Right on schedule, my latest book, the near-future novel Division, is available as an ebook from Amazon, B&N's Nook Store, Kobobooks, iBookstore, and Smashwords (at least), at the introductory price of $2.99. (It'll go up to $3.99 in a week or two.) I expect to bring out the paperback next year (target date: March 8, 2014).
The cover you see was quite the collaboration! I found two poses with the same model and did a mockup of my conjoined twins. Graphic designer and friend Michelle Hartz did the final photo editing. I wanted to divide the twins somehow, toying with ideas such as black lightning or a torn photograph (but will people still print photos in thirty years?). Finally, one of my beta readers (see the acknowledgments for which one :-) ) gave me the idea of separated puzzle pieces. Cover designer David Leek and I then played with the design for weeks, ending up with what you see here. (The spine and back for the paperback are really cool -- stay tuned. . . .)
So what's it about, anyway? Well, I was reading a novel by Jodi Piccoult one day, and wondered whether she'd ever try a science fiction setting for her courtroom dramas. Then I thought: why wait for her to do it? . . . Unlike Piccoult, however, I spent a bit less time on the legal proceedings and instead explored in some depth what happens after the verdict. I attempted to delve, through the very appropriate medium of SF, into themes such as the complexity and intensity of family relationships, the nature of individual identity, and the far-reaching effects of the choices we make.
And finally, here's the blurb:
New technology gives conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny new choices -- but who gets to choose?
Conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny have never let their condition keep them from living full and fulfilling lives. Gordon looks forward to many years of closeness and cooperation. Johnny, however, faces their future with increasing restlessness, even dread.
When the boys are in their teens, the new technologies of accelerated human cloning and brain transplants are combined into a single medical procedure -- Transplant to Clone, or TTC. Someone whose body has suffered such extensive damage as to make normal life impossible may -- with court approval -- be cloned and then given a brain transplant into the clone body. With Gordon's unwitting assistance, Johnny realizes that the TTC procedure provides the chance he had never dared to hope for -- the chance to live in a "normal," separate body.
But Gordon considers their conjoined life a blessing, rather than a curse. He has no intention of accepting separation -- not without a fight . . . .
If you're intrigued enough to want a sample -- or hey, go wild and grab the whole book :-) -- I'll make it easy. If you read Kindle editions, this link will take you to Amazon on any of seven countries (if I haven't lost count). For other formats, there are a slew of retailers accessible from Division's purchase page on my website.
The faint shrill sound you hear is me blowing a party horn. Hooray for release days!
