J.K. Coi

GUEST AUTHOR: Kimber Chin

Living Off The Grid

Before I talk about my new book, Invisible, let me first say that I'm a serious J.K. Coi fangirl. You know a writer rocks it when I read her paranormal novels. I mean, paranormal novels have dead (or undead) people and blood and everything. I have to close my eyes during the violent parts and that's really, really difficult when reading (much easier when watching movies). All this is worth it because J.K.'s characterization is mind bending!

Okay, gushing over. Back to my own frightening tale…

As anyone who has ever applied for credit knows, our financial information is connected by giant databases (from space – no, not from space but that would make a good story, wouldn't it?). When you apply for a Visa Card, your application becomes visible to every creditor you currently have, including MasterCard, American Express, your bank, Lord And Taylor, Wal-Mart, oh, and, of course, the government. You use a loyalty card when buying a jar of peanut butter, and that loyalty card company tells retailers, manufacturers, credit card companies, oh, and, of course, the government. All these people now know you prefer smooth over chunky. Freaky, isn't it? Better than giant databases from space 'cause these giant databases are local. Situated right here on Earth.

Anyhoo… the fun really starts when your peanut butter purchases and your Visa applications and your medical files are looked at together. Companies use common pieces of identification like social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, to happily connect this information. A pretty good profile is built on who you are and what you're likely to do next (Big Brother styles). The web of interconnected databases is called 'The Grid.'

Right or wrong, this is the world we live in.

Or at least some of us live in this world.

You see, there are thousands, perhaps millions, of people who live off the grid. No one knows how many because… well… they are untraceable. No, we're not talking illegal immigrants though they tend to live off the grid too. These are otherwise regular residents like you and I, born here, likely gonna die here. They don't have social security numbers. They don't have credit cards. They don't pay taxes.

In other words, they don't exist. They're invisible.

Maeve, my heroine in Invisible, isn't a purist. She does pay taxes (or at least her corporation's corporation pays taxes). She does semi-exist. However, her job (paid in cash, of course) is to hide people on the grid or take them off it entirely. What kind of people? Abused wives escaping nasty husbands, rich people who want to make it a little more difficult for someone to sue their a$$es off, victims of identity theft.

It is a crazy, unique, mind bending way to live. I wrote Invisible to be a standalone novel but found this world too darn fascinating to leave at one book. Plus my pre-editor told me that if I didn't write a certain knife wielding vigilante's love story she was going to quit. So expect a follow up novel next year. She's a great pre-editor. Gotta keep her happy.

Excerpt from Invisible:

“You want me to disappear.”

“No.” She laughed that wonderful laugh of hers and his disgruntled mood lightened. “You’d have to do a lot more than that to disappear, Hagen.”

Right. “No phone,” he guessed.

“No calls at all.”

No calls at all? Couldn’t be. “What about a payphone?”

Maeve shot down that idea, shaking her head, her hair brushing against his shirt. “A good investigator would be watching all calls to family members. She could track the call, finding the phone. It would be enough to eventually locate you.”

Why did that excite him? The thought of Maeve finding him? He was one sick puppy. “I’d have to keep moving then.” To escape her.

“The more you move, the more likely you are to make a mistake. Better to disappear once well.”

But she would catch him, she wouldn’t give up until she did, tenacious, little…“Do people disappear often?”

“Every single day.”

About Kimber Chin:

Kimber Chin writes sexy contemporary romances set in the world of business. Why business? Because men in suits are hot, hot, hot! Don't believe her? Every week, she features a photo of a man in a suit on her site http://businessromance.com/. She is also an avid romance reader and gives away her favorite romance eRead every month.