OF CINDER AND BONE - Excerpts, Guest Post & GIVEAWAY!
Of Cinder and Bone
By Kyoko M
Genre: SciFi Thriller, Fantasy
After centuries of being the most dangerous predators on the planet, dragons were hunted to extinction. That is, until Dr. Rhett “Jack” Jackson and Dr. Kamala Anjali cracked the code to bring them back. Through their research at MIT, they resurrected the first dragon anyone has seen alive since the 15th century. There’s just one problem.
Someone stole it.
Caught between two ruthless yakuza clans who want to clone the dragon, Jack and Kamala brave the dangerous streets of Tokyo to steal their dragon back in a race against time before the world is taken over by mutated, bloodthirsty monsters that will raze it to ashes.
Of Cinder and Bone is an all-new sci-fi thriller from the author of the Amazon bestselling Black Parade novels. Don’t miss out on this explosive first-in-series!
“Yep, this is exactly where I thought I’d be at this point in my life,” Jack sighed, pulling on yet another pair of latex gloves as he stared forlornly at the reeking dumpster. “Ass-deep in garbage.”
“We lead a charming life,” Kamala agreed. “At least the manager was kind enough to let us do this without a fight. Technically, we’re supposed to wait for the police.”
“Not enough time on the clock for that. We’ll work out the details later.” Jack cleared his throat and cast her a sidelong glance, smirking.
“Ladies first?”
Kamala sent him a glare that could curdle milk. His smirk widened into a grin before he tossed both large black lids back and heaved himself up over the side. He landed and wobbled for a moment before shuddering as the stench of rotten food swallowed him whole. He breathed through his mouth in shallow bursts, his eyes tearing, and managed to keep his breakfast down after a moment.
“Yep,” he said weakly, offering Kamala his arm. “Charming, indeed.”
She climbed in next to him and they carefully rooted through the trash, checking for any bits of electronics in case the laptop had been disassembled before being tossed. “What are the odds that we’ll find it in this mess?”
“We probably have a better chance of growing wings and flying around the city,” Jack said, grimacing as he tossed a half-filled macchiato aside. “But the devil’s in the details. There is no perfect crime. If Okegawa was on a deadline, he might have been in a rush. Being in a rush means making mistakes. That’s all we need. Just one mistake to catch him.”
They searched for the better part of half an hour before Kamala heard a suspicious crunching sound beneath her covered boots. She shifted a few things aside and found a long white cord. She tugged sharply on it and the battery charger for a MacBook laptop popped free, swinging in her hand. She met Jack’s gaze and they both tore through the trash surrounding that spot. A moment later, Kamala’s hands closed on Jack’s laptop.
“Hello, beautiful,” Jack said, wiping grime and gunk off of it.
“Leave it closed. I’m sure the garbage probably did a number on any evidence on the outside, but there might be fibers or hairs between the keyboard and the screen. Nice work, Dr. Anjali.”
She flashed him a grin, handed it to him, and turned to exit the dumpster. She stopped after only a step. Jack realized why a second later.
“Konnichiwa,” Okegawa said pleasantly, his smile off-setting the silenced Beretta .9mm in his large hand. “Ogenki desu ka?”
“We’ve been better,” Kamala said, slowly raising her hands. Jack did the same, but he inched towards her in an attempt to block Okegawa’s line of sight.
“Relax, Jackson,” Okegawa drawled, his tone almost bored. “I have no intention of hurting ojō-sama.”
“Well, you tossed my apartment and now you have a gun pointed at us,” Jack said. “You understand my concern.”
“Of course. The gun is merely insurance. If I wanted you dead, I could have had it done already. I think you know that, as smart as you are.”
Jack narrowed his eyes. “Then what do you want?”
“A distraction. That’s why I left the laptop for you to find. It gave me time to break into your car and take the other laptop. I’ve been trying to get it for days, but ojō-sama takes it with her everywhere, unlike you.”
Kamala clenched her jaw. “How long have you been following us?”
Okegawa shrugged. “Not long. Had to get everything prepped and tie up loose ends.”
“Is that what we are now? Loose ends? It’s broad daylight, man. You can’t just shoot us and walk away. Hell, you’ve probably only got another thirty seconds before one of the Starbucks employees empties the trash and sees you.”
“Hai. That’s why you’re going to toss me the laptop.”
“Or you’ll shoot me?”
What little light there was in Okegawa’s brown eyes sputtered out.
“Hai.”
“You just said you didn’t want me dead.”
