Her entry begins:My tastes in reading are quite eclectic and can probably be best described as “whatever happens to catch my fancy.” Fiction, non-fiction, children’s—I’ll read anything that looks interesting. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of genre fiction. When I signed a deal with DAW Books in 2014 for my science fiction series, I decided I wanted to get to know my publishing house better by reading some DAW books. As such, I usually have at least one DAW book on hand these days, among other things.About Nova, from the publisher:
Right now, I’m in the middle of Seanan McGuire’s Sparrow Hill Road. While I’m only partway through this ghost story, already I’m drawn in by the writing and atmosphere. The prose is truly lovely and used with great effect to build this fascinating twilight world where the living and dead...[read on]
*36:00:00*Visit Margaret Fortune's website.
The clock activates so suddenly in my mind, my head involuntarily jerks a bit to the side. The fog vanishes, dissipated in an instant as though it never was. Memories come slotting into place, their edges sharp enough to leave furrows, and suddenly I know. I know exactly who I am.
My name is Lia Johansen, and I was named for a prisoner of war. She lived in the Tiersten Internment Colony for two years, and when they negotiated the return of the prisoners, I was given her memories and sent back in her place.
And I am a genetically engineered human bomb.
Lia Johansen was created for only one purpose: to slip onto the strategically placed New Sol Space Station and explode. But her mission goes to hell when her clock malfunctions, freezing her countdown with just two minutes to go. With no Plan B, no memories of herpast, and no identity besides a name stolen from a dead POW, Lia has no idea what to do next. Her life gets even more complicated when she meets Michael Sorenson, the real Lia’s childhood best friend.
Drawn to Michael and his family against her better judgment, Lia starts learning what it means to live and love, and to be human. It is only when her countdown clock begins sporadically losing time that she realizes even duds can still blow up. If she wants any chance at a future, she must find a way to unlock the secrets of her past and stop her clock. But as Lia digs into her origins, she begins to suspect there’s far more to her mission and to this war, than meets the eye. With the fate of not just a space station but an entire empire hanging in the balance, Lia races to find the truth before her time—literally—runs out.
The Page 69 Test: Nova.
Writers Read: Margaret Fortune.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
