C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas Series

Rick Cave is the captain of the HotTicket, a medium tonnage freighter spacecraft. To feed the fuel tank and kill time in the outlaw New Slav sectors of space, he takes shady jobs often with no questions asked. When an old war buddy shows up with a gorgeous companion, looking for a fast ride to the outer rim, he of course listens to their money. Rick soon learns he should have asked who they were running from. "The Positronic Pretty" promises danger, action, and a touch of romance in the classic spirit of the old pulps. When the Nazis orchestrated an accident at one of the final races in the NAStar circuit, Finster earned himself a new name: Burn Job. Now, he's back and on the trail for revenge. First stop? A semi-legal street level race against a Sluglord with nothing to prove. The prize? A little, cash, access rights to the higher profile NAStar circuit, and Finster's woman, the gorgeous Sweetie Sally who was taken captive by the evil Fuhrer Brett. "Burn Job and the Artificial Honey" kicks off a series of adventures around the space lanes unlike any other! In these two stories, C. C. Blake kicks off a brand new continuing series of pulpy space adventure! Each issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas offers 10,000+ words of features telling tales about far futures from a ground level perspective. No space knights, no untarnished nobles, no interstellar orders battling resistances: These stories are about high tech low lives, the working class Joes and Janes who find themselves cast into sometimes grim and often grimy worlds overflowing with trouble and danger. Join the adventure!

Rick Cave is rolling on the floor of Svetlana's with a gut full of buckshot: An AstroNazi farewell. He's not done yet. The bastards should have killed him if they knew what was good for them. Now, he's hot on their trail. He will venture into the cut shop known as the bondage pits to get the gal out. "The Beauty Snatchers" promises danger, action, and a touch of romance in the classic spirit of the old pulps. The next step in Finster's journey to smash up der Fuhrer's ownership of the NAStar racing circuit takes him to a special track where anything and everything can happen. Flamethrower robots, teleportation panels, and more obstacles await him on the track. Off of it, the minions of Fuhrer Brett's favored racer, the one and only Space Pimp have more threats and challenges in store for the racer. "Burn Job and the Space Pimp's Wrath" continues Finster's adventures around the space lanes! In these two stories, C. C. Blake continues his series of pulpy space adventure! Each issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas offers 10,000+ words of features telling tales about far futures from a ground level perspective. No space knights, no untarnished nobles, no interstellar orders battling resistances: These stories are about high tech low lives, the working class Joes and Janes who find themselves cast into sometimes grim and often grimy worlds overflowing with trouble and danger. Join the adventure!

Rick Cave knows a thing or two about working with old friends, but when Wallach comes into his life dangling old debts over his head in exchange for a little delivery, Rick finds himself pressed into service. An old flame, mysterious agents of the Star Sultan, and the Secret Police stand between him and a clear shot out off this corrupt world. It will take smarts and courage to get out of harm's way. Looking for patronage in his next race, Finster gets an offer he can't refuse: Drive for a Cracking Crew during one of their jobs an get a split. When the job involves a school bus and a highly secured schoolyard, Finster soon learns he may have bit off more than he can chew. He's driven into danger, but can he drive himself out of it? C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas is back for a third issue of fun adventures set on down and dirty science fictional worlds. Crime, horror, hopes, and fears mesh in these thrilling tales of men and women facing impossible odds because they have to. It's the biggest issue yet with over 12,000 words of fiction as well as Blake's take on why reading fabulist fiction from yesterday is a must in today's world.

In the far future, humanity has moved among the stars. However, they have brought along all their baggage in addition to the hopes and dreams of better worlds. Theirs are not bright, shiny, litter-free futures. They are lived in, sweaty space operas . . . C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas returns with a brand new pair of adventures set in futures that have dirt under their fingernails and blood on their hands. After flushing himself through an alien waste system in a previous adventure left Rick Cave with neuronal damage, he gets the opportunity to go under the knife for an infinitesimal chance at recovery. When old enemies catch wind of this chance to take him out, he gets more trouble than he anticipates. There are bad trips, there are acid flashbacks, and then there is "Rick Cave's Nasty Flashback", which takes trouble to the next level. Join recently resuscitated Detective First Grade Gleeson on board the satellite casino and tourist trap Matrix, as she faces off with a robber who is targeting large payouts. A game of cat and mouse ensues when this robber against all odds manages to defy the station's best security measures and requires some good old shoe leather detective work to identify and catch. Sometimes justice takes more than "Facial Recog". Hop aboard for C. C. Blake's latest excursion through the space ways. Two more tales of crime, desperation, and hope set in the filthy far futures . . .

