This is my stop during the book blitz for Crash Land on Kurai by SJ Pajonas. This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 19 till 20 July. See the tour schedule here.  

 

Crash Land on Kurai (Hikoboshi #1)

By SJ Pajonas
Genre: Science Fiction, Action Adventure, Space Opera
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 18 July, 2017

 

Blurb

Yumi Minamoto has the shortest fuse on the ship. She’s just whipped a bully and been confined to quarters, but she’s not staying there. A disgraced journalist trying to clear her name, her job is to document the mission to the Hikoboshi system, and she’s determined to get it right, despite all the trouble she causes. But when unknown vessels fire on their ship, and Yumi’s life pod crash lands on a dying moon, she’s separated from her family and friends, and her mission falls to pieces. Now she must navigate the unfamiliar and deadly terrain, deal with a society she doesn’t understand, and try to stay alive until rescue comes… if it ever does.

Crash Land on Kurai is the first book in the Hikoboshi Series, an action adventure, space opera series that explores the worlds settled by the Japanese who fled Earth a century ago. Culture, history, technology, and swords clash in a fast-paced future society on the brink of war.

You can find Crash Land on Kurai on Goodreads.

Read the first four chapters of Crash Land on Kurai! Get your sample here from Instafreebie.

You can buy Crash Land on Kurai here on Amazon.

The book is available to read with Kindle Unlimited

 

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.

Stalk the Author
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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 here.

 

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Crash Land on Kurai – Excerpt #1

My tablet slides down my front as the thrust increases. I grunt as I pull up to the outer bridge level next to Kazuo and re-orient myself to up and down.

The bridge is sealed, but he’s frantically pressing the call button anyway.

“They’re not going to open the door,” I say, my “I told you so” voice cranked up to high.

Kazuo leaves his hand on the palm scanner, the read-out blinking “Unauthorized” over and over.

“Unauthorized, my ass,” he grumbles. “Who do you think paid for these damn ships, huh?”

I lean against the wall, saving my energy. Who paid for the ships? All the Terrans who had to live on that crap planet before they finally picked up and left. Though my dad always talks about Earth and Nishikyō with such fondness, I can’t help but find the idea of living under domes to be repulsive. Confined places make me nervous. This ship is hard enough to bear.

The door to the outer bridge hisses open and my boss, Chieko Mori, stands in the way.

“Can I help you with something, Uchiyama?” Her gravelly voice drawls over Kazuo’s last name. Between years of talking non-stop fourteen hours a day and smoking the local herb we call “cake,” Chieko’s voice sounds like someone dragged it through a stone driveway sopping wet. Her sun-worn skin could easily be used to upholster furniture, and her hair turned white ten years too early. She’s a piece of work. Of course, I love her.

I peek out from behind Kazuo, and her face lights up.

“Perfect.” Her lips curl up into a smile, revealing her newscaster white teeth. “You brought my protégé.” She points her finger at me. “I thought you were confined to quarters?”

“When has that ever stopped me?”

Kazuo sighs as Chieko laughs.

“Never. Okay, you stick by me. Shit’s going down, and it’s about to get fun.”

Yes!

I jerk my head at Kazuo, and he gestures for me to lead the way.

It’s time to get back to business.

 

Crash Land on Kurai – Excerpt #2

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.
Crash Land on Kurai – Excerpt #3

In the silence, a time when I was ten years old pops into my head. I was out for a hike with Kazuo, a few friends, and the family dog. Everything was off about this day. I’d gotten into a huge fight with my mom in the morning, over something stupid and insignificant. I can’t even remember what it was now. So, when I left to head out with everybody, I was in a really piss poor mood.

I hung back at the tail end of the hike, not wanting to talk to anybody about anything, just being angry about the world, my family, everything. Only the dog, Kohi-chan, was willing to spend time with me, probably because I would throw his stick whenever he wanted. Come to think of it, I was mad about some injustice involving my brothers. Since they were boys, they got all the praise in the family. That was always the way. Mom and Kazuo humored me, but even then, I was expected to fall in line.

Anyway, so there I was at the back of the trail, not paying attention. I was staring out into the forest, watching the birds, and being angry at myself and my family, when out of nowhere came a giant boar, barreling down on me. I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from it, Kohi-chan running to Kazuo, and then suddenly I was at the bottom of a gulch. I don’t remember seeing the edge of the cliff, nor my feet slipping and falling out from underneath me. Just one moment I was on my feet and running, and the next, I was lying on top of a pile of rocks with a broken arm.

That’s what falling from the sky in a life pod is like. One moment, I’m looking into the ship, the doors are closing, and I’m strapping myself in. The next, we crash land, the life pod skipping over the ground and tumbling end over end, and then everything is silent.