J.C. Hay

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations
OK
About J.C. Hay
JC Hay is an SFR Galaxy Award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of Science Fiction Romance, an inveterate dog lover, and dreamer. His tales of heroic hearts and fantastic futures reflect his heartfelt belief that sci-fi and romance go hand-in-hand, because the coolest gadgets in the world are useless without someone to share them.
Customers Also Bought Items By
Are you an author?
Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.
1 11 1
Author Updates
-
-
Blog postToday’s the day! Get ready to escape!! Pets in Space® 6 anthology is out now and once again, 10% of the 1st month’s royalties go …10 months ago Read more
-
Blog postWell, that’s pet Week! What better way to end than with a recap of all the posts from the past week in one easy place …10 months ago Read more
-
Blog postAt long last, I had the chance to head to engineering, where Baker and April have lived an almost separate life from the rest of …10 months ago Read more
-
-
Blog postI’m off visiting fellow Pets author SJ Pajonas as part of Pets Week. If you’re not reading her yet, then you’re in for a treat! …10 months ago Read more
-
Blog postDo you love romance, adventure, and pets? If so, let Carol Van Natta tell you about the griffins in Escape from Nova Nine.10 months ago Read more
-
-
Blog postThat's like cake week, but also different, because we're not eating the pets. Or letting Paul Hollywood judge them.10 months ago Read more
-
Blog postIt’s time for a weekly Pets in Space update! This week it’s all about the pet I brought to this year’s collection, or in this …1 year ago Read more
-
Blog postPets in Space 6 — that’s right, the 6th collection — is now available for preorder. I am thrilled to be along for another out-of-this-world …1 year ago Read more
-
Blog postThe hero is at the core of every great story—facing fierce foes, defying death, fighting for the greater good... The Our Heroes Sci-Fi StoryBundle celebrates the men and women who undertake an epic journey, sacrificing so that others may be spared pain and suffering.2 years ago Read more
Titles By J.C. Hay
Inouye (TriSystems: Rangers Book 1)
Sep 18, 2018
by
JC Hay
$2.99
Old wounds can leave the deepest scars.
Lance Corporal Ren Inouye has spent a decade forgetting his homeworld and the girl who cut out his school-age heart. With the help of his umbra wolf partner, he’s almost succeeded. When he’s ordered back home, the last thing he wants is for her to drop back into his life and tear open those scars he thought long-healed.
Lucia has spent five years doing refugee work, trying to make up for her family’s name and her own spoiled childhood. When her aid shuttle gets shot down, she’s forced to rely on the one person she thought she’d never see again.
Thrown together, it’s impossible to ignore that their old passions still run hot. If they want a future, they’ll need to put the past on hold and work together, because someone’s trying to heat up a cold war on their homeworld, and the fastest way to do that is to make sure they’re both dead.
Lance Corporal Ren Inouye has spent a decade forgetting his homeworld and the girl who cut out his school-age heart. With the help of his umbra wolf partner, he’s almost succeeded. When he’s ordered back home, the last thing he wants is for her to drop back into his life and tear open those scars he thought long-healed.
Lucia has spent five years doing refugee work, trying to make up for her family’s name and her own spoiled childhood. When her aid shuttle gets shot down, she’s forced to rely on the one person she thought she’d never see again.
Thrown together, it’s impossible to ignore that their old passions still run hot. If they want a future, they’ll need to put the past on hold and work together, because someone’s trying to heat up a cold war on their homeworld, and the fastest way to do that is to make sure they’re both dead.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Grenville (TriSystems: Rangers Book 2)
Sep 25, 2018
by
JC Hay
$2.99
Are they orbiting each other, or falling?
Yancey Grenville thought he knew his place in the pack – the clown, the one who always made everyone else happy. A stress reliever for his battle family and for the women he’d spent time with along the way. No one to be serious about, and not someone to settle down with. An attitude that he thought suited him, until a solo mission with the one person he wanted to see him as more leaves him scrambling for a way to erase his reputation.
Lt. Imee Lewis fought tooth and claw to earn her reputation as one of the best pilots in the JTF, and no one cheered her on, or up, like the ranger she’d pulled off the battlefield more than a year earlier. Not that she thought she could ever be serious about “Good Time Grenville” – her own scars, and the divide of rank were enough to keep the relationship strictly friends.
But when a covert mission traps the two of them together in a half-derelict mining ship, proximity leads to more than familiarity. As the gravity between them gets stronger, they realize that the walls they tore down will be impossible to replace when the mission ends, and everything they’ve built for themselves could be destroyed.
