Speculative Fiction Showcase: Ballroom Blitz (In Love and War, Book 10) by Cora Buhlert

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Ballroom Blitz (In Love and War, Book 10) by Cora Buhlert

Release date: November 10, 2020

Subgenre: Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance

**About Ballroom Blitz:**

Anjali and Mikhail go on a Valentine’s Day date. Trouble ensues.

Once, Anjali Patel and Mikhail Grikov were soldiers on opposing sides of an intergalactic war. They met, fell in love and decided to go on the run together.

Now Anjali and Mikhail are trying to eke out a living on the independent worlds of the galactic rim, while attempting to stay under the radar of those pursuing them.

It’s Valentine’s Day and so Mikhail and Anjali enjoy a well-deserved romantic dinner. But their date is rudely interrupted, when they find themselves caught in the crossfire of a turf war between two rival gangsters.

This is a Valentine’s Day novella of 23200 words or approximately 78 print pages in the “In Love and War” series by Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert, but may be read as a standalone.

Excerpt:

I. Paint the City Red and Pink

A man walked rapidly through the rainy streets of the city of Flaminia on the perpetually cloud shrouded rim world of Gelasius. He was tall and clad all in black, utility pants, shirt, combat boots, all topped by a synth-leather jacket that flapped behind him like the wings of an oversized crow. He had pale skin, striking blue eyes and long black hair that he wore tied back in a ponytail. On his hip, he wore a blaster, standard Republican military issue.

This was Captain Mikhail Alexeievich Grikov, formerly of the Republican Special Commando Forces, now a wanted deserter and traitor. And also tired and hungry and eager to get back to the dwelling container he shared with his partner, lover and the reason he’d gone rogue in the first place, Lieutenant Anjali Patel, formerly of the Imperial Shakyri Expeditionary Forces, now wanted as a traitor and deserter herself.

Five months ago, Anjali and Mikhail had met on the battlefield of the eighty-eight year between the Republic of United Planets and the Empire of Worlds. And even though Mikhail had been tasked with capturing Anjali and bringing her in, they’d fallen in love against all odds and run off together. They’d been on the run ever since.

Water splashed onto his utility boots and pants, as Mikhail strutted through puddles, idly wondering why the rain, the puddles and the entire neighbourhood seemed to glow a lot more pink than usual. Pink and red, to be exact.

Like any city in the galaxy, Flaminia did have a red light district. But that was near the spaceport, not in the city centre. Of course, it had been some time since Mikhail was last here, but not long enough for the glitzy main commercial district of Flaminia to start resembling a cheap spaceport bordello. So what was going on here?

An animated holo billboard caught Mikhail’s eye. A couple kissing, an arrow piercing a heart, all floating in mid-air thirty metres above the street. And then a box popping open to reveal a chunky diamond ring.

“Surprise her this Valentine’s Day with a synth-diamond from Martell’s,” the billboard announced.

Mikhail laughed. So that was why the whole city had been plunged into a haze of pink and red. Valentine’s Day. Which was in — Mikhail checked his wrist unit — three days.

Shit.

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About the In Love and War series:

About Cora Buhlert:

Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen.

Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. She is the author of the Silencer series of pulp style thrillers, the Shattered Empire space opera series, the In Love and War science fiction romance series, the Helen Shepherd Mysteries and plenty of standalone stories in multiple genres.

When Cora is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. She also runs the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene and contributes to the Hugo-nominated fanzine Galactic Journey. Cora was a finalist for the 2020 Hugo Award.

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