Glitchcraft

by L.J. Hatton

Sixteen year old Elodie has never been cold or hot; she’s never felt rain on her face, had a warm breeze move her hair, or seen snow beyond what collects on the tempered liquid crystal above her head. She’s lived her life inside the National Endowment for Science and technology as part of an on-going colony simulation. All of that changes when her parents transfer out of the NEST and she transfers into the outside world.

It’s a disaster.

Everyone at her new school’s as terrified of anything or anyone connected to the NEST as they are fascinated by it, an entire section of the student body’s made the decision to live without technology, and no one realizes the true cost of using “The Connection,” an evolved version of the internet that keeps the world running smoothly. But Elodie understands.
She’s one of a recessive group born with a genetic condition that allows her to use the connection without the implant everyone else has to use, and she’s one of the fewer-than-few who know what will happen if someone like her father finds out.

The Connections’ not 1’s and 0’s, or wires and circuits; it’s human brain power, and if anyone discovers what she can do, she’ll end up another piece of the machine. Leaving the NEST was the only way her mother could think of to save her.
Unfortunately, it seems that the NEST isn’t ready to let Elodie go. She finds technology at her new school that shouldn’t exist in the outside world, and when she tries to take it home, the device nearly kills her. Recovery forces her back into the NEST and into the service of the “Top Office” her father’s division, which is desperate to stop this new, and forbidden, tech from spreading. Elodie’s got no choice but to work within the system trying to destroy her, because if she can’t find a way to corral this new tech, it’s going to bring down the Connection and the NEST, and if that happens, the thousand captive souls inside will die.

302 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2021

About the author

L.J. Hatton is a Texan, born and raised. She sometimes refers to the towns she’s lived in by the movies filmed in them, and if she wasn’t working as a professional pretender, she’d likely be holed up in a lab somewhere doing genetics research.

She is also the author of Sing Down the Stars, the first volume in her Celestine series.

Also see Josin L. McQuein.

Reviews

[Josin McQuein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obligatory author's 5-star review of their own book, however, I do love the story. It's a little light cyberpunk in a near-future setting, with some genetic tinkering gone awry. A hi-tech world where eschewing technology is a moral choice for some. Questions about the nature of reality, how personal that definition can be, and how uncomfortable it can make outsiders to get a glimpse of those personal moments.

[Jessica Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

I loved it. Some parts dragged a little but ultimately it’s a great book and I can’t wait for the next one!