Yancey Grenville thought he knew his place in the pack – the clown, the one who always made everyone else happy. A stress reliever for his battle family and for the women he’d spent time with along the way. No one to be serious about, and not someone to settle down with. An attitude that he thought suited him, until a solo mission with the one person he wanted to see him as more leaves him scrambling for a way to erase his reputation.
Lt. Imee Lewis fought tooth and claw to earn her reputation as one of the best pilots in the JTF, and no one cheered her on, or up, like the ranger she’d pulled off the battlefield more than a year earlier. Not that she thought she could ever be serious about “Good Time Grenville” – her own scars, and the divide of rank were enough to keep the relationship strictly friends.
But when a covert mission traps the two of them together in a half-derelict mining ship, proximity leads to more than familiarity. As the gravity between them gets stronger, they realize that the walls they tore down will be impossible to replace when the mission ends, and everything they’ve built for themselves could be destroyed.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Chen (TriSystems: Rangers Book 3)
Jan 7, 2020
by
JC Hay
$4.09
Their Future Depends on His Past
Specialist Rakhi Chen has spent her life focused on taking care of others—her squad mates, her friends, and most of all, her umbra wolf. The last thing she wanted was time to focus on herself, but a combat injury forces her and her wolf into some mandatory shore leave. Having a too-pretty veterinarian invade her space was not going to be an improvement.
Javad Priddy was one of the youngest doctors to work with the rangers and their umbra wolves, a pinnacle position that he'd almost convinced himself he'd earned. But the benefactors whose help greased the way to success have come to collect, and the only payment they'll accept is one that sets fire to all he's accomplished. With his options dwindling, he goes on the run to deliver a warning to Chen and her wolf.
Time is running out for Javad, and for the people he cares about, which he's come to realize includes a gruff, irascible ranger and her light-hearted bondmate. He's seen rangers do superhuman things, but every hero has a weakness—and Javad worries that the depth of his betrayal could destroy Chen's already-bruised heart as well as their future.
Specialist Rakhi Chen has spent her life focused on taking care of others—her squad mates, her friends, and most of all, her umbra wolf. The last thing she wanted was time to focus on herself, but a combat injury forces her and her wolf into some mandatory shore leave. Having a too-pretty veterinarian invade her space was not going to be an improvement.
Javad Priddy was one of the youngest doctors to work with the rangers and their umbra wolves, a pinnacle position that he'd almost convinced himself he'd earned. But the benefactors whose help greased the way to success have come to collect, and the only payment they'll accept is one that sets fire to all he's accomplished. With his options dwindling, he goes on the run to deliver a warning to Chen and her wolf.
Time is running out for Javad, and for the people he cares about, which he's come to realize includes a gruff, irascible ranger and her light-hearted bondmate. He's seen rangers do superhuman things, but every hero has a weakness—and Javad worries that the depth of his betrayal could destroy Chen's already-bruised heart as well as their future.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Penzak (TriSystems: Rangers Book 4)
Mar 17, 2020
by
JC Hay
$2.99
Loss casts a shadow you can't outrun…Commander Rafe Penzak is tired of jockeying a desk. With only months left before his forced retirement from the rangers, he decides to bend a few rules for one last mission: follow up on intelligence that vicious criminals have found the ranch that supplies the rangers' umbra wolves. He's ready to confront the reminder of his wolf's death, but nothing in the Three Systems could prepare him for the spitfire who runs the farm.
Veterinarian Nafisi Sultana has run her wolf breeding program her way since the death of her husband. The last thing she wants is another ranger taking up space, correcting her methods, or being underfoot. But she can't miss the pain and sorrow that haunts the greying commander, and her need to heal others pulls her into his orbit despite the agonizing memories he wakes in her.
With storms, raiders, and a renegade wolf pup driving them together, Nafisi and Rafe have to set aside their damaged past, or they'll never be able to save something they both want more—a future.
This novella was previously released as "Shadows of the Past" in Pets in Space 3: Embrace the Passion.
Veterinarian Nafisi Sultana has run her wolf breeding program her way since the death of her husband. The last thing she wants is another ranger taking up space, correcting her methods, or being underfoot. But she can't miss the pain and sorrow that haunts the greying commander, and her need to heal others pulls her into his orbit despite the agonizing memories he wakes in her.
With storms, raiders, and a renegade wolf pup driving them together, Nafisi and Rafe have to set aside their damaged past, or they'll never be able to save something they both want more—a future.
This novella was previously released as "Shadows of the Past" in Pets in Space 3: Embrace the Passion.
