Rise of the Luchador (Fight Card)

San Diego 2014 … Carlos may be the deadliest vale tudo street fighter in Brazil, but he’s no match for the drug lord on his tail. Haunted by the death of his best friend and on the run from a Mexican hit squad, Carlos is forced into hiding with a traveling carnival crawling its way from San Diego to LA. Within this world of freaks and con-men, Carlos has no choice but to become the one thing he hates – a masked luchador wrestler. However, once he has donned the mask, Carlos finds there is much more to being a luchador than fake wrestling moves and cheesy showmanship. There is a mystique and a responsibility carried by those who become true luchadors. But will being a fake hero, no matter how inspired or mystical, save him from the drug lord’s henchmen…Can it erase his tortured past…Or will he be forced to once again become the killing machine he has always been? Rise of the Luchador is the next installment of the acclaimed Fight Card Series.

Jason S. Ridler is a writer and historian. He is the author of A TRIUMPH FOR SAKURA, BLOOD AND SAWDUST, the Spar Battersea thrillers (DEATH MATCH, CON JOB and DICE ROLL), the short story collection KNOCKOUTS, and has published over sixty stories in such magazines and anthologies as The Big Click, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Out of the Gutter, and more. His popular non-fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Dark Scribe, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction. A former punk rock musician and cemetery groundskeeper, Mr. Ridler holds a Ph.D. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada.