Firebreak

One young woman faces down an all-powerful corporation in this all-too-near future science fiction debut that reads like a refreshing take on Ready Player One, with a heavy dose of Black Mirror.

Ready Player One meets Cyberpunk 2077 in this eerily familiar future.

&;Twenty minutes to power curfew, and my kill counter&;s stalled at eight hundred eighty-seven while I&;ve been standing here like an idiot. My health bar is flashing ominously, but I&;m down to four heal patches, and I have to be smart.&;

New Liberty City, 2134.

Two corporations have replaced the US, splitting the country&;s remaining forty-five states (five have been submerged under the ocean) between them: Stellaxis Innovations and Greenleaf. There are nine supercities within the continental US, and New Liberty City is the only amalgamated city split between the two megacorps, and thus at a perpetual state of civil war as the feeds broadcast the atrocities committed by each side.

Here, Mallory streams Stellaxis&;s wargame SecOps on BestLife, spending more time jacked in than in the world just to eke out a hardscrabble living from tips. When a chance encounter with one of the game&;s rare super-soldiers leads to a side job for Mal&;looking to link an actual missing girl to one of the SecOps characters. Mal&;s sudden burst in online fame rivals her deepening fear of what she is uncovering about BestLife&;s developer, and puts her in the kind of danger she&;s only experienced through her avatar.

Author Kornher-Stace&;s adult science fiction debut&;Firebreak&; is loaded with ambitious challenges and a city to save.