When Future is Prologue

I love world building as much as the next person, but I have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation when it comes to this week’s release of Finders Keepers. I can’t help but wonder what readers will think of the  not-so-distant future in which the book is set. It's a world that, in some ways, might feel a little too much like our own.

You see, in my future, there are no flying cars—at least not yet. In fact, the break-up of the United States (over by the time the book opens and referenced only in passing) has resulted in a world with less new technology, not more. The military has been fully privatized and now owns most of the more expensive  advances—like my bionic hero Caleb, who is the lucky recipient of expensive cell de-aging therapy that’s left him looking like a man half his age.

Of course the average person would still have access to some advances. My heroine, Sally, for example, uses a thermotropic dye for hair that changes color like a mood ring. But the majority of the population will be more like my second hero, Aldo, who drives a truck, lives in a 100-year-old ski cabin (that's it on the cover) and cooks his eggs in a cast iron skillet.

This world is partially built on my hypothesis that, forced to deal with smaller, local economies, consumers aren’t going to be able to support their current craze for the latest, greatest upgrades. Instead, I see them developing an increased nostalgic appreciation for things from the past. And that just fits this story of love lost and found so very perfectly.

Here’s a small excerpt:

Aldo puttered around the kitchen for a short while after the others left, but the ghosts of Christmas past were haunting him today, making him wish he’d never mentioned the damned decorations in the attic. The last time he’d used them had been several years ago when Davis had decided he was in the mood for a white Christmas. They’d come here then, and just like now, Aldo had handled the cooking while the others had dealt with the decorations. He should have thought about that when he’d suggested coming up here again this year, but they’d spent Christmas here so infrequently, he’d honestly thought it would be better. Right now, however, he was second-guessing a lot of his decisions. Maybe the fact that he and Sally had made fewer memories here gave those few an added luster, making them seem even more precious.

Finally giving in to the inevitable, he went up to the loft. If anyone was going to mess around up there with the boxes he and Davis had so painstakingly packed away, if anyone was going to screw with his memories of that particular afternoon, it was going to be him, damn it, and no one else.

The crawl space was just what its name implied; one had to be on one’s knees to access it. The whole time he was pulling boxes out, Aldo was remembering the afternoon he and Davis had put them in there. Most particularly he was remembering—vividly—how he’d spent most of that time ogling Davis’s ass and indulging in a harmless little fantasy of what it would be like if he and Davis were the married couple and Sally was simply their really close best friend. The three of them were already so at-home with each other, very little would have to change. If he and Davis were married, they would still be up here together packing boxes away while Sally was busy downstairs, vacuuming up pine needles. The only differences would be who got to go home together, which of them ended up sleeping alone, who would have to keep his hands to himself.

Read more about this story here: www.PGForte.com/FindersKeepersExcerpt.htm

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Finders Keepers

Author:PG Forte

Length:Novel

ISBN:978-1-62300-089-9

Sometimes finding what you want is the easy part.

Caleb is a bionic soldier with little-to-no memory of his past. He's seeking the truth about himself and those missing memories.

Aldo's an undercover cop who just might have the answers to Caleb's questions. But if Caleb's the man Aldo thinks he is, how can he let him get away a second time?

Then there's Sally; she's an ER physician who used to be married to Aldo's late partner, Davis. Sally's not dealing with widowhood very well. In fact, it's getting harder, every day, just to find a reason to keep getting out of bed. If the truth about the men's shared past comes to light, she could lose them both. Along with her last, best reason to go on living.

This holiday season, chance will bring them together and give them an opportunity to help one another find what they each want most. But every gift comes with a price. And keeping what they've found once they've found it? Yeah, that's gonna be the hard part.