For all the adults devouring the pages of popular Young Adult dystopia, get ready for a protagonist you can relate to.
Mortgages, childcare, and bills are one thing. But what would happen to your world if, in the midst of your mundane worries, something awoke within you that not only gave you remarkable abilities, but also regressed your body to its physical prime? Apparent Power by Dacia M Arnold thrusts everyday reality into a catastrophic race to salvage her family amidst a changing world.
"My goal is for the mothers reading this book to lose the excuses of physically being able to fight for their children," says Ms. Arnold of her work. "I joined the US Army at 19. Reading dystopian novels later in life, as a mother and having finished a 10 year enlistment, I remembered what it was like to be a kid and train in hand to hand combat, weapons, and learn how to function as a team. I did a search for like stories for adults and came up empty handed. My heart was heavy knowing that my generation needed a heroine: a mom that will rip a hole clean through her living room wall, if need be. This is just what you do for your children."
Mrs. Arnold, then Sergeant Arnold, served in the US Army as a combat medic and completed two combat tours, one of which included a fifteen month extended deployment in the Baghdad Emergency Room, the second busiest Level 1 trauma hospital in the world next to the American military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.
"It was the best-worst time of my life," Mrs. Arnold says of her deployment. "I blocked much from memory but held on to the emotions during the experience. There is much pride and a sense of personal growth I feel when I talk about it. Also a small bit of surreal realization to have come out of war with minimal mental trauma."
Shifting gears from combat veteran to a mother of two has not soften this former squad leader.
"There are days when I lay my daughter down for a nap and wonder if I will ever shoot a grenade launcher ever again," said Ms. Arnold. "I was pretty accurate with a mounted grenade launcher. Ultimately, my children are the only thing in this world that would rise me to fight. Mothers are the single most resourceful demographic, so it makes sense to me one be represented in dystopian fiction."
Arnold is signing copies of her debut novel, Apparent Power, at Denver's own Tattered Cover bookstore on Colfax Avenue on February 23rd, 2019 at 2pm.
"Apparent Power's unique genetic awakening inside a young mother protagonist makes this book an easy one to celebrate. But it's Dacia Arnold's clear voice, distinctive characterization, and flawless pacing that make this electrifying story one you won't want to put down." -Rachel Huffmire, author of Shattered Snow
Apparent Power is available in ebook and paperback from Immortal Works via Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Plot Summary for "Apparent Power:"
A dormant gene awakens in a quarter of the world's population and the effects are apocalyptic. With an even rarer gene, the life of Valerie Russell turns into a shocking race against time. When the human body begins to require more electricity than needed to keep a heart beating, cars lose power, phones no longer function, and planes fall from the sky. Stranded in southern Colorado, a hundred miles from home-and from her two-year-old son- Valerie must find it within herself to trek the distance with the help of a questionable assembly of ex-military friends of the family.
But the awakening has a different effect on Valerie. While others absorb electricity, Valerie's abilities are not as limited, making her the key to unlocking a worldwide genocide of those who were not affected.
As she evades the rising totalitarian government, Valerie is also faced with a moral choice: risk failure and attempt to save the masses from the regime's deadly plot or run and preserve only the lives of her family. How does a mother make such an impossible choice?
Dacia M Arnold is an award-winning American novelist, freelance writer, mother, medical professional and a ten-year Army Veteran. In addition to Apparent Power, she has also written short fiction in the international anthology COLP: The Passage of Time. As a freelance writer, Dacia contributes monthly to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's blog where she shares her relatively short experience in the literary world. Her novella Reactance, a companion to Apparent Power, is a #1 bestseller on Amazon.
Visit Dacia M Arnold on Twitter at @DaciaAuthor, Facebook at facebook.com/AuthorDaciaMArnold or her website at https://daciamarnold.com
