Blurb:
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.
When Dark Falls is an alternative 1920s superhero romance released by Breathless Press on the 21st November. Add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. Sign up to my no-spam newsletter HERE to stay up to date with releases, cover reveals, sales and giveaways for all my titles and more.
Excerpts:
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?
2.
Nocturnelle
perched on the carved griffin statue decorating the tower's cornerstone, with
hundreds of feet of empty space between her and the ground below. Her second
skin felt tight. It was a familiar sensation and yet always the first thing she
noticed on waking, as if her body needed to remind her of the fact. She
stretched and her outer skin crackled like leather. She flexed her fingers, the
delicate oh-so-white digits a stark contrast to her black arms. Silver lines
marked her left forearm, and she frowned at them. She was meant to be
impervious to blades and bullets, and yet somehow, not too long ago, she must
have injured herself.
As she rose, her
skin creaked. She stretched again, and then tugged her hands through her hair,
pulling the thick swathe of black silk from her face and knotting it at the
back. Darkest Night forbid it should get in her way. The second skin pressed
tight against her forehead, running around her eyes and mouth, cradling her
chin. She ran her fingers around the edges, tracing the outline. Perfect. Her
body tingled as though electricity danced in her veins, and she smiled.
Breathed in the evening air. This was her time.
Viscous and
reeking, the night sky hung over the city of Art Deco towers and buildings like
an oil-slick. Behind her, the metallic chinking of the cloudburner cooling
after a day spent scorching the sky ticked away the seconds like a clock.
"Nelle?"
The deep male
voice sent a shiver down her back, and she turned. "Ah, my faithful
Shadow. Ready for another night-time jaunt?"
A figure stepped
out of the shadows to join her. He matched her for height; his whipcord frame
clad in a charcoal-colored armor vest, black combats, and a hip-length military
jacket. When the rooftop lights hit his face, the chiseled jawline showed; his
skin a dark tan. He wore a mask over his eyes, but his teeth gleamed white when
he smiled. And when he smiled, something inside Nelle set her heart racing.
"Ready and
set, Nelle."
Bio:
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 YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to
the paranormal, often with romance, 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).
Website
– http://www.pippajay.co.uk
Blogs
–
Adventures
in Scifi - http://www.pippajay.blogspot.co.uk
Spacefreighters
Lounge - http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com
Romancing
the Genres - http://www.romancingthegenres.blogspot.co.uk/
SFR
Brigade - http://www.sfrcontests.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter
- https://twitter.com/pippajaygreen
Pinterest
- http://www.pinterest.com/pippajaygreen/
Amazon page - http://www.amazon.com/Pippa-Jay/e/B0080QVWEE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1406376408&sr=8-1
Buy Links:
Breathless
Press - http://www.breathlesspress.com/index.php?main_page=product_free_shipping_info&cPath=25&products_id=691
Bookstrand - http://tinyurl.com/kkonr53
All Romance
eBooks - http://tinyurl.com/n873eap
Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/495412
Web page to
other links - http://www.pippajay.co.uk/#!when-dark-falls/cl15
Contest:
Open
internationally until the 19th December. I’ve donned my superhero guise for the
length of the tour, and you get to name me and decide my talent(s)! If I like it,
I may include it in the sequel to When Dark Falls and credit you in the
acknowledgements. To enter, please put the name, talent, and your contact
details in the comments. Please note - by entering this contest you are giving
me full permission for me to use the superhero name without any recompense to
you, financially or otherwise, other than the acknowledgement, and you are waiving
any rights to the name. You’ll also get a digital format of your choice for When
Dark Falls.
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