From debut author Elizabeth Bonesteel, The Cold Between is the start to a stellar military science fiction series that combines hints of mystery and romance with action and adventure in the tradition of Elizabeth Moon, Linnea Sinclair, and Lois McMaster Bujold.
When her crewmate, Danny, is murdered on the colony of Volhynia, Central Corps chief engineer, Commander Elena Shaw, is shocked to learn the main suspect is her lover, Treiko Zajec. She knows Trey is innocent—he was with her when Danny was killed. So who is the real killer and why are the cops framing an innocent man?
Retracing Danny’s last hours, they discover that his death may be tied to a mystery from the past: the explosion of a Central Corps starship at a wormhole near Volhynia. For twenty-five years, the Central Gov has been lying about the tragedy, even willing to go to war with the outlaw PSI to protect their secrets.
With the authorities closing in, Elena and Trey head to the wormhole, certain they’ll find answers on the other side. But the truth that awaits them is far more terrifying than they ever imagined . . . a conspiracy deep within Central Gov that threatens all of human civilization throughout the inhabited reaches of the galaxy—and beyond.
Elizabeth Bonesteel began making up stories at the age of five, in an attempt to battle insomnia. Thanks to a family connection to the space program, she has been reading science fiction since she was a child. Formerly a software engineer, she currently writes full-time in central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband, daughter, and various cats.
What makes a science fiction story a space opera? Well, it needs to take place in space obviously, though not necessarily all of the time. Hanging out solely in an arcology on a climate-blasted Earth, or even in a domed city on Mars, doesn’t cut it. Actually, the more space the better; though there are certainly exceptions, […]
December is the perfect season for a binge, be it on food (it’s sweater weather), alcohol (family time ahoy!), or books and television (it’s cold outside!). Well, we can’t tell you what to eat or drink, but we relish telling you what books to read to scratch a particular itch. In that spirit, this holiday […]
With the second Central Corps novel, Remnants of Trust, Elizabeth Bonestell makes a strong case for adding her name to the list of military science fiction authors we can rely on to deliver one fascinating adventure after another—and this time, we didn’t even need to wait a year between books. In March’s The Cold Between, we met Commander Elena […]
We don’t need to tell you that Firefly has transformed from failed TV series to cultural phenomenon in the years since its 2003 cancellation after an inauspicious 12-episode run on Fox. Joss Whedon’s Western-styled space opera might be missed, but in the years since, its fans have found ways to cope with its absence, turning to other […]
In Elizabeth Bonesteel’s debut novel The Cold Between, a murder of a Central Corps military officer and the destruction of a starship a quarter century earlier are linked by a deep conspiracy that threatens to shake the intergalactic Central Gov to its foundations. As far as space opera mysteries go, this one doesn’t disappoint. Bonesteel has crafted a propulsive outer space […]
