Bad in the Blood

A lower YA Cli-Fi action from Bloomsbury US

They came for our water, but they'll settle for our blood.

Fourteen-year-old Wyatt is number three on the leaderboards for his favorite video game, Fathom Fall, but in real life, he's the “Water Baby” kid of engineers at Hydrexo, the company that supplies 75% of North America's water. He's always had easy access to water while others have to line up to pay exorbitant prices at public taps, and he's totally awkward and feels totally useless. To prove he's more than a privileged Water Baby, Wyatt is determined to win the upcoming Fathom Fall championship and finally make a name for himself.

But when the water-guzzling monsters from the game start appearing in real life, Wyatt suspects that the tournament is about more than prize money. More than ever, Wyatt wants to win, and as the tournament approaches, he starts to worry: Why won't anyone tell them what's really going on? Why would the military train kids to hunt the monsters for them? And how far is he willing to go to prove himself?

Set in a near-future, water-scarce Toronto, Fathom Fall is a high-octane speculative thrill ride that questions the ethics of new technology and how it defines our very reality.