Sparked
Metal
Bones Series
Book
One
Sheena
Snow
Genre: YA, Science Fiction
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Date of Publication: Dec 16, 2015
ASIN: B015FW2AF0
Number of pages: 317
Word Count: 80,000
Cover Artist: Christy Caughie
Book Description:
They
weren’t supposed to have feelings.
Metal
will Clash
In a not-too-distance future,
robots composed of metal for bones, electric cords for veins, and synthetics
for skin are now available. For purchase. Eighteen-year-old Vienna Avery’s home
is going to change forever, now that her mom purchased an Italian Chef Robot to
cook and reside in their house.
Secrets
will Unfold
The government claimed robots
were indifferent, unthinking pieces of metal and elastic—assistance for the
help of humans. Vienna never believed much of what the government said. The
pieces didn’t always fit. And now Vienna knows why, because she’s uncovered the
government’s secret: that robots have emotions, sucking Vienna into the
underground world of feeling, thinking, and sovereign robots.
Sparks
will Fly
Alec Cypher is everything a robot
is not supposed to be: deep, dark, and dangerously human. And for some reason,
he wants to save Vienna from the government’s prying, vindictive eyes. Going
forward, Vienna will have to learn to trust robots and battle the growing
feelings she never thought possible . . . feelings for the green-eyed,
soul-searching robot named Alec.
Available at Amazon
Excerpt:
I never locked
eyes with a robot before.
Never.
Not once.
I guess I
thought it would feel different. But it doesn’t. Nothing is different. It feels
the same, the same as looking into a human’s eyes.
I wanted to pry
my eyes away but now that I’ve started, I can’t stop staring. Even from this
distance, I could tell the robot’s eyes were a honey brown.
They are so
close to being one of us. But they can’t be. They can never be us. Or at least,
that’s what the government says.
The robot’s
indifferent gaze shifted from mine and it strode toward my neighbor’s Lincoln
Town Car. The robot’s gait caught with every third step and the elbow twisted
incongruently when it opened the car door—the only telltale signs it wasn’t
human.
This robot had
dark-brown hair, tan skin, and was dressed in a chauffeur’s suit.
My neighbor, Mr.
Romero, waved at me as he exited the car, and I just stood there, mouth agape
and knees locked.
Mr. Romero
frowned but I couldn’t wave back. I couldn’t move. I was frozen to that spot on
my porch with my keys dangling from my fingers and my purse sliding down my
shoulder.
It was just as
the news had said. Everything was. From the eyes, to the nose, the lips, to the
hair, it all looked so real. I had never studied a robot that wasn’t on TV; I
was always too busy avoiding them. But when they weren’t moving, when they
weren’t doing anything, when they were just standing there, they looked exactly
like people. Exactly.
Together, they
disappeared inside the house, Mr. Romero with his stout frame and wiry black
hair, and his robot chauffeur.
I now lived next
door to a robot.
The keys felt
cold in my hand, and I realized for the last several seconds, my focus had been
consumed by the now empty driveway.
Leave it to me
to do something like that.
I opened the door
and leaned against it as it clicked shut behind me. Everything was changing.
And everything would be different.
“Mom, I’m home.”
I shrugged off the door and into the family room.
“Be right there,
Vienna.”
“Don’t worry
about it,” I called back, hoping mom would leave me alone.
“How was
shopping? Find anything you liked?” Mom appeared and wiped her hands on her
paint-covered overalls. Mom was a die-hard artist. She lived, breathed, and
probably ate paint.
At a whole head
taller than me, Mom still looked great. Forty-five and thriving was her motto.
Mom and I had wispy blond hair, pale-green eyes, and a small nose. Unlike me,
her hair was cut in a bob-like fashion, the front angled longer, reaching past
her shoulders, where mine was always in a ponytail.
I shook off my
jacket and looked up into Mom’s bright, beaming face.
“I only went
shopping,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “No need to look that—”
“You’ll never
guess what I bought.” Mom practically sang the last word, cutting me off.
Head throbbing,
I sucked in a deep breath and dropped my purse on the couch. “I have absolutely
no idea.” I wondered how mom would react if she knew Mr. Romero had bought a
robot.
“They’ve had
nothing but good reviews.” Mom nodded, following behind me as I headed toward
my room. “And you and your father are going to love him.”
I rubbed my
temples. “I’m sure we will.” How could we not get excited about Mom’s latest
painting gadget? “What does this one let you do?”
Paint with two
brushes at the same time?
Mom darted in
front of me, and spread her arms to block me from going any further.
“What’s going
on?” I looked from side-to-side.
“I named him
Robotatouille.” Mom nodded as if that solved everything.
“I’m sorry?” I
shook my head. What in the heck was Mom talking about? “You named what Robot .
. .” My breath caught in my throat. My stomach flipped. “You . . . you did
what?” I repeated.
Mom’s eyes lit
up and suddenly, it was like all the energy in my body had been stolen from me,
sucked out, leaving me dry and empty.
“N-N-N-o,” I
breathed.
Mom wouldn’t—
“Everyone’s
getting one,” Mom said.
My legs shook.
“Did you know
Mr. Romero just bought one yesterday?” Mom asked, face glowing while it felt
like mine had lost all of its blood. “And you’re going to love him. Look.” Mom
winked at me and stepped back to pull a sandy-blond brown-eyed
twenty-something-year-old man from behind the kitchen wall.
I couldn’t
breathe.
Air was trapped
in my body, as I stood there, gaping, into this man-robot-thing’s eyes.
Brown eyes.
Sandy-blond hair.
I jerked
backward and stumbled into the coffee table.
The robot was
right in front of me.
No.
Freaking.
Way.
About
the Author:
Sheena Snow, contrary to her
name, lives in South Florida and has only seen snow once. But she would love for
it to land on her eyelashes and sparkle in her hair. She loves painting, candle
making, orchid shows, tattoo conventions, hockey games and library book sales!
After college she landed a full time job but kept serving pizza on the weekends
and writing stories about characters she wished really existed, characters who
never gave up no matter the obstacles life threw at them. At the age of
twenty-six, she sold her first book and bought her very first puppy, a
wonderful Yorkie named Aladdin.
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