Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge by Elizabeth Corrigan comes out today, May 17, 2021! Check out some excerpts and find a great giveaway for the book here!

About the Book

Clarity’s paladin order forbids her from entering the Azure District, the one location in her high tech city that refuses paladin rule and technology. When she receives an illicit invitation to violate the prohibition, spurred on by rumors of suffering in the district, she passes through the crumbling brick entryway into no-man’s land. Within, she finds the residents lack not only the ocular implants and three dimensional computers she takes for granted, but also medicine to fight a disease infecting the children.

Clarity knows her order isn’t perfect—after all, they stole her from her parents when she was a small child to raise her with their values—but she cannot believe they know what’s going on in the Azure District. When she confronts the head of the order, he refuses to aid people who have rejected his help in the past, even the children. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Clarity enlists the help of the leader’s son Cass and takes matters into her own hands.

Clarity engages in increasingly questionable behavior—deleting official records, lying to her friends, and manipulating people who can help her. As the nefarious nature of her actions tarnishes the purity of her cause, she must determine what it truly means to be a paladin, in both name and action.

Excerpt from Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

“Come on, Clarity!” Hope grabbed Clarity’s hand and dragged her down Londigium’s main thoroughfare. The bright glare of the morning sun glinted off the silver skyscrapers and made some of the light-up signs in the storefronts difficult to read. Nonetheless, Clarity could make out the image of a dress on the digital placard of Hope’s destination.

Clarity dodged to avoid running into some people going in the opposite direction from her. She tried to wrench her hand free of Hope’s grasp to give herself better maneuverability, figuring she could follow her friend’s gleaming, red-gold hair through the crowd, but Hope held tight. “Remind me again why we’re doing this? I don’t care about going to the gala, and I don’t see why I can’t just wear my official paladin armor.”

“I swear, for someone so invested in her career, you can be dense about the things you need to do to advance it.” Clarity’s other friend Zeal tossed her black braids over her shoulder as she gave Clarity a scathing glance. “You have two weeks left until the gala, and Hope has convinced Steady Threads to make an exception to their usual deadlines and take an order for your dress. Try to be a little grateful.”

“I’m a warrior.” Clarity cringed at the petulant tone in her voice but continued her line of argument anyway. “My job at the moment is just conducting training for the non-warrior paladins, but if and when I get promoted, I’m going to be a Citadel guard or a peacekeeper in the city. None of this has anything to do with looking pretty at a gala.”

“Do I have to remind you why you put that ‘if’ in there?” Zeal asked. “You beat out the Grand Conductor’s son during graduation trials for a position at the Citadel.” Zeal was right. Steadfastness Hughes ran the Order of the Amethyst Star, and he hated Clarity. “You need to go to the gala and do some networking among the other warriors to make yourself popular in other circles. Or at least look appropriate so as not to give him an excuse to send you off to the boondocks and install his son in your place.”

“I know, I know. You’re right.” Clarity stumbled as Hope came to a sudden stop in front of the tailor’s shop. “I just feel more comfortable in my armor. The paladins already spent a lot of money getting us high-tech, retractable armor. I don’t see why they’re bothering to pay for dresses and tuxedos as well.”

“Because it would be ridiculous to try dancing at a ball with your armor clanking everywhere, and the purple microfiber bodysuits underneath are not nearly as flattering as you all think they are,” Hope said, her voice containing an uncharacteristic tartness. “Besides, don’t you want to look amazing enough that Valor regrets breaking up with you just because you beat him in that silly contest?”

“Don’t say that so loud.” Clarity glanced up and down the street, but no one she knew was nearby. “You guys are the only ones who know we broke up. Besides, I don’t think---”

Before Clarity could finish her sentence, a man ran into her, practically shoving her into the store’s forcefield window. She and her friends turned in sync to watch a man in a fine suit run past them, knocking the crowd aside to get through. Behind him came a pair of men in armor as shiny as Clarity’s own, sufficiently far behind that the recovering throng on the street would be an impediment. By the time the paladin peacekeeper she recognized as Diligence noticed her and called, “Stop that man!” Clarity was already racing after him as best she could.

The pursuant looked behind him and noticed a much closer paladin. With a curse, he tried to pick up speed, and when that failed, he turned a corner into what looked like a small alley. He must not know the city very well, Clarity thought. There’s an open air market on the other side of that building. He’s going to be easy to spot there.

Indeed, as she chased him between the skyscrapers, she could easily see his head bobbing amid the stalls. Realizing his mistake, he pushed over a table full of crates of apples, sending the green fruit rolling across the ground. Clarity didn’t miss a beat, leaping into the air above the overturned boxes and landing on her quarry in a tackle. 

