New Release by Christine DePetrillo

If you've ever visited Boston, you know how the busy streets sound, you know the hustle and bustle of city folks, you've ridden The "T," and every now and then, you get the feeling that our founding fathers are walking with you. It's a great city, full of history and life.

Until a fiction author gets a hold of it as I did in my newest release due out on August 25th. SAFE, Book One in The Shielded Series, is set in a ruined Boston, year 2025. Here's a description of the Boston that exists in the not-too-distant future:

Foster rubbed his eyes, certain they were bloodshot, not only from the pepperblast but simply from being in the city. Running through dilapidated Boston took its toll on the body. The stink of trash and decaying carcasses—animal and human—made breathing difficult. Summer temperatures didn’t help. Everything smelled as if it’d been marinated in sour milk then roasted on sun-scorched asphalt. The uneven pavement was tricky to navigate and hell on the feet. Something sharp had jabbed his heel through his black combat boots as he’d run through the city, and now his sock felt wet. He didn’t dare stop to heal what was probably a deep gash.

Have to keep moving.

He picked his way along the alley, staying close to the building at his right. Fortunately the brick façade was continuous and offered good cover. Red bits of brick flaked off as his fingers trailed along the stone, sounding like rain pattering on the street. He’d loved the brownstone buildings in this part of the city where he’d lived before the Anarch attack. They’d been so cozy, nestled next to one another along the narrow streets, old-fashioned iron lampposts lighting the way for nighttime walkers on summer evenings. Boston had been such a historic city, filled with the sights and symbols of America’s fight for freedom.

Now it was no more than a wasteland.

Rubble and litter ruined the landscape. The sound of cars bringing people here and there no longer filled the day and night hours like a steady, healthy heartbeat. Instead an eerie quiet—an odd absence of city noise—hung over the skeletons of broken buildings. Business no longer thrived here. Social activity no longer thrived here. 

Nothing thrived here.

Do you want to visit this Boston? Are you a little freaked? I hope so. This series is sci-fi romance with a contemporary feel. You'll forget it's 2025. You'll forget this is just fiction. SAFE will be followed up with PROTECTED and finally, SECURE. Don't worry. There are still happily ever afters in all of them despite the destruction. They are just earned in a grittier, harder world and with riskier actions on the characters' parts. 

Cover Art by Wicked Smart Designs

I hope you'll give SAFE a try. It's available for PRE-ORDER right now at all the usual spots. For more information, visit my website.

Also...

In celebration of SAFE being up for pre-order, I'm giving away one $50 Amazon Gift Card. Just go to my author FB page to find the entry options. One winner will be randomly selected on August 27.

Do you think about how things might be different in the future? I do. I always wish for the Star Trek version with Star Fleet Academy, but know it probably won't go down that way. A shame, really. 

Toodles, 

Chris

www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com 

The Maple Leaf Series, Books One to Six, available now. More Than Pancakes, Book One, is always FREE in ebook!

SAFE, Book One in The Shielded Series, pre-order today!