Girl and the Machine

Beauty and the Beast—but make it sci-fi.

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What if Belle was Bel—Mirabel Solís—a teenage hacker with an edgy haircut, a cute nose ring, and the tendency to get into trouble? 

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What if the Beast was a maimed cyborg? And what if his enchanted castle full of sentient furniture and appliances was a high-tech underground mansion with holographic AI servants? What if the one who cursed him was a powerful member of a biotech empire who wanted him gone?

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The classic tale like you've never seen it before.

 

When Bel and her older brother Mateo are forced to go on the run, they inadvertently seek refuge at the Submundo—the cyborg's secret haven. At first, the cyborg is furious, but when he learns about Mateo's past as an information security expert, the young cyborg offers a deal: Help him obtain classified information about the people responsible for his physical condition and he won't reveal Bel and Mateo to their enemies. And because the cyborg is hiding from his own enemies—and determined to trust no one—Bel must stay behind to ensure her brother’s cooperation until the mission is complete. The Submundo is vast enough that they won't ever have to interact.

 

However, Bel has plans of her own, one of which is to find out who the cyborg really is—or, was—because anyone who has access to a place like the Submundo has to be someone important. Soon, she'll discover that there might be an even bigger mystery to uncover, one that has grand-scale implications.

 

If Bel and the cyborg can work together, there may be a chance they can both come out of hiding for good—as long as the wrong people don’t find them first.

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Girl and the Machine is a young adult science fiction fairytale retelling with mechanically enhanced humans, biotechnology, mystery, hate to love, and women in STEM.