In a city where Dark Technologies Inc. now runs the show, Kadie Williams has more immediate concerns than the fall of Blaze, their guardian superhero. Almost every morning for the last few months she’s woken up with cuts and bruises on her body, and no idea how she got them. There are no nightmares. No evidence that she sleepwalks, or any sign of a break in. And nothing to tell her who’s been cleaning up after her. As just one of thousands of civilians conscripted to slave away in the labs of Professor Dark, she knew there'd be trouble ahead. But she never expected it to be so bad, or so personal.
Desperate for answers, Kadie looks to the new defender of the night, the only person who can hinder the total domination of Professor Dark—Nocturnelle. The mysterious vigilante superhero came from nowhere with her cybernetic sidekick Shadow, set on putting an end to the brutality of Dark's regime. But as his laboratories work on a new secret super-weapon, Nocturnelle and Shadow may not be enough to save Nephopolis...or to save Kadie either.
***
And there's more! Read an excerpt:
The roar of the cloudburner flaming into life woke her. The vibration as it powered up rippled through the building created a disturbance impossible to sleep through. No more being roused from sleep by the dawn chorus of traffic or a rowdy neighbor. Those days were long past. Everyone in Nephopolis woke to the sound of fire burning into the clouds, to cast a false darkness over the city. The shadow of Dark.
Kadie stretched...and froze. She stared at her left arm. A pattern of blue and purple covered her forearm, a harsh contrast to her otherwise pale skin.
She shuddered, turning her arm this way and that. Had she fallen out of bed? And if so, why hadn't she woken? She didn't remember catching it on anything yesterday that would have gone unnoticed and yet left such intense bruising. One day blurred into another now, but even so, surely she'd remember hurting herself that badly?
If I'd been conscious. She sat up and examined the bruise. It was the fourth injury in as many nights, and yet there'd been no dreams. No sign she'd left her bed in the night. Would she know if she'd been sleepwalking? After all, she lived and slept alone. Unless she was leaving her apartment to wander around in the corridors...
The idea made her stomach churn too much to consider it. Instead, she swung her legs out from under the duvet. Pale pink flannel pajamas clothed her, crumpled from a night's sleep but nothing more. Her bare feet revealed no signs of midnight wandering. What the hell had happened to her arm when everything else seemed so normal?
***
About the author
After spending
twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals
laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the
supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work
and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she
spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with
freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although
happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband
of 21 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the
Universe in her head.
Pippa Jay is a
dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works
include a YA science fiction novel—Gethyon—published
through BURST (Champagne Books), a scifi romance novella—Tethered—published by Breathless Press, a
YA paranormal romance—Restless In Peaceville—published by
Lycaon Press, three self-published short stories (Terms & Conditions Apply, The Bones of the Sea, and Reboot), and she’s one of eight authors included in a
science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy
Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands
Star Awards (2nd place).
Sign up to her no-spam newsletter HERE to stay
up to date with releases, cover reveals, sales and giveaways for all her titles
and more.
You can stalk
her at her website http://pippajay.co.uk, or at her
blog http://pippajay.blogspot.co.uk, but without
doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen
***
Happy reading!
Joyfully yours,
Heather