse. Have our own primary suite. The penthouse is private, for the Martiniere and his chosen family members. Has its own kitchen and cleaning staff. Secure entrance. Secure locks on each suite in the penthouse.”
“Now that sounds promising,” Ruby said. She turned her head just enough to capture Gabe’s lips in a long, lingering kiss.
“Temptress,” Gabe murmured against her lips.
“Always,” she purred back.
Buy Links:
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Standalone conclusion to the Martiniere Legacy series; features older protagonists who deeply love each other even as they face internal and external challenges. Plus horses and biobots. Who doesn’t like reading about biobots or horses?
One reviewer’s assessment: “The book balances the science fiction elements with family drama surrounding a powerful family, romance between the protagonists, and a building threat to the family and Gabe’s leadership over the course of almost fourteen years.”
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card:
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Runs December 13 – December 21, 2022.
Winner will be drawn on December 22, 2022.
Author Biography:
Joyce Reynolds-Ward has been called "the best writer I've never heard of" by one reviewer. Her work includes themes of high-stakes family and political conflict, digital sentience, personal agency and control, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses. She is the author of The Netwalk Sequence series, the Goddess's Honor series, and the recently released The Martiniere Legacy series. Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is the Secretary of the Northwest Independent Writers Association, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and a member of Soroptimists International.
Social Media Links:
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