"[N]ot everyone is pleased with society's progress, and not everyone wants to fit in. When Anais witnesses a brutal murder on an innocent citizen and is implicated in the crime, she becomes determined to uncover the truth, especially when others like it begin to occur all over the city. But it may already be too late for Anais to stop the man who calls himself 'the Hacker' before he commits his most appalling crime yet." - author
Description:
Published April 1st, 2015
This city is falling.
Seventeen-year-old Anais Finch lives in a world where everyone is born beautiful, where every dream is a possibility - and where their every move and every piece of personal information is recorded by an ID picochip inserted behind their right ear. When technology giant, Civitas, finally announces the launch of their highly anticipated Scholarly Learning Programs, which allow people to download and learn any subject instantly, Anais can hardly wait.
But not everyone is pleased with society's progress, and not everyone wants to fit in. When Anais witnesses a brutal murder on an innocent citizen and is implicated in the crime, she becomes determined to uncover the truth, especially when others like it begin to occur all over the city. But it may already be too late for Anais to stop the man who calls himself 'the Hacker' before he commits his most appalling crime yet...
GUEST POST
Synthetica playlist
If you'd asked me a few years ago what my favourite music was, I would've answered Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy without any hesitation. I'll admit it – I was definitely an emo in school. If it was dark, had strong lyrics and the band had grungy-looking frontman, I was sold.
But now? My music tastes vary as much as my taste in books – Taylor Swift, Hozier, Mumford & Sons, Christina Perri, The Pretty Reckless, George Ezra, King Charles, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Of Monsters and Men, anything from the eighties - you get the picture. If it's got a good beat, I'll listen to it. I don't really mind what genre it's from, so long as I can nod along to it (I'm actually listening to Blondie as I write this).
While I'll always love Green Day and MCR, I began to realise that it was only through listening to other songs and genres of music that I felt truly inspired to write. Green Day is great for dark, emotional scenes – but what about my romantic scenes? My happy scenes? The scene where my MC is simply hanging out with her best friend (just before something dark and emotional happens, obviously)? Whenever I switched on the radio, I found myself imagining new scenes and making up conversations between characters to whatever song was playing at the time – and that was when I realised if I wanted to get to the heart of my story, I'd have to change my writing playlist. So it was with this new attitude towards music that I started to write Synthetica.
I also promised myself when I began Synthetica that I would have fun writing it. I knew that if I didn't have fun, I would never get it finished. So instead of pigeon-holing myself into listening to my type of music, I decided to play anything I liked the sound of, and luckily, this gamble paid off. I have never had as much fun writing anything, as I have writing Synthetica.
So, without further ado, here's my (current) writing playlist*:
Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
Wings by Little Mix
I Am Not A Robot by Marina and the Diamonds
Centuries by Fall Out Boy
Wake Me Up by Avicii
Hey Brother by Avicii
Let It Go by Idina Menzel (Don't judge me - this is an awesome song!)
Are You Satisfied? by Marina and the Diamonds
You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison by My Chemical Romance
If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray (thank you Vikings, for this one!)
The Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games soundtrack
Left Hand Free by alt-J
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
Hollywood by Marina and the Diamonds
The Great and the Good by Max Raptor
Do You Hear The People Sing? from the Les Miserables soundtrack
Demons by Imagine Dragons
Solo Dancing by Indiana
Hideaway by Kiesza
Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson
Take Me To Church by Hozier
I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons
Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless
Although I know that I'll probably change my writing playlist again for my new WIP, there are songs that I have no doubt will remain staples for the whole Synthetica series. There were a couple of songs that I listened to, and immediately thought of scenes for the second and third books in the trilogy, so I know I'll definitely be revisiting them while outlining those books.
*I've actually cut it down to the songs I listened to the most - my original playlist is over 2 hours long, and far far too many songs for me to list here...
EXCERPT
(Prologue):
The green light flashed. Finally, the program was online.
He paused, staring at the computer screen, hardly daring to believe it. The computer was an antique from the 21st Century, but using such old technology had its advantages. For one, it meant that its software didn't register on modern computer models, making it laughably easy to hack into any new system. These people truly were arrogant if they believed themselves to be untouchable.
