Countdown to Launch: [dis]connection

Hey everyone! [dis]connection is only a week away. I’m looking forward to sharing this story with the world. This week I thought I’d share a bit more behind the scenes.


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Where did it start?

Originally the story was called “Some Assembly Required” and it was about a kid who stumbles onto a stolen super high tech computer. The people who made the computer want it back. There was a real X-Files kind of feel to the short story (yep, short story to start).

In 2019, my mom invited me to join a writing class with her and I thought it would be fun. The topic was “novels-in-verse”. I had never heard of novels-in-verse and thought why not give it a try. The format hit me like a ton of bricks. It made sense. It flowed out of me. It was easy to read. It resonated with struggling readers (like me).

As a project in the class, I dug into the characters and story finding a story about cyber bullying. The main character was a high school girl drowning in the world of social media. I love cosmic horror and didn’t see much out there for high school girls nor a lot of techno thrillers for high school girls. I wanted to write a book my daughter would enjoy. She’s a computer geek like me :)

The idea evolved that bullying is the problem, technology is used as a solution (super high tech device that someone else is trying to take back - sound familiar) but of course, everything goes horribly wrong.

Frankenstein

I’ve heard from a few people that [dis]connection really reminds them of Frankenstein with 3d printers and Artificial Intelligence. Yeah, that’s a fair analogy. There are a lot of parrallels and maybe the “creature” even has a direct quote from Frankenstein’s monster (“You wouldn’t even think it murder to kill me”). I loved the idea of grabbing onto Frankenstein because of the other themes in this book around technology and our creations getting out of control.

Think about Frankenstein, a college kid makes something in his workshop/garage that gets out of control and haunts him, is bad for society, and in the end leads to destruction. Sounds like a lot of tech origin stories just missing the billions of dollars.

Erin is a tech genius. Her family has a checkered history in tech. In the second draft, I really dug into the theme of Frankenstein and let it loose a bit. Fun times!

Who is this book for?

I wanted to write a book my daughter and her friends would enjoy. Novels-in-verse create a lot of white space that helps struggling readers dive into dense books. I wanted to build a book that someone who has a hard time reading can carry with them and be proud that it doesn’t look like a book a struggling reader would carry. Growing up and being an outsider, I know sometimes you just want to blend in and so this kind of book would have been really great for me because it looks like a Harry Potter sized book.

As a kid, there was 0% chance I would have read Harry Potter. I’m a slow reader and so I just stuck to comic books and choose your own adventure books.

Does this book get techie?

You don’t need a degree in computer science to read the book. If you’re interested in tech you’ll know most of what’s being talked about here. Erin is a computer genius so she knows the difference between a rootkit and a VPN. I think most of this is described pretty well throughout the book so you won’t need a primer :)

In designing a modern dark fantasy book for girls who like tech, I did want to get more techie than just a surface "she likes computers”. Erin likes computers, VR, microcomputers, malware, breaking into school security systems, and many of the other things a techie in high school would be experimenting with.

Can I get a free copy?

Why yes you can. I’m looking for people to help me share the story of the book. If you’d like to help me do a blog tour, I will send you a signed free copy of the book. If you’re interested please let me know in the comments below or email me at: me [at] timkulp.com.

The blog tour is for us to talk about the book. You can ask questions or I can provide questions or we can just chat. Whatever works for you :) I’m looking for people to blog tour with over the next few weeks and I hope that you’re one of them.

Poem for this week

For this week, I’m going to share a poem from [dis]connection. Here, Erin (the main character) has just had a bullying incident that leaves her, and someone else, muddy and upset.

What We Run From

I rub away the tears;
my eyes burn
as mud smears into them
from my sleeve.

 

“Don’t cry,”
I demand,
shouting to myself
like so many days before, 
and like those days,
the shouting
can’t stop it.

 

The well is tapped,
the faucet is on:
tears fall like summer rain,
hot,
fast,
drenching.

 

Erin.loser = true;
run Erin.stopCrying();
>>> failure to execute;

I run home.
Running from them;
from Donna,
from her friends,
from their eyes
and cameras
and comments,
from my differences,
my isolation—
from me.

Home is
a place where 
I can be just as alone,
just as isolated,
but at least 
alone,
in quiet.

Copyright T. Kulp, 2022 from [dis]connection: Pandora Project Book 1

I hope you enjoy [dis]connection.

Thank you Elisabeth for hosting Poetry Friday this week! Check out her blog at https://unexpectedintersections.blogspot.com/2022/07/poetry-friday-welcome-to-party.html. Blog post photo by Merlin Lightpainting: https://www.pexels.com/photo/teal-and-black-floral-textile-10996845/

Have a great week!