In a bleak, dystopian future surveillance state, a band of teens rises from society’s lowest classes to incite an eerily familiar revolution.
BOOK INTRO
Following his long-lost father’s tattered journal of forbidden handwritten maps and thoughts, 17-year-old Donovan Washington Rush plans a desperate escape from his homeland, a hopelessly dark and downtrodden underground known as “The Sewers.” A vast area of struggling underclasses, The Sewers are buried thousands of feet below a massive superpower surveillance state known simply as The Empire.
While the Empire’s inhabitants live in warmth, protected privilege, and wealth, “Sewer Rats.” as they are called from above, exist in crushing poverty and near-constant fear. The Imperial government knows these conditions are a recipe for rebellion, so the Sewer Rats are constantly watched, threatened, and oppressed by their own kind via a system of paid informants and brutal mercenaries.
When this is not enough, Sewer Rats are dangled a seductive false hope. They are promised through propaganda advertisements that if they can set themselves apart as loyal servants of the Empire, they might be “chosen” for service above in Empire City. There, they can earn a chance to “win their freedom” by proving their loyalty by selling their skills and potential to the Empire.
Having once lived in Empire City, Donovan’s father, Princeton Rush, wrote of a different purpose for this world, one that could only be restored by breaking the Empire’s tyranny of servitude. “Freedom…” he wrote in his subversive journal, “..is taken and not given.” Taken, in Rush’s mind, by the smallest of society, the Sewer Rats.
For this, he was taken, jailed, and lost to history…until Donovan found the forbidden journal and decided to follow the words and maps within…
Part of a thrilling three-book series, Revolution Empire: History Never Retreats follows the adventures of Donovan Rush and a clandestine revolutionary band known as The Brothers and Sisters of the Sword as they lead a disparate band of teens from all over The Sewers to revolution.
FIVE FACTS
1.) Aside from delivering a uniquely fresh blend of action. history and dystopian sci-fi adventure, Revolution Empire: History Never Retreats includes fascinatingly revealing personal journal pages from each main character. They allow the reader to see and feel the riveting journey through their eyes.
2.) Revolution Empire: History Never Retreats is just the first of a series that includes two more installments— The Wild Colonials and The Rising Tide.
3.) Revolution Empire is full of “easter eggs” that will keep history buffs and dystopian sci-fi fans busy for months.
4.) Revolution Empire was initially outlined as a TV series and had the interest of some big broadcasters and producers until the decision was made that the book series was the best way to introduce the story to a broad audience.
5.) Author Rob Travalino is an Emmy and Gemini-Award-winning creator of YA television, movie, gaming, and publishing content. He’s created animated shows for Disney (Dragon Booster) and has consulted for Lucasfilm (Star Wars), Warner Brothers (Batman), Dreamworks (How to Train Your Dragon), and many more.
SYNOPSIS:
In a bleak, dystopian future surveillance state, a band of teens rises from society’s lowest classes to incite an eerily familiar revolution.
“I was born here, in this forgotten hole a mile un’er t’Empire streets. They call it t’Sewers. T’is the place where Boss Dog Magistrate dumps his trash. Us…”
Huddled under a narrow slash of light in a dank and debris-strewn alley of Regent Street, seventeen-year-old Donovan Washington Rush quickly scribbled the words across the cracked, yellowed pages of an old hand-bound journal. Barely bigger than his hand, the book overflowed with a lifetime of maps, all surrounded by musings on freedom, tyranny, and rights. It was all that was left of Donovan’s father, Dr. Princeton Rush, a man long since thought dead by the Empire’s hand.
Here in the relative anonymity of the underground maze he called home, Donovan knew he was being watched—not just by the hidden electronic eyes of the Empire, but by the people of the Sewers themselves, compelled to complicity by the Empire’s constant messages of fear and reprisal. The Empire had its eyes everywhere.
For Donovan, possessing such a book as Dr. Rush’s journal was a “Black Flag” offense—an act of subversion punishable by public execution. Yet the Empire was where Donovan and the book were both headed. This made for two forbidden crimes under one cover.
“They call us “Sewer Rats” but these Sewers once made up t’original city, t’very seat of t’Empire. T’is t’seat for sure, right un’er Boss Dog’s ass. T’nite it changes. T’nite I take the first step fo’ my brothers and sisters o’ the sword, fo’ t’Sewers whole…Freedom or death!”
PLAYLIST
- Hold the Line – Tom Morello
- Punching in a Dream (Stripped) – The Naked and Famous
- You’re Going Down – Sick Puppies Unplugged
- Nothing At All – David Ford
- Wretches and Kings – Linkin Park
- Caprice – Worakls
- Losing My Mind – Charlie Puth
- Uprising – Muse
- Ready to Rise – Vaughan Penn
- Put You On Game – Lupe Fiasco
TEASERS
In a bleak, dystopian surveillance state where an elite few dictate the rules for the rest, a diverse band of teens joins forces to begin an eerily familiar revolution.
Filled with concepts and challenges increasingly familiar in today’s chaotic world, Revolution Empire: History Never Retreats presents a thought-provoking and inspiring journey into the often brutal nature of absolute and tyrannical power and the preciousness of the freedom that can defeat it.
“I was born here, in this forgotten hole un’er t’Empire. T’is the place where Boss Dog Magistrate dumps his trash. Us. But t’nite I take the first step fo’ my brothers and sisters o’ the sword and fo’ t’Sewers whole…Freedom o’ death.”
– Donovan Rush
Now for the giveaway!
- Number one gets a signed book, signed movie-style poster and $25 Amazon gift card.
- Numbers 2 through 5 each get a signed book – random signed chacter mini-poster, plus a $10 Amazon gift card.
How to enter for a chance to win it?
Just leave a comment below (and if you have one, tell me your favorite dystopian book), and by 10pm EST, Sunday July 30th, 2023, I will email the first 5 commenters, as the winners.
The winners will be contacted (make sure your email is correct) and will have 48hrs to respond confirming their mailing address, so if you are picked, do not delay or you will lose your chance. The prizes will be sent to one winners by the author.
Open to International!! 