Blog Tour: CALL ME OBIE by Ateret Haselkorn

 

Call Me Obie

by Ateret Haselkorn

 

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GENRE:   YA Science Fiction

 

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BLURB:

 

Fifteen-year-old Obie hates the word “artificial.” It has to be the Most Misunderstood Word of the Year 2100. The media puts it in front of anything. They started with artificial intelligence and now it goes with housing, law enforcement, and in Obie’s case, her heart.

Just because Obie’s vital organ was 3D-printed doesn’t mean that she’s fake. She’s simply misunderstood, especially by Humanists. They think that artificial organ recipients like her are an abomination, and that’s why Obie can’t let anyone know the truth about her heart.

But when Humanists injure her best friend Mateo, Obie needs to step up. She decides to get him a 3D-printed replacement spleen in secret. In order to succeed, she becomes a black-market criminal, a high-tech healer, and an authority on love (or maybe not the last one so much). But what else can she do when organs are sold by Jonas, a blue-eyed genius who can’t stand the system any more than her?

Call Me Obie explores the future of discrimination and the timeless power of empathy and forgiveness, with a few comedic mishaps along the way. It is the tale of one young woman’s coming-of-age in a future where nearly anything is medically possible and society must ask: When technology can modify humans, who gets to decide how?

 

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Excerpt One:

 

Now, believe me, bullies can figure out how to get to their targets digitally, but I think that having to go to an in-person school delivers us right into the lion’s den. That’s actually how Mateo and I met, back in the seventh grade. I was gliding along, minding my business in my shiny new hover sneakers—even though I promised my dad that I’d walk for some traditional exercise—when my comm device vibrated with an environmental disturbance alert. It said there was a hazard above me. I looked upwards, scanning the treetops and clouds, and spotted a black, sharp-edged and bird-shaped drone the size of my hand. It flew straight up, reversed direction, and then dove down over and over. As I got closer to it, I heard yelling each time it dropped out of my line of sight. Weird. . . When I got to the school’s quad, I saw a thin, golden-skinned boy about my age running around screaming and waving his hands above his head, doing his best to fend off the attack. The hunting drone kept diving to hit him on the forehead with its beak. Every time the boy was down, as in lying on his stomach and moaning, the drone flew up. And whenever the boy shakily stood, it swooped down and jabbed him again. When I reached him, he was resting face down with his bleeding forehead pressed against his forearms.

 

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

 

 

 

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How is your book different from others in the genre?

 

Call Me Obie could be called young adult science fiction, young adult dystopian, near-future sci-fi, or medical literary fiction.

The strong theme of mentorship is one key reason that Obie’s story is unique. I’ve read many young adult or adult literature books where parents and their children have strained relationships. Many times much of the plot is devoted to navigating those circumstances. But Obie generally has a loving and healthy bond with her folks. It isn’t perfect, and there is definitely room for growth, but Obie’s amazing ability to solve problems comes largely from her mom and dad. Actually, YA literature often shows parents who come to recognize their child as an adult over time but, in this book, Obie is the one to eventually recognize her parents as people and human beings doing their best.

Obie has another mentor who is a 120-year old woman named Mrs. Stein. It was important to me as an author to have more than one place where my main character could turn for advice. In fiction, there is often one role model, the cliché of the man on top of a mountain, or a medicine woman living in a tent. Obie is lucky because she has options, all of them good. Her parents help her navigate problems, and Mrs. Stein provides a “moral compass” based on her family history. She teaches Obie to prioritize health and life, to treat others as she’d like to be treated, and that how important it is to hold onto these principles even when society changes drastically.

Thank you for having me on your site! 

 

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Ateret Haselkorn writes fiction and poetry. She is the winner of 2014 Annual Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest. Her children’s story was published as a finalist in the 2020 “Science Me a Story” contest of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom. Her work has been published in multiple literary and medical journals and can be accessed at AteretHaselkorn.com. Twitter and Instagram: @AteretHaselkorn

 

Social Media Links:

 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AteretHaselkorn

IG: https://www.instagram.com/aterethaselkorn

FB: https://www.facebook.com/AteretHaselkornAuthor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ateret-haselkorn-5369122/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0BJ17V6CP 

 

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GIVEAWAY :

 

Ateret Haselkorn will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway