The
first full-length novel in an exciting new Futuristic Fantasy series that melds
the best of Science Fiction Romance and Urban Fantasy,
and the winner
of a SFR Galaxy Award!
SPARK
RISING
Book One of
The Progenitor Saga
Available Now!
All that’s required to ignite
a revolution is a single Spark rising...
SPARK
RISING is sale-priced at .99 cents for a very limited time at all retailers!
Agent
Alex Reyes has been searching for the perfect weapon in his war against the men
and women who use his kind to fuel their re-civilization.
He’s
finally found her...
Two hundred years after the cataclysm
that annihilated fossil fuels, Sparks keep electricity flowing through their
control of energy-giving Dust. The Council of Nine rebuilt civilization on the
backs of Sparks, offering citizens a comfortable life in a relo-city in
exchange for power, particularly over the children able to fuel the future. The
strongest of the boys are taken as Wards and raised to become elite agents, the
Council’s enforcers and spies. Strong girls—those who could advance the
rapidly-evolving matrilineal power—don’t exist. Not according to the Council.
Lena Gracey died as a child, mourned publicly by parents desperate to keep her from the Council. She was raised in hiding until she fled the relo-city for solitary freedom in the desert. Lena lives off the grid, selling her power on the black market.
Agent Alex Reyes was honed into a calculating weapon at the Ward School to do the Council’s dirty work. But Alex lives a double life. He’s leading the next generation of agents in a secret revolution to destroy those in power from within.
The life Lena built to escape her past ends the day Alex arrives looking for a renegade Spark.
Lena Gracey died as a child, mourned publicly by parents desperate to keep her from the Council. She was raised in hiding until she fled the relo-city for solitary freedom in the desert. Lena lives off the grid, selling her power on the black market.
Agent Alex Reyes was honed into a calculating weapon at the Ward School to do the Council’s dirty work. But Alex lives a double life. He’s leading the next generation of agents in a secret revolution to destroy those in power from within.
The life Lena built to escape her past ends the day Alex arrives looking for a renegade Spark.
***
Hello, all!
Thank you to Aurora for allowing me to be here to share
a taste of SPARK RISING. As a veteran daydreamer, this novel seemed to be no different than any other daydream that came to me when I was meant to be doing something else. But the characters that visited me stayed with me. This was a story that needed telling. There was a young woman, living apart in the desert for the safety of those she
loves, filled with loneliness and pain and the power to manipulate energy. And, of course, there was a tall, dark, dangerous man, determined to make things better for people in this post-apocalyptic world, but so very aware that the things he did to ensure a better world meant he didn't really belong in it.
Both of them were complicated, damaged, dark characters living on the edge and coloring their lives in shades of grey. They were perfect for each other. I had to know more.
Who were they? How would they find their way to each other?
Their names are Magdalena and Alejandro. And as for how they found their way to healing (of a sort) and love (without a doubt), that is a story found in the pages of Spark Rising...
If you’d like a taste, read on for an
excerpt of Chapter One...
from SPARK RISING
“Nothing
says ‘Home, Sweet Home’ like an abandoned gas station.”
The
words came with a muffled snort from one of the two men following Lena. He
probably hadn’t meant for her to hear them—probably—but the rich, husky tone of
his voice carried them to her.
Lena
rolled her eyes, her back still to the client and his assistant. “Does my home
offend you, Mr. Reyes?” She kept her tone even and pleasant. It took effort. A
lot of effort.
“No,
no,” he answered from behind her. “I’m just trying to understand what would
make someone see this place and say, ‘Now this…this is the place I want to call
home.’” He paused. “Miss Gracey,” he added, mimicking her formality.
She
could hear his amusement. It was nothing she hadn’t heard from other clients
before. As far as she was concerned, he could keep trying. She highly doubted
he’d get it.
When
she’d arrived at the ancient gas station nine years before, she’d been fifteen
and full of rage, fear, and pride over making her escape from a life of hiding
in the city. The empty building still stood firm against the onslaught of the
world. Buckled, collapsed pavement at the far end of the lot showed where the
tanks below ground had ignited during the cataclysm two centuries before. The
void was filled with sand pushed by the wind—a shifting, fatal trap for the
unwary. A tumbleweed bounced across the rubble of the road, smashing against
teetering pump fourteen, shedding thorns and seeds as it rolled off again.
The
desolation was a reflection of Lena’s grief. She’d staked her claim on the
station and carved her home out of drifted sand and weeds. She didn’t expect
those who lived in the comfort of a relo-city—surrounded by people and walls to
keep the world at bay—to understand why it mattered to claim a corner of the
wild as hers alone. The cities that had grown out of the post-disaster
relocation centers were the last hope of those clinging to the old ways. They
were willing to give up a lot to live in safety. She knew safety was relative.
Now
her client, and the assistant who’d powered the electric vehicle to get him out
here, sized her home up as they followed her inside. The visual examination of
the home she’d built for herself, the life alone, was typical of every client,
every time.
This
time the examination, and the judgment it implied, rankled. She spun around,
mouth opened to snap at them.
She
stopped. Alejandro Reyes had removed his antique sunglasses, and his dark eyes
were focused on her. She tried to escape the intensity of them by looking down,
but that was a mistake. Instead of a heated gaze, she caught his wide-chested,
lean-hipped body as he slid closer to her like one of the big cats of the
desert, stalking prey.
He’s
not a hunter, Lena. Just another indolent client looking for a black market
charge to make his easy life easier.
Still with me? *grin*
I hope you enjoyed this taste of the
novel. I love to hear from readers (and potential readers). Feel free to visit
me at http://www.katecorcino.com or https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKateCorcino or drop me a line at
katiecorcino[at]gmail.com
If you’d like to keep reading, Spark
Rising is available in paperback form through both Amazon and Barnes&Noble
online.
It is available in a variety of
e-formats at the following retailers, and marked down to only $0.99 for a very limited time:
Nook: http://bit.ly/1ITscuU
iBooks: http://bit.ly/1wZbkzG
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1vZh8Cd
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1uNCuD6
Author Bio:
Kate Corcino is a reformed shy girl
who found her voice (and uses it...a lot). She believes in magic, coffee,
Starburst candies, genre fiction, descriptive profanity, and cackling over wine
with good friends. She also believes in the transformative power of screwing up
and second chances. Cheers to works-in-progress of the literary and lifelong
variety!
She is currently working on the continuation of the Progenitor Saga, a genre-bending near future dystopian adventure series with romance, science, magic, and plenty of action.
She is currently working on the continuation of the Progenitor Saga, a genre-bending near future dystopian adventure series with romance, science, magic, and plenty of action.
Kate lives in her beloved Southwestern
U.S. desert with her husband, several children, three dogs, and two cats.
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