Kinetics
by Nathaniel J. Koszer
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GENRE: Sci-Fi
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BOOK BLURB:
After stoking rebellions across the globe, six super-powered LO-ECs dealt a massive blow to the military by disabling their worldwide communication tower. But in doing so, they suffered grave injuries, and Spidre, the world leader, will not let them rest. As he desperately clings to power, there is only one course of action for the LO-ECs: hide and heal, then finally bring the fight to Spidre’s front door.
Breaching Spidre’s force field will require splitting up and launching simultaneous surprise attacks all over the world. And in some of these places, the military is the least of the LO-ECs’ concerns. They’ll also face legions of robots controlled by an eccentric oligarch, guerilla outfits led by their own super-powered LO-ECs, and the ever-present threat of being discovered and bombed into dust by a world leader with nothing left to lose.
If their power is enough to survive all of this, the reward for the LO-ECs is a confrontation with Spidre at his compound, complete with all of the secrets and plans he has amassed for the last twenty years.
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EXCERPT TWO:
“We’ve got to leave now!” Naren yelled to Edgar and Symon as he landed and set Sera down. She was shaky, but able to stand on her own. Symon and Edgar were walking onto the field from a tunnel in the southeast corner of the stadium. Both of them had their hands wrapped around the grips of their elcycles, powerful electric motorcycles powered by their LO-EC energy. Walking with them was Eric, the person who had taken up the role of leading the rebellion in Pittsburgh.
“You’re leaving!? After what just happened!?” Eric screamed.
“That happened because we’re here!” Symon snapped back. “We need to get out of this city, and do it loudly enough that everyone knows we’re gone.”
“Sera told me the plan before she took off. Together we programmed the coordinates for her garden in New Orleans,” Edgar said.
“We aren’t going to New Orleans,” Naren replied. Sera’s head snapped up to look at him, then as she realized the issue, her head sank.
“Isn’t it the closest place that we have a safe hideout?” Edgar asked. “They just tried to bomb us here. If we get spotted entering New Orleans, the same thing will happen. It’d be the same no matter where we go. If there are peacekeepers there, then it isn’t safe now.”
“So where do we go?” Sera asked, her eyes filled with tears.
“Why are you all standing around?! We have to get to Symon’s hideout!” Nadine screamed as she and Victor set their feet on the ground. She was happy and relieved to know she could now carry him with little effort. The last time she had tried, it was almost a disaster.
The plan clicked into place in everyone’s head. They had spent weeks at Symon’s hideout, an old house in an abandoned city called San Diego. It was now their best chance at hiding out without risking the lives of others.
“Eric, we’re going to blast right through the peacekeeper’s front line, make sure they know we’ve left the city. Go up into the lookout and signal to us if you see any targets we can hit,” Naren directed.
“Victor, you’ll be at the front. When we get the signal from Eric up high, you mow the road,” Naren said. Victor nodded.
“Edgar, you’ll be on an elcycle in the middle, with Sera riding in front of you,” Naren continued. “If anyone gets close, you know what to do. Symon, you’ll be in the back providing suppressive fire to our rear as we escape. Nadine and I will be up high and go wherever we’re needed.”
When Naren concluded his directions, everyone moved with haste. Edgar and Symon re-programmed the elcycles to go to San Diego and put them into position at the north of the field. Symon reached into one of the cargo bags on the elcycle and pulled out the retrofitted peacekeeper armor part that he’d had since the first major battle in Chicago. He slid his arm into the piece of armor and when it connected with the microtransformer in his hand, the mounted machine gun whirred to life, ready to fire once again. Naren helped Sera onto the other elcycle. Edgar hopped on behind her, and they were ready to go.
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GUEST POST:
My new novel Kinetics and its direct prequel Latency, which was published in 2024, would be nothing but boring exposition were it not for the six main protagonists that give it life. I wanted to take some time on this tour to give readers a chance to learn about or brush up on these characters so three of the tour stops, including this one, feature some quick character bios! Sera and Naren are featured over on Long and Short Reviews (LASR), and Victor and Symon can be found on Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog. Here on Fabulous and Brunette, I will be exploring Nadine and Edgar more, so please read on to learn more about them.