C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas returns for a seventh action-packed issue! Readers will again find two features. Rick Cave is once more up to his neck in trouble. This time, he comes out of a drunken doze to find himself trapped in a salt extracting vat as the sea water closes in. A pair of leering faces taunt him from safety above, promising a terrible death. How did he come to be here, who is the mysterious woman down with him, and most importantly, how will he get out before the sea water fills these flood halls? In a new backup feature, meet Wynn Moss, who happens to also be the best professional thief in the galaxy. She has a mask that can disguise her face and modifications that can make her bones soft when she wishes or solidify them, giving her an unparalleled ability to slither out of harm's way. This is what gets her into the heavily guarded vaults of the Smoking Sixes casino on Piotr's World. However, when an off-the-grid guard shows up to stop her, Wynn soon learns that her movements have been monitored by men wearing top of the line assassin suits. They want her for a job, and they are not willing to take no for an answer . . . Will Wynn Moss make out big or lose it all when she stands for her principles? Over ten thousand words of brand new fiction as well as a new installment of Blake's Take are sure to entertain readers looking for space opera thrills set in lived in worlds!

It has all been leading to this . . . Over the course of five issues, readers have thrilled to the adventures of Rick Cave and "Burn Job" Finster. Now, in this special, double sized issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas, the two characters team up for the first time to face an unstoppable adversary. When Rick Cave agrees to help a kid space jock with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove, he does not realize the trouble he is taking on. The kid has a luxury craft, providing perfect comfort for passengers. He does not have the cargo space his latest job requires. Enter Rick Cave's medium-tonnage freighter, the HotTicket. With the two ships working together, they can move people and equipment with ease and comfort. The cargo and passengers to be moved, however, are a surprise . . . After Finster's car was sabotaged, racing enthusiasts never expected the NAStar driver to return to the sport. However, he has been done just that. Although his body has been medically rescultped to hide any traces of the scars from the fire that ended the first phase of his career, he has taken ownership of the pejorative nickname Burn Job. He has returned to the race and to the trail of revenge on the man responsible for his "accident", der Fuhrer of the Astro Nazis himself. Both of these men have been thorns in the goosestepping heels of the Asto Nazi cause, so they make equally inviting targets for the biggest killer in the Astro Nazi league. The cyborg called PedeSTAIN is unstoppable, a relentless killing machine dedicated to seeing Fuhrer Brett's will performed. His mission has put him on Burn Job's trail, and Rick Cave just invited himself to the murder party . . . This issue contains a short novel length pulp science fiction adventure guaranteed to keep readers on the edges of their seats. Join thrill master C. C. Blake as he presents the culmination of the first half year of Sweaty Space Opera adventures. As well, it offers a candid story from the author's own past about the chilling lengths some folks will go for love . . .

Rick Cave knows a thing or two about transporting stolen goods, but when he gets hired to run a mission to raid an alien tomb in order to swipe and transport ancient artifacts, he soon finds himself in over his head. Trapped inside the tomb with only a limited amount of time before a double crossing partner strands him on planet, Rick must take the one unexpected way out: He dives head first into the carcinogenic slurries still running like sewage under the long abandoned city on a long abandoned world. His air supply is limited, his options are short, and his time is running out . . . On the road to his next race, "Burn Job" Finster finds himself in a completely different situation: He goes to a casino satellite to try an beat the house enough to get enough boodle to keep his wheels turning and give him an entry stake. The NASTar Driver is once more out of his elements and in deep trouble when he attracts the wrong kind of attention. Each issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas offers over 10,000 words of action packed science fiction adventure as well as a candid opinion piece "Blake's Take." This issue continues two of the series he began in the long out of print Android's 2 men's adventure magazine. While the issues build toward an overarching storyline each story stands alone. Therefore each issue is a great entry point.

C. C. Blake returns with a pair of stories in this action-packed eighth issue. There are unusual adventures to be found in these sweaty, lived-in space opera worlds! Rick Cave finds himself once more outside of his Slav Space comfort zone, visiting the crime families dominated sector tucked away behind a blue energy shield. He is not exactly running a smuggling op, but still he is up to his neck in trouble delivering a cryonically cooled infant to the golden child of one of the most ruthless gangster families in the galaxy. Cave is outgunned and overwhelmed. To make already messy matters even more chaotic, the unstoppable menace known as PedeSTAIN shows up. Can Rick and PedeSTAIN put aside their past differences to get both their necks out of the wringer? On a backwater jungle world, a former CORE forces StarBar gunnery sergeant turned mercenary lieutenant commander finds himself stranded and facing impossible odds. Inside a makeshift fort besieged by two-headed natives, he strives to stave off an army until help arrives. His resources are low, his chances are even lower, but he will not give up until the last round is fired and the last ounce of strength leaves him. With a brief non-fiction update from Blake himself and over 15k words, the eighth issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas has plenty of thrills for the space opera fan.

The interstellar cargo transporter, Rick Cave, finds himself caught in a nightmare scenario when a gang of saboteurs, political dissidents, and assassins decide his medium-tonnage vessel is their best shot at getting off Piotrsworld and out of Slav Space. Can Rick get himself out of trouble before the satanic envoys bring their Dark Lord onto his ship to make him a deal he might not be able to refuse? Author C. C. Blake mashes together his beloved occult fiction with the pulpy worlds of tomorrow in a truly special adventure! Then, Dutch finds himself trapped in a menagerie of horrors when he dares to stand against the lunatic calling himself the Star Sultan. He will have to brave ghuls, crazies, and even a dragon if he hopes to get out and rescue his beloved Reemalah from the Star Sultan's clutches! Issue Nine of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas shows no slowing down of the action and adventure Blake's fans have come to know and love. New readers can jump on board today with these stand-alone stories while longtime fans will find plenty of connective tissue between these adventures with what has already happened as well as hints of what is to come.

In this tenth issue, C. C. Blake returns with two stories about the far flung space-faring universes he writes so well about. Rick Cave finds himself on the CORE world of Septimus, encountering a familiar face. Jordan was a regular face from his StarBar military days, a pal back then and still. Jordan is a Major now with a family and the kind of life Rick is both attracted and repelled by. However, he's got his share of troubles, too. Due to some bad decisions and addictions, Jordan's son Ayomi has attracted the attention of a local syndicate. They are pressuring him through Jordan's grandchild to give them sensitive data. Rick doesn't need to be asked to step in, and that decision could be a costly one. Things work differently on CORE worlds than the free frontier of Slav Space . . . In the follow-up story, a former CORE military intelligence officer turned on the run killer finds herself tagged to help a wealthy man with a problem thanks to her rep for special skills. Ling-Ling left bodies behind her, due to a matter of family honor. Now, however, she is caught up in the honor of a family not her own. Can she see her way clear to helping strangers in exchange for the promise of a pardon? The payout is big, but the job itself is not cakewalk when she stands off against a mysterious guru who operates from behind fortified walls. The far future may bring faster than light travel and strange surroundings, but humanity still comes in all the different shades of greed, weakness, and courage. C. C. Blake explores these future worlds where working class folks get in over their heads in trouble and try to make their way out in his action packed series of space opera thrillers.

Rick Cave gets all kinds of jobs, legal, illegal, and all the shades of gray between these extremes. This time, a pretty girl wants some special body mods transported to a Luddite colony with no questions asked. While not completely illegal, such a shipment is frowned on to say the least. He arrives to find a colony permanently fixed in the tech period between the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries. However, no job is an easy one, and this time Rick has to content with mirrorshades-wearing oldsters eager for a little modding as well as some tough punks eager to shed a little blood. Will he be able to escape with his neck in tact? Dutch has faced the Star Sultan to get his girl Reemalah back. Now, he and his woman are on the run, taking the cheapest options possible. It's a great way to lay low, but it's not a great way to stay alive. When he wakes up mid-voyage to find himself stuck inside a coffin with limited atmo, Dutch must struggle to escape before he runs out of breath. This story also features Fieldy and the Bleak's Company! The eleventh issue of C. C. Blake's Sweaty Space Operas has plenty of chills and thrills to offer even the most jaded reader of space opera. Blake delivers his trademark action and excitement by the fistful!