LATENCY
by Nathaniel Koszer
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GENRE: Sci Fi biotech
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BLURB:
Sera is a LO-EC, a human who gained superpowers as an unintended side effect of a biotechnological breakthrough. Her unique abilities allowed her to survive while others like her, including her parents, were exterminated by a world government fearful of their potential.
After decades of hiding, she meets Naren, another superpowered survivor who has infiltrated the ranks of the military. Together, they form a plan to unite with other surviving LO-ECs, claim vengeance against the forces who murdered their families, and ultimately stoke a worldwide rebellion against the government that wanted them dead.
The entirety of 26th century Earth’s armed forces stand in their way: Soldiers equipped with terrifying weaponry, armies with electromagnetic cannons, merciless bloodthirsty androids, and Spidre, the World Leader with unnatural abilities of his own. The world brought Sera and the other LO-ECs pain and loss, and they’re determined to return it in kind.
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Excerpt One:
In the basement of a skyscraper hundreds of stories high, a constant shaking and groaning accompanied the cacophony of breaking glass and falling bricks from the street above. A man and a woman had spent the night here, fearing those sounds meant their building was on the verge of collapse. Finally, the sun rose and the sounds gave way to stillness. The death of the noises gave life to new fears, in that now the man and woman had to take action.
“Are there any sort of supplies on the cycles?” the man asked. He was bleary-eyed, his face was flush, and even the simple task of standing up seemed to be a struggle.
“I doubt it,” the woman replied, her expression as beleaguered as his. “And you’re sure there was nothing in these boxes?” she continued, glancing around the small storage room.
The man shook his head. “Just lots of cleaning supplies. And we can’t risk going back upstairs,” he replied. “I can’t even hear the big one lumbering around, that has to mean they’re searching another building. We need to move now. We’ll worry about supplies after we get out of New Orleans, and after it feels safe.”
The woman nodded and walked over to one smaller pile of boxes. She pulled them away and the room lit up in an orange glow. The boxes had been covering a young girl, no more than six years old, whose skin had trails of orange light swirling across her arms, legs, and face.
“We need to leave, sweetie. We’re going to find our cycles in the garage, Ok?”
The little girl nodded.
“Do you remember that woman? Alison?” she asked the girl. “Do you remember where she and her friends live?”
The little girl nodded slowly, while the man’s face furrowed with skepticism.
“If anything happens to us, you go straight to her. Do you understand?”
“She can’t go to them!” the man exclaimed in an elevated whisper. “They’re a bunch of fanatics!”
“They are, but they will keep her safe!” the woman responded
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What makes your book different from any other book in this genre
Latency has unique aspects specifically because it is a book. This always seems strange to admit as an author, but I am by no means a prolific reader. I listen to a few audiobooks a year and that’s about it. What I have consumed a lot of is other science fiction media (movies, TV shows, comic books, video games) and Latency uses a lot of ideas that are much more common, albeit explored differently, in those other spaces and throws them together in an 83,000 word novel.
The unique aspect of Latency readers will first notice is that there are six protagonists. Yes, this book bounces back and forth across six different character’s points of view throughout its chapters. Multi-POV books do occur in sci-fi and fantasy novels, but having this many is a rarity. But for comic books and anime, six main characters is standard fair. The X-men, who are arguably the single biggest influence behind Latency, have dozens of characters who all take the “main character” role at some point. In anime there is usually one “main” character, but they are often flanked by several other protagonists who are united in their goals and who are frequently just as powerful, engaging, and interesting as the main character.
One part of Latency that I do think is truly unique, even if you include tv, film, games, and comics, is the origin story of the characters superpowers. It is also unique in the sense that the inspiration for it came from one single source. That source is The Matrix, the epic sci-fi action movie from 1999. I was intrigued by the idea of machines using human body heat and synaptic energy as a fuel source and was always frustrated that no one ever wrote a story exploring what would happen if we, humans, were able to store and use that energy. Eventually I got tired of waiting for someone else and wrote it myself, and thus Latency was born.
Bio-punk as a genre isn’t really explored much as it can be, and that’s unfortunate. In fact, I have now had to explain what the bio-punk genre is to easily a dozen different people, and some were prolific readers and even librarians! My go-to now is to say something like “You ever read or see a story where people get genetically spliced to have animal features? That’s bio-punk,” and that is really what most people’s familiarity with the genre is. I’d love to see more bio-punk, and I’m glad I have a bio-punk superhero book coming out into the world.
The last unique feature of my book was one I learned recently, when doing an interview for another podcast. The interviewer said that the protagonists in Latency felt like real people, that there was interpersonal conflict but that an overall gentle understanding made it believable when they eventually reconciled their differences. So I guess what makes Latency different is empathy. Don’t get it confused though. When it comes to their enemies, the six protagonists are brutal, some might even say remorseless. But when they finally meet up with each other, they understand the hard life each has led and keep that in mind as they all work through their hangups. Having six main characters helps here. If two of them have an issue, there is always one or two other characters around who can see a middle ground. But even in instances where there is no mediator, characters work through their differences in a relatively healthy way.
It was not even a conscious decision to write characters like this, at least not exactly. What I was trying to avoid was something that annoyed me about many other fiction stories: Two characters having a huge fight, one that if it happened in real life would irreparably damage the relationship, but a few chapters or episodes later they’re friends or lovers or teammates again like nothing ever happened. I didn’t want that, but it was also hard to imagine six characters coming from different backgrounds being in complete agreement with each other about everything all the time. Empathy was just the middle ground I landed on, and hearing that it makes my book unique makes me very happy (and also a little sad, because let your characters have empathy people!).
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Nate grew up in Brooklyn NY, but now calls the Bronx home along with his wife and their sons. Nate grew up on all things sci-fi. Partly due to his chronic illness, Nate always had a special place in his heart for the X-Men, and especially the invulnerable Wolverine. This was heavy inspiration for his first novel, Latency a superhero sci-fi story to be released March 5, 2024.
Website: https://natekoszer.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/natejklol.bsky.social
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Latency-Nathaniel-Koszer/dp/1962308073/ref=sr_1_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1489470
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Thank you so much for featuring this book and author today.
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