Cyberotique

An original novel written and posted circa 2016-2017 over on AO3, I think this is the last one I wrote while under the influence that I could reasonably become an author with a Following and a Patreon who sold independently-published books on Kindle. I've written other shorts and fanfics since then, but never anything else this big. I had meant to polish it up and post it on Amazon for purchase and everything (hence the fancy cover art by my friend Katy!), but ultimately never got around to it. I got joy enough from getting weekly comments from the one person who was reading along with every update, and that was worth more than any measly money I'd ever potentially make from book sales anyway. And to Elohari, wherever you are, I hope things are going well!

Rossybelle is a cyborg. An organic human brain piloting a carbon fiber, human-shaped body. Her old organic body is gone forever, replaced with a synthetic one by an enigmatic Doctor after a horrible accident left her paralyzed from the neck down. Miracle or not, cybernetics aren't free, and with no family or friend able to foot the medical bill, Rossy is fated to work whatever job will hire someone with no home address, no ID, and virtually no human organs intact, in a pitiful effort to pay for an existence she didn't even ask for. Far from home and armed with nothing but her outrageous fashion sense and a mysterious creeper sending text messages to the computer in her head to keep her on task, Rossy has taken a job as a bouncer at a local roadside-motel-slash-strip-club, because a job's a job, right? This second chance at life will never feel quite like the first, but there's something about GETTING a second chance that keeps a tiny sliver of hope alive...and hey, that one dancer IS a cutie, no lie...