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What about that five-quota?

Take a look at “Five-Quota,” book 4 in my Mechanized Series, where two fathers and their daughters see the world differently.

Fathers’ perspective

Renato Jackson and Faro McIver both think having five children, a five-quota, is a major achievement. Though childhood enemies from opposite ends of their futuristic world’s class system, their daughters, Leah and Pax, became best friends.

  • Renato neglected Leah, the lone child of his first mating contract, expecting to have more children with another. When Leah’s long-lost twin appears, he’s in denial. He’s busy with twins from his second mate, who’d been institutionalized. Pulled unwittingly into a bizarre fertility program, he helps Pax escape the program.
  • Faro used his children, especially Pax, as tools for his advancement. Craving Renato’s success, he tracks him, wanting to even an old score. He plots with the Changer, a crazed elder, to further her birthing program and demolish the birthing habitat. He pushes his family to give him Pax, along with his grandson, his progeny at his disposal.

A transport worm unleashed by a spurned suitor requires a harsh fix, while the Changer invokes destruction. Amidst the ensuing chaos, both fathers face the terrible consequences of their selfish acts.

Daughters’ perspective

Best friends, Leah Jackson and Paxon Small have no idea their fathers were childhood enemies.

  • Leah grew up as a lone child when a five-quota was a lauded achievement. Her father, Renato, a famous vid writer, neglected her as he yearned for more children with another mate. Her long-lost twin reappears, stirring her fear of abandonment. Her reunion with Pax turns complicated. Her father helped Pax escape from a fertility program, yet Leah has had no contact with him. What’s worse, Pax flirts with her estranged mate, Mark, the father of their disabled child.
  • Pax craved Leah’s respectable family where love seemed sure. Her father, Faro, is a brutal enforcer who’d achieved a five-quota, yet abused his children, especially Pax. Pregnant from a fertility program, Pax hides in the home habitat from which she’d been exiled. Her confidence grows as she works with Mark on technical projects. When she bumps into her mother, who still disdains her, she decides to fight back, no longer the abused and neglected girl.

Discover ‘Progeny’: A Dystopian Sci-Fi Journey

Book 3: Progeny, by Wendy MacGown, is now available in e-book and print format from all booksellers.

Continue the journey with the Murphy/ Martinez clan as they struggle against the Separation, a dystopian social construct of the 2300’s that resulted from the Dark Times of 2056.

  • The Separation cover
  • Resistance cover
  • Progeny cover
wendymac.com

What’s the Separation?

In 2056, five greedy families gutted Social Security in the US, precipitating a worldwide stock market collapse and mass starvation. The Chinese government took over. In a few generations, the few willing to bear and raise children wanted no interference from elders. A habitat was set aside for them in the Shanghai Sphere called the Project for Progeny (Pro-Prog), where humans mated to strengthen the diminishing gene pool.

Imagine living in spheres on a polluted planet, connected via transportation pods that shoot between them. Imagine growing up with one spoken language, where dominant genes are favored. Imagine being forced at eighteen to choose between mating in Pro-Prog or exile to the Real World, cutting off ties with family. Imagine leaving the only home you’ve ever known when your youngest child comes of age.

It’s a world of lies. In Pro-Prog, medical care and infrastructure maintenance suffers as parents age-out, taking their skills with them. Real World authorities push quench, an addictive depression med with terrible side-effects.

What About those books?

  1. Book 1: The Separation – Scientist and Pagan High Priestess, Franny Murphy leaves Pro-Prog when Jane, her youngest child turns 18. Weaned from quench and living with her lover, Matt, Franny studies the drug in hopes of an alternative. Her uncle, the High Council President, grooms her as his successor. When he considers her enemy as a candidate, she pods to the Moon colony hospice with Matt, now terminally ill. Granted the right of all-access, she breaches the Separation to plead for change as Athena, the voice of the Resistance.
  2. Book 2: Resistance – Administrator Jane Murphy is exiled from Pro-Prog when her sole child, Leah turns eighteen. Rendered infertile by a birthing accident, she devises an edict to remove “unfit” children from the gene pool. While her Aunt Grace plays with destruction, her mother plots with imprisoned teens to kidnap Jane, the Administrator who’d incarcerated them. Jane’s escape to the polluted Outside changes everything. She joins her mother and the teens to end the Separation, with devastating consequences.

Book 3: Progeny – Party-boy Austin Martinez, Franny’s only son, has been chipped—sent into testosterone overdrive as part of Aunt Grace’s twisted population program. As president of the High Council, he opens pod access between habitats. His timing couldn’t be worse. A family enemy uploaded a pod worm that stalls pods, asphyxiating occupants, and the military rejects Austin’s rule. Allies remove his chip, but it’s too late. Faced with diminished reasoning abilities, he abdicates his role with a plan to save the Earth.

Books 4 and 5, “Five-Quota” and “Remedy,” are coming later this year to complete the series’ five-quota!

Are you ready to end the Separation?

Mechanized Series Book 1

In a world where procreation is a chore and addiction is killing the population, Franny Murphy is exiled upon her youngest child’s 18th birthday. Betrayed by her uncle, the High Council President, she becomes the voice of the resistance.

https://www.amazon.com/Separation-Mechanized-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0CHFZXF43/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38RTS8SEUSA5M&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.au-VPU4BicS8EzJaz2KByJydREHPTJHdRnn6RarieNs.s9SCfAV1OXLf2sWh5e4W3syAAJQaRu49ppbaZJN13wY&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+separation+wendy+macgown&qid=1708960289&sprefix=the+separation+%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1

Announcing new book – The Separation

GET IT NOW

In a world where procreation is a chore and addiction is killing the population, Franny Murphy is forced from the only home she’s ever known upon her youngest daughter’s eighteenth birthday. The Separation, whereby those bearing and raising children are sequestered from the rest of the population, is the Law.

She becomes addicted to quench, a deadly and readily available depression medication, and then fights to recover. It takes years to build a life for herself and her lover, Matt. Rooted on Earth Satellite One, she struggles with a jilted lover and her estranged older offspring, who’d chosen child-free lives.

The High Council President grooms her as his successor, yet seeks another successor among her children and her jilted lover.  She takes a one-way trip to the Moon Colony hospice, to care for Matt, who’d only pretended addiction recovery. Granted all-access as a resident, she broadcasts her plea for change as Athena, the voice of the Resistance.

The Separation book cover