Wrinkles in Spacetime (Paperback or Softback)

Stella, a lonely food developer, dreams of having a lab partner to share her passion for science and create new synthetic products. But in Cochtonia, where fertility rates are plummeting, the autocratic male rulers have turned to alchemy to produce offspring—without the need for women.

Sir Isaac Newton has been resurrected from the dead to take a leading role in this impossible task. His mission: to work with a team to create a homunculus, a tiny human, grown outside of a womb. Women are no longer necessary.

Though celibate in his previous life, Newton is deeply unsettled by the idea of procreation without females. When Stella offers to help him fake the results to save his life, Newton is willing to go along with it. But as they work together, Stella begins to question if Newton is the real Isaac Newton or a genetically modified version of him. As their deception progresses, the chemistry between them grows—both in the lab and in their personal connection.

In a world where love and romance are punishable by death, the attraction brewing between them could lead to their execution.

A childhood spent in the Midwest and Washington D.C. left Catherine Haustein with a fascination for political intrigue. She even ran for office once. She lost but came away with a treasure-trove of observations and an appreciation for people who keep their hand on the wheel of this experiment known as democracy. A clandestine alchemist, she’s a professor emerita of chemistry and currently a freelance chemist and author. Other than these useful skills, she has a knack for spotting four-leafed clovers. She’s also a fan of lost causes, including Medusa, who she views as completely misunderstood. She resides outside Des Moines.