Split City Waltz

Goodness, it’s been a while. Do pardon the dust in here, but I thought I’d stop by to make a quick post about a story of mine that’s being released tomorrow.

Split City Waltz is a short LGBTQ novella starring the rather conflicted private investigator Allyn Morgan. Capable, curious, flirtatious and practical, she’s a really fun character to write about, and hopefully to read about too!

She’s been hanging around inside my head for a while now, but to be honest, I just couldn’t find a world to put her in. Thankfully, an anthology call over at Less Than Three Press helped solve that problem.

Living in London was always fun, and I miss it in a lot of ways – the fast flow and constant noise. And one of the things that always struck me about being there was how divided it was between the waking hours and the darker ones. It was incredible watching as one part of society headed indoors while another slipped out into the evening light.

It was as though the whole vibe of the city changed, as the tourists made their way back to their temporary beds and the locals came out to play after a hard day’s graft.

This novella was very much inspired by the idea that a single city can have two very different sides. In this world, London is inhabited by two very different societies – one basking in the new technological advances being used above ground, and another taking refuge from it in the former underground network below.

There are two types of people in the world these days; ones who feel safe knowing someone’s watching them, and those who don’t.

Allyn couldn’t imagine a world without the chip that rests just underneath the skin of her right wrist, while a mysterious hacker named Terminal couldn’t think of anything worse. This story is about what happens when they’re forced to work together.

The London of tomorrow is a city that couldn’t care less what you do – as long as everyone can see you doing it.

It’s available from tomorrow from Less Than Three Press, Smashwords, All Romance and more!

Click here for an excerpt and links to reviews!

Black and White

“ No matter where you go, everyone’s connected. ”

– Lain Iwakura, Serial Experiments: Lain

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, photographed by QT Luong

The silent world around him was a dull, cloudy grey. Whatever colour had been present during the initial recording of it had been filtered out. It was hard to focus on any single detail, the inkwelled scene made to be poignant, but not studied too closely. Individuals were no longer blurred, to aid in his assignment, but their blood remained censored, as it was in the media. 

Ouroboros

Corporate Shadows by Badbrushart

Bit of an odd feeling, staring into the slime and seeing a version of you who doesn’t know who they are yet. Only four left now though, drifting in the ooze until someone pulls ’em out and tops ’em up.

There’s so much green and blue in here the red bar on my tablet looks a bit garish, the little coded lines sweeping across the screen as my replacement soaks up all my knowledge like a sponge. Wonder what she’ll do with all. Go after the Organisation, probably. Maybe stop by Breakers and drink a little first though, I got some good memories of that place.

Reinventing Reality

Very quick post today just to direct you to one of my short stories, Expendable, which I entered into a writing competition over on Inkitt! You can find it under the science fiction section or by clicking this link!

An unnamed mall mechanic faces the harsh realities of the far future when he’s falsely accused of bioterrorism…

The story is a quick read (about 1000 words) and it would be fantastic if you could spare a minute to vote for it as well. Thanks guys! :D

EDIT (8/9/15)

Thank you so much to anyone who took an interest in Expendable, but I’ve taken it off the Inkitt website. You can still read it here on my blog though!

The Replacements

Cyberpunk Med Clinic by axl99

There was a waiting list nowadays. Time was you could walk right in, get fixed up and be back in time for rations, but that was before the Cull. From being one of only a few clinics dotted throughout the station, now Delta was one of dozens trying to keep up with all the nasty new ways people managed to hurt each other.