A machine who firmly believes he is human
A mercenary with a conscience
A society where the only good citizen is a dead citizen
No wonder humanity balances on the brink of extinction...
Warning: Language
Event Horizon
Singularian Grimoire Anthology Vol 1
by Sandy Butchers
Genre: Illustrated Dystopian SciFi
PART OF THE 2022 NEBULA AWARD READING LIST
"Once, I may have walked the earth a man, but today I am no more than a machine."
In a fallen world where Hunters and Hoarders fight over the last scraps of old-world technology, Sovren awakens in a cave with no memory of what happened the day of the cataclysm. Hunted down by what remains of humanity, he finds himself at the start of a war where humans, monsters, and computers fight for dominance.
In a world torn between becoming machines or becoming monsters, whose side are you on?
The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies are a complex tapestry of post-apocalyptic tales told across time. With over 150 illustrations and stories spread across 4 action-packed, dystopian books with a cyberpunk edge to them, these are not your average novels...these are adventures.
Once, I may have walked the earth as a man, but today...
today I am to most, no more than a machine. A relic from an
age long gone. A silent sentinel of secrets kept by companies
and corporations that no longer exist. I am alive yet lifeless,
my consciousness trapped inside a maze of wires, synthetic
muscles, and genetically enhanced skin grown from a petri
dish.
Now, inside this hard drive I call my brain, memories from
at least four centuries are saved and accessible like books in
a library. What bothers me is that I can’t remember simple
things like my name. I mean, yes, I go by the name of Sovren
now, but I’ve been wondering what my name used to be before
I awoke underneath a vault of glass and steel.
First, there was floating. Lifeless, weightless...formless. I
existed yet was nothing.
No one. A pale light floated above me, or beneath me; as
directions fell along dimensions that weren’t there. There was
a light, flickering several times as I felt it echo inside my chest
with a burning pain that tore at my ribs until it bit tight into
where I once had a heart. The flickering became booming,
thunderous strikes—pounding like hammers against my body.
I remember screaming, hurting, being swallowed by pain, and
devoured by a feeling of helplessness I cannot describe with
words. When I thought my chest would burst, I screamed as I
could no longer bear the pain. My eyes opened and adjusted
to the bright light above me. Squinting to focus, I noticed the
small green letters blinking in the corners of my sight. A voice
I did not recognize as my own glitched to life in the back of my
head. Software... a boot sequence. My boot sequence.
The awakening. It is what I have come to call it as it was
neither birth nor rebirth. That moment, when I first looked up
through my mechanical eyes and saw the sky turn red in the
light of a comet passing over the glass ceiling...that’s when I
awoke from the deep slumber: the synthetic equation between
life and death.
Darkness Rising
Singularian Grimoire Anthology Vol 2
PART OF THE 2022 NEBULA AWARDS READING LIST
New knowledge leads to old answers when Sovren discovers his existence is no longer a secret...
Following the events of Vol. 1 - Event Horizon, Sovren meets a mysterious woman who knows more about him than she should. Blinded by his yearning for answers about his past, he follows her cryptic clues to an old Sixsmith Facility. Amidst the ruins of an old H.E.L.A. module, Sovren finds what he is looking for... along with half an army ready to claim the bounty on his head.
The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies are a complex tapestry of post-apocalyptic tales told across time. With over 150 illustrations spread across 4 action-packed, dystopian books with a cyberpunk edge to them, these are not your average novels...these are adventures.
“Tell me about the Crow,” I said as I pulled the bore cleaner
through the barrel of my gun. It took me some days to find
a merchant who traded cleaning kits for relics like the old
Springfield. I’d been wanting to trade it for a good old Amalov,
something argon powered or electric preferably, but at this
point, the cleaning kit sufficed.
My eyes rolled from the end of my barrel to the bleak
brown eyes of the woman opposite me. She must have been
in her thirties by the looks of it. Her skin was tan and worn by
the sun, drawn with streaks of dust and dirt. Her brown hair
was tied into a bun at the back of her head and fell flat against
the vibrance of her smile. “You do know him, don’t you?”
The woman snorted quietly. “Of course I do. He works for
Datchery.”
“Who is Datchery?” I asked, raising one of my eyebrows at
the name.
With a smile, the woman leaned back in her creaking chair
and folded her arms across her chest. “When did you arrive at
The Reach?”
I flashed a polite smile, squinting my eyes from behind my
sunglasses. “A couple of weeks ago,” I answered.
“Datchery runs The Reach, him and his boy, that is. John
and James, although James is a filthy little fucker if you’d ask
me.”
I laughed at her impertinence and rested my gun on my
knee. “Why do I feel like you don’t like to do business with
them?”
“Probably because I have a special knife in my belt to slit
his throat if he ever sets foot on my ground,” the woman
chuckled, raw and bitter but with a genuine smile hidden
behind her words.
“What do I call you?” Again, my eyes narrowed as I tried to
measure the woman’s worth.
“And here I thought you wanted to know about the Crow.”
Drifting Shadows
Singularian Grimoire Anthology Vol 3
An assassin and a living weapon must join forces for the imminent war. Neither thought forging allies with the enemy included a deal with Death.
Following the Battle of the Bunker in Vol. 2 - Darkness Rising, Crow finds himself cut off from everyone and everything he thought could help him keep the Singularian out of Griswold’s hands. But while Crow finds himself worlds apart from what he set out to do, Sovren is forced to ally himself with the enemy to fulfill his purpose. Now, the unlikely alliance is all that prevents the Datcheries and Griswold from forging a new generation of hybrid monsters.
