Outcast Trilogy by Patricia Bernard

For centuries the Eastern Zoners have scavenged the poisoned wastelands surrounding Megalopolis while the gene-perfect Megas rule in glittering towers behind five glass walls. Fish–an unwanted Mega throwback with white hair and emerald eyes–should never have lived past infancy. Ari–an over-chipped Mega girl–should have been thrown from the Ritual Pier. Weed–scarred by a golden-clawed bear–speaks futures he cannot remember. Branch–small, fierce, and fearless–breaks bones for sport.

Thrown together by prophecy, betrayal, and an approaching techno-cult called the Oriacans, the four outcasts must cross deserts, slave mines, and volcanic fields, survive an arena of death, and challenge the very idea of what it means to be human. If they fail, Megalopolis will burn and every Zone will fall. If they succeed, the Rule Changer will rewrite the world.

Book 1: Outcast

Sixteen-year-old Fish–white-haired throwback and embarrassment to his village–is shoved across the border into the Arid Zone and told to vanish.

Survival means finding the outlaw brothers who want nothing to do with him, dodging rebel ambushes and Southern raiders, and learning the brutal rules of Megalopolis: the five-walled silver city that trades weather-control for the Zoners’ food. Armed with little more than a flute, a hunting knife, and an unshakeable belief that the world’s cruel divisions can change, Fish stumbles into a conspiracy for stolen Knowledge Chips–devices the Megas use instead of learning. If he can’t outwit city guards, rival scavenger clusters, and the sinister High Mega who covets his strange green eyes, he’ll lose far more than his freedom.

Pushed over the wall, but never willing to stay in a box, Fish will either rewrite the rules–or die an Outcast.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy: Dystopian    ISBN: 978-1-922233-76-9    ISBN PRINT D2D: 9798230312123    ASIN: B00KKOJGFG    Word Count: 73,779

 

Book 2: The Punisher

To save the girl he loves, Fish must walk into the Mighty Arena–a place where heroes die screaming.

Branch lies bruised, Weed is chained as collateral, and thirty prisoners’ lives hang on Fish’s first bout. Worse, the finger-eating High Priestess called the Punisher has wagered her empire that the Rule Changer will fall, while the glass-eating Oriacan armies march ever closer to Megalopolis. With traitors in the stands and prophecy on his shoulders, Fish has one chance to turn an enemy coliseum into the spark of revolution.

Win the arena and free thirty souls. Lose, and a prophecy drowns in blood.

Genre: Young Adult: Fantasy: Dystopian    ISBN: 978-1-921636-03-5    ISBN PRINT D2D: 9798230412496    ASIN: B00PFGOUPK    Word Count: 82, 261

Book 3: Rule Changer

The glass walls are fracturing, and Oriacan war drums roll toward Megalopolis.

Racing across the razor-edged Glass Teeth Peaks, Fish, Ari, Weed, and Branch carry one impossible demand: unite Megas and Zoners or perish together. Betrayed by rebel armies, trapped by shape-shifting priests, and shadowed by a god of molten glass, Fish must become more than a breaker of chains–he must forge the rules of a new world.

Stand together, or watch prophecy turn to ash and the world to ruins.

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy: Dystopian    ISBN: 978-1-925191-07-3    ISBN PRINT D2D: 9798230737797    ASIN: B00RH8WTOI    Word Count: 78, 594