Head Case

As zero hour for Operation ANCHISES approaches, Prague’s CIA presence moves into place and the KGB tightens security. But some breaches cannot be prevented, as Gabe and Tanya are about to learn. And Josh, walking a tightrope between duty and desire, decides to take a plunge . . . or is it a fall? Cloak-and-dagger intrigue is served up with a magical twist in the riveting new episodic online serial created by Max Gladstone and Lindsay Smith. Welcome to Prague, 1970: ground zero in a Cold War of spies and sorcerers. The streets are a deadly chessboard on which the CIA and KGB make their moves, little dreaming that a deeper game is being played between the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame, ancient organizations that seek to harness elemental magic. Tanya Morozova is a KGB officer and the latest in a long of Ice sorceresses; Gabe Pritchard is a CIA officer and reluctant Ice recruit. Enemies at one turn, but forced into alliances at the next, their relationship is as explosive as the Cold War itself.“Head Case” continues the 13-part serial, The Witch Who Came In From The Cold. This espionage fantasy is brought to you by Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Ian Tregillis, and Michael Swanwick.“The Witch Who Came in from the Cold is a chilly evocation of a different kind of Cold War.” – Charles Stross, author of the Laundry Files series“Take a double shot of Le Carré, a dash of Deighton, a twist of Quiller, a splash of Al Stewart’s “The Year of the Cat,” throw in a jigger full of elemental magic, mix well … and voilà! The Witch Who Came In From The Cold.” – Victor Milan, author of The Dinosaur Lords“The occult love child of John le Carre and The Sandbaggers.”– Marie Brennan, author of The Memoirs of Lady Trent Location: Prague. Time: 1970. Two things this city was lousy with: spies and witches.  "As soon as I saw that, I was instantly hooked, and the pilot jacked the intrigue to the max. Two female Soviet spy witches, an American spy with something weird drilling magical holes in his head, and a world of secrets within secrets in a locale where old-world myth and the Cold War face off, pedal to the metal . . . it’s awesome. Or as we said in 1970, Far out.”– Sherwood Smith, author of Crown Duel