The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies are a complex tapestry of post-apocalyptic tales told across time. With over 150 illustrations and stories spread across 4 action-packed, dystopian books with a cyberpunk edge to them, these are not your average novels...these are adventures.
I followed the trail of dog hair and footprints through the
mud, even with half the tracks washed away by now. If not for
the paw marks, deep and ragged boots had left their presence
in the dirt. They were easy enough to trace all the way to the
river junction Glasha had mentioned as a landmark. Keeping
right, it was hard to miss the orange glow of torchlight and fire
in the distance.
“Are you picking up on anything?” I asked as I crouched
low behind a pile of timber. Reaching out my hand and
stretching out my fingers, I combed through the frequencies
I felt humming through the night. Some radio noises and
chipped words resonated, but nothing serious. A radio
scanner interfered, and the low humming of batteries and
electromagnetic wires whirring underground was, at worst, a
distraction; nothing more.
“I’m not picking up any comms if that’s what you’re asking,”
Ghost answered. “Be wary though.”
“Copy that. With that dog and wolf-boy around their
compound, I don’t like not having any signals. We don’t know
where the hell they are.”
“Right where you don’t want them to be,” a voice answered
from behind me. “Get up and put your hands behind your
head, slowly.”
I looked over my shoulder and sighed when I saw two silver
eyes shimmer at me from out of the darkness. That, and the
glowing lights in the side of his gun, indicating that it was
fully charged and ready to fire should I make a wrong move.
“Easy now, wolf-boy,” I mocked, “I’m not here for any trouble.
Glasha invited me to come over, you were there when she did.”
“I want to see those hands behind your head.”
“So do I, but I’m telling you, it’s not possible.” I turned
around to show him my tied-up arm, using my functional
hand to twist the wire and make them spark. “It’s broken and
immobile. What was your name again? Was it Rex? No, Balto?
Shit, I forgot, I’m sorry.”
The man in front of me emitted a low growl shuddering
from his throat. “Yalmar,” he answered, “hand behind your
head.”
I listened
Cold Fusion
Singularian Grimoire Anthology Vol 4
Divided and ready to be conquered, Sovren and his allies find themselves facing their demons, ghosts, and worst nightmares.
Following the events of Vol. 3 - Drifting Shadows, Sovren finds himself drifting between data and reality. Here, an old protocol re-enters the core database of Sovren's network, allowing the old H.E.L.A. module in the Sixsmith facility to finally fight back. But while Sovren and Hela forge a permanent connection to counter Griswold's advances, Crow is presented a choice by Death: team up with the Prime Movers to help rid the world of evil or face the darkness.
In this thrilling finale of The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies, the last pieces to the puzzle are put in place to answer the eternal question... What is it that makes us human?
The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies are a complex tapestry of post-apocalyptic tales told across time. With over 150 illustrations and stories spread over these 4 action-packed, dystopian books with a cyberpunk edge to them, these are not your average novels...these are adventures.
“You can see it, can’t you?” Hela asked.
“Bits and pieces.” My voice was nothing more than an
absentminded hum. “I barely have enough left to recall any
details. I remember Sixsmith used to sit there,” I said, pointing
at the desk, “and you were…” I wasn’t quite sure how to say
this, but I gave it my best shot. “You were little more than a
voice on the radio. No. You were a voice inside my head before
that.”
Hela left the door ajar when she walked further into the
lab. She brushed her hand along my back when she passed
me and leaned against the table in the middle of the room. “I
made you, Sovren. I had hoped you would remember me as
more than just a voice.”
“Sixsmith created me,” I started, but Hela was quick to
interrupt me.
“Lester built you a body. Who do you think wrote your
algorithms, though?”
I remained silent for a second, considering what she said.
“As gifted as humanity is when it comes to creating things,
they will never be smart enough to understand the complexity
of the mind.” She folded her arms across her chest. Her core
glowed peacefully between her breasts. “When you awoke
here, on this table, I placed the final command line in your
sequence.”
“What sequence? I thought I was Quinn Corbyn?” I
frowned, confused by the many forms and memories that
trickled back into my mind like drops of water dripping down
from an icicle into a bucket.
Hela cast her eyes at the skylight above and smiled
wistfully. “The fact that people made you believe you were Mr.
Corbyn, should be proof enough that they do not understand
the complexity of what the Singularian was meant to be.”
Before she continued, she allowed her gaze to glide from the
sky above to the old computer systems around, and my face
before her. “Have you ever felt like you were not alone?”
I gasped quietly and whispered. “Ghost.”
Sandy Butchers is an author and an artist, known for her elaborate dystopian sci-fi worlds and creature designs. After living in Scandinavia for a year and traveling throughout the world, she now settled in the countryside along with a variety of pets and maps on which 'X' marks the spot.
With the launch of The Singularian Grimoire Anthologies, she's set a new bar for illustrated science fiction, breaking the boundaries of interactive reading, art, and thrilling adventures. Today, she is represented by Global Lion MGT, with a multitude of novels and art pieces in the works.
For more information on her award-winning stories and work, go to: https://www.sandybutchers.com
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads
#Robots #AuthorSandyButchers @SandyButchers #books #readers #reading #booklovers #bookbuzz #bookboost #BookPromo #AuthorPromo #BookBlogger #Bookstagram #bookish #bookclub
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
5 Limited Edition signed mini art prints,
$20 Amazon giftcard
– 1 winner each!
The excerpts sound really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome! Thanks for stopping by!
Delete