Speculative Fiction Showcase: Neutral Ground (In Love and War, Book 5) by Cora Buhlert

Monday, November 23, 2020

Neutral Ground (In Love and War, Book 5) by Cora Buhlert

Release date: November 10, 2020

Subgenre: Space Opera

**About Neutral Ground:**

Two old soldiers share a coffee and fight for their lives

The Republic of United Planets and the Empire of Worlds have been at war for eighty-eight years now. But nonetheless, Colonel Brian Mayhew, deputy commander of the Republican Special Commando Forces, meets with his Imperial counterpart General Roderick Crawford to discuss an incident that’s a problem for both of them. For two of their elite soldiers fell in love and ran away with each other, an embarrassment to the Republic and the Empire both.

However, this secret meeting is not as secret as the two men think. And so Mayhew and Crawford are soon fighting for their lives side by side…

This is a novelette of 9500 words or approximately 32 print pages in the In Love and War series by Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert, but may be read as a standalone.

Excerpt:

Stecker II was an independent world that had the fortune (or misfortune, depending on your point of view) of being located at roughly equal distance from both the Republic of United Planets and the Empire of Worlds, the two powers that had plunged the entire galaxy into an eighty-eight year war.

Stecker II was small and unimportant enough that it was able to maintain its independence in spite of two hungry powers sitting on its doorstep. Or maybe, neither of the two dominant powers of the galaxy felt that it was in their best interest to absorb Stecker II, because they had other uses for it.

Cause due to its strategic location, Stecker II was the perfect venue for occasional diplomatic initiatives to end the war or at least negotiate temporary ceasefires and prisoner exchanges. Furthermore, the planet was a notorious nest of spies, also due to its strategic location.

The man who strutted briskly through the streets of Rath, capital of Stecker II, had come here for exactly those reasons, though you certainly wouldn’t know it by the looks of him. He was in his fifties, his reddish hair and precisely clipped beard already threaded with grey. His body was stocky, his skin bore the pallor of someone who spent too much time in space or behind a desk, his eyes were a washed-out, watery blue. To the casual observer, he might have been a spacer on shore leave, for he was clad in the standard spacer’s garb of brown synth-leather jacket, grey utility pants and a plain beige shirt.

However, appearances could be deceiving. And so this man was no mere spacer on leave. He was Colonel Brian Mayhew, deputy commander of the Republican Special Commando Forces, and he had come to Stecker II to commit what many would probably consider treason. Not so Brian Mayhew, however. As far as he was concerned, he was doing everything in his power to bring the eighty-eight year war between the Republic and the Empire to an end and to make sure that the Republic came out on top.

It was summer in the Southern hemisphere of Stecker II and so the street along which Mayhew was walking was lined with planters full of flowers and trees that rained bright pink petals onto the sidewalk. The buildings on both sides of the street were low-rise, a mix of residential units, restaurants and retail shops. Everything looked calm, peaceful, pleasant. And yet, Mayhew barely spared a glance for his surroundings. After all, he was a man on a mission.

He spotted the meeting place up ahead. A café with a large patio called the Jasmine Garden. Briefly, Mayhew wondered whether the pink blossoms were jasmine. For he had the vague memory that jasmine was white. Megan would have known for certain. She’d always had a thing for flowers.

An old hurt made itself known in his heart, bumping up against a much more recent and surprisingly strong pain. Mayhew pushed both ruthlessly down. There was no use in dwelling on the past. Not when he had work to do.

Mayhew quickly scanned the tables under the brightly coloured parasols of the patio. There were young couples on dates, a gaggle of elderly women exchanging gossip and memories, a group of giggling teenagers, a lone young man clad all in black perusing the news on his tablet, an old man leisurely nibbling on a croissant.

He spotted the man he’d come to meet lounging at a table in the corner, sipping tea and studying a tablet. Unlike Mayhew, his contact didn’t even make an effort to fit in, though he was wearing civilian clothes: a forest-green three piece suit with a silken cravat — real, not synth — and polished brown shoes that might have been real leather as well. His skin was aristocratically pale; his hair was silver and fell in waves to his shoulders. This was General Roderick Crawford, commander of the Imperial Expeditionary Forces.

By all rights, Mayhew and Crawford should have been bitter enemies — after all, they were both high ranking officers fighting on opposite sides of an eighty-eight year war. And indeed, both men would have been only too eager to declare their absolute commitment to the cause, should anybody ask them. Nonetheless, Mayhew and Crawford occasionally met to exchange information — for mutual benefit, as either of them would put it.

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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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