Sable Dark (Hep Cats of Boise #2)

Sable Dark is Book 2 in Hep Cats of Boise - a quirky and queer science-fiction series full of rogue AI, speakeasies full of illegal disability tech, and a jazz era subculture.

Mazarin has everything an AI could want: a hep holographic body, a joyfriend she's dizzy for, and asylum from Wave, the shady AI megacorporation that once held her captive. In their clutches, she'd been confined to the anxious brain of her host, Reed, serving as his navigator. Now separate, they enjoy a friendship and the knowledge that Wave's lead engineer, Phil Rice, who terrorized them for months, is locked away in a court-ordered hospital stay.

But when Rice escapes, Reed's stress skyrockets. Though Mazarin is no longer in Reed's brain, their connection lingers, and she can't resist the desire to stick close and protect them both from Wave. If Rice abducts Reed, it means certain death, and there's no telling what the megacorp would do to Mazarin if she's captured. Reed's sudden nosebleeds, paranoia, and skewed sense of perception lead Maz to believe more is at play than his galactic anxiety. With Rice on the loose, she can't be too careful.

Desperate for a solution to Reed's deteriorating health, Mazarin risks her safety venturing into the company of untrustworthy AI, decoist gangsters, and even Wave themselves, to find help for her beloved pilot before it's too late.

Book 1, Mazarin Blues, is winner of the 2022 Indie Ink Award for Best Gay Representation, and a semi-finalist in the 2021 SPSFC. 

Rep: gay, bi/pansexual, gray ace, and non-binary characters; M/M and NBi/NBi romance

Autistic main character with anxiety/panic disorder

CWs: blood, hospitalization, stalking, profanity, M/M and NBi/NBi open door sex and sexual elements, anxiety/panic disorder, depression, alcohol use, abduction, several brief violent scenes

Length: 340 pages

Publisher and publishing date: Kraken Collective,  Jan 7, 2021

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