Title:
The Netwalk Sequence Box Set
Author:
Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Genre:
Science Fiction—cyberpunk
Book Blurb:
IN A TECH-DRIVEN FUTURE, CONTROL OVER A WIRELESS TECH WHICH ALLOWS THE CREATION OF DIGITAL PERSONALITY UPLOADS AFTER DEATH LEADS FOUR GENERATIONS OF POWERFUL WOMEN TO SOME HARD, DIFFICULT TRUTHS.
At first, family matriarch Sarah Stephens and her daughter Diana Landreth appear to agree on just how they're going to manage that unexplainable, destructive, city-killing device called the Gizmo. The Corporate Courts appear to be an elegant solution to the problem. No one knows the Gizmo's origins, but everyone agrees--the Gizmo must never, ever be allowed to run free again.
Or do they?
As Sarah seeks political power while North America disintegrates into chaos, Diana's path leads her down a different way. Once Sarah becomes a digital personality upload, the choice of Diana as her host seems logical in the beginning.
But Diana's daughter Melanie Fielding starts seeing problems with the acrimonious relationship of Diana and Sarah. Her alliance with Diana begins to change when she realizes that Diana will place the Corporate Courts over the well-being of Melanie's daughter Bess.
The unlikely collaboration between Melanie and her brother Andrew Landreth-Stephens becomes more critical when they agree that protecting their children from whatever schemes the Gizmo is cooking up must be their priority.
Because the Gizmo has plans of its own...which may not be good for humanity in the long run.
Excerpt:
Someone’s here.
Even before the overhead motion-cued light flicked on, Diana Andrews registered the presence sitting calmly in the darkness, whoever it was breathing lightly and steadily.
Hacked the security sensors—trouble!
She dropped her ski bag and whirled toward the corner where the person was, shaking the highly illegal zapper made by her boyfriend Will Landreth out of her wrist holster, sighting down the barrel toward—her mother.
Sarah Stephens stared steadily back at Diana, legs crossed and hands relaxed on the arms of the old wooden captain’s chair Diana had borrowed from her father.
The other option.
Diana softened, sighed and dropped her hands, flicking the zapper back into its case.
I don’t know which is worse, Mother or a kidnapper.
“I do hope I didn’t see what I thought I saw,” her mother said dryly.
Diana swallowed hard and picked up her ski bag. Sarah Stephens could make trouble for Will if she pushed it. Best to distract her and not fight.
“What are you doing here?” Diana ran her finger down the bag’s seam and started dragging out her wet equipment. It had been a thoroughly mucky day on the slopes, temperatures barely above freezing, fog and mist and gloppy sticky snow that grabbed skis and snowboards.
But glorious nonetheless, because days like this were when she could meet Will with little risk.
“You’ve been out late, for conditions like they are today.” Sarah steepled her fingers and touched her index fingers to her lips.
“I’m an adult.” Diana grabbed a towel. As she dried her skis, she laid them on the sawhorses that served her as a waxing station in the condo. “I’ll be at work on time tomorrow. That should be all that matters.”
“You expose yourself needlessly.” Still no emotion in her mother’s voice.
“I had company. I wasn’t alone. I had Security—Brenda, and she brought others—and friends. Zoë Wright. Zoë had her own Security.”
Sadly, she hadn’t much time alone with Will. But given the recent visibility of Stephens Reclamation in the news, bringing Security along not only gave Diana protection from anti-Third Force guerillas seeking to find leverage to blackmail her mother, but provided cover for her time with Will.
“And William Landreth. I warned you about him.” Now the tiniest bit of anger crept into her mother’s voice, a sharp tone matched by a scowl and furrowed brows.
Diana bit her lip to keep from lashing out in response. Anger was the easy way, but it just created more issues with her mother in the long run.
She continued unpacking her gear while she thought about what to say next, stuffing her boots on their dryer and hanging her parka. Then she slipped out of her soaked ski pants, conscious of her mother’s angry glare following her every movement.
How did she find out?
Brenda Garcia and Tony Hernandez were her personal employees, not her mother’s. Still, good as they were, good as Zoë’s Security was, her mother had access to better tech.
Will had warned her this could happen.
When it does, admit it, he had suggested. Don’t risk an incident. We’ll figure something out.
“I saw Will,” she said, keeping her voice low so that the anger choking her own throat wouldn’t betray her emotions. “I’m an adult. He’s not a competitor.”
“Like hell Landreth Technologies isn’t a competitor!” her mother snapped, grabbing the chair arms and sitting stiffly upright. “Your precious wastrel may just be a trust-fund snowboarder, but damn it, if you think Parker Landreth isn’t going to pump his son about what he learns from you, you’re an idiot!”
“Will doesn’t talk to his father about us, just like I don’t talk about Landreth Technologies to you,” Diana said flatly.
She pulled off her sweater and sat in another captain’s chair across the room from her mother, forcing herself to relax every inch of her lanky frame in the hard chair. Her base layers gave her little cushioning, but at least she was somewhat warm.
Silence mounted as her mother strode back and forth, back and forth. Diana watched sharply as Sarah worked to calm herself.
What’s got herself worked up so badly this time? Sure, my relationship with Will interferes with her plans to marry me off to one of her allies. But this anger suggests more than that. What the hell happened?
Still, she stayed silent. Let her mother be the first one to talk.
At last Sarah dropped back in the captain’s chair. She mirrored Diana’s pose, leaning back in the chair, resting her hands lightly on the arms, legs stretched out in front of her. Her artificially white hair hadn’t moved a strand during that quick flash of anger and Diana stifled a shudder as the brief wrinkles from Sarah’s scowl unnaturally smoothed themselves out.
What kind of nanos is she playing with now?
“Parker Landreth issued me an ultimatum,” Sarah said, voice almost mechanical. “Get your damn daughter the hell away from my son, or I’ll own Stephens Reclamation.” Her intonation was almost a letter-perfect copy of Parker Landreth’s snarl.
Buy Links:
What makes your featured book a must-read?
A complete copy of the Netwalk Sequence series, which incorporates a dysfunctional near-future US political system, powerful women vying for control of a family’s corporation, relationships between powerful women and the men they love, the beginnings of significant space exploration, and skiing both on the Earth and on the Moon.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $35 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to win.
Runs December 13 – December 21, 2022.
Winner will be drawn on December 22, 2022.
Author Biography:
Joyce Reynolds-Ward has been called "the best writer I've never heard of" by one reviewer. Her work includes themes of high-stakes family and political conflict, digital sentience, personal agency and control, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses. She is the author of The Netwalk Sequence series, the Goddess's Honor series, and the recently released The Martiniere Legacy series. Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is the Secretary of the Northwest Independent Writers Association, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, and a member of Soroptimists International.
Social Media Links:
Facebook: Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Twitter: JReynoldsW1
Dreamwidth: jreynoldsward
Counter Social: joycereynoldsward
And my 3 Substacks:
politics https://joyce14d.substack.com
fiction https://joycef1d.substack.com