Broken Mirror: Resonant Earth #1
A cautionary utopia about mental illness and addiction
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A fractured mind or a global conspiracy? Uncovering the truth can be hell when nobody believes you… and you can’t even trust yourself.
“A fantastic SF thriller with a sincere and important message.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist after twist.”—Julianna Caro, Reedsy Discovery
Broken Mirror is the first volume in a queer psychological science fiction saga that looks at the stigma of mental illness and the hellish distrust and alienation that go with it.
Victor Eastmore knows someone killed his grandfather, the pioneering scientist Jefferson Eastmore. But Victor, diagnosed with mirror resonance syndrome, has been shunned by Semiautonomous California society. Nobody will believe a Broken Mirror. Now Victor must tread the line between sanity and reclassification—a fate that all but guarantees he’ll lose his freedom.
With its self-driving cars, global firearms ban, and cure for cancer, the science fiction world of Broken Mirror may sound like a near-future utopia, but on Resonant Earth, history has taken a few wrong turns. The American Union is a weak and fractious alliance of nations in decline. Europe manipulates its citizens through propaganda. And Asia is reeling from decades of war.
Determined to uncover the truth about Jefferson’s murder, pansexual Victor and his trans friend Elena set out on a road trip that takes them across the American Union from Semiautonomous California through the Organized Western States to the Republic of Texas. But Elena is holding something back, and Victor’s condition worsens.
Amid shifting geopolitical sands, Broken Mirrors like Victor find themselves at a cyberpunk crossroads: evolve or go extinct.
Praise for Broken Mirror
“Sisco has created an immersive cyberpunk world as the setting for an elaborate murder mystery and conspiracy thriller; the copious amount of worldbuilding detail is truly impressive. Victor is a relatable hero with eclectic friends in Ozie and Elena… The world and the characters work together to effectively form a cohesive story about how easy it is for society to classify a group of people as dangerous outsiders. A fantastic science fiction thriller with a sincere and important message.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist after twist.”
—Julianna Caro, Reedsy Discovery
“An empathic, sensitive, and gripping alternate history, cassette future, bio-hacking techno-thriller that will keep you page-turning to the end.”
—Matthew Kressel, Nebula Award-nominated author of King of Shards and Queen of Static
“Cody Sisco swings for the fences with this ambitious alt-history look at addiction and mental health in a world where all should be well but is most definitely not. If this is just the start, it will be a treat what comes next!”
—Sherri L. Smith, award-winning author of Orleans and The Blossom and the Firefly
“Victor Eastmore is an unlikely hero who we immediately root for. His constant struggle for some sort of normal existence is distressing, and his journey to find who murdered his grandfather is an intense roller coaster ride, but we gladly take the ride with him. Broken Mirror is an exciting and fascinating look at a society that fancies itself evolved almost to perfection but, in reality, is as broken as some of its inhabitants.”
—Frank Castelluccio, author of short stories in RFD Magazine, Made in L.A. Vol. 4, and Avalon Literary Review
“Cody Sisco’s Broken Mirror daringly plays with time, geography, science, and language with breathtaking results. Set in an imagined recent past, in a rearranged world with brilliant medical advances, equally brilliant new weapons, and recreational drugs, nothing is what it appears. In its unpredictability, it feels like negotiating an ominous funhouse filled with sunlit dread. Broken Mirror is a consistently absorbing thrill ride full of scary but satisfying twists and turns.”
—Manuel Igrejas, author of Imaginary Boyfriends: Short Stories
“Cody Sisco crafts a world rich in adventure and intrigue, as Broken Mirror takes us to the future to confront corporate greed, tech regulation, and stigmas around neurodiversity, all while weaving a tale of the many ways in which we need to know ourselves.”
—Kate Maruyama, author of Harrowgate, Bleak Houses, and The Collective
“Cody Sisco’s Broken Mirror is a queer alternate history in which Victor Eastmore flees across a reimagined but recognizable America, determined to prove his grandfather had been poisoned. Victor is compelling and sympathetic, but he is hobbled by a potentially violent psychological condition he struggles to control, by allies whose true motivations are often at odds with his own, by a family who would rather see him institutionalized, and by the larger conspiracy targeting people like himself. The world of Broken Mirror is thoroughly realized, and as readers learn more about its history and where its timeline branched off from ours, the more they learn that Victor’s paranoia is entirely justified. Sisco’s novel is tightly plotted and wildly inventive, and it explores the ways stigmas against mental illness and addiction can be weaponized for profit and control.”
—Michael Kiggins, author of And the Train Kept Moving
“With Broken Mirror, Cody Sisco questions our reflex to blame the human condition on those who are deemed as ‘other.’ This murder mystery set in an alternate history that feels all too close to home searches for truth amidst abuse of power and the silencing of unconventional minds. Rich with themes of mental health, racism, gender and sexual identity, this first installment of the Resonant Earth Series is a vibrant and sexy ride.”
—Allison Rose, cofounder of Made in L.A. Writers, author of the Tick Series, and the upcoming memoir Of Course I Love You
“Cody Sisco’s expansive worldbuilding presents a dystopic vision of a fractured America that feels all too depressingly real. Cryptic hackers, tangled loyalties, and family secrets make Broken Mirror a high-tension read.”
—Cynthia Zhang, author of After the Dragons
“Broken Mirror, Cody Sisco’s well-paced and entertaining debut novel, didn’t show any first-book jitters. Drawing readers in with compelling, captivating, and well-thought-out characters like Victor Eastmore and Elena Morales, this thriller and murder mystery set in a sci-fi world centers on a mysterious mental illness. The book and plot rush through zigs and zags with sex, romance, death, and a notebook of wild dreams. Sisco proves a talented writer, leaving readers wanting to crack open the next book as well.”
—David Fitzpatrick, author of Sharp: A Memoir and Wolf-Boy
“A poetic and often tragic narrative about social stigma, wealth, and a troubled young man looking for a future in a society that shuns him. Cody Sisco’s Broken Mirror resonates with anyone who has ever felt lost and confused and yet resilient.”
—Sara Chisolm, author of short stories in the Made in L.A. anthology series
“Cody Sisco has created an alternative reality in Broken Mirror that holds engaging characters, amazing action sequences, and a mystery that will have you reaching for the sequel as soon as you reach the last page. Highly recommend!”
—Gabi Lorino, author of A Magical Time Called Later
Tortured Echoes: Resonant Earth #2
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To uncover the truth behind a murder, Victor Eastmore must risk his sanity—and set a killer free.
In Tortured Echoes, the gripping sequel to Broken Mirror, bioinformatics prodigy Victor Eastmore is finally gaining control over his debilitating mirror resonance syndrome—an affliction that warps his senses and blurs the line between perception and reality. But the mystery of his grandfather’s murder still haunts him, and the path to justice leads to New Venice, a touristy canal town in the Louisiana Territories.
There, Victor must confront Samuel Miller, the infamous “patient zero” of MRS and the perpetrator of the Carmichael Massacre. To uncover the truth, Victor must risk unshackling Samuel from Personil, the drug that reins in his madness. Meanwhile, tensions mount as the radical Human Lifers group protests BioScan’s controversial treatments and advocates for a future free from “pharmaceutical enslavement.”
Caught between manipulative family members, treacherous allies, and a society on the brink of enforcing brutal policies against the Broken Mirrors, Victor must decide where his loyalty lies. Will he fight for a new vision of justice and community—or be consumed by the very forces that threaten to silence him? Tortured Echoes blends psychological sci-fi, political intrigue, and emotional depth in a thought-provoking tale of identity, power, belonging, and resistance in the Resonant Earth universe.
Altered Bodies: Resonant Earth #3
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A breakthrough treatment promises salvation for Broken Mirrors—but the price could be Victor’s sanity, and the end of the American Union of Nations.
Altered Bodies plunges deeper into the fractured psyche of Victor Eastmore and the unraveling world of the American Union in this thrilling third installment of the Resonant Earth series.
Victor found a fragile kind of freedom. After escaping the Classification Commission in Semiautonomous California, he now works for his family’s healthcare company in the Louisiana Territories, striving to heal the mirror resonance syndrome patients he risked everything to save. But his hard-won peace is as precarious as his mental state, and he’s moving closer to the edge of insanity.
When a mysterious figure known as the Diamond King offers a revolutionary new technology that could cure the patients and rescue the company from collapse, Victor is both intrigued and wary. Is this the breakthrough he’s been searching for—or a trap with devastating consequences?
This alternate history journey through a cautionary utopia tests the limits of trust, the costs of ambition, and the seductive pull of power. With cyberpunk intrigue, high-stakes alliances, and relentless tension, this volume propels the series into thrilling new territory.
Toxic Medicine: Resonant Earth #4
What if the cure is the conspiracy?
The fourth volume of the Resonant Earth series arrives October 2026.
Short Stories from Resonant Earth
Believe and Live: The Horrific Prelude to Broken Mirror
Mía Barrias is taking a break from managing the governor’s re-election campaign to honeymoon in Carmichael, a small resort town in Semiautonomous California. But she wakes up to a nightmare—sleeping gas wafts through the town, self-driving cars run people down in the streets, and a man clad in black is killing people with a stunstick as he tells them to “Believe and Live.”
Can Mía survive long enough to outwit the man behind the massacre and bring help to the people of Carmichael, including a special four-year-old named Victor Eastmore?
Believe and Live is a horrific short story and the explosive prelude to Broken Mirror.
Made in L.A. Anthology Series
Made in L.A. Writers is a collaborative of Los Angeles-based authors dedicated to nurturing and promoting indie fiction.