Flare: Team Corona (The Great Space Race)
Nov 21, 2017
by
JC Hay
$4.99
They could go all the way, if they don't go straight to hell
All Kayana wants is respect. Jilted by her fiancée, turned out by her family, and rejected by her crew – esteem is in short supply. When she hears about the cash prize for winning the Great Space Race, she realizes it's more than enough money to get her old life back. Or buy herself an asteroid someplace where she won't care what people think.
Ax Turner just needs to hide, and the Race gives him the best opportunity to do so. In plain sight. Surely the thugs and criminals he's ripped off won't come after him while cameras are rolling on the galaxy's most popular reality game show. And if they do, well, having a partner who's able to fight and looks like a devil seems like a win.
They're on the run - from the past, from the lethal challenges of the Great Race, from their feelings, and straight into each other. They've got more than their share of problems, and those secrets could drive them apart, or be the key to winning the biggest prize of all: each other.
All Kayana wants is respect. Jilted by her fiancée, turned out by her family, and rejected by her crew – esteem is in short supply. When she hears about the cash prize for winning the Great Space Race, she realizes it's more than enough money to get her old life back. Or buy herself an asteroid someplace where she won't care what people think.
Ax Turner just needs to hide, and the Race gives him the best opportunity to do so. In plain sight. Surely the thugs and criminals he's ripped off won't come after him while cameras are rolling on the galaxy's most popular reality game show. And if they do, well, having a partner who's able to fight and looks like a devil seems like a win.
They're on the run - from the past, from the lethal challenges of the Great Race, from their feelings, and straight into each other. They've got more than their share of problems, and those secrets could drive them apart, or be the key to winning the biggest prize of all: each other.
Other Formats:
Paperback
by
JC Hay
$4.99
Sheri Tyler had a simple undercover assignment: work the docks at Nobu Station, monitor the illegal trade, and report everything back to Intelligence Command. Now a botched robbery has forced her to hide among a crew of smugglers and put her on the run from the Spider Queen, one of the TriSystem’s most dangerous crime lords. Worse, it’s left her working alongside a brooding security officer who reminds her of everything she shouldn’t desire.
Rayan Barr only wants three things: keeping his ship secure, his friends safe, and his pet goanna well-fed. None of those include overseeing a dockrat whose stories don’t add up, and who has a mad idea to sell their illegal cargo in one of the largest black markets in the Three Systems. Now his captain has demanded he keep a close watch on her, something his eyes are already all too eager to do.
Forced to rely on each other, Rayan and Sheri get pulled deeper into the Spider Queen’s web of deceit. And while Sherri might let Barr get a glimpse of the real her she’d kept hidden away, she also knows it’s only a matter of time before the lies she hides behind come crashing down. Without that protection, there’s no telling how badly they'll both get hurt.
NOTE: This story was originally published in Pets in Space 4, and contains the prequel short story Bodyguard of Lies, from the 2019 Pets in Space teaser
Rayan Barr only wants three things: keeping his ship secure, his friends safe, and his pet goanna well-fed. None of those include overseeing a dockrat whose stories don’t add up, and who has a mad idea to sell their illegal cargo in one of the largest black markets in the Three Systems. Now his captain has demanded he keep a close watch on her, something his eyes are already all too eager to do.
Forced to rely on each other, Rayan and Sheri get pulled deeper into the Spider Queen’s web of deceit. And while Sherri might let Barr get a glimpse of the real her she’d kept hidden away, she also knows it’s only a matter of time before the lies she hides behind come crashing down. Without that protection, there’s no telling how badly they'll both get hurt.
NOTE: This story was originally published in Pets in Space 4, and contains the prequel short story Bodyguard of Lies, from the 2019 Pets in Space teaser
Other Formats:
Paperback
Dark Faith
May 1, 2010
by
Jay Lake,
Catherynne M. Valente,
Brian Keene,
Ekaterina Sedia,
Gary A. Braunbeck,
Tom Piccirilli,
Mary Robinette Kowal,
Nick Mamatas,
Maurice Broaddus,
Jerry Gordon
$4.99
2010 Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in an Anthology
2010 Black Quill Award Nominee
"Ghosts of New York" Nebula Award Nominee
"The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" WSFA Nominee
The destructiveness of passion, both earthly and supernatural, makes cities bleed and souls burn across worlds, through endless time. Experience the spiritual side of the zombie apocalypse in "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" and transcend both hell and nirvana in "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation." Look into "The Mad Eyes of the Heron King" to find the beautiful brutality written in the moment of epiphany or "Go and Tell it On the Mountain," where Jesus Christ awaits your last plea to enter heaven if there is a heaven to enter when all is said and done.
