NEON FLUX
By Ava Thorne
Release Date: June 2025
Genre: Cyberpunk / Sci-Fi Romance
Experience this dark cyberpunk romance that follows two enemies just fighting for a survival in a world that will strip you of everything good just to turn a profit. In the future city of Neo Stellaris, everything has a price. Experience a spicy cat and mouse game, witty banter, and a mystery that reveals much more than anyone expected.
Neo Stellaris is a city of neon lights and dark secrets, and despite the city's clean energy, its soul is filthy. Corporations own everything, gangs take what's left, and the people in between that are born with strange Flux powers? They survive however they can. But it's never enough.
Eon Ibarra has spent her life in the impoverished Magenta District, evading corporate control while supporting her hospitalized mother in whatever way she can, whether that's sex work or stealing corporate secrets as a cyberrunner. Her rare electromagnetic Flux abilities make her valuable to rebels and corporations alike. When financial desperation drives her back to the underground, she accepts a mission that will either secure her freedom or cost her everything.
Cy Hoshina, a black operations agent for POM Enterprises with matching Flux abilities, has spent a decade enforcing corporate will, making their problems disappear. Permanently. His carefully managed existence is shattered during a chance encounter with Eon—their electromagnetic fields synchronizing in a way neither can explain, or forget..
The mysterious death of a high-ranking POM executive forces them into an uneasy alliance, and Eon and Cy must navigate a city where nothing is what it seems. As they hunt the truth through warring gangs, encrypted data, and a fanatical cult promising salvation through destruction, the power they share ignites something even more dangerous. In a city where power is everything and technology blurs the line between reality and transcendence, they will have to decide what's more deadly— the conspiracy they are unraveling, or the magnetism between them they can't escape.
In Neo Stellaris, genuine connection comes at a deadly price, and some data was never meant to be found.
Perfect for fans of Blade Runner, Altered Carbon, and Sarah J, Mass's Crescent City. If you were captivated by the complex dynamics in The Expanse, fell for the enemies-to-lovers tension in Six of Crows, and appreciate the philosophical depth of Ghost in the Shell, Neon Flux is your next cyberpunk obsession!
This novel contains mature themes and is intended for adults. Reader guidance can be found at the beginning of the book.
"A stunning debut that reimagines the cyberpunk genre for a new generation." — FICTIONAL REVIEWER
Chapter 1: The Job
The angel was watching me. Its glowing, holographic eyes followed me as I walked down the rain-soaked streets of Neo Stellaris. Every few moments the holo-statue would glitch, its neon-blue lights flickering off and its audio track skipping. It was trying to run an ad for the Church of Heavenly Light, and failing miserably. So many people had ad block on their Vysors now, they had gone back to native advertising.
I ducked under a nearby awning. Even hidden in my small sanctuary, I still felt the angel’s judgmental gaze. I was a sinner, no doubt about it, and it knew I was up to no good.
The concrete and steel streets were slick with water that ran down in violent floods from every roof and wall, collecting in unwanted places. I hated the city in the rain. It gathered the dirt and chemicals and decay that coated the neon Stellarium pipes that were the power system of this city—that pulsed from every building and piece of tech. The streets became slick with polychemicals and carbon. It was always fucking raining in Neo Stellaris.
With a quick stroke on my temple, the directions to the meetup lit up my Vysor display, the mirrored round lenses projecting augmented reality onto the surrounding streets. Five hundred feet more, that was it. Just five hundred feet more of that angel’s dead stare and this would all be over.
I felt my pinky twitch, and bit my lip, searching for that phantom vape. Just one more hit. No, I’d already taken too much Vector. It’s why I couldn’t shake that angel’s gaze. My vision flared around every neon intrusion, and the Flux in my blood sang as I leaned against a Stellarium pipe. The electric field it generated danced with the power that always slept just below the surface of my skin. It wanted to come out and play; it wanted to be free.
No one knew why some people had developed Flux, in all its different forms. The leading theory was some sort of radiation that leaked out of the new element Stellarium—our world’s savior—but no one had definitive proof yet. Feeling the way the power of the pipe behind me resonated so well, I’d buy it. About a dozen corps were racing to find the exact answer, as the population born affected slowly increased.
I lay my forehead against the tetraglass surface and wished I could just melt into it. Wished I could become nothing more than electrons guided by a force so large it was beyond comprehension. Soon I would be, but not yet.
My fingers dug into the pocket of my jacket, searching desperately until my Vapurr was in my grasp. I pulled it out and the fluorescent green liquid inside lit up in the Stellarium glow.
I took a long hit, the flavor like strawberries and burnt plastic. My vision went blurry, but the electricity, the Flux in my blood smoothed. No longer a discordant hum, it was a synchronous melody, and I’d never heard anything so beautiful. No more thoughts, no more guilt, no more pain, just that endless void that welcomed me with open arms.
Vector, only a few molecular bonds different from the methamphetamine the Japanese government used to give kamikaze pilots. Designed for POM’s private security team, almost all of whom were Flux enabled. One hit turned even minimal Flux carriers into precision weapons, enhancing their power and narrowing their focus. I’d never been an enforcer. No, all anyone saw when they looked at me was another whore high on the street’s most popular drug.
I shook my head, my long lavender hair spilling over my shoulders and pushed off the pipe. The long nails the new girl at the club, Mercy, had convinced me to get clacked against the glass softly, the trendy Stellarium-activated polish glowing. My Vysor flashed in my vision, and I followed the directions to my destination. I knocked on a nondescript door on the side of a warehouse, identical to the others crowding this section of the Blue District.
I knocked the ridiculous patterned knock Taos had taught me, like this was some old timey gangster’s hideout. A few moments later, her face popped up on the video screen next to the door. She had pulled her light blonde hair back, and she marred her pretty face with black paint to hide her features and possibly to look intimidating.
“E, you made it. I wasn’t sure…” Taos trailed off. “Look, I know the professor said you should help us, but this mission…it’s going to be dangerous. Really dangerous.” She paused again for dramatic effect.
“I know that, Taos. Let me in.”
“We are going into the heart of POM Enterprises. There is no guarantee we walk out of this alive. Last chance to walk away.”
Good. I’d almost said it out loud, but instead mumbled. “I’m ready.”
Taos’ face shifted. I had called her bluff. “Thank god, get in here.” I heard the door lock slide open, and I pushed inside. She was waiting on just the other side, and immediately dragged me into the unlit hallway.
I’ve heard it said that everyone with a substance abuse problem is suicidal, but they just might not know it yet. Instead of running to death, we are marching there slowly, but the end is always the same. Whether the theory was factual, it rang true for me. Tonight, after everything had crashed down, I was ready to speed the process up.
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