Another dispassionate shrug. “I’d prefer not to, but if you push me, I will retaliate.”
“Jack,” Kamala whispered.
He glanced at her. She kept her eyes on Okegawa, but her tone was enough. He exhaled and tossed Okegawa the laptop. It landed at his feet, shattering several pieces over the concrete with a loud crash. Okegawa flinched on instinct, his eyes snapping towards it for a split second.
Kamala took her Taser out of her pocket and shot it at Okegawa.
Okegawa screamed as the electrified prongs hit him. Jack pulled Kamala down into the dumpster as the gun went off twice, tearing two chunks out of the wall where he’d been standing. They both lay panting in the garbage heap as they heard a thud and then nothing. Jack motioned for her to stay put and slowly rose to his knees, peeking over the rim of the dumpster.
Okegawa lay on the ground, twitching occasionally, his eyes shut, teeth clenched, the gun lying several feet away.
Jack scooped Kamala up in his hands with a hysterical laugh, holding her above his head. “You. Are. Freaking. Brilliant.”
Kyoko M is an author, a fangirl, and an avid book reader. Her debut novel, The Black Parade, has been on Amazon's Bestseller List at #5 in the Occult Horror category.
She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Lit degree from the University of Georgia, which gave her every valid excuse to devour book after book with a concentration in Greek mythology and Christian mythology. When not working feverishly on a manuscript (or two), she can be found buried under her Dashboard on Tumblr, or chatting with fellow nerds on Twitter, or curled up with a good Harry Dresden novel on a warm central Florida night.
Like any author, she wants nothing more than to contribute something great to the best profession in the world, no matter how small.
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I was traumatized by Jurassic Park as a kid and I still have nightmares about velociraptors breaking into my room and tearing me to pieces.
Tell us something really interesting that happened to you!
I hugged Captain America! As in Chris Evans! I attended New Orleans Comic Con in January 2017 and got a photo op with him and it was genuinely the greatest fifteen seconds of my entire life.
What are some of your pet peeves?
Rude, lazy, or discourteous customers. I've unfortunately been stuck working retail as a day job to support my writing and now I have an intense dislike for retail customers. Especially ones who either waste your time or explode on you for petty or idiotic reasons.
What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
In no particular order, my favorite books are:
-Mr. Maybe by Jane Green
-Inheritance by Devin Grayson
-Helltown by Dennis O'Neill
-Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
-Earthrise by M.C.A Hogarth
-Paradise Lost by John Milton
-The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer
-Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
-Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
-Metamorphoses by Ovid
In no particular order, my favorite authors are:
-Jim Butcher
-Ilona Andrews
-Brian Jacques
-J.K. Rowling
-Neil Gaiman
-Richard Castle
-Elizabeth Haydon
-Chuck Wendig
-Geoffrey Thorne
-Junot Diaz
What inspired you to write this book?
I was inspired to write Of Cinder and Bone by a very weird thing, actually: the 2002 film 'Reign of Fire' starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey. It sounds bizarre considering that movie is aggressively awful, but the idea that it spawned is that not too many people write about dragons from an apocalyptic sci-fi view. I found myself in love with the idea of dragons being real animals that fit into modern day and so I found a way to bring them to life with realistic scientific methods and then decided to sort of study the idea of man vs. nature vs. God, much like what was briefly explored in the Jurassic Park film.
What can we expect from you in the future?
My future is planned out through about 2018 as of right now. The next book in the Of Cinder and Bone series, Of Blood and Ashes, will drop later this year, probably in the fall, but possibly in the summer if I finish it fast enough. I am also penning a novella for The Black Parade series that is going to premiere exclusively in an upcoming boxed set with other fantasy authors, but once the set is gone, I will publish it alongside the other four books in the series. After that, I'll be writing the third book in the Of Cinder and Bone series and then see where I'd like to go from there for beyond 2018. I have an entire library's worth of ideas, so it really just depends on what my fancy is at the time.
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
As I mentioned before, the upcoming novella for The Black Parade series is precisely that: a side story that occurs between the second and third novels of the series. I also have another short story for one of the side characters in The Holy Dark, but I haven't decided if I will fully pursue it since it's just a short story rather than a novella. I've put it on the back burner for now, but if I pick it up and apply full attention to it, then I may actually release another set of short stories told by side characters.
Where were you born/grew up at?
I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in a metro-Atlanta city called Riverdale, but trust me, it has no relation to Riverdale from the Archie comics. It's honestly no longer a nice place to live, but it was while I was a kid. My mother's side of the family still lives there, and so I always visit during the year.
