QSFer BJ Sikes has a new queer dystopian cli-fi book out (non-binary; lesbian side characters): Bermondsey Girl.
“I remember how things used to be. I had a garden with flowers in it. I’ve seen the ocean, I’ve eaten real food. Now all we’ve got is this.”
Bermondsey’s inhabitants are shut in, all their needs met in automated tower blocks. No one goes outside because the streets regularly flood. Just to keep rich people on the other side of the river safe.
Idonny’s days are spent answering pointless online surveys for luxury goods she’ll never see, her nights in the arms of tough guys who only see her as a warm body.
Everything shifts when Idonny meets Kaver, an injured stranger who needs her help. For the first time, she defies her current boyfriend to help Kaver. She reaches out to her neighbors in the tower block, banding together against the gangs prowling the hallways.
Then, the government begins withdrawing resources from her community and food becomes scarce. Idonny tries to get involved in the underground economy providing for her fellow residents, but they don’t trust her. And her forbidden friendship with Kaver deepens, offering her a chance at real love-if she’s brave enough to take it.
When violence between rival gangs erupts around her, Idonny must decide whether to stay enmeshed as the ever-loyal girlfriend or strike out on her own.
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Excerpt
Idonny watched him buckle on belts full of weapons and ammunition. His ruddy face was tense with concentration and an unsavory pleasure. He seemed to have forgotten she was there.
“Ray? Do you love me?”
He didn’t even look up.
“Iddy, don’t be such an iddy-ot.”
He guffawed as he tightened a buckle, showing a mouth full of gaps between yellowed teeth. Idonny grimaced. She knew better than to ask him that kind of question. And why did he have to call her Iddy? Idonny didn’t complain out loud. He was liable to give her a slap. His insult stung a little but after years of being told she was too stupid for a good school or a good job, she didn’t think much of it.
She drew her feet up under her knit tunic dress and cuddled Kitty closer. Kitty loved her and never said mean things to her. Idonny snuffled her nose into Kitty’s fur. It smelled like nothing but Kitty. Kitty-smell blocked out the acrid reek of burnt propellant that always clung to Ray. She wished he would leave but was afraid he wouldn’t come back. He would leave soon, now that she had given him what he wanted.
Author Bio
BJ Sikes is a 5’6″ ape descendant who is inordinately fond of a good strong cup of tea, Doc Marten boots, and fancy dress. I live with one large cat, two sweet teenagers, and one editor-author, plus an array of chickens in a place very unlike my homeland.
My fave genre is historical fantasy with themes of a woman’s struggle for agency.
After writing a dissertation on avocado root rot, I was drawn back to my first love, fiction. My debut novel, the Archimedean Heart, is the first book in the Roboticist of Versailles world, a French Belle Epoque that never was. The Vitruvian Mask is the second full novel set in that world and The Electric Prophet occurs between those two books. The Cultist’s Wife is a departure from that story world and genre, but still features women trying to find independence.
I am the Author Head for Clockwork Alchemy, a steampunk convention in the San Francisco Bay Area. For anyone who loves sci-fi with an alternate history spin, Clockwork Alchemy presents three days of immersive entertainment. I happily wrangle the cats called authors who share their amazing knowledge at the event.
In my day job, I write and edit scientific publications for a university. I’m married to a novelist/freelance editor and our children are composing their own fiction in the NaNoWriMo Young Writers’s Program.
I like words.
I also like tea, chocolate, cats, and chickens, not necessarily in that order. When I am not playing with words, you might find me mucking about in the garden or making herbal concoctions in the kitchen.