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:

 

• Book 1: Evacuation Order
• Book 2: Dreaming of the Stars
• Book 3: Baptism of Fire
• Book 4: Graveyard Shift
• Book 5: Neutral Ground
  
• Book 6: Collision Course
• Book 7: Freedom's Horizon
• Book 8: Courting Trouble
• Book 9: Bullet Holes
• Book 10: Ballroom Blitz
  
• Book 11: Dead World
• Book 12: Double-Cross 
• Book 13: Hunter and Hunted
• Book 14: The Taste of Home  
• Book 15: Mementos and Memories
• Book 16: Honourable Enemies
  

 

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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Honourable Enemies (In Love and War, Book 14) by Cora Buhlert

Release date: November 19, 2019

Subgenre: Space Opera

About Honourable Enemies:

 

Once, Colonel Brian Mayhew was the deputy commander of the Republican Special Commando Forces. But now he's gone AWOL to take out crime lord Rick Santerna, the man who murdered his family.

Mayhew's quest for vengeance brings him to the rim world of Maciste, where he runs into his former protégé Mikhail Grikov, now wanted as a traitor and deserter for eloping with enemy soldier Anjali Patel.

Mayhew knows that it's his duty to bring in Mikhail and Anjali. But with Santerna hot his tail, he finds that he needs their help.

Mikhail and Anjali know that Brian Mayhew is a threat to their freedom and their new life together. But now they are faced with a hard choice. Should they risk their lives to help a man who could condemn them both to death or should they let Mayhew die in the Great Arena of Maciste?

This is a short novel of 57000 words or approximately 200 print pages in the "In Love and War" series, but may be read as a standalone. 

 

Excerpt:

 

On the independent rim world of Maciste, a man was running through the warren of grimy backstreets and dark alleys that made up the less savoury parts of the capital Cabiria.
He was no longer young, his reddish hair and neatly clipped beard liberally threaded with grey. His eyes were a watery blue and his body was stocky, packed with muscles rather than fat. The man was clad in the standard spacer’s garb of synth-leather jacket, shirt and utility pants. A blaster was strapped to his thigh — a high-grade model, Republican military issue — that clashed incongruously with the rest of his appearance.
In his regular life, he was Colonel Brian Mayhew, deputy commander of the Special Commando Forces, the elite military unit of the Republic of United Planets. But here on Maciste, he was just a spacer, captain of a tramp freighter, a man with a fake name and an equally fake identity.
He’d come to Maciste to take out Rick Santerna, one of the local crime lords, only to find that Santerna had sent assassins to take him out first. Lucky for Mayhew, the assassins had no idea whom they were really dealing with, and so he had been able to dispatch them, quickly and efficiently, if not exactly tidily. But there were more where those assassins had come from. And so Mayhew was on the run.
He darted into an alley to shake off his pursuers. It worked, too — well, almost. For one of Santerna’s goons — too clever for his own good — had followed Mayhew into the alley. The man should’ve just shot him in the back and be done with it. Quick, clean, efficient. Not exactly honourable, but who the fuck cared?
But the goon had other ideas. Either he had a sense of honour — unlikely, but stranger things had happened — or a grossly inflated sense of his own fighting skills. At any rate, he drew a knife, a nasty vibro-blade, and launched himself at Mayhew.
Bad idea.
Mayhew side-stepped the goon’s first lunge easily and drew his own blade, a standard Republican combat knife. He didn’t much care for edged weapons — blasters and shocksticks got the job done faster and more efficiently. But unfortunately, the rest of the galaxy did not agree and so Mayhew knew how to handle a knife just fine, even if it was not his preferred method of fighting.
The goon drew blood on his second lunge. Nothing serious, just a gash on Mayhew’s right arm. And Mayhew drew blood, too, a stab to the abdomen of his opponent. Nasty, but it wouldn’t kill the man. And if the thug gave up now, turned tail and ran, he could still have walked away from this. After all, killing a nameless goon wasn’t what Mayhew had come here for.
But of course the goon was stupid. Or maybe loyal or persistent or foolhardy. At any rate, he attacked again, weakened though he was from blood loss and the wound in his abdomen.
This time, Mayhew grabbed the man by his knife hand and slammed him back against the wall of the alley with a strength and speed belied by his appearance.
The goon wasn’t even half bad. At any rate, he managed to hold on to his knife, even though Mayhew repeatedly tried to wrest it from his grasp. Finally, he gave up and just let the goon take a stab or two at him, while Mayhew plunged his combat knife right into the man’s heart. The goon slid down the wall, quite dead, an expression of surprise frozen on his face.
“Idiot.” Mayhew spat out a mouthful of blood and sheathed his knife.

