I'm pleased to announce the release of Flesh & Wires, a debut novel by Jackie Hatton, in both print and e-book editions. (Jackie read from the novel with other Aqueduct writers at the last WisCon.) Following a failed alien invasion the world left is sparsely populated with psychologically scarred survivors, some of them technologically-enhanced women. Lo, leader of the small safe haven of Saugatuck, find their technological enhancements put to the test when a spaceship arrives bearing two men with both wonderful and terrifying news. Is this the beginning of a new era of reconstruction — or the start of a new battle for survival? Not everyone in town wants to fight every comer. Not everyone in town shares Lo’s mistrust of outsiders. This is the story not only of Lo’s battle to protect the safe isolation of her unique community, but also of her struggle to come to terms with a constantly changing and uncertain world.
Publishers Weekly writes: “Hatton creates an unusual, almost entirely Sapphic culture, and the futuristic technologies she introduces are inventive and terrifying. Her prose style captures the peculiarities of this altered world with broad brushstrokes.”
“Jackie Hatton has taken familiar science fiction tropes – alien invasion, the destruction of most of Earth, advanced technology so incomprehensible that it might as well be magic – and turned them into a story that transcends the genre. Instead of the usual tale of evil villains, weak humans, and one brilliant hero, we get complicated human and alien characters dealing with messy situations: that is, real life in dangerous times. There’s plenty of action, but it rarely solves things in the way that the characters, or readers, expect. If, like me, you’re tired of stories with predictable outcomes, this book is for you. “—Nancy Jane Moore, author of The Weave
“In Flesh & Wires Jackie Hatton shows us real women in extreme circumstances: survivors of disaster, traumatized and divided among themselves, with superhuman powers and all-too-human hearts. As they confront change, we witness their desperation, their hope, their need to discover the full range of their powers. A provocative and exciting debut.”—Julie Phillips, author of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice Sheldon
Flesh & Wires raises questions about community, colonialism, immigration and basic human rights and challenges our assumptions about the ties and obligations of family, community and society in a crisis. You can purchase it now through Aqueduct's site.
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