Horror's top authors and promising newcomers whisper tales that creep through the mists at night to rattle your soul. Step beyond salvation and damnation with thirty stories and poems that reveal the darkness beneath belief. Place your faith in that darkness; it's always there, just beyond the light.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Maurice Broaddus
"The Story of Belief-Non" by Linda D. Addison (poem)
"Ghosts of New York" by Jennifer Pelland
"I Sing a New Psalm" by Brian Keene
"He Who Would Not Bow" by Wrath James White
"Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation" by Douglas F. Warrick
"Go and Tell It on the Mountain" by Kyle S. Johnson
"Different from Other Nights" by Eliyanna Kaiser
"Lilith" by Rain Graves (poem)
"The Last Words of Dutch Schultz Jesus Christ" by Nick Mamatas
"To the Jerusalem Crater" by Lavie Tidhar
"Chimeras & Grotesqueries" by Matt Cardin
"You Dream" by Ekaterina Sedia
"Mother Urban's Booke of Dayes" by Jay Lake
"The Mad Eyes of the Heron King" by Richard Dansky
"Paint Box, Puzzle Box" by D.T. Friedman
"A Loss For Words" by J. C. Hay
"Scrawl" by Tom Piccirilli
"C{her}ry Carvings" by Jennifer Baumgartner (poem)
"Good Enough" by Kelli Dunlap
"First Communions" by Geoffrey Girard
"The God of Last Moments" by Alethea Kontis
"Ring Road" by Mary Robinette Kowal
"The Unremembered" by Chesya Burke
"Desperata" by Lon Prater (poem)
"The Choir" by Lucien Soulban
"The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" by Catherynne M. Valente
"Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects" by Lucy A. Snyder
"Paranoia" by Kurt Dinan (poem)
"Hush" by Kelly Barnhill
"Sandboys" by Richard Wright
"For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" by Gary A. Braunbeck
2010 Black Quill Award Nominee
"Ghosts of New York" Nebula Award Nominee
"The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" WSFA Nominee
The destructiveness of passion, both earthly and supernatural, makes cities bleed and souls burn across worlds, through endless time. Experience the spiritual side of the zombie apocalypse in "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" and transcend both hell and nirvana in "Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation." Look into "The Mad Eyes of the Heron King" to find the beautiful brutality written in the moment of epiphany or "Go and Tell it On the Mountain," where Jesus Christ awaits your last plea to enter heaven if there is a heaven to enter when all is said and done.
Horror's top authors and promising newcomers whisper tales that creep through the mists at night to rattle your soul. Step beyond salvation and damnation with thirty stories and poems that reveal the darkness beneath belief. Place your faith in that darkness; it's always there, just beyond the light.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Maurice Broaddus
"The Story of Belief-Non" by Linda D. Addison (poem)
"Ghosts of New York" by Jennifer Pelland
"I Sing a New Psalm" by Brian Keene
"He Who Would Not Bow" by Wrath James White
"Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch’s Damnation" by Douglas F. Warrick
"Go and Tell It on the Mountain" by Kyle S. Johnson
"Different from Other Nights" by Eliyanna Kaiser
"Lilith" by Rain Graves (poem)
"The Last Words of Dutch Schultz Jesus Christ" by Nick Mamatas
"To the Jerusalem Crater" by Lavie Tidhar
"Chimeras & Grotesqueries" by Matt Cardin
"You Dream" by Ekaterina Sedia
"Mother Urban's Booke of Dayes" by Jay Lake
"The Mad Eyes of the Heron King" by Richard Dansky
"Paint Box, Puzzle Box" by D.T. Friedman
"A Loss For Words" by J. C. Hay
"Scrawl" by Tom Piccirilli
"C{her}ry Carvings" by Jennifer Baumgartner (poem)
"Good Enough" by Kelli Dunlap
"First Communions" by Geoffrey Girard
"The God of Last Moments" by Alethea Kontis
"Ring Road" by Mary Robinette Kowal
"The Unremembered" by Chesya Burke
"Desperata" by Lon Prater (poem)
"The Choir" by Lucien Soulban
"The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" by Catherynne M. Valente
"Miz Ruthie Pays Her Respects" by Lucy A. Snyder
"Paranoia" by Kurt Dinan (poem)
"Hush" by Kelly Barnhill
"Sandboys" by Richard Wright
"For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer" by Gary A. Braunbeck
Other Formats:
Paperback
Hearts and Minds
Mar 9, 2017
by
JC Hay
$2.99
Syna Davout was hired for a simple smash-and-grab job—smash into a luxury yacht, grab the cash, and split the proceeds with her client. Unfortunately, the client failed to mention that she’d be the diversion for an assassination attempt that destroys the yacht and leaves her with a passenger she neither wanted nor expected - a fugitive telepath caught in the middle of a revolution.
