Sing Down the Stars: Unnoticeable

Unnoticeables

Imagine being in a room with someone.

You absolutely know they're there, they're not invisible, but you can't see them. The best you can do is to catch small, quick glimpses from the corner of your eye that don't allow you to confirm the person's height or coloring or even if they're male or female. Every time you try to get a look at them, you're compelled to look away so that even sneaking a peek becomes a chore.

This is what happens when someone is Unnoticeable, and people who fit that description are the Wardens' secret weapons.

Unnoticeables can be sent in to do a job, and no one will remember their presence, so how better to carry out clandestine midnight maneuvers that can never be acknowledged? How better to round up touched children and their families in the middle of a bustling neighborhood with nosy neighbors than to send in someone those neighbors wouldn't bother to wave at if by some fluke they saw them on the street? How better to keep secrets from supervisors who think they're the ones wielding power?

Penn, the main character, is used to illusions, but even circus life and a knack for spotting the unseen mechanism behind a trick isn't enough to fight technology that can literally blot someone out of existence.

How can you run from someone when you don't know how many people are chasing you?

Giveaway

I know I said today's post was a continuation of the pre-publication posts, but this is more fun and more important. There's a book giveaway going on over at Goodreads. 25 copies of Sing Down the Stars are up for grabs, so if you want to toss your hat in the ring, clink THIS LINK and head on over.

GOOD LUCK!

Sing Down the Stars: The Wardens

The Wardens

So, what's a planet to do when aliens hang out in the sky for a year and then leave with no apparent agenda? Well, first they panic.

Think about it. If weird jellyfish-looking things completely surrounded the planet, cutting off most of the satellite access, which in turn blocks Internet, TV and cell-signals so that you couldn't get much news of what was happening, the situation would look pretty grim. And what would an international coalition of world leaders do in the face of such widespread panic? They'd... launch a commission to investigate the matter.

That's what happens when top-level folks can't agree. They hire people to gather information, and that's where The Warden's Commission comes in.

"Warden" is an a occupation as well as a title, but the Commission is supposed to be a civilian organization. Just like the wardens are supposed to keep busy studying whatever residual evidence they can find from the off-worlders' visit. They're supposed to use that evidence to devise ways to protect planet Earth in case the silent visitors were only a first, scouting wave sent in advance of something more sinister.

Having a Warden's station in a city makes people feel safe, but as anyone from a circus like The Show could tell you - safety is often an illusion.

Like many autonomous groups with big budgets and little oversight, there are rumors that the Wardens Commission have reset their own parameters. Is it possible that they're using their considerable power and resources to investigate the so-called urban legends of "touched" children? Is it possible that the reason no one ever really gets to see one of these girls use their abilities is because the Wardens got to them first?

Surely someone would have noticed... but that's tomorrow's post.

Sing Down the Stars: The Show

The Show

In a world (You heard that in the announcer voice, didn't you? Admit it. ADMIT IT!!!!!)

In a world where overt uses of technology are shunned and girls born with elemental powers are feared for their connection to the aliens from The Great Illusion, people with affected families go to great lengths to protect their children. None have gone further than Magnus Roma, the main character's father.

Magnus and his late wife were one of the families whose children began to show signs of being "touched," or having alien abilities. Rather than run or try to conceal these abilities, as most people did, Magnus made a very public stand and hid his daughters in plain sight by building an entire circus around them. He called this circus The Show, and turned it into a technophobe's worst nightmare.

At The Show, all of that forbidden technology is put proudly on display, along with Magnus' four eldest children "The Daughters of Magnus Roma," who thrill audiences with demonstrations of their elemental prowess. These are Penn's (the main character)'s sisters, all assets to be exploited if anyone in charge realizes that their skills didn't come from smoke and mirrors.

• There's Nieva (Evie), the eldest. Penn's surrogate mother and a pyrokinetic - someone who can wield fire.
• Then Nimue (Nim), a foul-tempered hydrokinetic - someone who controls water.
• Then Anise, the ever-steady middle child and fulcrum of the family. She's terrakinetic, an earth-mover, and the person Penn considers to be the grounding force for the others.
• Finally, there's Vesper the aerokinetic who can walk on air. She's a teenager, like Penn, and given to bursts of hurricane-level anger.

These four are the stars of their father's show, always walking a line between what they can and can't afford to let the crowds see. Officially, they only pretend to display "touched" qualities, giving visitors a safe place to indulge their curiosity. No one dares question whether it's an illusion or not because everyone knows that Magnus Roma is a darling of the Warden's Commission... but that's tomorrow's post.

Sing Down the Stars: The Great Illusion

Hi!

We're now one month out from the release of Sing Down the Stars! (It's being published under my actual name / initials, so therefore LJ Hatton.) As I've done with other novels, I'll do some preliminary posts to introduce you to the characters and the world they live in, staring with this one.

The Great Illusion

Sing Down the Stars takes place in a near-future world marked by an event called The Great Illusion, which happened a few years before Penn - the main character - was born.

The Great Illusion was a first contact scenario. Alien lifeforms approached planet Earth and settled in, but there wasn't much actual contact involved. These ships (or creatures, since no one can decide which is the correct term) enveloped the planet for one year, changing the sky from blue to pink and causing general panic with their existence. When the year ended, they left, simple as that.

There were no landings and no incursions, meaning it wasn't an invasion in the usual sense, and once they'd gone people began to explain them away because it was easier to pretend the aliens had never come. They renamed that year The Great Illusion, as though it had all been a dream no one could prove, and officially there was still no such thing as aliens.

Unoffically, people were terrified of what might be out there beyond the atmosphere and what interested them enough that they'd hang out in the sky for a year. So, the world changed, attempting to return to a time before Earth was of interest to those beyond her borders. Technology became taboo in public, especially after dark when extra lights could be easily seen. The old fashioned was suddenly in vogue. Cities the world over became anachronistic pockets of living, modern history. Neo-Victorian up against 1950's kitsch.

What no one had counted on was that the visitors hadn't left Earth quite as untouched as it first appeared. Months after the aliens left, human infants started showing signs of disturbing abilities, always confined within families. Presumed urban myths at first, the stories of these gifted girls - because the infants were always girls - became more common and impossible to quash, even though the girls and their families always disappeared before anyone could prove their existence. Being different became a sort of genetic treason in the court of public opinion.

It's into this world that The Show was born... but that's tomorrow's post.

Currently, you can read the first few pages of Sing Down the Stars on Amazon's Look Inside feature. So if you'd like to read a bit more about The Great Illusion head on over to this link and check it out!

Thanks!

Look Inside!

The Look Inside feature for Sing Down the Stars is LIVE!!!

If you're curious about the new book, go take a peek: LINK

COVER!!!

The cover for Sing Down the Stars has gone live!