*****
THE PIRATE QUEEN
Venatora’s warrior women
hustled her along a warren of tunnels, alleyways and abandoned buildings to a
rooftop where transport to her ship waited.
She resisted when they
tried to push her on board and insisted that the medics deal with Marta first.
Then she got in and told her pilot to wait while she sussed things out.
Across the chaos that
was Port Chinen she saw the immense black gates that marked the Imperial
fortress. Security bots armed with missiles swooped overhead, on constant alert
for any outside danger.
It was an open secret
that the fortress was ringed with enough armament and trained personnel to hold
off even a large force. But as she examined the imposing edifice, she noted
cracks in the security she’d make use of one day.
Venatora had designs on
Port Chinen. She’d even made informal contacts with the Tahn, a new enemy of
the Eternal Emperor who were on the rise that would be priceless when she made
the fortress her own.
The Tahn were a chilly
people. An obsessively warlike people. But Venatora was secure in her redoubt
deep in the Possnet Sector and had little to fear from their notorious
backstabbing ways.
Meanwhile, she’d have to
be patient until she had the means to expand her hive and establish new ones.
And that in turn would
have to wait until she made the deal with mutineers and got her hands on all
that Imperium X.
Yes, she would have to
be patient, an increasingly difficult task. The pressures for expansion were
enormous. There were more princesses – queens in waiting – than at any other
time in her reign.
Most were easily
malleable, but there were more than a few chafing for a hive of their own, or
plotting her overthrow.
Her assassins had dealt
with the worst of the lot and her network of spies kept sharp eyes on the
others.
But she had to be
careful. If she went too far – killed too many, or clamped down too hard – the
hive would become so restive that her leadership skills, and her arsenal of
pheromonic weapons might not be enough to retain control.
Civil war, then chaos,
then anarchy were sure follow. Her fathers had warned her again and again what
to expect.
The Emperor’s space
train of Imperium X would put paid to all those problems. And more. Nightmares
of collapsed hives would be replaced with dreams of a glorious, ever growing
kingdom.
That, in a nutshell, was
her dilemma. Certain failure. Or success beyond her wildest dreams. There was
no in between.
And Sten was the key to
it all. She wished she didn’t have to kill him. But at present she could see no
other way.
As she kept watch on the
fortress, she spotted a contingent of Imperial gravcars speed up to the gates.
Several security bots
swooped down to sniff the vehicles out, gave them the all clear, and a minute
later the big gates groaned open.
She guessed that one of
them contained Sten, who would be in hurry after his encounter with her to make
his case with the mutineers.
Venatora was about to
give her pilot the go-ahead, when the implanted com unit buzzed in her ear.
She tapped her
throat-mic. “Yes, Father Swammerdam?” she said.
The buzzing resumed. It
was a shorthand developed by her fathers to communicate quickly and concisely
no matter where she was.
When it ended she said,
“I’m sorry I was unable to carry out your orders, Father Swammerdam. I’ll soon remedy that. Sten will be dead, as ordered, the first
opening I get.”
More buzzing. She
frowned. Then: “You’re happy it turned out that way? But, why?”
She listened intently. A
look of confusion on her face. “Yes, Father Swammerdam,”
she said. “I understand all that. But what if - ”
Again, buzzing cut her off. Now, she looked
really confused.
“I confess that he did affect me that way,” she
replied when he was done. “But I can control that. You know I can.”
More buzzing. More listening. Finally, she
smiled.
“Oh, I understand what you are getting at,” she
said. “Very clever. But do all the other fathers agree?”
What she heard next made her laugh. “Even
Father Huber? Well, that has to be a first.”
More laughter. Then Swammerdam signed off.
Venatora settled back into her seat. For the
first time since she met Sten at the Xypaca fight she felt at ease.
Then, for no apparent reason, she started
getting angry.
“Well, clot him!” she said, startling the
others. “Clot Sten all to hell!”
And then she brusquely ordered the pilot to get
underway.
NEXT:
THE ETERNAL EMPEROR'S POLITICAL CASSEROLE
THE ETERNAL EMPEROR'S POLITICAL CASSEROLE
THE TIMURA TRILOGY: When The Gods Slept, Wolves Of The Gods and The Gods Awaken. This best selling fantasy series now available as trade paperbacks, e-books (in all varieties) and as audiobooks. Visit The Timura Trilogy page for links to all the editions.
NEWLY REVISED KINDLE EDITIONS OF THE TIMURA TRILOGY NOW AVAILABLE. (1) When The Gods Slept;(2) Wolves Of The Gods; (3) The Gods Awaken.
