Dating, and How to Make Apostasy Work For You
Dating, and How to Make Apostasy Work For You is a story written by Aosora Hikaru and illustrated by DragonReine. It ran in Issue 41 and can be found at http://s2b2.livejournal.com/239115.html and mirrored at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/dating-and-how-to-make-apostasy-work-for-you/.
Summary
Andrew Barton is a smuggler independent cargo carrier with a tendency to gamble himself into starvation. Caerwyn is the prostitute who sets his sights on Andrew. Andrew has to overcome his past to trust Caerwyn.
There's no such thing as a soulmate, right? Especially not one you meet in a casino, trying to get you to give him money to suck your dick.
From fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org: "First person. Andy captains a cargo ship IN SPAAACE; he likes to gamble and ends up taking a smuggling job to cover his debts. Caerwyn is the pretty dancer/hooker he falls for. Contains people falling in love at first sight, possessive behaviour, hooker with a heart of gold, etc. (And there's a character called Claudius Blackrake; that's the only one I got but there are probably other sff references I missed, if you're into spotting them.)"
Connections
Dating, and How to Make Apostasy Work For You has a sequel: Smuggling, and How to Make Interstellar Exploration Work For You.
Related Links
Dating, and How to Make Apostasy Work For You is listed on Goodreads and Archive of Our Own.
Author's Notes
(I'm adding these in now, 4/27/14, because I can, and had really no place to publish author notes before.)
This was my first story for Shousetsu Bang*Bang, and the first full story I'd finished and published in probably over a decade. It was a labor of love, and I'm honestly still proud of it over a year later, even knowing it's one of my weaker stories. It was the story that spelled the curse I'm still bound to: "Erin must adhere to a literal interpretation of the theme or else she won't finish the story at all." There are hookers, and gambling -- Andrew might have a love of blackjack, who knows?
I've always loved science fiction and wasn't sure I could pull it off. I'm still not sure I did, but hey -- I had fun.
The title, that awfully horribly horrendously long title, was conceived out of a desire to use the word "apostasy" in a title. I have since decided to stick with shorter (but still just as ambiguous) titles.