Galen Fash knew his days were numbered. The fledgling uprising on his homeworld needs him to buy them time, with his life if necessary. The last thing he wanted is to get involved with a pirate captain-for-hire whose larger-than-life emotions draw him like a moth to a flame.
On the run from a relentless enemy that wants them both dead will be hard enough without acknowledging the attraction that flares between them. Together they might have a chance, assuming they can survive each other…
Previously released by Samhain Publishing
Galen Fash knew his days were numbered. The fledgling uprising on his homeworld needs him to buy them time, with his life if necessary. The last thing he wanted is to get involved with a pirate captain-for-hire whose larger-than-life emotions draw him like a moth to a flame.
On the run from a relentless enemy that wants them both dead will be hard enough without acknowledging the attraction that flares between them. Together they might have a chance, assuming they can survive each other…
Previously released by Samhain Publishing
Other Formats:
Paperback
South Seas Salvation (Corporate Services Book 3)
Jul 17, 2017
by
JC Hay
$2.99
She'd sacrifice everything for the score of a lifetime...
...He'd sacrifice himself to settle one.
Yashilla lives in her head. She’d much prefer the digital realities that she controls like a maestro to the messy one outside her door. And the last thing she wants is a babysitter, even if she can’t keep her eyes – or her mind – off of him.
Zar’s only looking for two things: revenge and a meaningful death. To get a chance at both, he’ll have to bodyguard an impulsive hacker with the keys he needs to strike his enemy’s heart. He never expected she might give him a reason to live instead.
As their virtual and physical words collide, passion and sparks threaten the walls they’ve built. But lowering their defenses increases the danger; without trust, they both might get exactly what they were looking for, and nothing that they want.
...He'd sacrifice himself to settle one.
Yashilla lives in her head. She’d much prefer the digital realities that she controls like a maestro to the messy one outside her door. And the last thing she wants is a babysitter, even if she can’t keep her eyes – or her mind – off of him.
Zar’s only looking for two things: revenge and a meaningful death. To get a chance at both, he’ll have to bodyguard an impulsive hacker with the keys he needs to strike his enemy’s heart. He never expected she might give him a reason to live instead.
As their virtual and physical words collide, passion and sparks threaten the walls they’ve built. But lowering their defenses increases the danger; without trust, they both might get exactly what they were looking for, and nothing that they want.
Mumbai Manhunt (Corporate Services Book 2)
Jan 11, 2017
by
JC Hay
$2.99
They made him a destroyer...
...she needed a defender.
Joshi's hunt is at an end - All he needs is one more successful mission, and he can retire a free man. But he never expected his target to be a ghost from his past.
Netta is done hiding. She always expected the corporations would send someone. She just never expected it to be the one person she'd ever trusted.
Forced into flight, with a legendary assassin in pursuit, is not the time to rekindle old flames. But the heart knows what it wants, and with time running out, they will either survive together or die alone
...she needed a defender.
Joshi's hunt is at an end - All he needs is one more successful mission, and he can retire a free man. But he never expected his target to be a ghost from his past.
Netta is done hiding. She always expected the corporations would send someone. She just never expected it to be the one person she'd ever trusted.
Forced into flight, with a legendary assassin in pursuit, is not the time to rekindle old flames. But the heart knows what it wants, and with time running out, they will either survive together or die alone
Dubai Double-Cross (Corporate Services Book 1)
Oct 12, 2016
by
JC Hay
$0.99
Elise is looking for an exit. Too many years as a top-talent thief in the digital shadows have whittled away her patience and her humanity. She’s not looking for complications, but with one more job, she’ll finally have enough money to leave the life for good.
Na’im does what he must to survive. Whether it’s selling his body to the corporate glitterati, or going on the run when things get bad – but even a survivor can be caught off guard, and his boss’s murder has left him with no one to trust but a thief with her own agenda.
Together, they’re on the run trying to figure out who framed them both and stay one step ahead of the murderer who’s close behind. Trust is a rare commodity for accidental lovers, but in a dark future where everything can be upgraded and emotions can be programmed, sometimes all that can keep you human is your heart.
Na’im does what he must to survive. Whether it’s selling his body to the corporate glitterati, or going on the run when things get bad – but even a survivor can be caught off guard, and his boss’s murder has left him with no one to trust but a thief with her own agenda.
Together, they’re on the run trying to figure out who framed them both and stay one step ahead of the murderer who’s close behind. Trust is a rare commodity for accidental lovers, but in a dark future where everything can be upgraded and emotions can be programmed, sometimes all that can keep you human is your heart.