The Reaping
(The Seeds Trilogy #2)
Publication date: October 15th 2014
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Remy Alexander wants justice. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Sector only to watch her world burn around her, she will defy everyone to find her revenge.
Valerian Orlean wants truth. After learning what evils the Sector is truly capable of, he must confront his past in order to create a better future.
In a world where deadly secrets lurk around every corner, and the food you eat can enlighten or enslave you, Remy and Vale must walk the line between hope and hate, love and loss, violence and vengeance, in order to unite – or destroy – their world.AUTHOR BIO
K. Makansi is the pen name for the writing triumvirate consisting of Amira, Elena, and Kristina Makansi. Two sisters and their mother, the three women developed a passionate interest in science fiction as a way to write about issues of food sovereignty and food justice. Elena is pursuing a degree in environmental studies atOberlin College in Ohio, and will graduate in May of 2014. Amira was a history student at the University of Chicago whose day job working in the cellar of awinery (and constantly being splatteredwith wine) keeps her busy when she’s not writing. And Kristy owns and operates Blank Slate Press, an independent publishing company based out of St. Louis, and is a partner at Treehouse Publishing Group, a company providing editorial and design services to aspiring authors. When not writing or reading, the three can be found having animated discussions around the dinner table, sharing a good bottle of wine, or taking long walks in the park eagerly plotting out their next book.
THE SOWING
THE RESISTANCE HAS BEGUN.
The Sowing was chosen as a Compulsion Reads “Irresistible Collection” book!
Here’s what they had to say: “The Sowing is a brilliant adventure where war is as much about brain and brawn. The action doesn’t stop for a single minute. I think I sprained my finger swiping my Kindle so vigorously trying to get to the next page. Yeah, it’s that good.” – Compulsion Reads
Remy Alexander never thought she’d be hunted. Growing up in the posh comfort of the elite meritocracy of the Okarian Sector, she knew nothing of genetically modified food, drug regimes used to control and manipulate citizens, or the mysterious disappearances of elite Sector scientists and politicians. But when her older sister was murdered in a brutal classroom massacre, she and her friend Eli swore to find the truth behind her sister’s murder. Now, three years after the massacre, Remy and Eli are fighters for the Resistance, a fledgling group of renegades trying to stop the Sector’s systematic enslavement of citizens. But just as Remy and Eli think they’ve found a clue into her sister’s death, Valerian Orlean, Remy’s old schoolgirl crush, is put in charge of destroying the Resistance. While Remy and her friends race to unravel the mystery behind her sister’s murder, Vale is haunted by the memory of his friendship with Remy and is determined to find out why she disappeared. As the Sector begins to hunt down the Resistance, and Vale and Remy search for the answers to their own questions, the two are set on a collision course that could bring everyone together—or tear everything apart.
THE SOWING, the first book in The SEEDS Trilogy, is set in a post-apocalyptic world. In the wake of environmental destruction and a devastating population crash, the Okarian Sector was forced to fight to establish a civil society in a chaotic world. After the loss of seed biodiversity in the destruction of the Old World, genetic modification and artificial agricultural techniques are the Sector’s only choice. Science reigns supreme. The Okarian Agricultural Consortium, a corporation dedicated to perfecting these modified seeds and providing only the best food and medicine to its citizens, becomes the government’s most important arm. But even the purest gold is tarnished over time, and the Sector’s noble goals devolve into manipulation, control, and oppression.
Writing as K. Makansi, the mother-daughter writing team of Amira, Elena, and Kristy are ready to bring you into the world of SEEDS, a post-apocalyptic thriller that features romance, enduring friendships, edge-of-your-seat action, and heart-wrenching betrayal.
THE PRELUDE
The novella, written by Amira of the K. Makansi trio, tells the story of Soren’s life in Okaria and how he came to be a member of the Resistance. Readers will learn more about Soren’s rivalry with Vale and his friendship with Dr. James Rhinehouse and Jeremiah Sayyid. Weaving in equal parts politics, music, science fiction, and a coming of age story, THE PRELUDE provides an in-depth look into one of our readers’ favorite characters in the world of SEEDS.
EXCERPT:
My hand hovers over the keys. I hesitate. Close my eyes and visualize the music, black ink scattered in elegant lines across the page. I find the first note instinctively. When I press the ivory key and the hammer strikes, I feel it reverberate in my chest. The sound hangs in the air like a drop of honey on the tongue.
The first four stanzas are fluid like water. They wash over me in waves as they echo from the instrument. When my right hand joins in, I feel as though I have leapt into a cool, clean pond on the hottest day in summer. I am drowning in relief. I can almost feel the water rushing through my hair and across my skin, buoying and caressing me. It’s peace and contentment. It’s power, energy, motion. It’s falling and floating. I revel in the force of the music, the control I exert over this instrument. It feels like twisting and rolling in lapping waves.
I sail through the first quarter, relishing as always the simple beginning, the first, major key arpeggio. There is nothing so climactic, so tremendous, as the build and emotion in this piece. I know it so well I don’t have to think to play it. I feel the music flowing around me, and I allow my body to respond in kind. My only focus is channeling the music, pushing myself through it and allowing it to cleanse me.
I dance down the keyboard, through the final arpeggio, and come to rest on the last notes, three lonely chimes that might as well be a death knell. It occurs to me that I need to breathe. I become aware of my surroundings. The audience, hushed, tense. My shoulders and back, slouched over the keys as though I had died along with the music. The geometric precision of the arching auditorium above me. The blue sky shining through the glass ceiling. The bleak, hollow pulses of the dying song.
The audience erupts in cheers. I stand, out of breath, as if surfacing from too long spent underwater. There’s a ringing in my ears that’s swelled up in the empty space left by the music. It sounds like bells. I always have trouble disengaging after a performance. This time is no different. It takes me several seconds to remember that I am expected to bow, to wave, to smile. I feel the pinpricks of sweat on my forehead, and have to fight the urge to brush them away. When I stand, my foot almost gets tangled in the legs of the piano bench. My smile falters, and I have to catch myself to stop from falling. I’ve never been comfortable with the moments before and after. Only the music keeps me performing.
I step up to the edge of the platform and stare out at the faces in the audience. My mother, Cara, sitting in the chancellor’s place of honor next to the podium. Odin, my father, sits next to her. The other contestants sit in the front row of the audience. Valerian Orleán, clapping reluctantly. I flash my teeth at him—he knows I just beat him. Hana Lyon, a girl a year younger than us, and every bit as talented, smiles at me. In the light filtering down from above, her skin is the color of dark honey. Mallory Flint, a year older, in her last year of eligibility for this contest, her face expressionless. I know she was hoping to win, for once, but her performance pales in comparison to the others on stage.
Vale fancies himself my only true competition, but his performances are dull and mechanical. Technically perfect, I’ll give him that, but he plays like he’s keeping time with a metronome. He has no sense of musicianship. If anyone beats me today, it’ll be Hana, whose performance of one of the Sector’s composers was unparalleled. She did it better than I could.
I remember, finally, to smile and wave. I’ve been standing here for too long. I bow, and hurry ungracefully off the stage. I take my seat next to Vale, who acknowledges me with a terse nod. We have nothing to say to each other. We never do. Hana, though, leans over to whisper in my ear.
“Beat the pants off the rest of us, Soren!”
I smile.
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