The crowd had erupted into shocked gasps at the chase, but as Clarity pulled the man to his feet and twisted his arms behind his back, the crowd burst into applause. She heard the word “Azurite” murmured a few times, so she glanced down at his chest and saw that he in fact wore the telltale diamond-shaped, blue patch that marked him as a resident of the city’s Azure District. Everyone knew the Azurites hated paladins and the order they represented so much that they refused paladin technology rather than follow paladin laws. Clarity had heard rumors that people in the walled-off part of the city lived in abject poverty, but the man standing in front of her looked well-fed and clothed.

Diligence and his partner jogged up behind Clarity. “Thanks for the assist,” Diligence said as he handcuffed the criminal. “We caught him trying to buy a slew of weapons on the black market. The dealer was smart enough to try to make a deal, but this idiot ran.” 

Wow. Clarity had known she was chasing down a criminal, but she’d had no idea he was such a dangerous one. 

“If you want paladin tech, all you have to do is submit to the laws of the city,” Diligence said to his prisoner. Then he turned to the farmer whose apple crates remained upside down on the ground. “If you file a report with the Citadel, the order will reimburse you for your damaged merchandise. We apologize for interfering with your business.”

Another Excerpt from Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

“You broke the girl’s leg, Al!” Cass said as soon as the door to his room shut. He’d been waiting half the day to unload on the owl, and the barracks seemed the best place to do that where no one would overhear. My going home has nothing to with what Tenacity said. I needed to talk to Al, and I didn’t have any urgent work, and I wanted to work on my personal projects. Most paladins kept their living spaces sparse and utilitarian, but Cass surrounded himself with broken gadgets, half-constructed gizmos, and spare parts for both.

“Hoo.” Al perched on top of Cass’s closet door, his glassy eyes innocent.

“Don’t you ‘Hoo’ me!” Cass threw his jacket on the bed, then flopped down after it. He scowled at the bird.

Meg sauntered past him and jumped onto his desk. “What do you care? You don’t like her anyway." She stretched, knocking a part---Cass couldn’t see which one but felt certain he would need it later---onto the floor.

“Just because I don’t like her doesn’t mean I want her to suffer bodily harm!” Cass said. “We’re paladins! We have certain ethical standards to uphold!”

“Oh, so you’ve been thinking about her body, then,” Meg said as she curled up and closed her eyes.

Cass opened his mouth to form a retort he was sure would be quite cutting---not that Meg would care---when Al spoke. “Uphold ethical standards like Valor does?”

Cass clenched his fists. The sound of his brother’s name was enough to put him into a headache inducing rage. “Just because Valor is the world’s worst paladin doesn’t mean I have to be. I don’t have morals because it impresses my father and the Council. I have them because it’s the right thing to do.”

Al flew down next to him. “I’m sorry, Cass,” the owl said. “It was just supposed to be a few pranks. I didn’t mean to injure her.”

Cass stroked the top of Al’s head, and the robot closed his eyes and preened as if he could feel it. “I know, buddy. But let’s leave the pranks alone for a while, shall we? I don’t want to have to change your programming.” Cass could never explain to Tenacity why it would be a violation to modify the AI’s algorithms, especially since they weren’t sentient, just complex. Maybe Tenacity was right about him needing some human friends.

“I don’t think the girl’s so bad.” A purr reverberated through Meg’s words.

“That’s because you don’t know her,” Cass said, sitting up. He’d wasted enough time moping. He needed to get some work done on his fetching drone. He pulled his magnifying goggles out of his shirt pocket and put them on.

“Do you know her?” Al asked, flying alongside Cass as he moved to the desk and looked for his micro-screwdriver. It wasn’t where he’d left it, so he had to assume it had been Meg’s victim. 

“I inadvertently went to dinner with my parents a few times when she was there,” Cass said, dropping into a crouch to look for the device. “She was horrid. Always deferential to my father about everything.” From the silence that followed, Cass could imagine what was going through at least Meg’s mind. He was always deferential to his father, too. Total obedience was the only way to deal with Steadfastness Hughes. “Besides, she’s dating Valor.”

Even to his own ears, that argument was starting to sound weak.

About Elizabeth Corrigan, Author of Technopaladin: Clarity’s Edge

Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys playing tabletop role-playing games and cooperative card games. She refuses to watch most internet videos and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a very active iphone.

Website: https://elizabethcorriganauthor.com/

Social Media: Twitter and Facebook

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