Lili G

   

 

 

Born to lycan nobility in an alternate 43rd-century Earth, Liliana Engel is orphaned at a young age and forced to fend for herself. But her fortunes change when she is adopted by the Gunnarssons (LIVES OF FUTURE-PAST).

After the Vrol War, Lili (now Gunnarsson) moves to her parents' home world to attend school at Saint Mary's Academy. However, she is forced to go by the name Lili Gatto, due to her new family's celebrity. She also must keep her borne-lycan status and ability to harness magic an absolute secret while she navigates the intricacies of an entirely new social environment.

This all-new YA series follows Lili as she attends school, makes friends (and enemies) and not only learns math, English, Spanish and science, but also how to harness the secrets of the universe. Enhanced subspecies, magic, time-travel and alternate realities are intertwined with the homework, adolescent issues and crushes of this fun and unique protagonist.

LILI G MUST DIE - Now available at Amazon.com
LILI G: HYPERION

Query:

29th century Azul: a shiny, new home for the ancestors of refugees from Earth, which is now known as a dead world.

But Earth is not as dead as most believe.

Lili Gunnarsson is an orphan, secretly from a feudal society on a restored and hidden Earth. Recently adopted into the famous Gunnarsson clan, she can do things no other Azulian child can. She can change someone's sensibilities with a mere touch. She can teleport to any place on her new world. She can even levitate a 200-kilogram stone table and drop it on one's head if she desires. And eventually, she will horridly transform into a savage beast on every full moon.

Unfortunately, Lili has no idea she is also a walking plague: a fact only known to her adoptive aunt and uncle. She has a malignancy growing inside her and she will ultimately infect any world she is on, taking countless others with her. And every day she lives, her potential demise becomes more powerful, putting even more innocent lives in peril.

Now, Lili is perfectly fine with her abilities, willingly keeping them secret while she attends seventh-grade classes at Saint Mary's Academy, in Córdoba, Nueva Argentina, under the name Lili Gatto. Accompanied by her best friends, fraternal twins Tommy and Janie Williams, native Alaskans also from Earth, Lili navigates the intricacies of a scholastic social environment completely alien to her. From her nasty English teacher, Miss Hernandez, to the twisted little fans of the R.I.P. Ryder Johnson Fan Club, a group dedicated to the memory and supposed genius of a traitorous murderer, Lili encounters many obstacles in her quest to pose as a normal girl and get an excellent education in the institution where her adoptive father studied.

Then, one day, she accidentally discovers a sinister plan to activate descendants of one of the worst enhanced subspecies ever known: vampires.

Lili has a genetic-level aversion to these creatures, like her adoptive parents, being a hybrid of the lycan subspecies and of the Prīmulī, the species that created humanity. And, despite warnings from her parents, her aunt and her uncle (the latter of which happens to be the Primulus historically known as Michael the Archangel), Lili sets out to eliminate these foul beings from the face of the planet.

Without getting caught and grounded for life, that is.

However, Lili has no idea that rogue, banished Prīmulī, known as the Grigori, are scheming to have her killed, or that it is they who have reawakened the worst that the human race has to offer. The Grigori, led by Michael's borderline insane sister, Anaita, consider Lili to be a genetic monstrosity, and also fear the power she will one day possess: power that will eclipse theirs, like an ocean over a babbling brook. Anaita's minion, Azael, poses as Saint Mary's custodian, Mr. Wallace, assisting the crazed Primulus in her scheme to eliminate Homo Sapiens from the face of the universe. Unable to physically harm Lili due to Michael's protective influences, Azael appears to be the one who is turning prominent Córdoba citizens into vampires in order to terminate the girl's existence. But he holds a dangerous secret close to his heart: a secret that could mean the end of his own eons-long existence.

After Michael strips Lili of the majority of her abilities for disobedience, and then leaves for a mission on the other side of the galaxy, Lili is forced to face Anaita and fight for her life, alone and without the help of anyone. And the only thing that can save Lili is a note on a tiny piece of paper, written as an afterthought, for something that should have never happened in the first place.

