Tag: adventure novels

Saturday Snippet: Portrait of a Crime Lord Part Four

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS17 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of fifteen sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Welcome back! I’ve been hard at work on the third book in THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES series. This snippet comes from a scene early in the book, just before Bo Barron makes the transition from frying pan to fire. The book opens with her in the middle of a job, breaking a crime lord’s kid brother out of a Third Sector detention center. Bo comes away with a lot more than she bargained for, including another inmate who somehow managed to stow away aboard her ship. In this scene, she’s turning over the crime lord Gray’s kid brother to him in exchange for the payment he promised.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

Gray nodded. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Commander,” he said. “Give my regards to your boss, whoever that might be.”

She grinned. “Give it up, Gray,” she warned. “Everybody knows Redmaster Blue is a myth.”

Gray’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I hope not,” he said calmly. “With the news reports coming out, you’ll need all the protection you can get.”

With a wave of his hand Gray ended their audience.

“Wait,” she said. “What news, Gray?”

He rose and his retinue fell into step around him.

“Gray?”

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

If you’d like to read a sneak peek at BARRON’S LAST STAND you can find the first chapter at the end of HERO’S END and here on my website.

In case you missed them, here are some other SFFS snippets from BARRON’S LAST STAND
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part One
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part Two
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part Three
Stowaway
Stowaway Part Two
Stowaway Part Three

Saturday Snippet: Portrait of a Crime Lord Part Three

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS4 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of fifteen sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Welcome back! I’ve been hard at work on the third book in THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES series. This snippet comes from a scene early in the book, just before Bo Barron makes the transition from frying pan to fire. The book opens with her in the middle of a job, breaking a crime lord’s kid brother out of a Third Sector detention center. Bo comes away with a lot more than she bargained for, including another inmate who somehow managed to stow away aboard her ship. In this scene, she’s turning over the crime lord Gray’s kid brother to him in exchange for the payment he promised.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

She gestured toward the communications terminal on the table. “My credit transfer?” she asked.

“Already taken care of.”

Bo’s lips twitched in a bland smile. “You don’t mind if I check for myself?”

Gray waved a hand and one of the Q’mann pushed the terminal across the table to her. “Be my guest, Bo,” he said. “You’ll find everything in order. Not even I would be brave enough to try to cheat Redmaster Blue out of a fee well-earned.”

Bo didn’t believe that for a nanosecond and she flashed him a look that said so.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

If you’d like to read a sneak peek at BARRON’S LAST STAND you can find the first chapter at the end of HERO’S END and here on my website.

In case you missed them, here are some other SFFS snippets from BARRON’S LAST STAND
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part One
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part Two

Stowaway
Stowaway Part Two
Stowaway Part Three

Saturday Snippet: Portrait of a Crime Lord Part Two

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS6 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of fifteen sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Welcome back! I’ve been hard at work on the third book in THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES series. This snippet comes from a scene early in the book, just before Bo Barron makes the transition from frying pan to fire. The book opens with her in the middle of a job, breaking a crime lord’s kid brother out of a Third Sector detention center. Bo comes away with a lot more than she bargained for, including another inmate who somehow managed to stow away aboard her ship. In this scene, under the watchful eyes of his two Q’mann bodyguards and his pair of snarling amphibious pets, Bo is delivering crime lord Gray’s kid brother in exchange for the payment he promised.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

“Hello, Gray,” she said, coming to a halt across the table from the crime boss. “Here he is, delivered alive and well, as promised.”

“So I see, Bo.” Gray took his time looking her over.

She’d been leered at before. She’d been leered at by the best…and the worst. Gray fell somewhere in between. Sure, he was a disgusting slob, twice as repulsive and slimy as the dorn behind him. He was also a sadistic misogynist looking for a way to get under her skin and between her legs – by force if necessary. The main thing that kept him in check was the well-known fact that she could drop both Q’mann before Gray finished ordering them to grab her.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

If you’d like to read a sneak peek at BARRON’S LAST STAND you can find the first chapter at the end of HERO’S END and here on my website.