 

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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 and is currently working towards her PhD. 

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.

 

Website | Mailing list | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | Mastodon

 

Of Dawn and Embers (Of Cinder and Bone, Book 3) by Kyoko M.

Release date: July 20, 2019
Subgenre: Science fiction thriller, Genetic engineering

About Of Dawn and Embers: 

 

It's been six months since Dr. Rhett "Jack" Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali had their dragon cloning project shut down by the government. Just when they think they've gotten their lives back together, an agency within the government hits them with another suckerpunch: a criminal organization has cloned dozens of dragons in order to hold vicious dragon fighting rings. The government recruits Jack and Kamala to help them track down the organization. Jack and Kamala set out to put a stop to the illegal fights before any more dragons die…or worse, escape.

Of Dawn and Embers is the third novel in Kyoko M's sci-fi/contemporary fantasy series, following Of Cinder and Bone and Of Blood and Ashes.

Excerpt:

 

Calloway sprinted his way back up the hill over to Pete. The dragon had seen its kin launch up into the cloudy sky moments before and had pulled the tether taut as she strained herself trying to go after it. He unhooked the tether and threw one leg over the saddle. "Let's go!"

He placed his hands down on the panels connected to her pressure switches. Pete flapped her great wings and took off after the runaway Highlander dragon.

"Christ," Jack hissed as Calloway's helmet camera calculated the distance the Highlander dragon had already put between them. "How many freaking feet per second is that? It's already got a lead on you guys."

"It's panicking," Kamala said. "Fight or flight response. He's not as large as Pete and he doesn't have the added weight of a passenger."

"Shit," Calloway said as he read the altitude they'd reached. "From this high up, he'll die from the fall if I hit him with the net. Not sure Pete would be able to take the weight if we try to catch him."

"Check your pack," Libby said. "There's another net with a line attached. Then at least you can lower him to the ground."

"Atta girl." Calloway lurched to one side and reached into one of the large pouches over Pete's rear leg. "Steady, Pete."

He leaned the net launcher on one broad shoulder and took out the first net bundle. He fed the line through the launcher and secured it, taking aim at the fleeing creature.

That was when the helicopter loomed into view.

Calloway lowered the launcher. "Fuck me."

He slammed his hands down onto Pete's back and the dragon dove sharply down to avoid the helicopter as it roared past them.

"What the hell?" Libby screeched. "Where did that thing come from?"

"No clue," Calloway panted out, glancing over his shoulder. "But that ain't no coincidence. It's turning around."

"You've got to be kidding me," Jack spat. "Cops?"

"No," Shannon said. "They couldn't scramble a chopper in time. Best guess is the smuggler that ran away called in a favor. As much as I hate to say it, we're out of options. Abort mission."

"What?" Calloway demanded. "I'm dead on this thing's tail, man. I can shake these clowns."

"Like hell you can," Shannon snarled. "We didn't hire you to be in a firefight, kid. I am ordering you to land that dragon." 

"Why? So these assholes can catch it and put it right back in a goddamn deathmatch?"

"You can't fight a chopper with a dragon. Land. Now."

"I don't have to fight the chopper. Just the dudes flying it."

"Last warning, Calloway. Land the dragon or you and your sister are both fired."

Calloway fell silent for a moment. "Libby?"

His sister's voice didn't waver. "Kick their asses, bro."

Amazon

About Kyoko M:

Kyoko M is an author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. Her debut novel, The Black Parade, has been on Amazon's Bestseller List at #5 in the Occult Horror category. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript (or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry Dresden novel on a warm central Florida night. Like any author, she wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best profession in the world, no matter how small. 