*****
Tales Sometimes Tall, but always true, of Allan Cole's years in Hollywood with his late partner, Chris Bunch. How a naked lady almost became our first agent. How we survived La-La Land with only the loss of half our brain cells. How Bunch & Cole became the ultimate Fix-It Boys. How an alleged Mafia Don was very, very good to us. The guy who cornered the market on movie rocks. Andy Warhol's Fire Extinguisher. The Real Stars Of Hollywood. Why they don't make million dollar movies. See The Seven Pi$$ing Dwarfs. Learn: how to kill a "difficult" actor… And much, much more.
Here's where you can buy it worldwide in both paperback and Kindle editions:
United Kingdom ...........................Spain
Also: NOOK BOOK. Plus ALL E-BOOK FLAVORS.
*****
A NATION AT WAR WITH ITSELF: In Book Three Of The Shannon Trilogy, young Patrick Shannon is the heir-apparent to the Shannon fortune, but murder and betrayal at a family gathering send him fleeing into the American frontier, with only the last words of a wise old woman to arm him against what would come. And when the outbreak of the Civil War comes he finds himself fighting on the opposite side of those he loves the most. In The Wars Of The Shannons we see the conflict, both on the battlefield and the homefront, through the eyes of Patrick and the members of his extended Irish-American family as they struggle to survive the conflict that ripped the new nation apart, and yet, offered a dim beacon of hope.
A True Story About A Boy,
A Teacher, And Earthquake,
Some Terrorists And The CIA
LUCKY IN CYPRUS is a coming-of-age story set in the Middle East during the height of the Cold War. An American teenager – son of a CIA operative – is inspired by grand events and a Greek Cypriot teacher.
He witnesses earthquakes and riots and terrorist attacks, but in the end it is his teacher’s gentle lessons that keep him whole.
Here's where to get the paperback & Kindle editions worldwide:
Here's what readers say about Lucky In Cyprus:
- "Bravo, Allan! When I finished Lucky In Cyprus I wept." - Julie Mitchell, Hot Springs, Texas
- "Lucky In Cyprus brought back many memories... A wonderful book. So many shadows blown away!" - Freddy & Maureen Smart, Episkopi,Cyprus.
- "... (Reading) Lucky In Cyprus has been a humbling, haunting, sobering and enlightening experience..." - J.A. Locke, Bookloons.com
*****
NEW: THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF
THE HATE PARALLAX
THE HATE PARALLAX: What if the Cold War never ended -- but continued for a thousand years? Best-selling authors Allan Cole (an American) and Nick Perumov (a Russian) spin a mesmerizing "what if?" tale set a thousand years in the future, as an American and a Russian super-soldier -- together with a beautiful American detective working for the United Worlds Police -- must combine forces to defeat a secret cabal ... and prevent a galactic disaster! This is the first - and only - collaboration between American and Russian novelists. Narrated by John Hough. Click the title links below for the trade paperback and kindle editions. (Also available at iTunes.)
*****
THE SPYMASTER'S DAUGHTER:
A novel by Allan and his daughter, Susan
After laboring as a Doctors Without Borders physician in the teaming refugee camps and minefields of South Asia, Dr. Ann Donovan thought she'd seen Hell as close up as you can get. And as a fifth generation CIA brat, she thought she knew all there was to know about corruption and betrayal. But then her father - a legendary spymaster - shows up, with a ten-year-old boy in tow. A brother she never knew existed. Then in a few violent hours, her whole world is shattered, her father killed and she and her kid brother are one the run with hell hounds on their heels. They finally corner her in a clinic in Hawaii and then all the lies and treachery are revealed on one terrible, bloody storm ravaged night.
BASED ON THE CLASSIC STEN SERIES by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch: Fresh from their mission to pacify the Wolf Worlds, Sten and his Mantis Team encounter a mysterious ship that has been lost among the stars for thousands of years. At first, everyone aboard appears to be long dead. Then a strange Being beckons, pleading for help. More disturbing: the presence of AM2, a strategically vital fuel tightly controlled by their boss - The Eternal Emperor. They are ordered to retrieve the remaining AM2 "at all costs." But once Sten and his heavy worlder sidekick, Alex Kilgour, board the ship they must dare an out of control defense system that attacks without warning as they move through dark warrens filled with unimaginable horrors. When they reach their goal they find that in the midst of all that death are the "seeds" of a lost civilization.
*****
TALES OF THE BLUE MEANIE
NOW AN AUDIOBOOK!
 |
Venice Boardwalk Circa 1969
|
In the depths of the Sixties and The Days Of Rage, a young newsman, accompanied by his pregnant wife and orphaned teenage brother, creates a Paradise of sorts in a sprawling Venice Beach community of apartments, populated by students, artists, budding scientists and engineers lifeguards, poets, bikers with a few junkies thrown in for good measure. The inhabitants come to call the place “Pepperland,” after the Beatles movie, “Yellow Submarine.” Threatening this paradise is "The Blue Meanie," a crazy giant of a man so frightening that he eventually even scares himself.
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