Three generations ago, the Modernist Mission arrived on the ice planet Tählti to find it already inhabited by the Firsts, humanoids who have evolved an antifreeze glycoprotein in their blood. With the next ice age nipping at everyone's heels, the Modernist government will do anything to get the protein - even experimenting on the Firsts in secret. Despite Modernist general Lucian Devereaux's best efforts, what began as a medical research facility to ensure his people's survival becomes a concentration camp. When an exiled vigilante learns this secret, he threatens to tell the world and spark a war between Modernist and First - a war neither can afford before the ice age. Surrounded by enemies, Lucian must figure out whom to trust, or neither subspecies will survive much longer.

Raluca Balasa holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her approach to writing is character oriented, often dealing with love/hate relationships, antiheroes, and antagonists who make you agree with them. Her short work has appeared in Andromeda Spaceways, Aurealis, Psychopomp, and Grimdark Magazine, among others.

Currently, Raluca works as a freelance editor and English teacher in the Toronto area. She loves instrumental music, pickles, and birds. She lives in Burlington, Ontario.

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"Raluca Balasa has penned a dark, gripping tale of colonialist and indigene as the world around them begins to freeze. Blood State is a slick, twisty, chess game of a novel that sucked me in and held me until the last page." - Stephen Graham King, author of A Congress of Ships

"I was completely entranced by Blood State's tale of competing factions struggling for survival on a frozen planet. Raluca Balasa delivers reams of political intrigue, complex and conflicted characters, and gripping action sequences, all in a setting both brutal and exotic. Blood State is a terrific sci-fi novel by an exciting and talented young writer." - David Anthony Durham, author of The Acacia Trilogy

"Blood State intrigued me with its timely premise of state-sanctioned violence and intercultural tensions, however, I was pleased to discover that it also delivers on pulse-pounding action and complex characters. A marvelous read!" - Elizabeth Hirst, author of The Face in the Marsh and Distant Early Warning

"Raluca Balasa's Blood State crackles with political intrigue and scientific mystery. The people known as Firsts are immune to the planet Tählti's deadly cold; the Modernists, more recent arrivals, are not. An ice age is coming. On this deceptively simple foundation, Balasa builds a rich and utterly compelling story. Secrets and lies, mistaken identity, reluctant leaders and tyrants, bonds made, twisted or shattered--and driving it all, the fierce and implacable cold. I won't be alone in my impatience to return to Tählti, and the people fighting to survive there. Congratulations to Balasa on a stunning debut." - Caitlin Sweet, author of The Pattern Scars

"With its vividly realized alien world, complex characters, and fast-paced political conflict, Blood State is a book you won't want to put down. This gripping and suspenseful thriller -- seamlessly combining ecology, medical mystery, and clan rivalry -- gives new meaning to the term 'cold war,' and heralds Raluca Balasa as a major new writer." -Susan Palwick, award-winning author of The Necessary Beggar.