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The Shantytown Robin Hoods by Cora Buhlert

Release date: June 8, 2018

Subgenre: Dystopian crime thriller, Cyberpunk

About The Shantytown Robin Hoods: 

 

 Latisha, Moses and Tim are three street kids eking out a living in a dystopian future. Together, they are the Shantytown Robin Hoods, a street gang that steals from the rich and gives to – well, themselves.

"The Hole" is the hottest night club in Shantytown, where the rich and the famous can party among the less fortunate. But "The Hole" is also a favourite hangout for Latisha, Moses and Tim to find marks they can rob.

But then their latest job is derailed by a mobster with sticky fingers and a prize on his head, a teen pop sensation, a trigger-happy bodyguard and a red-haired assassin.

Soon bullets are flying in Shantytown and Latisha, Moses and Tim must keep their heads down to survive and steal another day…

This is a short dystopian crime story of 2800 words or approximately 10 print pages.

 

Excerpt:

 

The Hole was the hottest nightclub in Shantytown, the place where the rich and the beautiful went to slum among the common people. Not that they ever saw the common people, unless they chanced to look sideward, while crossing the three metres between the entrance to The Hole and their waiting armoured groundcars.
However, if one of the patrons of The Hole had chanced to glance to the left, they might have noticed a transformer box, covered over and over in graffiti and posters for gigs in venues far less exclusive than The Hole. And if they’d looked very closely, they might have noticed a shadow behind the transformer box, a shadow that looked distinctly human.
Moses, the owner of said shadow, was currently crouching behind the transformer box, together with Tim, his very best friend in the whole wide world. Both of them were clutching weapons, automatic rifles left over from the last slum war. The rifles no longer worked properly, at least not when you needed them to, but they still looked damn scary and that was enough for Tim and Moses.
Because people — at least the sort of people who patronised The Hole — usually handed over their wallets, their com-units and their bling willingly, when faced with an automatic rifle, even one that no longer worked.
Tim and Moses were twelve years old and two thirds of a street gang that called themselves the Shantytown Robin Hoods. The name had been Tim’s idea. He’d heard a story once about a man named Robin Hood. He lived a long time ago, fought the coppers and stole from the rich to give to the poor. This Robin Hood sounded like a really cool guy and so Tim, Moses and Latisha, the third member of the gang and Moses’ older sister, had decided to name themselves after him. Okay, so they mostly stole for themselves, but then they were poor, damn it.
Latisha was currently sitting on a blanket on the other side of the street opposite The Hole. In front of her, there was a tin can with a few coins and a piece of cardboard with “Homeless — No parents — Need Help” scribbled in a scratchy hand. To everybody who chanced to notice her, Latisha was just another panhandler, one of hundreds that lined the streets of Shantytown. But in truth, she kept watch on those who entered or exited The Hole and pointed out lucrative targets to Moses and Tim.
“Groundcar rolling up to the entrance,” Latisha reported through a mini-com they’d stolen two months ago, “Luxury model. Looks like a good mark.”
Moses crept forward to peer around the corner of the transformer box, clutching his rifle.
“What do you see?” Tim whispered behind him.
“Big groundcar,” Moses whispered back, “The driver gets out, looks tough.”
“Careful,” Latisha whispered through the com, “He’s got a gun.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s under his coat. He tries to hide it, but I can see it.”
From their respective hiding places, the three kids watched as the driver walked around the car and opened the rear door. A second later, three figures emerged from the neon-drenched entrance of The Hole.
A man in a long black coat came first, hood pulled up against the rain.
“Bodyguard,” Moses remarked.
“Careful,” Latisha whispered through the com, “He’s armed, too. Pulse rifle and handgun.”
Moses scowled. Latisha always worried too much. Big sisters were like that, he guessed.

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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 and is currently working towards her PhD. 

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.

 

Website | Mailing list | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | Mastodon

 

 

 

 

Of Blood and Ashes (Of Cinder and Bone, Book 2) by Kyoko M.

Release date: April 20, 2018

Subgenre: Science fiction thriller, Genetic engineering 

About Of Blood and Ashes: 

 

The world's deadliest dragon, the infamous Baba Yaga, is loose on the streets of Tokyo.

