Spotlight & $20 GC Giveaway: FABRICATED Nicole Givens Kurtz

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nicole Givens Kurtz will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

 

Description of Fabricated

 

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.

 

Read an Excerpt of Fabricated

 

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.

 

Interview with Author Nicole Givens Kurtz

 

What do you love most about writing?

NGK: What I love best about writing is worldbuilding and character development! I love creating new places and settings. I enjoy exploring how people can hold on to their humanity in light of an everchanging and evolving world with rapid technology growth and integration. What does it mean to be human in an era where babies are hatched, cyborgs and androids co-exist and participate seamlessly into our daily lives? My science fiction deals with those type of questions.  I love that by writing, I can explore all types of scenarios, questions, and potential reactions and growth of my characters. It’s so fun, but I also learn a lot about myself and others, too.

 

 

Any challenges in writing this book?

NGK: The challenges with this book was the time delay between book three, Replicated [2018] and this one. I had the manuscript that would become Fabricated completed shortly after the third book; however it lacked an ending. Over the next seven years, I wrote the novel over three times from start to finish. I had to rip it apart, write it again, send it to my alpha reader, and also re-reading myself. Throughout each major overhaul, the story became more solid, I rediscovered Cybil’s voice and wrote a satisfying conclusion. The challenge was definitely integral to the growth and birth of the story.

 

 

Any tips to share with someone who wants to be published?

NGK: The best writing advice I was ever given was to be patient with the story. The second most valuable piece of advice I was given is to read. Writers must also be readers.

 

 

When you’re not writing, what are you up to?

NGK: When I’m not writing I am either gardening, watching anime or true crime shows or reading. Those are my hobbies. Each one ties in some way to writing. Gardening teaches me patience, which I then turn to utilize when writing. Watching anime and true crime shows help fuel ideas for my mashup stories which tend to be science fiction-mysteries and fantasy-mysteries. The same is also true for reading.

 

 

What’s your favorite song on your playlist?

NGK: Write now, today, my favorite song is Joyride by debut Kpop group, Cortis. It’s my favorite because it has these nostalgia vibes from the early 2000s. It’s beautiful, entirely too short, but it is calming yet there’s a twinge of rebellion at the end of summer/youth.

 

 

 About Author Nicole Givens Kurtz

 

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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Nicole Givens Kurtz will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.