So, whether her demise comes at the hands of the Grigori, or by her fulfilling her potential as an organic anti-matter bomb, eventually, LILI G MUST DIE.

Sample manuscript from LILI G MUST DIE:

THIS WEEK: CHAPTER 22 - TREMORS

 

Overview

Despite taking place in the 29th century, readers will find that the LILI G series isn't so much science fiction as it is future urban fantasy. Comparisons can be made to the Harry Potter series, but these are vague and only pertain to usage of magic (spells, called cantuses), transportation (teleportation, called slipping) and one personal detail, in particular.

Lili Gatto is a new, tweenaged protagonist for middle-grade and YA fantasy readers. In some ways unsophisticated, in others adult-like and unapologetically brutal, Lili hails from a secret world where lycan clans command the day, and rotting vampires own the night. Recently adopted by a family of naval officers, Lili relocates to Azul, a human-colonized world, where she is to navigate the intricacies of a social environment completely alien to her: school.

Comps: Think Harry Potter meets Serenity/Firefly (Joss Whedon) meets Incarnations of Immortality (Piers Anthony) meets a bit of Percy Jackson (Rick Riordan), but the protagonist is female, carries a katana sword (magically stashed in her backpack) and lives in a multiplanetary system that knows nothing of magic. In essence, she is the only young girl of her kind, spying on (and sometimes trying to kill) some really bad people, unaware that even worse beings are out to get her.

Diversity:While Lili was born in northern Germany, part of a Nordic kingdom of lycans, her best friends, fraternal twins Tommy and Janie Williams, are native Alaskans (Haidas), as is their grandfather, Chief Jake Williams, head of the Cordoba Police Department. Janie serves as Lili's conscience, while Tommy provides typical boy-like distractions/comic relief. Azael/Mr. Wallace is black (but is a Primulus, so he is not representative of any particular black community or culture on Earth. He's just an awesome immortal with his own issues). Lili's adoptive parents are Hispanic (descendants of Argentines from Earth, and retaining much of their ancestors' culture, including a love for yerba mate tea), as is her aunt, Clarisa. Race is treated as no big deal (it is the 29th century, after all), with the exception of some comments by inactive vampires, who tend to despise Hispanics and believe themselves to be superior.

Mythos: LILI G MUST DIE's Prīmulī Universe derives many of its concepts from classical mythology/religion. Lili's Uncle Michael was once known as St. Michael the Archangel, as well as Thor, Osiris and Apollo due to his infrequent interactions with humans throughout the ages. These days, Michael works as a curator of ancient Earth arts, while preventing Lili from melting everything she sees into slag. Lili also has another uncle: Gabriel (a.k.a. Ares, God of War). After her parents, he's her favorite relative.

29th century Azul differs completely from what the reader would believe, based on today's popular offerings. There is no social media. No one has a smart phone. The DataNet is highly regulated. Biotech implants, which had turned Earthlings into virtual zombies, were outlawed before the Exodus' arrival. Movie stars were long ago replaced by CGI and artificial intelligence created for the entertainment industry. In fact, celebrity status is only obtained through heroic deeds, tough choices and self-sacrifice.

And Lili is completely fine with all these things, being from a medieval world of magic, vampires, lycans and no technology. She has absolutely no problem combining Azul's limited tech with her magical abilities in order to spy on people and get into all sorts of trouble.

From the Saint Mary's Wildcats soccer team to the Obscure Language League to the R.I.P. Ryder Johnson Fan Club, operated by twisted little fans of a murderous traitor, Córdoba has plenty to offer the reader. The Gunnarsson Estate, the little blue house on the hill, Heladicious & Catarro's Ice Cream Parlor, Villa Roma Argentine/Italian Restaurant and the Plaza de Armas create a charming backdrop that is full of surprises. Mixing together growing up, teen drama, a bit of violence (actually, a lot), loyalty and deceit and the mystical and the physical, fans of everything from Harry Potter to The Mortal Instruments to the Percy Jackson series will enjoy the world (and universe) of Lili G.