Bang Bang Bodhisattva

by Aubrey Wood

Overview

This punk ain’t feelin’ lucky.

It’s 2032 and hacker-for-hire Kiera’s living in the worst cyberpunk future. She’s been gigging her ass off to keep the lights on, chasing cheaters with Angel Herrera, a luddite P.I. who talks like a ’40s movie detective. But that changes when Herrera’s ex-best friend turns up murdered. Their only lead: a stick of Nag Champa incense dropped at the scene.

Next thing Kiera knows, her new crush has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a severed hand (the real one, not the cybernetic) and the familiar stink of sandalwood. Two crimes, two sticks of incense, Kiera framed for both. She told Herrera to lose her number after the last job, but now the old man might be her only way out of this mess...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786187000
Publisher:	Rebellion Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	825 KB

About the Author

Aubrey Wood was born in California to a mixed-race couple and spent much of her childhood jumping back and forth between there and New Zealand until finally being trapped in a rural New Zealand hamlet at the age of 10. She has since spent most of her life in Auckland and on the internet. As a child Aubrey made picture books, as a teenager she furiously churned out fanfiction, and started trying to write professionally in 2011 after a brief and unsuccessful bid to become Trent Reznor. Bang Bang Bodhisattva is her debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

03/06/2023

This voicey and fast-paced cyberpunk noir, Wood’s debut, follows transgender gig worker and jack-of-all-trades Kiera Umehara as she races to solve two murders she’s been framed for. When her landlord raises the requirements for “social scores” necessary for her and her polyamorous partners to stay in their property, a desperate Kiera takes a job with hangdog, technophobic private eye Angel Herrera tracking down and exposing duplicitous lovers using her hacking skills. Then two bodies turn up with only two things tying them together: their connection to Kiera and a stick of Nag Champa incense left at the crime scenes. The unlikely detective duo must stick together to solve the mystery and clear Kiera’s name. Wood’s punchy, pulpy style is well-suited to the subject matter, and noir fans will appreciate the many plot twists. The quippiness of the dialogue occasionally comes at the cost of the story’s emotional beats, and the rapid-fire references can become difficult to wade through in pursuit of the plot, but once the story finds its footing, it rollicks along. The result is fresh, exciting cyberpunk. Agent: Stacia Decker, Dunow Carlson & Lerner. (May.)

Publishers Weekly

"The antidote to sci fi as usual: Simultaneously gritty and shiny neon new, realist but not nihilist, unabashedly queer and endlessly inventive." — Bitter Karella (The Midnight Society)

“Fresh, exciting cyberpunk” — Publishers Weekly

“A crafty, intoxicating romp.” — Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing

“Wood melds genres with ease—noir and cyberpunk, mystery and sf—in a wickedly funny and heart-wrenching, dystopian thrill ride. Bang Bang Bodhisattva will knock readers off kilter in the best way possible.” — Booklist

“Packed with one liners and crassly loveable characters Bang Bang Bodhisattva is the perfect melting pot for genre lovers in need of a relevant and modern spin on futuristic crime thrillers.” — SciFiNow

From the Publisher