Blog Tour: FABRICATED by Nicole Givens Kurtz

 

FABRICATED

Nicole Givens Kurtz

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GENRE:  SciFi  Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

Cybil Lewis, a private inspector in futuristic D.C., now The District, begrudgingly works with the Territory Alliance agents to track down an escaped violator, Nico Mars. Almost immediately, Cybil is tossed into the District's gritty underbelly of political ambition, drugs, and betrayal. This case will take her and Jane deep into the reaches of The District's notorious Sector 12, where life is cheap and currency is king. When her investigation leads back to those responsible for protecting citizens, Cybil discovers she's in danger. She's reminded once again that everything can be fabricated.

 

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Excerpt Two:

 

If it’s one thing I’ve learned in my nearly forty years is this—trust your gut.

 

If I had, things would’ve gone much more smoothly.

 

Who am I?

 

I’m Cybil Lewis. Private Inspector licensed in The District Territory. July felt like an oven left on high. The sun’s rays rebounded off the pavement, fiberglass, and metal, back into people’s faces. An energy nightmare, certain neighborhoods suffered frequent electrical and computer grid breakdowns, leaving thousands stranded without air conditioning, automatic doors, and other necessities. Bots stopped working. Generators and recyclable batteries helped. Still the more tech-rich you were, the greater the potential for damage.

 

Venture outside at your own risk. Summer snatched victims into its greedy hands and swallowed them whole. Each year an ever-increasing number of people died because they became trapped in their residences without cool air when the grid responsible for controlling the electric crashed or when the generators melted.

 

Which was why I was leaning over the air conditioning unit when the doors to my office yawned open. In walked two women, one whom I recognized the moment her sleek, dark blonde hair crossed the threshold. I got up to meet them before they came too far into my lobby. Midwest Territory Alliance Agent Lynn stopped. Despite wearing make-up, pockmarks spoiled her attempt at flawless. Cold blue eyes stared out. She grinned, calculated, and cool.

 

We had a complicated history due to a shared case not too long ago. She tried to get me shot, killed, and sent to the cradle for violations I didn’t commit. The entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

You can imagine my joy at seeing her again.

 

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 Topic: What makes your book different from any other book in this genre?

 

I wrote Fabricated: A Cybil Lewis SF Mystery, because I wanted to tell a story about the complexities of being in law enforcement, about wrongful incarceration and the lingering effects of death violations [murder] to those who survive. The novel isn’t just science fiction. It’s situated in the subgenre of cyberpunk. It’s also a mashup of cyberpunk and noir, established vintage noir that subverts traditionally genre stereotypes.

What sets this novel apart from other cyberpunk stories is the fact it’s told from a Black woman’s point of view. Cybil follows her own moral compass, but she definitely doesn’t work alone. She has a partner, Jane, and now Kimmila. In the future, the District, the former capital, District of Columbia, has become its own territory. In fact, the entire country has divided into territories with their own governing practices, laws, etc. But unlike the noir stereotype of the lone PI, she has an active partner in Jane and a solid group of secondary characters who aren’t all white men.

Additionally, I write to make her world be as realistic as possible as it take place in a near-future world. It’s a cyberpunk noir type of story so there’s lots of high technology, but low-value attributed to human life. For this reason, suspense, strong emotions, and genre bending come into play.

Fabricated: A Cybil Lewis SF Mystery breaks the mold on old, dusty PI stories and provides a well-rounded, inclusive, fast-paced mystery set against the backdrop of a gritty but hopeful future.

 

 

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve named her as one of the 6 Black SFF Indie Writers You Should be Reading, 30 Must-Read SFF Books by Black Authors, and The Best of the West: 8 Alternative History Westerns (Sisters of the Wild Sage). She’s a two-time Atomacon Palmetto Scribe Award winner. With over 20 years in publishing, She’s written for Pseudopod, Apex, Fiyah, White Wolf, The Realm, Baen, Subsume, and MV Media.  Nicole has over 50 published short stories, including her story, “The Way Home,” in Marvel®’s Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson anthology from Titan Books. Nicole is the author of the Cybil Lewis and Death Violations cybernoir series as well as the Kingdom of Aves fantasy mystery series.

She has conducted workshops for Writer’s Digest Online, Clarion West online, SAGA, and is the owner of Mocha Memoirs Press. She’s the editor for the groundbreaking SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire and co-editor of Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead anthology. Nicole is professional level member of SFWA and HWA. You can find her at www.nicolegivenskurtz.net

 

Social Media Platforms

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BlueSky-@ nicolegkurtz.bsky.social

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Buy Nicole a coffee at Ko-fi/nicolegkurtz

 

 

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GIVEAWAY 

Nicole Givens Kurtz will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.