Kristen Brand

Welcome!

Hi. I’m speculative fiction author Kristen Brand. If you’re looking for a good book in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, then you’re in the right place. My novels all have fast-paced action, witty banter, and at least a hint of romance. I’m a huge nerd, which is pretty obvious in my writing, and I love reading and talking about books, comics, and short stories.

Check out my Books page for a full list of my novels. Or start reading my free superhero serial, Fight Crime! (A Love Story), online right now.

Thanks for stopping by!

5 Things I’m Excited About for The Witch’s March

One reason I love having a sister who’s an author is that we beta-read each other’s work. She catches my typos and gives me feedback about the overall story, and I do the same for her.

The hard part is that I end up finishing an awesome book and having no one to geek out with, because literally no one else has read it yet.

This is the case with The Witch’s March: The Occult Invasion, an urban fantasy set during WWI. Luckily, a chance for everyone else to read this book is coming. My sister is running a Kickstarter to fund the book launch, and I want to talk about why I’m excited about it.

Aerial Dogfights with Dragons

Yes, you read that right. This book has not one but two scenes with the characters fighting/desperately trying to escape a dragon while in WW1 fighter planes. Continue reading 5 Things I’m Excited About for The Witch’s March

Flash Fiction: The Lunch Date

The glass case over the pastry display was shattered, a masked goon moaning on the floor in front of it. Half the tables in the small cafe were overturned, broken plates and smashed sandwiches scattered across the tile. The rest of the customers had fled, and a terrified barista peeked out from behind the counter.

Oh, and the salad bar was still on fire.

Surveying the destruction, Dave would have sighed if he wasn’t still catching his breath. He glanced at Val, who was checking her reflection in a handheld mirror, another masked goon lying at her feet.

“Sorry about that,” Dave said. Continue reading Flash Fiction: The Lunch Date

Free Ebook Friday: The 28th Gate by Christopher C. Dimond

Free ebooks are the best. They’re a great way for readers to try new series risk-free, and they help authors reach new audiences. But there’s just so many of them that it can be hard to find one you like.

Free ebook Friday spotlights a free ebook I’ve personally read and enjoyed, and hopefully, it’ll help you find a good read. The posts come out on random Fridays, not weekly, and the books featured will probably be speculative fiction.

This week’s pick is:

Book Description

With a stolen experimental starship and a pair of advanced synthetic limbs, Hunter isn’t an average bounty hunter.

“A gunslinger adventure with good, clean fun!”

When he accepted the job on a backwater planet, Hunter thought it would be easy. He and his partner just had to track down a missing researcher. But when they find her, she’s fled a quarter of the way around the massive ring of twenty-seven gates and Hunter realizes all is not as he was told.

Continue reading Free Ebook Friday: The 28th Gate by Christopher C. Dimond

Vintage SciFi Month: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

A Princess of Mars is serial fiction at its finest. Long before Netflix perfected the algorithm to keep us glued to our seats for episode after episode, Edgar Rice Burroughs had that s**t down.

Originally serialized in the magazine The All-Story in 1912, A Princess of Mars tells the story of John Carter. He’s a a former confederate soldier who, while on the run for his life, stumbles into a mysterious cave that transports him to Mars. As you do.

Once he wakes up there, the first thing he has to do is relearn how to walk, because thanks to the lesser gravity and atmospheric pressure, each step sends him shooting into the air.

Hold on. A man gets sent to another planet, and the different planetary conditions give him superhuman strength? Why does that sound familiar…

John Carter is often cited as one of the inspirations behind Superman, just to give you an idea of what a huge influence A Princess of Mars has had on the science fiction genre. Continue reading Vintage SciFi Month: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Try Broadswords and Blasters Issue 12

Space cops! Ray-gun fights! Space fashion! Alien divas!

I love all these things, which is why they ended up in a short story I wrote recently called Starstruck. It’s a retro sci-fi adventure that ticks off a couple boxes from my 5 Favorite Vintage Sci-Fi Tropes list and is inspired by old science fiction and pulp comics.

That’s probably why it’s such a good fit for Broadswords and Blasters, a “pulp magazine with modern sensibilities.” Their latest issue, number 12, came out yesterday, and you can read over a dozen awesome pulp stories in it. I’m super excited that Starstruck is included in their number.

Space Cadet Duke Rayburn just wants to go one day without getting criticized by his impossible-to-please superior. But when he’s assigned to protect a galactic celebrity who’s being stalked and threatened, he’ll have to do whatever it takes to keep her safe–and worry about the consequences if he survives.

Continue reading Try Broadswords and Blasters Issue 12

Vintage Sci-Fi Month: The Zero Stone by Andre Norton

Used bookstores have certain sort of magic. It might be the smell of old pages filling the air like fairy dust, or the chance to stumble upon a hidden gem with a story lost to time. And no two stores are the same, each one giving us a new maze of bookshelves to explore.

There’s a used bookstore about thirty minutes from my house that’s extra awesome because it also sells comics. Its sci-fi/fantasy bookshelves are hidden in the back, and they’re a treasure trove packed full of more stories than I could read in a lifetime. Looking over the rows of spines to pick out my next purchase is always an adventure.

I bought this one mostly because it has a cat on the cover.

Continue reading Vintage Sci-Fi Month: The Zero Stone by Andre Norton

5 Favorite Vintage Sci-Fi Tropes

Did you know January is Vintage Science Fiction month? I didn’t until I saw the hashtag on Twitter, which piqued my interest, because I love old sci-fi. You can feel the enthusiasm and energy in a lot of those old space travel stories, written in a time where mankind was just venturing beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and everyone was excited about the possibilities.

January is also great timing, because I’ve got a retro sci-fi short story coming out in Broadswords and Blasters Issue 12 later this month. You might find more than one of these tropes in it. Or not. Read it and see. 😉

Space Fashion

Are you venturing into the cold reaches of space and don’t know what to wear? No need to worry. Just pop a fishbowl over your head, and you’ll be fine.

Planet Comics Issue 36 Cover — The helmets won’t protect you from evil green space giants, obviously, but they will shield you from the void of space.

Continue reading 5 Favorite Vintage Sci-Fi Tropes