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*****
CAT AND MOUSE
The bright yellow blip on Shaklin’s
Holoimager held steady for a measured beat, then bloomed, unfolding like a
blossom.
“Stations, everyone,” he said.
Immediately, his congregants tucked
away their crystal wands and took up position around the specially designed
navcenter.
From here they could keep track of
every point in the Possnet Sector, as well as countless jump points ranging
from several hundred thousands of kilometers, to distances many light years
away.
They were also in control of both
the ship’s McLean generators and AM2 drives. Everything else came under the
control of Zheng and Rual at the Command Board, including the weapons systems.
Shaklin was uncomfortable with that
part arrangement, but there was nothing he could say or do to change it without
arousing suspicion.
Still. Having Rual so close to the
guns was frightening.
The yellow blip that was the Jo’l Cash suddenly brightened and shot
forward.
Rual shouted in alarm. “They’re
coming! They’re coming!”
Shaklin ignored him, but moved a
hand over the drive panel. A double tap brought up the jump choices A single
tap would send his ship and the 125-kilometer spacetrain in its charge in any
direction he chose. But that option would only be used as a last resort.
The yellow blip kept advancing and
Rual was jumping up and down and screaming, “Jump! Jump! What’s wrong with you?
Jump!”
But Shaklin held his nerve and
didn’t budge a micron.
The blip gave another surge and
Rual ran at him, shouting, “Run! Run! We gotta run!”
Shaklin turned his head and fixed
Rual with a glare so fierce it stopped her in her tracks. And she hung there,
while Shaklin calmly turned back to his controls and goosed the McLean
generator a bit and the Flame moved
away from the Jo’l Cash – swiftly,
but hardly at top speed.
Just as he suspected, the Jo’l Cash suddenly stopped. So that was
their game, was it? Cat and mouse.
So he stopped as well, bringing a
groan from Rual who desperate to do something – anything. Zheng leaned in and
whispered something to her, but it seemed to have little effect.
A few heartbeats later the Jo’l Cash shot forward again. And once
again Shaklin goosed the McLean generator, retreating, then stopping when the Jo’l Cash pulled up.
The maneuver was repeated several
more times. Now Rual and Zheng were hanging behind him watching the whole thing
in a daze.
Then there was a change. The Jo’l Cash was on the move again, but
this time when it stopped a silver cloud floated from ports in the nose. The
image of the cloud glittered across the Holoimager flowing out toward the Flame.
“Vhat’s dat?” Zheng muttered.
“Particles, they look like.”
And then the cloud enveloped their
ship, passing over and around it. The only apparent effect was the sound of
scratching, like sand blowing across a faceplate. And then it was gone.
“They’re clottin’ painting us,”
Rual said, voice quivering. “We’ll have a missile up our butts next.”
Shaklin double checked his
instruments. No sign of any danger that he could see. And if they fired, he
could still beat them to the punch.
Even so, he was getting nervous. It
was difficult to keep his cool with Rual on an emotional razor’s edge.
His hand moved to hover over the
Jump panel. Rual and Zheng were talking, but he couldn’t make out what they
were saying. The pressure was getting to him. He felt otherworldly, with Zheng
and Rual moving their lips, but he couldn’t make out a word.
Maybe they were right. Maybe he
should end this game and jump.
Yes, jump, he thought. Enough of
this nonsense. Better Jump. But before he could act a voice boomed through
their com units.
“This is Captain Sten, aboard the Jo’l Cash.”
Shaklin paused. Tilted his head to
listen. But the voices of Zheng and Rual were clearer now.
Jump, they were saying. Jump!
And so his hand came downward - closing
on the panel.
But then the voice said: “We heard
you got yourselves in a jam, mates, and we’ve come a long way to get you out of
it.”
Shaklin didn’t jump.
NEXT:
FIRST CONTACT
*****
Ever since my British publisher put all eight novels in the Sten series in three omnibus editions, American readers have been clamoring for equal treatment.
Well, my American publisher – Wildside Books – was listening and beginning today Volume One in the three volume omnibus series is available all over America. The omnibus includes, Sten #1, Sten #2 – The Wolf Worlds, and Sten #3 – The Court Of A Thousand Suns. Isn’t this a wonderful country? And isn’t Wildside a wonderful publisher? Stay tuned for when the others will be available. Kathryn and I will start reading proof on Sten Omnibus #2 by week’s end.
*****
Here's where you can buy it worldwide in both paperback and Kindle editions:
*****
LUCKY IN CYPRUS:
A True Story About A Boy,
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.
