Above a horrified New York City, genetics and ethics collide as the fallen emperor and a banished exile of the same herculean race ignite into battle over the city’s rooftops. In the streets below, a brilliant young scientist has discovered a technology that can defeat them both, yet might be more terrible than either.

Set both in modern New York City and in the technologically sophisticated yet politically savage world of Anthem, Anthem’s Fall unfurls into a plot where larger than life characters born with the prowess of gods are pitted against the shrewd brilliance of a familiar and unlikely heroine.

Now that the pitch is behind me, I’ll get a little more specific. Anthem’s Fall is a novel where two worlds collide. One side of the novel covers Kristen Jordan, a young graduate student working on a cutting edge research team in New York City. Kristen is one of the scientists behind the Vatruvian cell, a mysterious new biotechnology that replicates living cells. Kristen is incredibly brilliant worldly, but she remains uneasy about the capabilities of their Vatruvian cell. The other side of the novel brings to light the futuristic and world of Anthem, a world where the most elite members of society are born with the power of gods and who control their civilization with absolute authority. The two worlds come together in a “Michael Crichton meets Marvel comics” kind of fashion.

But the distinction between modern New York City and Anthem is not as simple as it first appears. The race of men and women on Anthem uncovered their godlike power in an ancient and victorious war for survival. The most omnipotent among them long ago created an empire unchallengeable for all of future time. No weapon can harm their perfect flesh, no technology can trump their transcendent selves, and no one can possibly dream of overthrowing their rule. Yet this world of gods is only introduced at the moment of its fall. For a new technology is created on Anthem, and with it is born unspeakable machines forged using the very power behind their strongest sons and daughters. The machines come to topple the cities of Anthem to the sounds of a holocaust, and bring a race of warrior-gods to its knee.

All the while, the technology behind the unstoppable machines rings familiar to a particular Vatruvian cell being studied in New York City by Kristen Jordan. Though the plot is grandiose and dramatic, the story is told through the eyes of relatable characters with very disparate aspirations.

“Michael Crichton meets Marvel.” We really like that – but if you had to label it with a more conventional genre?
That’s a tough one. It ebbs and flows between science fiction and fantasy.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Older young adult and adult readers who are ready to read a superhero-ish novel with elevated themes and thought provoking dilemmas. There’s a ton of action, but at the novel’s heart is a dialogue on the complex natures of power, ideology, and might vs right. Oh, and there’s killer androids.

You mustn’t forget the killer androids!
Tell us about the main characters, though.
All three of the main characters are exceptional in their own way, but they each resent that exceptionality on some level. Ultimately, I think Kristen is the main character that really elevates the novel. She is a smart and cynical young woman who gets thrown into a cataclysmic plotline, and she will be forced to evolve along the way. Her perspective grounds the novel, and all of the thundering Superhero-esque destruction has never been seen and told through eyes of a character quite like Kristen.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
This is my debut, but more are coming. I’m halfway through the first draft of Anthem’s Fall’s sequel.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I graduated from the University in Vermont in 2009 with a degree in Anthropology and Biology. After I graduated, I was working a medical internship in Boston when I was smacked upside the head with the idea for Anthem’s Fall. Once I started writing, I became obsessed with the process. I took a job doing archaeology on St. John in the US Virgin Islands National Park, and from that point I focused solely on writing. For the past four years I’ve devoted all of my free time to making Anthem’s Fall as good as it can possibly be.

This past fall I moved with my girlfriend Liz from Boston to Seattle, and so far I’m loving the pacific northwest.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://www.sldunn.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@SL_Dunn
https://www.facebook.com/sldunnauthor

What’s next?
Sequel time! Also I have a few shorter works slated to come out later this summer and fall.

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Mexico, Future – can you give us a brief storyline?
The man knelt down to the soil and picked up a handful of dirt. It was warm to the touch, baked all morning under the midday sun. Twenty years, and he was finally back. For the first time in decades he breathed in deep the smell of his youth, the dry hot air that was so unique to Mexico.

But he wasn’t back for the soil or the air, he was back for a woman.