7
stolen organs.
1
vengeful victim.
A
gruesome sci-fi thriller.
Organ scrubbing was a bloody job, but somebody had to do it. Daniel, an orphan from the Gutter, was put to work scrubbing kidneys at aged twelve. The job had its perks: a warm bed, Law and Order reruns, and an all-you-can-eat Mopane worm buffet.
Until the Orphanage stole Daniel’s parts, and sold them on the organ market.
Now Daniel has grown up, and yearns to become whole again. The cybernetic organ replacements just aren’t the same – he needs his parts back. But the new owners of his organs won’t give them up. Not without a fight.
Just how far will Daniel go to regain his missing pieces? And how much more of himself will he lose along the way?
Defragmenting Daniel is a cyberpunk crime thriller that will unnerve you. Every part of you.
“A work of great imagination. Powerful and gripping.”
“A
stark and moving experience.”
–
ReadersFavorite.com,
5 Star Review
Excerpt
The
sun beat down on the crown of Daniel’s mop of thick, black hair.
The hanging smoke in the air thickened. His left eye cried. His lungs
protested, spasming as he penetrated deeper into the warzone. About a
hundred yards into New Settlers Ways, the sweet stink of burning
flesh competed with the smoke. Daniel remembered that smell from the
operating theatre, when they’d removed his amygdala. But it was
stronger here. Omnidirectional. As though the entire area were a
seeping wound, and the sun its surgeon.
Daniel
tried to count. To find sevens in the chaos. But the buildings
weren’t in rows or columns. There was no order here.
We
had you cleaned
We
had you eat
He
rubbed his eye. Tried to bury the memory of the song.
We
love your toes
We
love your meat
Odin
crawled out of the rucksack and perched on Daniel’s shoulder. They
surveyed the destruction together. Daniel could hardly feel the cat’s
claws burrowing into his clavicle.
“No
good,” said Daniel, echoing the old shopkeeper.
He
walked over to one of the mounds of rubble. Heat radiating from the
stones baked his cheeks.
Odin
meowed. Dug his claws deeper into Daniel’s chest.
“What
do you want here?” called out a voice.
Odin
darted into the satchel as Daniel whirled around. His cybernetic knee
grinded with the sudden turn.
“You
have no business here,” said a man. He wore a holey t-shirt and a
week-long beard. His eyes were swollen. Frantic.
“I’m
looking for Porcu–”
“We
don’t need your help,” hissed the Holey Man.
“I’m
not here to help. I’m looking for Porcuperry Road.”
“You
PeoPle …” The man spat his P’s “… from up north think you
better than us. What with your implanted parts and such.” He nosed
the air in the general direction of Daniel’s cybernetic knee.
“Sir,
I mean no disrespect, but I don’t like my knee. I’d rather have
my original.”
The
filthy man’s eyes snapped back to Daniel’s face. “What’s that
you say?”
“The
Orphanage took my parts to pay my debt. I never wanted the
replacements they gave me.” Daniel flexed his leg. The joint
wheezed as he lowered it slowly to the earth.
“Hmmm.”
The Holey Man stroked his grizzled chin. He had a gash along the
bottom of his arm. Were those maggots wiggling along the edges? The
man needed a good scrub of Rejek.
“What
was it you’re looking for?” asked the Holey Man.
“84
Porcuperry Road.”
“Porcuperry
was … fi-si-seven blocks down.”
Daniel’s
heart quickened. He eyed the broken streets. Doubted he’d be able
to make out city blocks in this mess.
The
man sighed. “I’ll take you.” He turned on his feet and walked
off, not waiting to see if Daniel followed.
About
the Author
Human.
Male. From an obscure planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Sci-fi novelist
with a PhD in philosophy. Likes chocolates, Labradors, and zombies
(not necessarily in that order). Werbeloff spends his days
constructing thought experiments, while trying to muster enough guilt
to go to the gym.
He's
written two novels, Hedon and The Solace Pill, and the short story
anthology, Obsidian Worlds. His books will make your brain hurt. And
you'll come back for more.
Subscribe
to his newsletter to receive a free novel, and a lifetime of free and
discounted stories: http://smarturl.it/werbeloff
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philosophy behind his fiction.
Purchase
link for Defragmenting Daniel: The Organ Scrubber - The
book will be free on Amazon for 4 days, August 24 – 27 2016.
The
Organ Scrubber is the first fragment of the Defragmenting Daniel
trilogy:
Fragment
1 – The Organ Scrubber
Fragment
2 – The Face in a Jar
Fragment
3 – The Boy Without a Heart
Jason is giving away a $15 bookstore gift certificate as part of his tour. And don't forget to download your free copy of the book!
8 comments:
Thank you for hosting my book on your blog! Readers, what is your sci-fi TV series?
Thanks for hosting!
In spite of the warning that this "will make my brain hurt" I look forward to reading this book. It sounds fascinating. Thank you for letting me have it in the form my budget can actually afford - free. :D I need to go read now. aka Becky
What a concept! This is the kind of book I love to read. I'm off to download it. Thanks!
Hello, Jason!
The premise here sounds amazing, but after reading (and squirming over) your other excerpts, I'm not sure I can stomach the book! Definitely gruesome. But I love authors who are willing to take risks.
Good luck with the trilogy.
Great post and the cover is wonderful.
Shocking and yet there's a part of me that fears something in that vein happening and not just to someone else... Riveting story blurb! A revenge with repercussions. It gives a different understanding to "possession is 9/10th of the law."
Most definitely a day time read for me.
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