In case you missed them, here are some other SFFS snippets from BARRON’S LAST STAND
Portrait of a Crime Lord – Part One

Stowaway
Stowaway Part Two
Stowaway Part Three

Saturday Snippet: Portrait of a Crime Lord

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS10 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of fifteen sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Welcome back! I’ve been hard at work on the third book in THE BLACK WING CHRONICLES series. This snippet comes from a scene early in the book, just before Bo Barron makes the transition from frying pan to fire. The book opens with her in the middle of a job, breaking a crime lord’s kid brother out of a Third Sector detention center. Bo comes away with a lot more than she bargained for, including another inmate who somehow managed to stow away aboard her ship. In this scene, she’s turning over the crime lord Gray’s kid brother to him in exchange for the payment he promised.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

Bo stepped into the darkened interior and paused in the doorway a moment. She scanned the sedate crowd of diners and drinkers doing business in a very civilized manner. Gray and his entourage patiently waited in a distant corner.

Gray resembled nothing so much as a mythological garden imp. Only a year or so older than Bo, his curly shock of brown hair had already migrated from the top of his head to his prodigious chin, leaving only a few stragglers behind to mourn the exodus. Two Q’mann warriors stood watch on either side of him like a bad cliché. A pair of clawed, amphibious dorn snarled at everyone from their perches behind him, the short tentacles around their mouths quivering.

Bo wove her way through the maze of tables towards them. She didn’t have to look behind her to know that Nix followed her. She could sense him as strongly as if he’d been attached to her back like a Kamet symbiant to a Pader Lung Howler.

She allowed herself one small sigh; whatever sibling rivalry that stood between these two brothers was no business of hers and she’d be damn glad to get rid of both of them.

“Hello, Gray,” she said, coming to a halt across the table from the crime boss. “Here he is, delivered alive and well, as promised.”

“So I see, Bo.” Gray took his time looking her over.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

If you’d like to read a sneak peek at BARRON’S LAST STAND you can find the first chapter at the end of HERO’S END and here on my website.

In case you missed them, here are some other SFFS snippets from BARRON’S LAST STAND

Stowaway
Stowaway Part Two
Stowaway Part Three

Saturday Snippet: Shakedown Part Three

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS13 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of fifteen sentences or less are yours for the reading!

This is the third installment of a snippet from a Bo Barron short story that I am working on. You can read parts ONE and TWO. Bo is in a hotel room, waiting for a man. He is blissfully unaware that his hotel room is already occupied.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

“Just let me get a shower and change and I’ll meet you downstairs in the bar in an hour,” he said.

He stepped through the door and it shut behind him as he turned and reached for the light.

Taking no chances, Bo leveled her blaster at him and pressed it hard into the middle of his back.

“Don’t move,” she said, her voice hoarse with emotion and disuse. “Show me your hands.”

His spine stiffened and he slowly held his hands out to his sides. “I’ve got maybe a couple hundred in currency,” he said. “You’re welcome to it.”

Using her blaster, Bo shoved him against the wall. “Spread ’em.”

He hesitated a millisecond before he complied. With her free hand, Bo patted him down. Once satisfied that he was unarmed, she stepped back, but didn’t lower her weapon.

“Switch on the lights and turn around slowly.”

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Saturday Snippet: Shakedown Part Two

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS6 Comments

 Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday is on hiatus, but I’m not. Here’s part two of last time’s snippet, no limits. I feel so decadent!

This scene comes from a Bo Barron short story that I am working on. Bo is in a hotel room, waiting… we’ll be here for the next few rounds, so settle in…Bo has.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5

“Please let him get here before I lose my nerve,” she whispered in prayer.

The dull ping of the lift echoed down the hallway outside.

Bo eased off the bed and slipped quickly and silently through the shadows to the door. Drawing her blaster, she flattened herself against the wall to the side of the door. Focusing on keeping her breathing deep and even, Bo strained to identify the sounds outside. She could just make out voices in conversation. Punctuated by the occasional laugh, she couldn’t understand what they were saying or identify anyone in particular.

The call sheet for the production crew had indicated that the day’s shooting would be over for the day. She’d taken it as a sign when she’d learned he’d be working on a holofeature on location so far out in the Seventh Sector.

Her heart pounded and she swallowed hard, her mouth suddenly dry. Would he help her or would he throw her out? A thousand doubts assailed her. Footsteps stopped outside the door.

***

That’s the snippet for this week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Saturday Snippet: Shakedown Part One

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS10 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

This scene comes from a Bo Barron short story that I am working on. Bo is in a hotel room, waiting… we’ll be here for the next few rounds, so settle in…Bo has.

