Millie Abecassis

Earlier this month, Polymath Press, an independent Colorado-based press, acquired my novella Bright City, Shattered. My publisher is currently working on the publishing schedule of their upcoming books, so the release date will be confirmed soon, but during our initial conversation, we discussed a potential release later this year. More on that coming soon!

Bright City, Shattered is a sci-fi mystery taking place in a fictional city located in a world where each city is isolated to protect itself from the dangerous wilderness, and have limited communications with each other. The city is a blend of formicapunk and arcanepunk, with a hint of cyberpunk. The main inspirations for the world-building and plot are Final Fantasy VII, HBO’s miniseries Chenobyl, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. As for my protagonist, she’s a blend of Adam Jensen (Deus Ex) and Joe Miller (The Expanse): an ex-military turned chief of security for a powerful corporation, who relentlessly pursues her investigation to solve the death of a woman she barely knew.

The story was pitched with the following blurb, which may change, of course, as I work with my publisher on the manuscript:

Reine just started her job as head of security at Clean Crystal Corporation, known as C3, when Isaline, a brilliant enmagineer and the CEO’s niece, is found dead in the crystal’s Core Room.

C3 CEO Max Caldwell and Detective Inspector Novau are convinced Isaline got murdered by another employee, and dismiss all the clues that point toward a safety accident. The crystal is safe, they say. It has never harmed anyone, and Bright City can only prosper thanks to the clean luma-based electricity it supplies the city. But Reine is haunted by her encounter with the magnetic Isaline, and can’t forget the fear in her eyes when she prevented Reine from approaching the crystal.

Isaline knew something, and Reine is determined to uncover the truth. The problem is, she needs her job at C3 to support her family, and Max Caldwell won’t tolerate Reine’s eagerness to investigate Isaline’s death. She soon finds herself torn between her responsibilities and her feelings toward a dead woman she barely knew.

I’m really excited to see this novella becoming a book, for two reasons. First, because it will be released sooner than my other forthcoming book (La Couleur du Temps) which will alleviate everyone’s impatience (mostly my own) to hold one of my books in their hands. Secondly, because this story was hard to write, and even harder to place.

It was my first many things: my first novella, my first sci-fi, my first story including an investigation. It took me 17 months to write it, because of a long break I took after I realized I needed more experience to make justice to the story. I put it on hold and worked on other projects to improve my writing skills, in particular my outlining skills; because this story needed an outline, even a simple one, and back in the day, I was a pantser. Bright City, Shattered turned me into a plotter.

Eventually I finished it and started submitting it to independent presses, but I quickly realized there weren’t many venues willing to publish 1) novellas 2) speculative 3) blending genres. Over the next 18 months, I only found a dozen of presses susceptible to acquire it. I had almost given up on it, until I saw Polymath Press was open to novellas and welcomed cross-genre works, and even listed sci-fi mystery as an example (!). And here we are, in May 2024, three years after I started working on this story. It found its home, and one I couldn’t be happier with.

Thank you for reading. If you want to receive all the news about this book (release date, official blurb, cover reveal, etc.) and about my writing in general, don’t forget to join my newsletter. No spam, promised!