His sword crashed with that of some faceless, nameless man fuelled likely by the urge to protect his own family, yet Janez fiercely did not care.

Musket fire answered, and Janez leapt the gap with a roar that came from some primal place deep inside, fuelled not by king and country, but by brotherhood. The rush of men to cut the ropes was confused. The Ente had seized her from the other side. The heave of ship to ship was immense-in his bones and under his feet, Janez could feel an answering pull. His sword swept down the hooks flung outwards and clattered into the torn deck and shattered railings, some catching and some not. Janez flinched, even in his newfound deafness, like a newly launched loblolly boy without the faintest idea of sailing. Two simply exploded, the gunpowder and ball caught between wood and metal, and the smell of burning flesh, the cry of death, rose over the chaos like a reminder. The almighty crash as they collided once more coincided with a terrible howl from the enemy guns. Janez slid towards the broken railings and caught at the ropes to steady himself. A boy fell, screaming, into the void between the two ships, and the sound cut off with a sharp crunch as the wooden hulls kissed once more. They collided once, the guns bouncing inwards. In the smoke and sunlight, both ricocheting off each other in a blinding darkness, heaving the battered Vogel around the enemy’s bow and up her pockmarked port side was a dangerous game. But what if it also means never going home again? Above the sky awaits the discovery of who Calla was always meant to be.

Above the waves lies more than princes and politics. Infatuated and intrigued, Calla rises out of her world in pursuit of a skyman who doesn’t even speak her language. Who are the men who walk on water? And how can such strange creatures be so beautiful? Raised on legends of fabled skymen, Calla never expected them to be real, much less save one from drowning-and lose her heart to him. Something killed that cloud someone brought it down. Father says there’s nothing, but Calla knows better. When a cloud falls to earth, Calla sets out to find what lies beyond the sky.

Metzger‘s upcoming Fantasy Romance, Walking On Water, which releases on November 13! Here’s some info on the book, which contains both bisexual and transgender represenation: Today on the site, we’ve got an exclusive excerpt from Matthew J.

What it looks like matthew j metzger