Cathy Hird's latest effort Unseen, a solarpunk science fiction novel set in the Toronto of the future, is set for launch Sunday Feb. 12, at 6:00 p.m. with a streamed reading and interview on Twitch hosted by publisher BrainLag.

Unseen takes place in Toronto in 2052. The city has changed greatly with every bit of green space taken up with highrise housing.

An AI called Monitor oversees all the city's infrastructure. Coordinating public transit and self-driving cars, gridlock is a thing of the past, along with surprises with city electrical and water systems. The system is foolproof and impenetrable – or so it's believed.

The first intrusion into Monitor is innocuous enough: some graffiti that fools auto-pilots into stopping traffic. However, when a hacker interferes with water main monitoring, lives are put at risk. Suddenly, people start questioning the wisdom of leaving such essential systems in the hands of an AI that can be corrupted.

Miles Franklin is the manager of tech support at Monitor Central, but his true advantage is his connection to the Gifted, people with heightened senses.

His own ability to sense electrical pulses is joined by empaths and someone who can see the outcomes of decisions yet to be made.

Another's affinity with plants clues the Gifted community in to a threat to the sole remaining corner of Toronto's once grand High Park, and it seems like the events are connected.

It's going to take all the skills the Gifted have to prevent chaos and the destruction of the greenery they hold so dear.

Join the launch from the Facebook event page or the Twitch link.

Ms. Hird also writes a regular column for the Owen Sound Hub, Between Our Steps.

source: media release, Cathy Hird