I originally wrote the story for the Celestial Seductions anthology, which is no longer available. I’ve now added 6K words including an epilogue.
At the time I was pondering ideas for this story the most recent season of the ‘Top Chef’ show was going on and it occurred to me I could finally write Chef Stephanie’s story in the Star Cruise series.
From that moment the story wrote itself in one 11K word burst over a day or two, which is an author’s dream, when the story just pours out. It is a short story at that length but originally we were encouraged to write short for the anthology. I had so much fun coming up with the menu ideas for the very special meal she has to cook for her oh-so-demanding host and the main part of the story occurs over one Halloweenlike night on an alien planet. Authors love doing research and I had to look up a lot of odd things for this story. ‘Top Chef’ always inspires me to culinary heights – I don’t cook anything fancy myself, nor can I eat most of what they prepare but I love watching the dedication, professionalism and sheer love for ingredients and what making special food for people means.
In one particular episode there was a discussion of how to prepare and cook an otherwise deadly lionfish and my imagination took flight…
Now that I’ve published the expanded 17K word story myself, I added the beginning I’d always had in mind, to kind of foreshadow the later events. The epilogue took me by surprise a little but I was sitting here thinking about the two characters’ lives together and the twist just came to me.
Here’s the blurb for the story: Five star chef Stephanie Clemmons has a contract to cater a Halloweenlike party on the planet where her cruise ship the Nebula Zephyr orbits. Little does she know the dangers of a night where alien demons walk among humans and never expects the deadliest demon of all to offer her a bargain. She has to cook a special dinner to satisfy him or spend the rest of eternity laboring in his hellscape kitchens.
But as the night and the meal progress, Stephanie and the demon lord discover they both may be getting more than they bargained for, as undeniable attraction grows between them. Can an ancient Lord of the Underworld and a human chef find a way to make a new bargain for love?
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The excerpt (during the alien Halloween evening where Stephanie is catering the event:
Of course there were other problems—they ran out of ingredients for one of the most popular hors d’oeuvres so she pivoted and made a different one, adding iridescent darriddo caviar to dress up the plain plate and a little foam—guests at events like this were invariably impressed by foam. Hastily executed, but perfect tuiles stuffed with a variety of flavored creams and drizzled with chocolate sauce filled the gaps.
A fight broke out between guests at one of her tables, after one man insulted the other’s date and their brawl threatened to knock over the entire set up. Two of her sous chefs intervened before hotel security could arrive and disaster was averted. The central fish ingredient for another dish looked off to her so she refused to serve it and substituted in a local variety of meat the hotel happened to have in the stasis keepers. The kitchen was humming and the music outside was pounding and every time she made the brief trek to check on the event people praised her food.
Her staff had capes and half masks, to be thematic and to a person they complained each time they re-entered the kitchen. “It’s hot,” said one woman, ripping off her sparkly green mask impatiently. “And the bobbing antenna things get in my eyes.”
“The cape is so clingy,” said another, trying to shake out the static electricity in her black, silver trimmed cloak. “I kinda like the mask though.”
Stephanie ignored these minor issues, leaving it to Richard to handle. She picked up a mask and headed into the ballroom one more time. The lighting had been adjusted to be quite dark, with flashes of colored light in time to the music. Mist was rolling across the carpet. She felt the mood had changed markedly since her last visit and was now less lighthearted fun and more in the vein of pursuits best done in the dark. There’d been an influx of new guests in elaborately embroidered capes and full masks, adorned with plumes. She saw several with tails and taloned gloves. Wow, pretty realistic costumes, if you’re going for the demon effect. The band played on, slower songs, the rhythm getting deep into her bones, and the dancers were much more closely entwined. Stephanie wasn’t by any means a prude but she wished the more animated couples would avail themselves of the rooms the hotel had at a discounted rate tonight.
Turning to retreat to the kitchen, glad their required time to serve food was nearly over, she got a prickling between her shoulder blades and goosebumps ran up and down her arms. Reluctantly she checked over her shoulder and found a richly dressed guest watching her from across the room. His black suit was elegant and his cape was one of the splashiest, with gold and possibly even gemstones at the collar. His mask was gold and black, with striking red plumes, revealing only his strong jaw and a pair of firm masculine lips.
She fanned herself, suddenly perspiring, annoyed to be visualizing herself kissing those lips. Get a grip, girl. As if. The man was still watching and had moved closer so she hastened through the door to the kitchen and didn’t stop until she was in the center of her sous chefs and assistants. “All right, we can clean up and go,” she said with relief. “Good job, everyone, the guests have been extremely complimentary tonight.”
There was a clattering of pans and racks and utensils amid the flurry of cleaning up the kitchen and organizing themselves to commute to the shuttle at the spaceport. She didn’t go out into the ballroom to retrieve anything there herself, curiously afraid to encounter the staring guest again, but feeling foolish about it. There was hotel security, there were her own people, nothing would happen.
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