Dr. Rhett "Jack" Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali have been tasked with helping the government take down a dragon the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex after it sends part of the city up in flames. Things worsen when they lose track of dragon in none other than Aokigahara, the Suicide Forest--a section of woods in Japan that is rumored to be one of the most haunted places on earth. They've also got the yakuza who cloned the dragon hellbent on getting her back, and they don't care who they kill in order to re-capture the dragon.

Jack and Kamala are joined by CIA field agent William Fry and dragon-hunting expert Juniper Snow as they infiltrate the forest to hunt the dragon before she can hurt anyone else. Between the ruthless yakuza hot on their trail and the growing mistrust in their small hunting party, it will take a miracle for Jack and Kamala to make it out alive...

Of Blood and Ashes is the second book in the series, following the Amazon bestselling Of Cinder and Bone.

 

Excerpt:

 

His booted feet pounded out an insane, frantic rhythm underneath him as he raced into the cavern across from Baba Yaga’s den at a dead sprint. Pieces of dragon dung flew off him and hit the ground behind him in miniature chunks. He didn’t dare look behind him to see if the dragon had risen from the ground yet, but the deafening hiss that assaulted his ears meant she’d woken up. Icy claws of fear squeezed his heart with every breath as he ran, relying on the night vision goggles, the glimpse he’d gotten of the map, and his own instincts to figure out where to go.

Jack raced around one corner too sharply and slipped on a piece of dung, crashing hard on his right side. He gasped as it knocked the wind out of him and gritted his teeth, his mind screaming at him to get up and run, run, run. He pushed onto his knees, nursing what felt like bruised ribs and a sprained wrist, and then paled as an unmistakable sensation traveled up the arm he’d used to push himself up.

Impact tremors.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom, boom, boom.

Baba Yaga was coming.

Baba Yaga was hunting him.

Jack forced himself up onto his feet again, stumbling backwards and fumbling for the tracker. He got it switched on to see an ominous blob approaching from the right. He’d gotten a good lead on her—maybe a few hundred yards—but he had no way of knowing if he’d eventually run into a dead end. He couldn’t hide down here forever. He needed to get topside to join the others so they could take her down.

Jack blocked out the rising crescendo of Baba Yaga’s hissing and pictured the map again. A mile up to the right had a man-made exit that spilled back up to the forest. The only problem was that it was a long passage. If Baba Yaga followed, there was a good chance she could catch up and roast him like a marshmallow. He could try to lose her in the twists and turns of the cave system, but there was a good chance he’d get lost, and Baba Yaga’s superior senses meant it would only be a matter of time before she found him. It came back to the most basic survival tactics: run or hide.

Jack switched off the tracker and stuck it in his pocket, his voice ragged and shaking, but solid. “You aren’t about to die in this forest, Jackson. Move your ass.”

He barreled forward into the passageway to the right in the wake of Baba Yaga’s ominous, bubbling warning, barely suppressing a groan as a spike of pain lanced through his chest from his bruised ribs. The adrenaline would only hold for so long. He could make it about halfway there before it ran out. Cold sweat plastered the mask to his face and ran down into his eyes. The tunnel stretched onward forever before him. No sunlight in sight. Had he been wrong?

Jack ripped off the hood and cold air slapped his face, making his eyes water. He held his hands out to make sure he wouldn’t bounce off one of the cavern walls and squinted up ahead as he turned the corner into the straightaway. There, faintly, he could see the pale glow of the exit.

Gasping for air, he collapsed against one wall and tried to catch his breath before the final marathon. He had to have put some amount of distance between himself and the dragon by now.

“Who knows?” Jack panted. “Maybe she got annoyed and turned around.”

An earth-shattering roar rocked the very walls of the cavern.

Jack paled.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Boom, boom, boom, boomboomboomboom—

Mother of God.

The dragon had broken into a run.

Jack shoved himself away from the wall, lowered his head, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

 

Amazon 

 

About Kyoko M:

Kyoko M is an author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. Her debut novel, The Black Parade, has been on Amazon's Bestseller List at #5 in the Occult Horror category. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript (or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry Dresden novel on a warm central Florida night. Like any author, she wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best profession in the world, no matter how small. 

Blog | Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook