Contact Information:
Email Address: joe@ozero.ca
Books By Joseph Picard
Word Count: 110725
Summary: 133 years. Time is up. Lead Engineer Tara and her partner Sasha face the coming end of the facility generator. For generations It has served thousands of people who have been hiding underground from the ravages of the war, and the lingering Enemy above. Up and down the Grand Elevator, though the entire facility, every resident's life will be shaken when the generator sparks its last amp. The Great Actual, the anarchistic Citizens, and all of the regressed sub-societies in between will have to face the unknowns of the surface. Old fears will pale against new circumstances beyond their imagination, and new attention brings judgment upon all.
Word Count: 92782
Summary: A story of oppression and loss, of uprising and joys. Rubberman's Citizens pushes through grim tyranny with the courage, compassion, and humour of those forced to fight troubled times. In Citizenry, Leena knew cruelty was normal. Order was kept by Warren, through intimidation and abuse. Normal meant deliveries from above, supplies from the great, unknowable, Actual. Normal meant hating the lessers who live below. Normal meant routine public degradation. Normal meant hearing screams, and knowing no one dared help. Normal was knowing that tomorrow, it could be your own screams being ignored. Leena found a way to help. Leena found a chance. Leena discovered revolution.
Word Count: 89180
Summary: Lenth grew up in a lie. Apparently there's more than five people in the world. Savage Citizens, orderly Providers, keepers of ignorance, and a damaged killer stand in the way of the world's simple truths. Four Brothers live their lives in an enclosed habitat as directed by the silent Rubberman above them. When they disobey, they get shocked. This is normal. It always has been. When a Brother dies, they learn of death. When he is replaced by someone new, they learn they are replaceable. When the ceiling above the ceiling cracks open, Lenth plans a journey beyond the known universe: A third floor. Up.
Word Count: 86000
Summary: Regan has her ups and downs. -Dumping her girlfriend: Down. -Moving in with her loving brother: Up. -Waking up to a plague of undead: REALLY down. After the undead began roaming the neighborhood, Regan lost track of her brother. She’s spent the last two years searching for him. In the meantime, she’s fallen in love, only to be told, “Sorry, I’m straight. And you’re a lunatic.” There’s a psycho out there somewhere who caused the outbreak, using nanotechnology, just for the fun of it, and Regan intends to hunt him down. Oh, and the crush she still has on the straight gal? Dangerously distracting, when there’s a zombie around every corner.
Word Count: 120412
Summary: Sarah's got daddy issues. He lives in her head, built her out of fish, and killed millions of people. But he's really sorry. Honest. A father that lives in your head wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't the killer of millions. At least it's comforting to know that he didn't murder the fishes used to create your body. Or the seagull. Sarah hides her illegal nanite origins in an effort to build an ordinary life, but the legacy of dad's horrors makes it difficult. Especially when new but familiar zombie-like abominations begin to appear in the city.
Word Count: 109700
Summary: Cassidy needed a fresh start, and the offer of a guard posting for a historic temple in the middle of the desert sounded like a good way to clear her head. She didn't expect to find a new girlfriend- maybe even a soul mate. She didn't expect to be in the crossfire of a terrorist, a cowardly scientist, and a fleet of microscopic invaders. She didn't expect to lose. In the years after Lifehack and the Erebus incident, the world settles into relative quiet under strict nanite bans, but underground activity keeps dangerous nano-tech alive and well. (Although Watching Yute is a complete tale within the Lifehack series, it chronologically takes place between Lifehack and Echoes of Erebus.)
