"Lisa Ren e Julien excels in crafting the trappings of a near-future San Francisco Bay Area that feels familiar in landscape but unfamiliar in its social and cultural identity. The young characters who reside in New California are both at home in this alien environment and chafe at the restrictions of their lives and directions, and the boundaries of their relationships with one another." (D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review)
"The characters are powerful women whose lives, assumptions, experiences, and connections to California and beyond are realistically portrayed, but with a futuristic edge that keeps readers on their toes." (D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review)
"Fans of alternate history and LGBT romances will find Midnight in New California fosters an eerie sense of familiarity and strange new worlds that keep it thoroughly engrossing and hard to put down." (D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review)
Midnight in New California combines relatable larger than life characters, a dreamy atmospheric setting, and a unique, insightful voice into an approachably intellectual page-turner.
Cora Broussard finds herself restless in utopian 2030's New California until a seemingly chance meeting with Ashley Doral, a sultry free spirit from the Jobber underclass.
Ashley has what Cora wants: fire, agency, and the ability to express unfettered desire. Despite the dizzying bliss of a new romance with Ashley, Cora can't shake the feeling that she is being watched by New California's tranquilizer gun-armed Government Protection Officers.
Lured by a strange phone call, Cora embarks on an ominous journey back to the country of her birth. Will her desire for power be stronger than her contentment in the life she created for herself?
Midnight in New California addresses the deep-seated anxiety and thrilling hope of the future, wrapped around toxic romance and cultural identity. Fans of classic sci-fi crossovers like Brave New World and 1984 will love this modern take on the near-future. This bold debut mourns an America not yet lost, questions political extremes, and sounds a dire warning through three fiercely independent, deeply flawed, and ultimately-quintessentially American millennials.