NADINE
Nadine is an offensive powerhouse. She is rippling muscles from head to toe and a master at hand-to-hand combat. Thanks to her abilities as a LO-EC, she is also able to emit bursts of energy from her hands and feet, which she uses to give her punches and kicks significant additional pep. During the events of Latency, she eventually learns how to use this power to create flight. And as if all that wasn’t enough, she also rivals her twin brother Naren in terms of strategizing capabilities.
Nadine and Naren were six years old when the LO-EC extermination campaign came to their hometown of Chicago. Their father, a former military officer, led a failed rebellion against the would-be military occupiers. Before the military could get their hands on Nadine and Naren, he put them on a train out of the city to live with relatives who were safe from harm.
Twenty years later, Naren had joined his military himself using an altered version of their father’s ID. Meanwhile, Nadine stayed off the radar and set up an underground net access point to find out more about their history and potentially locate other folks who wanted to see the militarized world government overthrown. When Naren found a lead on another LO-EC survivor in New Orleans, he left Nadine behind until the opportunity to reunite presented itself.
Nadine waited patiently for eighteen months until finally, a very risky message came to her over the net access point she created. It was Naren, telling her to enter an upcoming fighting tournament and use the prize money to reach New Orleans. At the tournament, Nadine met two more LO-ECs, Symon and Edgar, hoping to use the tournament to their own advantages.
Nadine accidentally reveals her powers during the tournament, and Symon and Edgar help her evade capture. Edgar further assists in getting her to New Orleans, where they help Naren help his girlfriend, another LO-EC named Sera, to destroy three androids that killed her parents during the extermination campaign twenty years prior. After that, the LO-ECs go from city to city dismantling the existing military presence and stoking rebellions. It is during this time that Nadine and Edgar fall in love, and also nearly lose each other.
EDGAR
While he isn’t quite at the same level as Nadine, Edgar’s power, drive, and willingness to learn have turned him into a force to be reckoned with. He is the physically largest of the LO-ECs and built like a brick house. His LO-EC abilities enable him to create blades of pure energy that stretch about four feet out from each hand. When he is first introduced in Latency he is strong, but lacking in real combat training, and can only create an energy blade on one hand or the other, not both. As he trained, he was able to produce more energy, and by the end of Latency is using both blades with certain and deadly precision.
Edgar largely stumbles into the main plot by accident. He joins the same fighting tournament as Nadine, hoping to use the prize winnings to live independently for awhile after having had a run in with the military that split him from his caretakers. Thinking he was the only LO-EC left alive, he assumed he would be the strongest tournament entrant by a long shot. Unfortunately for him Nadine had the same idea. In their fight, Nadine had the clear advantage, and Edgar tries to get the upper hand by using his powers. Nadine responded by using her own powers on reflex, but her use of them was noticed by the onlooking military forces. She was captured but Edgar managed to escape thanks to intervention by Symon, another LO-EC who was using the chaos of the tournament to find some rare goods he wanted.
Since Nadine was a fellow LO-EC and captured because of him, Edgar felt compelled to help her, and Symon agreed to do so as well. They launched an assault on the military convoy transporting her. After a brief but tense fight with Spidre, the high ruler of earth and a fellow LO-EC, they escaped and fled East. It was at this point that Nadine finally told Edgar about the message from her brother Naren, and her need to get to New Orleans to help him. Edgar agreed to tag along and was indispensable in the ensuing fight with the androids.
Edgar continued to join the rest of the LO-ECs on their tear across the world liberating cities from military occupation. One of these fights nearly caused him to lose his life, but the experience solidified his and Nadine’s feelings for one another and their desire to have a romantic relationship.
Thanks for reading about these characters that I’ve put my heart and soul into. Please be sure to check out the bios on Sera and Naren on LASR and Victor and Symon over at Gina Rae Mitchell’s blog. I hope that those who have been inspired to pick up Kinetics and/or Latency enjoy the story!
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AUTHOR BIO & LINKS:
Nate grew up in Brooklyn NY, but now calls the Bronx home along with his wife and their sons. Nate grew up on all things sci-fi. Partly due to his chronic illness, Nate always had a special place in his heart for the X-Men, and especially the invulnerable Wolverine. This was heavy inspiration for his first novel, Latency a superhero sci-fi story which released March 5, 2024. His second novel, Kinetics, will release on March 4, 2025.
Website:
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AMAZON BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
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Thank you so much for featuring KINETICS.
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ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading this book. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds very interesting. Thanks!
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