Stardogs, Book One

The editing department of my publisher Midnight Showcase asked for another copy of Book One of 'The Stardogs', Return to Redsky, due to be published in October. I did some editing to it and hopefully, I'll finish it today.
An update on Seeds of Chaos: Book Two has moved up to number 5 and Book One to position 6 at fictionwise. Maybe it will move up to number One. Possibly position one and two for both books. That would be fantastic. Here's hoping!
I published a bunch of excerpts today on all my groups. I'm pushing 'Dual Visions'. Such good stories and no readers. That has to change!
Anyone reading my blog and anyone interested, send me an email (hegro@shaw.ca) and I will send you a copy in rich text format of my story 'Blood of the Virgin'. It is one of the stories in my Anthology, Tapestry of Dreams, which will be published next year, I believe in August.
Here is the excerpt from 'The Stardogs, Book One, Return to Redsky:

It was dark when I left his shop, carrying a large bundle with things I needed. I loaded it onto the animal I had left tied to a tree. Slowly, I walked down the dark narrow street, pulling the animal behind me.
It was not very smart to travel through this section of town after dark, and it didn’t take long before I heard footsteps behind me. I knew there were four of them, three men and one woman. The sound of her bare feet was easily distinguishable from the heavier footsteps of the three men. One of them big, he shuffled as he walked on heavy feet.
They circled me from behind, the woman gliding by me on my left under cover of some small shrubs. Two of the men were on either side of me now, slightly hanging back, while the third one stayed behind. He carried a heavy club. I could hear the faint scraping as he rubbed it with his left hand.
My built-in defense system had shifted my body in combat-mode. Tiny implants all over my body let me sense and hear things a normal Human could not.
The woman stepped into the street in front of me. “What’s your hurry?” she said, parting her cape. She wore nothing underneath. She was young, a girl with the body of a woman, her breasts high and full. Two solid fleshy cones with dark nipples jutting from her ribcage. She could have been beautiful, if it hadn’t been for her straggly hair and her calculating eyes. This was no innocent girl. She had seen and done more things than a girl her age should have.
The pale light from one of the moons shone down the length of her slim nude body, revealing the dark triangle below her flat belly. “Well?” she said, smiling. “Do you like what you see?”
She came closer. I could hear the man with the club moving in behind me. The other two were still hidden in the darkness of the houses, but I heard the barely audible whispering sound of a long knife being pulled from its sheath.
She stood close enough now to touch and I could smell the odor of her body. A bath was long overdue. Both of her front teeth were missing.
She lifted her arms, jiggling her breasts. The cape slid off her shoulders, leaving her completely nude. She stepped back slightly, but it had not been necessary for me to see the flicker in her eyes.
As the club descended, my free right arm shot up, deflecting the murderous blow and with the same movement my fist connected with the side of the club wielder’s head, sending him sprawling into the dirt. I hadn’t killed him, but he would be out for some time.
The man with the knife rushed me from the right, the other one stayed invisible behind my steed. I could tell my attacker was an amateur. He held the knife in front of him, his knife arm stiff. An experienced street fighter would never do that. I grabbed his wrist and broke his arm. He screamed and cowered back, holding his injured limb.
Now the last of them stepped around the animal, carrying a heavy axe.
“You fight well,” he rumbled, grinning, his wide chin pointing towards the two on the ground, “against children.”
He was right, the other two were young, but I knew that already. That’s why I hadn’t killed them.
He hefted his axe. “Let’s see how you fare against a man.”
* * * *