Blog Tour: Liberation Now!

 

We're happy to help Meerkat Press support the release of their latest title Liberation Now! by Seb Doubinsky by participating in their blog tour. 

For our portion of the tour, Seb has decided to participate in our 40 But 10 series - where I've pulled together 40ish questions - some bookish, some silly - and have asked authors to limit themselves to answering only 10 of them. That way, it keeps the interviews fresh and connectable for all of us!

Seb Doubinsky is a bilingual French dystopian writer and poet. He is the author of the “City-States Cycle”, comprising, among others, The Babylonian Trilogy, The Song Of Synth, Missing Signal,The Invisible and Paperclip. Missing Signal, published by Meerkat Press, won the Bronze Foreword Reviews Award in the Best Science-Fiction Novel category in 2018. He lives in Denmark with his family and teaches literature, history and culture in the French department of Aarhus University. His new novel, Liberation Now! is coming out August 4th, through Meerkat Press.

Describe your book poorly.

It’s like the Power Puff Girls, but they have no magic powers, do drugs and are Communists.

 

What’s your kryptonite as a writer?  

Cafés and crowded spaces. And writer’s retreats. Could never write there. I need my own space.

 

Would you and your main character(s) get along?

In “Liberation Now!”, yes, absolutely. I would be part of their gang,  live in their community and do all sorts of illegal and fun stuff with them.

 

If you could spend the day with another author, who would you choose and why?

Thomas Pynchon, for sure. Because Thomas Pynchon, you know, and… Thomas Pynchon!!!

 

What is your favorite book from childhood?

I would say Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham”. Absolutely loved it as a kid. It made no sense and yet, it did. It could even be the book that made me a writer, because, in many ways, it respected nothing, except the child who was reading it. It was pure subversion.

 

What genres won’t you read?

I am not prejudiced, but romance is definitely not my cup of tea.

 

You have to choose an animal or cartoon character that best represents you. Which is it and why?

Wile E. Coyote, because he’s excellent at failing. Soul brother. And I’ve used him in my first City-States novel, “The Babylonian Trilogy” as a minor character.

 

Are you a toilet paper over or under kind of person? 

Definitely under. It’s the only way that makes sense. And I think people who defend the other way are weird. Like really weird.

 

Do you DNF books?

Yes. Absolutely.

 

What scares you the most?

You mean, apart from a slow and painful death and my fear of heights? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Releases August 6th

Science Fiction | Fantasy

Meerkat Press | Bookshop.org | Amazon

 

A radical and trippy scifi political fable about an improbable gang of women fighting for the freedom of planet Earth. Things are looking grim for Earth as the alien force known as the Subliminal Empire seems to enjoy a complete yet unnoticed control of the planet. However, a motley crew composed of a city-state president on the run, a financial advisor who quit her job, a disgruntled academic studying the dangers of A.I. and an undercover alien agent who previously worked as a manager for a rock band might very well jeopardize the cosmic imperialists' plan and prove once and for all that one should never underestimate the power of women when it comes to liberation. Doubinsky masterfully crescendos his genre-defying saga in this breathless, action-packed standalone finale.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT from LIBERATION NOW!

VITA

Vita parked her bike next to the other machine in front of the bleached bungalow, a superb chopper with a shiny blue tank. The ocean roared some fifty feet away, gnawing helplessly at the sandy beach. Ash’s house was one of a long stretch of small houses and businesses obviously built to enjoy and exploit the seashore. On the opposite side of Ash’s abode stood a bar and a lawyer’s office specialized in real estate. Everything looked a little run-down, probably because of the highly polluted waters, which made bathing impossible. A few miles up, a concentration of chemical and oil industries had gradually destroyed the environment, with the blessing of New Petersburg’s politicians. Global warming had helped the process, by developing algae which fed on the chemicals, turning them into toxic plants. They shone under the surface at night, a beautiful and eerie yellow-green glow that could be seen for miles. Your skin would develop a myriad of itchy pustules should it come in contact with them and leave you with impressive scar tissue once the eruptions dried and finally fell off like tiny skin petals. The town was called Blue City, but Ash thought that they should change it to Poison-Green City.

Vita was getting off her bike when Ash came out of the bungalow to greet her, holding a coffee mug in each hand. She wore a simple white t-shirt that enhanced the dark ink of the tattoos covering her arms and neck, and a pair of jean shorts which had the same effect with her long legs. Her feet were bare, tip-tapping on the warm concrete. Ash put down the mugs on the parking’s concrete and they hugged for a long time, clinging on each other’s body like the proof of their own existence.

“I’ve made some coffee,” Ash said. “Let’s sit on the porch and admire the devastation.”

Vita nodded, and they sat side by side on the brittle beach chairs, the steaming mug in their hand. Even if it was a beautiful late August morning, there were only a few people on the beach, sitting in the sand or walking at a safe distance from the shore. 

“Every day reminds me how stupid humans are,” Ash said, blowing on her coffee to cool it down.

Vita nodded. Ash’s words made her think of one of her favorite jokes: “As Confucius said, only human stupidity can give an idea of the infinite.” 

“What brings you here? Not that it isn’t great to see you, but five years is a long time.”

“I need a place to lay low for a while. Last mission was a disaster. You might even have heard about it.”

Ash shook her beautiful head, her blonde hair rolling like a matte fire around her perfect features.

“You’re the only contact I’ve left. We’re all in hibernation right now. Total communication ice-age.”

“And you think you’re safe here?”

“The Subliminal Empire definitely doesn’t know you exist. You’re completely under their radar, and I’ve managed to escape their surveillance, I think.”

“You think?” Ash asked, half-ironic, half-worried.

“No, I know. I hid in the same motel for two weeks, my Synth tuned on the 1880s. No grays appeared during the whole time.”

Ash nodded, playing with her mug.

“OK, just to make sure: Let’s tune into the Planet X Super Blue Beach Resort and check, just to be safe. You could be a double agent now, for all I know. Five years, girl. It’s a long time. Things happen.”

“Sure. I understand.”

 Synth was a drug that allowed its users to access parallel dimensions that could be shared, if you synchronized your experience. Ordinary non-users would just appear in the setting with their normal clothes on, while Synthers would be part of the setting: cowboys in a saloon, knights in armor around the Round Table, astronauts in a space station and so on. But Synth also revealed agents of the Subliminal Empire, who couldn’t manipulate space-time, and became gray shapes in the hallucination. Any weapon, police apparel or hostile aura would turn a person gray. Gray was the color of power. Gray was dangerous.

Both women let the Synth take over their neural systems, shifting the time-frame to the date and place of their choosing. Ash turned her head towards Vita, as the two suns stood high in the impeccable red sky. Their coffees had morphed into complicated cocktails, and they were both reclining in comfortable deckchairs. The beach was crowded with bathers and families, and children screamed and laughed as the purple waves hit their chests. Not a spot of gray in sight.

“Cheers,” Ash said. “Good to see you again.”