••• Hackwriters International Writers Magazine:

J&K 4Ever by Sam Hawksmoor Published by Hammer & Tong - ISBN-13: 978-1530624225 A powerful young love story set in the bleak badlands of a ruined civilization. USA Edition / UK Edition / Canadian/ USA kindle 'A really good page turner' - Lionel Darmendrail 'Jeyna is a wonderfully strong character' - Roxy West

‘You didn’t think they’d let you have Kruge, did you?  You didn’t waste time on hoping for that.  They know, they always know.  That’s why they’re sending him away.’

Love in a Post-Apocalypse
Sixty years after the end of everything the city of Bluette survives, controlled by a malignant sect.  It’s a place where men rule, girls receive no education and are matched at 16 to the highest bidder.  Everything ‘modern’ is considered evil and prohibited.  No one is ever permitted to leave the city and outside is a murderous wasteland of despair.
            Orphans Kruge and Jeyna are about to come of age – they have been devoted to each other through all the years of terror in this harsh regime and sworn never to be parted.  But the beautiful Jeyna has been betrayed by the Warden and matched to the recently widowed Master of the Sewers, who has paid well for his virgin bride. Kruge, the carpenter’s apprentice, has been swiftly banished to the Scraps, under the control of the Keeper.
            Jeyna is heartbroken; she will not accept her fate and escapes to find Kruge.  She is pursued by ruthless Enforcers on horseback, whose task it is to bring runaways back, dead or alive.  Jeyna hides in the outland where there are no rules; aware she knows nothing of the way of the world  - only that she has to reach Kruge, or die in the attempt.

Prohibited - The rules that break us

I am Kruge: Bluette is my city.  Born almost sixteen years ago, but no one is sure exactly when. No one celebrates birthdays.  Birthdays are prohibited.
            They say Bluette is named on account of the blue stones found in the mines downriver.  A forbidden place.  The Ministers say this is the best place in a troubled world for a boy like me.  I don’t know about the rest of the world, or why it’s troubled.
             Leaving the City is prohibited.
            There’s a scrapyard at the edge of town, on Devil’s Plain, where everything prohibited in Bluette goes to be destroyed.  The Ministers say they’re the instruments of evil.  Once they say terrible flying machines flew from that place destroying the planet.  I am not sure I believe this.
            It is a mortal sin to hear the voices of women singing or see them dance.  Only Ministers may sing and dance.  Girls are never allowed to go to school, only boys.  Boys will be given a vocation or, if favored, choose the Ministry.  Serving the Lord is the highest honor.  Girls may work in the home or fields or given jobs until they bear children for the men.  They are matched in their sixteenth year.  There are no love matches.  A girl must accept the betrothal the Minister’s decide.  They always know best.
             Love is prohibited.
            I am one of the unwanted.  We live in the city orphanage.  There are many orphans here.  It seems a lot of parents die in Bluette.  I hope I don’t ever get sick. 
            Only God can heal the sick.
            I have one friend.  Jeyna.  She has green eyes.  Jeyna has a secret only I know.
            But secrets are prohibited.

You can read J&K 4Ever in print now - Read First Chapter Extract here

Celebrating the publication of MISSION LONGSHOT: how far will you go to save one life? The climate is changing fast - the future of humanity is at stake, who wants to escape to an alternative planet on that spaceship with Elon? (Well not that actual spaceship but you know what I mean). Buy a ticket and enjoy the ride. But don't forget to buckle up. It might not go where you thought it would. 'Gripping adventures with highly engaging characters.' W. Leff - Goodreads

Read the Q&A with Sam Hawksmoor and Sara Troy here

More fiction here

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