***

Barron's Last Stand ART5If she didn’t know better, she’d swear the hotel room was some kind of spatial anomaly that dilated time. In the fading daylight, Bo Barron checked her chrono again. It felt like years had passed since she broke in. The truth was, she’d barely been there an hour.

Outside on the street below a wailing siren grew louder. Abandoning her anxious pacing, Bo sidled up to the window and brushed the musty curtain aside. She peered down at the traffic several stories below. Her hand hovered over the grip of the antique blaster strapped to her thigh in its custom, low-slung, quick draw rig. A local law enforcement cruiser sped past the building without slowing.  Letting out a relieved sigh, Bo let the curtain fall back into place and she stepped away from the window.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading more about Bo, you can pick up your ebook copies of SOVRAN’S PAWN and HERO’S END for Nook and Kindle at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Saturday Snippet: Natural Habitat of the Holofeature Hero

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS13 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

This scene comes from HERO’S END which released this week and is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!! Get your copy today!

What would a story about a holofeature hero be without a trip down the red carpet on the night of a premiere? With attempts on Blade’s life, an IC security detail, and a high profile holofeature premiere, Bo risks exposure to watch his back. Seeing him against the backdrop of celebrity gives her a new perspective on him.

paparazzi

***

No man had the right to be that good looking.

He switched on the charm full-bore and unleashed it on everyone around him.

Holocams flashed in rapid succession, blinding her.

“Blade!”

“Blade! Look over here!”

“Blade! Who’s your friend?”

Bo ducked her head in an effort to escape the attention. She tried to take a step back, but Blade’s firm grip on her hand held her in place.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by. I won’t be participating in Science Fiction/Fantasy Saturday next week, but I hope to see you again when I get back!

In the mean time, if you’re interested in reading ALL of HERO’S END, you can pick up your ebook copy for Nook and Kindle at Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or you can order a limited edition, autographed paperback copy here.

Saturday Snippet: Cold Surveillance

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS12 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

This scene comes from HERO’S END which releases this week!!

Surveillance is never easy, especially when you’re alone and cold.

***

Bo reached into the bag on the passenger seat and pulled out a scanner. With fingers made clumsy and numb from the cold, she turned it over in her hand and switched it on, keying it for the right frequency. The display flashed as it booted up, then cleared and settled into a pattern. Bo set the scanner on the dashboard and settled in to wait.

The minute sensor she’d hidden in the grip of her Capre sprang to life and began transmitting data. Flexing her fingers, Bo cupped her hands and blew into them, then rubbed them together. She had to keep the blood flowing. This was the hard part, especially when she was uncomfortable. She had to wait patiently for Rex to move.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by.

If you’re interested in reading ALL of HERO’S END, you can pick up your ebook copy for Nook and Kindle Wednesday at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or you can order a limited edition, autographed paperback copy here.

Saturday Snippet: No Smoking In The Lift

On By jccasselsIn Black Wing Chronicles, SFFS8 Comments

Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday. Snippets of ten sentences or less are yours for the reading!

Because of the prompt “shades,” we’re doing something a little different this week. I use the word in HERO’S END, due to be released on September 12. This snippet comes from a scene near the end of the book as Blade, coming back from getting takeout, doesn’t put out his cigarette before getting onto the lift.

***

996581_147997492075169_1580769415_nDespite the Delian herbs of the cigarette dampening his senses, he felt apprehension and fear radiating off the other occupants of the lift capsule. His gaze flicked over the scrawny little humanoid male, whose throat spasmed convulsively as he swallowed. The plump Joy Babe at his side eyed him with a mixture of trepidation and contempt.

He’d been getting that reaction ever since he left the apartment.

Unshaven, tousled hair, dark sun shades and a well-worn hovercycle jacket, he looked like a street tough.

After having screaming strangers throwing themselves at him for the past few years, open fear and avoidance were a welcome change of pace.

“Y-you’re not supposed to smoke in the lift,” the Joy Babe stammered.

Gaining some sort of twisted amusement from the situation, Blade drew deeply on the cigarette and plucked it from his mouth. He slowly blew out the smoke, watching their reaction.

***

That’s the snippet for the week. Thank you for stopping by. Please take the time to visit the other wonderful authors taking part in Science Fiction/Fantasy Saturday!