The day is here: PACIFIC STATE, the second novel in the Sundown Cycle, is out now from Black Rose Writing. Taking place in a near-future Berlin ravaged by the effects of the climate crisis, it’s a high-octane, cerebral technothriller that takes the many, many problems we are currently facing as individuals, local communities and a global society and blows them up to outsized and unsettling proportions – like any good science fiction should.
Here’s the scoop:
On the streets of Berlin all morals can be bought for a price, and Owen Resler sold his long ago. Once an underground dissenter, now a corporate drone, he spends his days reluctantly manipulating data for Big Pharma.
Across town, notorious gun-for-hire Mia Warsaw is putting together a team to assassinate one of the city's more unscrupulous business moguls and she needs someone to handle the ones and zeroes.
When Warsaw crosses paths with an increasingly desperate Resler, she hands the former radical an ultimatum: he can either succumb to death by a thousand bureaucratic paper cuts or take a chance with her.
Of course, there's no guarantee he'll survive that, either…
I am extremely proud of this novel, not least because I feel like it transcends the genres of cyberpunk, thriller and general sci fi to offer something unique in a crowded market. The early reviews have been extremely positive, with my favourite coming from the esteemed Midwest Book Review:
“The result is more literary than most cyberpunk creations, more psychologically astute than the typical thriller story of intrigue and dangerous connections, and more original and compelling than many. Libraries and readers seeking near-future worlds that stand out for their feel of authenticity and doom will find Pacific State a winner.”
Pacific State is available to buy from these outlets:
Alternatively, order it from your local bookshop (<3) and do your bit to chip away at the corporations.
