Prison Break by Rachel Ford, narrated by Jill Myers

Release date: August 17, 2018

Subgenre: Dystopian science fiction

About Prison Break:

 

Mercy is weakness. Forgiveness is blasphemy. Sin is crime. The unholy trinity - monotheists, polytheists, and technotheists - rule in unison. Justice is not blind, but soulless.

In a city of stratified wealth and endemic poverty, Father Edlin tries to make a difference. His little church and free clinics provide a flicker of hope to the downtrodden populace. But not for long.
The men with guns show up, and it's only a matter of time before a forced confession of heresy is extracted. Now Father Edlin sits in a cell, awaiting the fulfillment of his death sentence. But somewhere in the night, a friend lurks, waiting for the chance to pay off an old debt...

Excerpt:

 

It was right after midnight, when the last watch had already returned to their homes and the new settled in for a long shift, that I made my move. I was dressed in an assortment of rags, my hair tied back and covered, with my communicator tucked into the humble headdress. I’d picked a corner of the courtyard, huddled under a blanket like one of the poor wretches who dotted the empty expanse with no place better or warmer to be. I’d taken a bottle of low grade moonshine with me, the kind of swill that turned up on the streets, and now I popped the top. Alcohol was a pleasure I was denied due to the fluttering--but to judge by the odor that assailed my nostrils, this was more punishment than pleasure. Trying not to inhale the noxious fumes, I flecked spots of the liquid all over myself. I reeked as if I’d consumed a bottle or two already. The rest, I drained on the ground.

Staggering and shouting incoherently, I made my way from the corner, dragging my blanket behind me with one hand and the empty bottle in the other. Troubled glances greeted my performance from all over the courtyard. Some pulled away. Others pretended not to see.

The homeless were at the mercy of the constabulary; no one wanted to be in the way of trouble.

“Sing with me!” I urged them, slurring my way through a few shanties I’d picked up on freight detail. I’d forgotten half the words, but that just added to the overall flavor. The temporary residents of the area pulled further away. The constables at the borders of the courtyard seemed not to care. I suppose they’d seen their fair share of drunks here; what, after all, was left to those condemned to the streets, but drink and despair?

I decided to amp up my performance. I meandered toward the citadel, singing as I went. I stopped near a group of three, a father it seemed and a young man and woman. His children, I supposed. “A pretty family,” I called. “Such a pretty family.” They observed me with concern, moving closer together. “Here, have a drink with me, eh?” I lifted the bottle as if to drink. “I’m empty. Have you any to spare? Just a sip, it’s all I need.”

“We have nothing,” the father assured me. “Please go. We’re trying to sleep.”

I feigned anger. “A sip--a sip is all I need, friend. You won’t deny a starving man a crust, would you?”

“You seem to have had many ‘crusts’ already,” the woman declared. “As we said, we have nothing for you.”

“Move along,” the younger man added.

“Lies!” I snapped. “Lies and insolence! Do you know who I am? I’ll not take this from anyone, much less landrats like yourself.” My conscience pricked at heaping such abuse at strangers, much less those already down on their luck. But their temporary discomfort served my larger goal; already I could see the constables taking note, weighing the situation to see if it merited intervention.

 

Sample:

 

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About Rachel Ford:

Rachel Ford is a software engineer by day, and a writer most of the rest of the time. Her non-fiction work has been published in the “Information Systems Education Journal” and reached best-seller status on Amazon.com. She is a Trekkie, a video-gamer, and a dog parent, owned by a Great Pyrenees named Elim Garak and a mutt of many kinds named Fox (for the inspired reason that he looks like a fox).

 

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About Jill Myers:

British actress Jill Myers has worked professionally in  theatre and TV for longer  than she cares to remember (26 years but don't tell).   More recently she has built a recording studio in her home in the Peak District area of Derbyshire in order to be able to record more audiobooks and work more in the area of Voice Over.  This means that rather than touring around the UK or filming away from home Jill just needs to take the dog for a walk then step into her recording booth with a good book!  Most recently Jill has enjoyed voicing Rachel Ford's new book Prison Break, now available on Audible.