Crash Land on Kurai - Excerpt
Am I dead?
“You’re not dead. Shift to the right.”
Huh?
“Your other right, Yumi. Wake up! Open your eyes!”
My eyes fly open as a shock of pain rips through my leg. I cry out, and
Kazuo jerks his hands away from a giant piece of metal sticking out of my
thigh.
“Okay, that’s not going anywhere.”
“What the…” I swallow and try to concentrate on the world swimming around
me. My leg is numb except for the pain, my hands are bleeding and I have no
idea why, and I taste the copper of blood in my mouth too. Lights flicker
through the bridge, emergency lights on but not illuminating enough. In the
station next to me, the crew member in charge of life support is dead, her head
slumped forward, her red hair around her shoulders, which means we still have
forward thrust. Her name pops into my head, Christina. She loved karate,
coffee, and chocolate ice cream.
I’m in shock if I can even assess a situation like this. What about her
family? Her friends? She’s dead, and I’m alive, and we’re less than a meter
from each other. How does that even happen?
“Hey!” Kazuo snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Stay with me.” He puts
his face right in front of mine so I can lock eyes with him. I want to return
to the state of a five-year-old and throw my arms around his neck so he can
carry me off to the beach for sandcastles and kite flying. “Stay with me,
Kako.”
Now I cry — not a lot of tears but a few for the kid I left behind. Kazuo
always said I was like a baby deer, a kako, until I turned a teen. It was his
pet name for me. My mother loved it. My father tolerated it. I always got the
feeling he didn’t trust Kazuo fully though he gave him free rein to watch his
children. There’s a lot I don’t understand about my parents. It probably has
something to do with Kazuo’s past as an assassin and his rocky relationship
with the empress. But I don’t know for sure.
“Don’t cry,” he says, a command with no sympathy. This is how he deals with
all emergencies. The sympathy
will come later when we’re safe.
About the Author:Stephanie (S. J.) is a writer, knitter, amateur astrologer, Capricorn, and Japanophile. She loves foxes, owls, sushi, yoga pants, Evernote, and black tea. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing or spending time outside, unless it’s winter. She hates winter. Someday she’ll own a house in both hemispheres so she can avoid the season entirely. She’s a mom to two great kids and lives with her husband and family outside NYC. They have no pets. Yet. When it comes to her work, expect the unexpected. She doesn’t write anything typical. Find her online at http://www.spajonas.com.
You can find and contact SJ Pajonas here:
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Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway during the book blitz of Crash Land on Kurai. These are the prizes you can win:
- 2 winners will get a US$10 Amazon.com gift card and a Nogiku Series Omnibus ebook delivered via BookFunnel (valued at US$13)
- 1 winner will win a Nogiku Series Omnibus ebook delivered via BookFunnel (valued at US$13)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
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