I have been on a bit of a hiatus from reviewing for World Weaver Press, as with everything that transpired at the close of 2015 & throughout the first six months of 2016, finding a way to re-enter my reading life was an uphill climb. For whichever reason, it wasn’t until now as July begins to gather into sight, I felt I could re-attach my mind to Science Fiction, Fantasy & Cosy Horror.
Imagine my surprise then, as I was making plans for my #FuellYourSciFi showcases, to receive an email from World Weaver Press in regards to hosting a *Cover Reveal!* for them this Friday! I had vaguely remembered joining the Reveal Team half an age ago – yet curiously, never heard from them!?
I read the premise of this upcoming September release (which blessedly includes a print edition!) finding myself rather intrigued by it’s premise! I had a lot of things going through my mind as I contemplated it’s topic, but the best part for me was finding a segue back to World Weaver Press! This Cover Reveal broke the ice, wherein I found there was a ‘changing of the guard’ where there is a new Editor in Chief at the helm (who worked as editor on this story!) of the publishing house whose a true delight to interact with as she has a wonderful passion for the stories she’s publishing whilst continuing the legacy of the publisher’s founders.
Sarena Ulibarri was not only understanding about absences but truly understood how you can fall out of love of reading when life interferes with your reading life! Therefore, I am wicked happy to say, the story I will be reading after my current queue is cleared will be *THIS!* novella: Murder in the Generative Kitchen! And, boy! Am I thrilled to bits to have this on the horizon to read!
Take a wicked sweet gander at this design, too! Isn’t it beyond lovely!?
Murder in the Generative Kitchen
With the Vacation Jury Duty system, jurors can lounge on a comfortable beach while watching the trial via virtual reality. Julio is loving the beach, as well as the views of a curvy fellow juror with a rainbow-lacquered skin modification who seems to be the exact opposite of his recent ex-girlfriend back in Chicago. Because of jury sequestration rules, they can’t talk to each other at all, or else they’ll have to pay full price for this Acapulco vacation. Still, Julio is desperate to catch her attention. But while he struts and tries to catch her eye, he also becomes fascinated by the trial at hand.
At first it seemed a foregone conclusion that the woman on trial used a high-tech generative kitchen to feed her husband a poisonous meal, but the more evidence mounts, the more Julio starts to suspect the kitchen may have made the decision on its own.
Places to find the book:
Book Page on Impress Books (UK)
ISBN: 978-0-9977888-1-5
on 27th September, 2016
Published By: World Weaver Press (@WorldWeaver_wwp)
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Ebook
Genre(s): Speculative | Science Fiction | Futuristic Fiction
Robotics | Smart House | Virtual Reality | Climate Change | Legal Drama
Similar Reads: iRobot by Isaac Asimov; Illegal Alien by Robert J Sawyer; Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams; Superposition by David Walton; Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi; Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions by Larry Hodges
About Meg Pontecorvo
A writer and artist dedicated to multiple genres, Meg Pontecorvo earned an MFA in Poetry Writing from Washington University in St. Louis and is a 2010 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop.
Meg has published a novelette, “Grounded,” in Asimov’s, and her artwork in collage and pen has been featured in experimental video performances in the Bay Area. A native of Philadelphia, she grew up in the Midwest and now shares a small apartment with her partner and cats in San Francisco, where she cooks in a tech-free kitchen.
What inspired my reason to read this novella (and feature it on it’s reveal day!) is the fact that the premise reminded me so very much of a Disney Channel movie (Smart House) which dealt with the prospect of an AI (artificial intelligent) being walk the line between being programmed and becoming self-aware & self-modifying of it’s behaviour protocols. This is why emerging Science and Technology is wicked fascinating, as there is a disappearing line across ethical grounds – which new horizons & probabilities of our reality should we pursue and which avenues should we dissuade ourselves from further development?! How far is too far in other words!? (see also #LibraryLoot, No.2)
Honestly – I devour a heap of mysteries each year – if I’m not reading them (whilst blogging my thoughts) I am watching them on television! It’s the whole theoretical notion that a ‘kitchen’ could be deceptively capable of committing a crime and/or there is a brokerage of doubt intersecting the facts to where nothing is certain in regards to motive & means! This is one reason I used to have a hungry appetite for legal dramas (as I used to regularly consume the novels of John Grisham) – except there was a point where I found myself unable to move past the emotional angst & anguish of the heavier story-lines, opting instead to take a permanent break from reading them.
I’ve re-entertained them in cross-genre exploits within Mystery, Suspense & Thriller story-lines, but this was the first time I felt I could sink my teeth into a quasi-traditional legal drama, where you have the action of the courtroom counter-acted against the lives of the jury! I even liked how this is situated into a time of futuristic origins – where the penalties for ‘talking’ to your fellow jurors is punishable by paying for the luxury of being ‘away’ whilst your serving your duty! I even smiled noticing the author keyed into the fact that body modifications have a whole new representative arm of creativity ahead of those who elect to change their outward appearances! I have stumbled across something quite similar to this and found it wicked awesome she was knitting it into the background of her character’s!
I must confess – whenever I get a hankering to read a new story that just takes my mind into a projection of what ‘could be’ vs what ‘will be’ known I have the tendency to become quite a chatterbox! So far, I’ve convinced an elderly neighbour she has to learn the ending and my parents are equally as invested as somehow I fashioned a way to present this story as if it were cross-relatable through all generations of interest! Not too bad, eh!?
It wasn’t a hard sell for me – I heart mysteries! I fancy Science Fiction quite dearly, and if you think on it – if you can combine two passions of a voracious reader, you have an incredible gift for giving someone a wicked good next read!
This cover reveal is courtesy of: World Weaver Press
Showcases of World Weaver Press Titles:
FAE (see Review)
Disclosing my keen interest in CORVIDAE + Scarecrow (#BookishNotBookish No.6)
CORVIDAE (see Review)
SURPRISE! I awarded World Weaver Press the honour of two of my Jorie Loves A Story Cuppa Book Love Awards as disclosed on my *End of the Year Survey, 2015*.
UPCOMING SOON: SCARECROW which contains a sequel short story from Corvidae!
Followed by reviews of:
The Falling of the Moon by A. E. Decker
Far Orbit: Apogee (edited by) Bascomb James
Frozen Fairy Tales (edited by) Kate Wolford
Reader Interactive Question:
What do you love about genre-bending stories where stories you love in one vein are cross-explored inside of another arm of literature!? What do you fancy the most about the innovations of Science Fiction whilst matched with the wits of a legal drama!?
{SOURCES: Cover Art for “Murder in the Generative Kitchen”, author photo of Meg Pontecorvo, novella synopsis, author biography, and WWP logo badge were provided by World Weaver Press and used with permission. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded due to the codes provided by Twitter.
Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories Sailing into View.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2016.
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