Onstage, Claire's known as the operatic sensation of Landry City, but offstage, she hunts the man whose violent act made her a cyborg and killed her parents. The people of Landry City might despise cyborgs, but her home is all she has left, and Claire means to protect it. Just when her double life leads her straight to the enemy’s door, an unexpected factor enters the equation: Claire’s long lost love, Isabelle Chagny.
Even if Iz can accept Claire’s transformation, Claire isn’t willing to risk her ex’s safety. But Iz and her companions are already entangled with Claire’s nemesis, and if she wants to save her home, she’ll need to decide: fight alone in the shadows to save the city that hates her, or form an alliance--and risk the only woman she’s ever loved in the process.
Inspired by Gaston Leroux’s the Phantom of the Opera, Phantom Song is the second novella in the Toccata System trilogy.
Kate Sheeran Swed loves hot chocolate, plastic dinosaurs, and airplane tickets. She has trekked along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, hiked on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier in Iceland, and climbed the ruins of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. After growing up in New Hampshire, she completed degrees in music at the University of Maine and Ithaca College, then moved to New York City. She currently lives in New York’s capital region with her husband and son, and two cats who were named after movie dogs (Benji and Beethoven).
Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Volume 5, Electric Spec, Daily Science Fiction, and Andromeda Spaceways. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University. You can find her on Instagram @katesheeranswed.