Well, he was just about to prove to them just how wrong they were.
He skimmed the text with an expert eye, registering certain details as they leapt out at him. ID number, name, age, job title, where they lived, even what they ate last week. His laugh was muffled by the black mask strapped across the lower half of his face. This was almost too easy. It was almost as if they wanted to die.
His fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed in commands, the computer whining as he pushed it to its maximum capacity. He pressed the 'Enter' key without pausing.
Whilst he waited for confirmation that his command had been sent, his grey eyes wandered over to the small box of picochips on the desk; their silver and bronze whorls twinkling in the half light. If this test worked...these tiny wonders he created were about to change the world.
Ten years. Ten years he'd been waiting for this moment. Waiting for them to mess up. Waiting for them to create something he could manipulate to his own ends. And finally, it was here. All of his waiting and planning would finally pay off.
The computer beeped, telling him that his command had been accepted by the host. Behind his mask he smiled a cold, cruel smile.
Time to see what Mr Smithson was capable of. He wondered, just for the briefest of seconds, if Mr Smithson had any objection to becoming a murderer. Not that it mattered if he did – he'd be dead in a few hours anyway.
from Chapter One
The first time Anais saw a man being murdered, she was just seventeen.
She was already acquainted with death – having witnessed the traditional burning of both sets of grandparents some years earlier, she knew what was what. But she'd never seen someone actually die. She'd never seen someone murder a man in cold blood. It was not to be the last.
It was a cold, clear day, which marked the beginning of autumn in the Imperial City. The trees were a riot of colour, their crisp leaves crunching underfoot or floating dreamily on the still warm breeze. Anais was safe at home. She opened up the Food Dispensation Unit to find breakfast, predictably, waiting for her.
“Good morning, Anais. Your biometrics indicate that you are lacking in protein today. Please find your suggested breakfast option below,” the cool female voice that inhabited the FDU intoned. Anais looked at the plate of diced avocado and bobbly cottage cheese, sprinkled with quinoa, in disgust and almost threw up.
“System override,” she said hastily. “Requesting bacon and eggs.”
The FDU was quiet for a moment, in what Anais imagined to be a sullen silence.
“This course is not recommended,” the voice said. “Bacon and eggs has been requested three times in the last seven days. Variation at meal times is the best option in getting the recommended amount of vitamins and minerals per day.” Was it Anais' imagination, or was there a hint of reproach in the machine's voice?
“Then stop making me stupid meals,” Anais muttered. A little louder she said, “System override.”
The FDU remained silent. It's definitely taking longer to prepare food Anais thought. Could machines have feelings, or was she simply being paranoid? After a few seconds, the offending plate slid out of view, and a minute later a new one rose up, complete with three steaming rashers of bacon and two fried eggs.
“Stingy,” Anais said as she inspected the plate. “You definitely gave me four rashers the other day.”
The FDU didn't reply, so Anais shut the door with her elbow and turned away to place her breakfast on the table. She sat down and began to tuck in, although she couldn't help feeling that the bacon wasn't quite as crispy as usual, and the yolk in her eggs was only just runny – clearly, she'd caused offence one too many times.
With a sigh of satisfaction, she pushed her empty plate away and touched a spot on the glass table in front of her. The embedded screen flickered into life, the latest news and entertainment stories popping up to greet her. She scrolled through the different windows, occasionally skim-reading a headline that looked interesting. One pop-up informed her that black and white stripes were back in season; while an advertisement for prenatal conditioning flashed repeatedly (Let your baby shine; neon DNA now half price! Only 2,000 CRD for a limited time only!). She touched the glass, beginning to turn off all the pointless notifications, when one of them caught her eye, hidden behind a slew of advertisements and celebrity gossip feeds. Her heart leapt. She maximised the window and began to read eagerly.
About the author:
So what
qualifies me to be a writer? Well, ever since an early age I've been more
interested in the worlds in my head, than the real one - so I thought it was
finally time to do something about it. I went to uni, got a degree in
publishing, worked in an office for a while, decided I hated it, went to China,
came back...and now I'm a teaching assistant by day and a YA writer by night.
Phew! It's been quite a journey, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
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