Next Up – Roxx

I’ve finished the paperback version of The Juice and Other Stories, 2nd edition, and now all that is left is getting the proof and verifying that everything looks okay. Let’s hope so. It’s kind of a pain to pull together.

Now that it’s done, next on the publishing agenda is Hard as Roxx. My target publication date is 31 August 2013. Hopefully, I can pull it in by a couple of weeks, but I’m giving myself time since I’m already writing a web serial / detective novel, and start my next batch of short stories on Monday, 1 July.

Whereas Skip Tracer is developing into very much a “guy” story, Roxx is a science fiction novel targeted primarily for women. (Women who thought Mad Max would have been better if Max’s wife was the star.) I’m hoping men like it too, but feedback from early readers indicates my expected demographics are right. Roxanne Grail is a single mother who lives in 22nd-century Earth, in what used to be Zambia. It is now Africasia, home of as many descendants of Asian refugees as native Africans. Roxx herself is descendent of immigrants from the U.S. and the U.K. Roxx’s world is a complex mixture of post-apocalyptic poverty and astounding technology.

Think Mad Max meets the Planet of the hobots.

The Earth was ravaged by two 21st-century plagues, including the World Killer that almost wiped out the planet’s population. Humankind’s extinction was prevented only via genetic alterations that had the side effect of extending the genetically Enhanced populous by upwards of 150 years. It also spawned a brief, but violent, genetic war that left women — Enhanced and Unenhanced — the ability to have only one child. A second child, though long considered impossible, was a guaranteed death sentence for mother and child.

That is, until Roxx became pregnant with her 2nd daughter. Little Jessi James Grail, outlaw baby, is very much alive. Roxx intends to keep her that way, even if she has to leave a trail of blood across 3 continents to do it.

Roxx isn’t only about violence and sci-fi, however. It is at it’s core a love story, featuring Roxx and Trint, her new best friend, traveling partner, and 2nd mother figure to the girls. Trint fell for Roxx immediately. Roxx, as is typical of her, was far less cooperative.

Who is Roxx?

She’s a little bit of this …

A lot of this …

and even of touch of this when she wants to show off.

But inside, she’s a whole lot of that.

Trint is simpler.

Basically, she’s this (plus a PhD at age 22 – but don’t tell anyone, she never talks about it.)

and a head full of “clown hair” that Roxx secretly adores.

But don’t sell little Trint short — she’s tougher than she looks.

Well, off to another adventure. I’ve got to get my girls ready for their debut. It’s not easy to keep a 6’3″ bisexual Jeet Kune Do expert under wraps for too long. (Especially one with a penchant for 4-inch-heeled boots.) Roxx has been inside for 2 years, and she’s starting to get annoyed.

For more on Who is Roxx? Be sure to check out her Pinterest Page: Roxx’s Roost.