Fabricated Book Tour

Lily, 10 months ago

Goddess Fish Promotions Presents

Fabricated
by Nicole Givens Kurtz

A randomly drawn winner will receive a $20 Amazon/BN GC – Enter Below

Cybil Lewis, a private inspector in futuristic D.C., now The District, begrudgingly works with the Territory Alliance agents to track down an escaped violator, Nico Mars. Almost immediately, Cybil is tossed into the District’s gritty underbelly of political ambition, drugs, and betrayal. This case will take her and Jane deep into the reaches of The District’s notorious Sector 12, where life is cheap and currency is king. When her investigation leads back to those responsible for protecting citizens, Cybil discovers she’s in danger. She’s reminded once again that everything can be fabricated.

The Misery of the Mashup

In January 2021, Book Riot called me “A genre polymath who does crime, horror, and SFF, she brings a delightfully pulpy twist to everything she writes, whether it’s mashing up fantasy or science fiction with mystery or penning weird westerns,” [Resource here] . It’s safe to say I write almost exclusively mashups. From each of the series I write, Cybil Lewis SF, Kingdom of Aves, Dead-end Job and Minister Knight of Souls, there exists many of those genres Book Riot called out. My favorite mashup is science fiction and mystery and also fantasy and mystery. There are pros and cons to blending genres.

Despite the genre rules that allows bookstores and online stores to market and categorize titles, most stories include mash-ups or combinations of other genres. It’s a bit of an open secret.

One of the things I love about writing blended genres is the ability to expand the story. It helps with verisimilitude. We don’t live our lives in one singular genre. Humans lives are complex and messy. Some days are lovely and romantic, other days mournful and exhausting, a real terror. As such, when writing stories, I write to make them as realistic as possible, especially in the Cybil Lewis stories as they take place in a near-future world. It’s a cyberpunk noir type of story so there’s lots of high technology, but low-value attributed to human life. For this reason, suspense, strong emotions, and genre bending come into play.

Another reason I love mashups is the ability to have fun. Stories are meant to be entertaining. Of course, they can be educational as well, but as a former secondary teacher I can tell you, students like to have a good time when they’re learning. It also applies to adults and readers. That doesn’t mean humorous per se, but the stories should be engaging. While incorporating different elements, particularly mystery and suspense to science fiction, we’re able to draw in readers in search of the whodunit culprit.

The title of this piece is the “Misery of Mashup.” So far I’ve only discussed the benefits of mashing up genres. Where’s the misery?

The primary con I have found when writing blended genres is bookstores don’t know where to shelve it and readers sometimes don’t know what to make of it. For example, if a reader goes into Fabricated thinking it’s strictly a science fiction/cyberpunk story, they may be dismayed by the intricate mystery that is the driving force of the protagonist and the story’s plot. Or if they’re looking for a traditional noir, with a lone, male, cigarette smoking with popped trenchcoat collar and clearly defined good guys and bad girls, they may be disappointed in the mash up and subversion.

Overall, there’s more joy in writing mashups for me, then misery. I invite everyone to try mashups and blended stories and try not to hold on to the rigidness of genre rules. Start with Fabricated: A Cybil Lewis SF Mystery.

If it’s one thing I’ve learned in my nearly forty years is this—trust your gut.

If I had, things would’ve gone much more smoothly.

Who am I?

I’m Cybil Lewis. Private Inspector licensed in The District Territory. July felt like an oven left on high. The sun’s rays rebounded off the pavement, fiberglass, and metal, back into people’s faces. An energy nightmare, certain neighborhoods suffered frequent electrical and computer grid breakdowns, leaving thousands stranded without air conditioning, automatic doors, and other necessities. Bots stopped working. Generators and recyclable batteries helped. Still the more tech-rich you were, the greater the potential for damage.

Venture outside at your own risk. Summer snatched victims into its greedy hands and swallowed them whole. Each year an ever-increasing number of people died because they became trapped in their residences without cool air when the grid responsible for controlling the electric crashed or when the generators melted.

Which was why I was leaning over the air conditioning unit when the doors to my office yawned open. In walked two women, one whom I recognized the moment her sleek, dark blonde hair crossed the threshold. I got up to meet them before they came too far into my lobby. Midwest Territory Alliance Agent Lynn stopped. Despite wearing make-up, pockmarks spoiled her attempt at flawless. Cold blue eyes stared out. She grinned, calculated, and cool.

We had a complicated history due to a shared case not too long ago. She tried to get me shot, killed, and sent to the cradle for violations I didn’t commit. The entire experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

You can imagine my joy at seeing her again.

Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve named her as one of the 6 Black SFF Indie Writers You Should be Reading, 30 Must-Read SFF Books by Black Authors, and The Best of the West: 8 Alternative History Westerns (Sisters of the Wild Sage). She’s a two-time Atomacon Palmetto Scribe Award winner. With over 20 years in publishing, She’s written for Pseudopod, Apex, Fiyah, White Wolf, The Realm, Baen, Subsume, and MV Media. Nicole has over 50 published short stories, including her story, “The Way Home,” in Marvel®’s Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson anthology from Titan Books. Nicole is the author of the Cybil Lewis and Death Violations cybernoir series as well as the Kingdom of Aves fantasy mystery series.

She has conducted workshops for Writer’s Digest Online, Clarion West online, SAGA, and is the owner of Mocha Memoirs Press. She’s the editor for the groundbreaking SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire and co-editor of Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead anthology. Nicole is professional level member of SFWA and HWA. You can find her at www.nicolegivenskurtz.net.

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