Scifi Horror
Date Published: 10/2/23
Publisher: Running Wild Press / RIZE
Narrator: Alexander V Cantrell
Run Time: 11 hrs 34 min
A half-bot, an empath, a punk, and a god walk into a 23rd century bar. The four team up to uncover who murdered their esteemed science professor to steal his dark research. The four headstrong misfits must overcome their own inner demons and move quickly to nab the culprit, as whoever has taken Ferguson's research has unleashed the doctor's synthetic plagues onto NYC. Humans and hybrids are going feral, eagerly infecting others with newfound agony. If the team can't work quickly to solve this threat, NYC will be devoured by this plague...which appears to be developing sentience.
Interview with Lachi
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
Death Tango was originally created to help stymie maladaptive daydreaming. Outcast in school and too blind to see the board, I simply daydreamed my way through school-aged life. One all-encompassing daydream, a movie with complex plots and multi-dimensional worlds—which I later learned is called a paracosm. The daydreaming helped me dissociate through bullying and warded off anxiety fits when trying to sleep. I would daydream about fantastical words, courageous characters—all different aspects of myself—who overcome highly stacked odds. But when the daydreaming began to interfere with my adult life, I finally confessed it to my partner in 2016, and he suggested I write down a short story peering into the maladaptive daydream's everlong paracosm, and I did. And it was called Death Tango.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I always relish deep-dive, atonal world-building and four-dimensional character development with quippy dialogue. For Death Tango specifically, I enjoyed the visionary metaphysical and parascientific conversation juxtaposed beside a fast paced WhoDunIt plot line, making for some fun misdirections. As an avid horror and science fiction reader throughout college, it has been an honor to pen a book touching those genres and placing my characters and thus myself in the thrilling thought experience these genres provide.
In regards to the audiobook, I really enjoyed creating the soundscapes, the actual concert performance featured within the audio-pages, and of course we all loved editing the exquisite voice read by the talented Alexander V Cantrell.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Death Tango?
Set two hundred years into the New York City future, Death Tango follows four uniquely gifted graduates as they reunite in attempts to uncover who murdered their esteemed dark-science professor, Dr. Ferguson. Torian Ross recruits a few of Ferguson’s past students to help unearth the truth. He’s joined by Rosa, a call-girl with secret empathic abilities; Kris, a black-hat Bronx hacker with a heart of gold and cybernetic canine sidekick; and Paul Oz-–Torian’s employer-–the wealthy, inscrutable technocrat mogul with preternatural secrets of his own. White Kris and Torian size each other up, Paul and Rosa navigate complicated feelings for each other. As the team works to uncover the culprit, they encounter a slew of suspects who would have every reason to murder the professor and unleash his biology-altering research onto an unsuspecting New York City.
How do you select the name Death Tango?
The book explores death as more of a means to a goal rather than as an end-all goal. Complicated relationships emerge among beings who are beyond death and utilize death as a means to communicate, to understand, to love.
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
A lot of Rosa’s quips are centered around eponymous theories and laws and are sprinkled throughout the read, so folks into that may enjoy spotting them. And of course there are a few slight nods and nudges to some Horror and Sci Fi classics.
Can you tell us what you have planned for the future?
As a touring performer and recording artist, we’re working heavily on our next album, music series and tour “Mad Different.” On the writer-side of things, I’ve just inked a deal with Penguin Random House (Tiny Rep Books) for a non-fiction I am writing called, I identify as Blind.
About the Author
Lachi is a touring and performing creative artist, writer, and award-winning cultural activist living in New York City.
Lachi advocates for identity pride and Disability Culture in the music, entertainment and corporate space, as Founder of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) and as an active Grammys Board Governor.
In her free-time Lachi writes sci-fi and fantasy novels with diverse, headstrong characters, focusing heavily on atonal world-building, quip-ridden character development, and relatable villains.
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