First time available solo, here’s “Scars of Satyagraha,” originally published in The Future’s So Bright.

Cover by Melissa Weiss Mathieu

Reader reviews:

“Excellent.”

“A touching tale of gender, choice, and, as Mathieu says, ‘mafia movies.'”

Whenever I skin, I go down to one of those Yoruba tattoo parlors and get a cut on my left knee, so it heals into a crescent-shaped scar. I got the original scar from some sharp black-lichen, playing footie out beyond Dangote-dome in the boy’s body I was born with. But I wear the scar now to honor my father, my Babuji, Arjun Chaturvedey. He died for his scars.

As the sun sets on Indo-Nigerian Mars, the red planet’s shadowy alleys come alive with crime and corruption. American crime, and Yankee corruption. But for Sami Chaturvedey, the daughter of an upright Brahmin judge, it’s a romantic and blood-pumping life filled with Old West values and Old West quick-guns.

That all might change for Sami when she meets Michael Cambridge, the paternal and charismatic Lieutenant of Martian organized crime – the Yankee militia.

Sami is torn between her father’s expectations for her to uphold the law and her own desires to explore the gritty world of organized crime. But as she delves deeper into the dangerous underworld, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about justice and truth – about satyagraha.

Will Sami choose the path of righteousness set by her father, or will she succumb to the allure of the Cowboy Code and its promise of power and freedom? As her loyalties are tested and secrets are revealed, Sammy must make the decision that will define who she is.

For fans of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series, ones who’d like to see a Mars that’s a little brighter and a little nobler, “Scars of Satyagraha” will suit them like a fresh new skin. Don’t miss out on this visionary read – get it today!

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