Introducing…
The
Gathering
The Uprising Series tells the story of three freedom fighters
and their friends in high — and low — places that come together to overthrow a
vainglorious Emperor and his militaristic Cabal to restore the city, and the
way of life, they once knew and loved.
In The Gathering, Jamie Ryan has defected from the Cabal and
has joined his former brothers-in-arms — Basile Perrinault and Kanoa Shinomura
— to form a collective known as The Uprising.
When an explosion leads to him crossing paths with Evanora
Cunningham — a product of Jamie’s past — he discovers that The Uprising is
bigger, and more important, than he thought.
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About the author of The Gathering:
With an impressive list of credentials earned over the course of two decades, Bernadette R. Giacomazzo is a multi-hyphenate in the truest sense of the word: an editor, writer, photographer, publicist, and digital marketing specialist who has demonstrated an uncanny ability to thrive in each industry with equal aplomb. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and many, many more. She served as the news editor of Go! NYC Magazine for nearly a decade, the executive editor of LatinTRENDS Magazine for five years, the eye candy editor of XXL Magazine for two years, and the editor-at-large at iOne/Zona de Sabor for two years. As a publicist, she has worked with the likes of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit record label, rapper Kool G. Rap, and various photographers, artists, and models. As a digital marketing specialist, Bernadette is Google Adwords certified, has an advanced knowledge of SEO, PPC, link-building, and other digital marketing techniques, and has worked for a variety of clients in the legal, medical, and real estate industries.
Based in New York City, Bernadette is the co-author of Swimming with Sharks: A Real World, How-To Guide to Success (and Failure) in the Business of Music (for the 21st Century), and the author of the forthcoming dystopian fiction series, The Uprising. She also contributed a story to the upcoming Beyonce Knowles tribute anthology, The King Bey Bible, which will be available in bookstores nationwide in the summer of 2018.
FREE peek at Chapter ONE
Chapter One
Evanora
I
could hear him bloviating, again, from the balcony.
It is entirely too early for this, you
cocksucker, I thought, but I did not say as I jammed the pillow over my
head and tried, desperately, to sleep.
Of
course, it was no use. It never was when this asshole started screaming at the
top of his lungs at an ungodly hour of the morning. Every morning. For the past
twenty some-odd years. Saying the same thing, at the same time, every day,
without changing a single goddamn word.
I
know it by heart, by now. I can say it
in my sleep. And sometimes, I do.
So, I did what I
normally do in these situations: I pulled out my iPod, flicked the wheel, and
stuffed the earbuds into my ears as I listened to Faust’s greatest hits.
Now
this is the kind of caterwauling that
I can get behind – the sacred, now-forbidden ritual of rock’n’roll.
I
always thought Ivan Sapphire – real name, Jamie Ryan – was just so damn cute, though God only knows what
he looked like now. If history teaches us anything, it’s that time isn’t kind
to rock stars, especially if they regularly blast their body with drinking,
drugs, and strange bodily fluids.
It’d
be a damn shame if that’s what happened to Jamie Ryan.
But
there was one Faust member I wanted to know more about, but never could – and
never would.
Him.
My
father.
Jordan
Barker.
Too well, as it
turns out, and I was the product of this unlawful carnal knowledge.
Rose Cunningham
never talked about my father.
All
I knew of him was what I saw in the rare pictures I could find.
He
was tall. He was thin. He had strawberry blonde hair. He could play bass like
no one before or since. He had a pixie
nose and almond shaped eyes – both of which I inherited. He loved my mother and
me with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. He bore a pain inside him
that could only be numbed with a regular shot of pure heroin to his veins. He
died when I was still a baby.
And
that was the sum totality of all I knew.
I
was born Evanora Joy Diaz-Barker, and nicknamed the “First Faust Baby.” My
birth heralded much comment amongst the rock glitterati in the old New York – I was the latest, greatest
attraction to join the Faust three-ring circus (come one, come all, in more ways than one!), born to 21-year-old
Jordan Barker, psycho bassist from Mars, and his consort of sorts, the
19-year-old Puerto-Rican-from-the-Bronx Ramira “Rosie” Diaz, a hip-hop B-girl
and sometime dancer/choreographer who only happened upon a Faust show because
her best friend, Angelique Denham, was the dearly beloved of one Ivan
Sapphire/Jamie Ryan.
Ramira
loved to dance, and she did it well.
I
never saw Rose dance. Not even once.
