Today I am so pleased to welcome Al Hess to Joyfully Jay. Al Hess has come to talk to us about the release of Mazarin Blues. Al has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving a big welcome!

1930s Slang

Emery Wilson runs the Gator Club, a downtown Boise speakeasy dealing in illegal tech. Em can sniff out a mainstreamer a mile away, and they won’t hesitate to throw you out if they think you’re a square.

Don’t get labeled a jellybean. Know your onions and get hep to the slang, Mack.

  • Abyssinia – “I’ll be seeing you.”
  • Bank’s closed – no making out
  • Cats/gators – swing music fans
  • Cement mixer – a bad dancer
  • Chicago typewriter – a machine gun
  • Copacetic – awesome
  • Cruisin’ for a bruisin’ – inviting a beating
  • Dizzy – in love/crazy about someone
  • Ginchy – sexy
  • Go chase yourself – “Get out of here.”
  • Hep – hip/in the know
  • Iron your shoelaces – use the restroom
  • Jake – okay/fine
  • Jellybean – an unpopular person
  • Jive joint – a swing music club
  • Off the cob – corny
  • Ossified – drunk
  • Slip me five – “Shake my hand.”
  • Take a powder – leave
  • The bee’s knees – amazing/the best
  • Trip for biscuits – a pointless endeavor

 



Blurb

Introvert Reed Rothwell is part of a subculture of art deco era enthusiasts, pushing back against bland mainstream society and its mandated technology. Stuck with an AI assistant in his head is bad enough, but when he’s inflicted with a forced upgrade to a new beta version, named Mazarin, the navigator starts to take on feelings and opinions of his own.

When rumors spread of beta navs turning on their pilots, Reed is determined not to become a victim. Mazarin hasn’t become violent yet—the AI is sympathetic and understanding—but with beta participants coerced into slitting their own throats, it’s only a matter of time before Reed is next.

The AI megacorporation already has an unhealthy interest in Reed, and all the beta testers who have sought help for their navigators have disappeared. The swingin’ cats of the deco scene have the means to illegally terminate Reed’s AI. But Mazarin has never tried to harm Reed—he loves Reed.

Grappling with ridding himself of intrusive technology, the morality of hurting his self-aware AI, and avoiding the attention of a company that wants to sweep Reed’s existence under the rug might be too much for one hep cat to handle.

 

Get book #2 in the Hep Cats of Boise Series: Sable Dark

Mazarin has everything an AI could want: a hep holographic body, a joyfriend she’s dizzy for, and asylum from Wave, the shady AI megacorporation that once held her captive. In their clutches, she’d been confined to the anxious brain of her host, Reed, serving as his navigator. Now separate, they enjoy a friendship and the knowledge that Wave’s lead engineer, Phil Rice, who terrorized them for months, is locked away in a court-ordered hospital stay.

But when Rice escapes, Reed’s stress skyrockets. Though Mazarin is no longer in Reed’s brain, their connection lingers, and she can’t resist the desire to stick close and protect them both from Wave. If Rice abducts Reed, it means certain death, and there’s no telling what the megacorp would do to Mazarin if she’s captured.

Reed’s sudden nosebleeds, paranoia, and skewed sense of perception lead Maz to believe more is at play than his galactic anxiety. With Rice on the loose, she can’t be too careful. Desperate for a solution to Reed’s deteriorating health, Mazarin risks her safety venturing into the company of untrustworthy AI, decoist gangsters, and even Wave themselves, to find help for her beloved pilot before it’s too late.

Buy Links: Amazon


Bio

Al lives in the middle of the Nevada desert, and when not hunched before a computer screen, can be found hunched over an art desk.

Author of the post-apocalyptic Travelers Series and the 1930s flavored dystopian series, Hep Cats of Boise, Al writes cozy and uplifting stories in normally gritty genres.

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Giveaway

Nine lucky winners will each receive a Mazarin Blues ebook and one Grand Prize winner will receive signed paperbacks of both Mazarin Blues and Sable Dark!. Follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

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