To join the Alpha Reader Program, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/4fVhraRE4sTWgnB98

Thank you for signing up to the New Astoria newsletter, or if you’re reading online, for dropping by the site.

The first wave of Alpha Reader content has dropped, and it’s out of the gate with a bang — we’re hitting the ground running with part 1 of Synchronous, the first book in the series.

Junkyard Origins comes in at 129 pages, 42k words, and a reading time of around three hours.

You should have an email in your inbox from me, sent by Google, informing you that you a Google Drive folder has been shared with you. In it, you’ll find PDF, docx, and epub versions.

If you have NOT received an email, chances are you intended to sign up for the Alpha Reader Program but instead only signed up for the newsletter. The signup link for the ARP is a Google Form, so if you haven’t filled out a Google Form, we don’t have you in the system.

The link, again: https://forms.gle/4fVhraRE4sTWgnB98

These will be updated as they’re edited, so the latest available version will always be in this folder. We’re using a kind of semantic versioning using x.y.z, so typos, spelling mistakes, formatting, and other minor changes will be reflected with a “z” increment.

If a version undergoes prose, plot, or other core changes, it will receive a “y” version bump, and finally, we will remain on x-version 1 until the end of the Alpha program, so you’ll never see one of those change.

The latest version of Junkyard Origins is 1.8.1.

Make sure to join the chhtv Discord Server, join the chhtv subreddit, follow us on socials for more frequent updates.

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// The pressure did not make us
// It showed us who we are

Coming 2026

New Astoria is a new sapphic cyberpunk thriller book and game series from the minds behind some of your favorite AAA games, shows, and websites. The team is ex-Riot Games, Activision, EA, Polygon, Dauntless, and has worked on more than 20 different games, shows, and web sites.

New Astoria: Synchronous (Book 1)

By 2084, the collapse of the United States of America has fallen from memory. Out of the ruins of Old Chicago sprang New Astoria, the largest of the megacities that grew from the ashes.

While investigating a brutal murder, a cold-hearted Bureau agent with a malfunctioning robotic arm draws the attention of Emory, a curious backwater biomechanic who's about to get the worst case of "I can fix her" anyone's ever had.

After a rocky start, they form an uneasy alliance to find the killer, but quickly find more than they bargained for: Ying's robotic “Synq” arm is a military superweapon far beyond the bounds of legal body augmentation, and it's not supposed to exist. Emory, who prides herself on the repair of machines and people alike, finds herself drawn in.

The pair quickly find themselves caught between ruthless mega-corporations, a secret government organization, and street gangs hungry for their cut. Ying knows the corporate world, and Em knows the streets. They’re both ready for a fight, but neither of them have any idea how to navigate the kind of intimacy that their investigation, and Ying’s repairs, creates between them.

They'll need to handle the corps, the gangs, and the government to find the truth behind the murder, and the secrets of the Synq — but they’ll need to learn to handle each other first.

It's a sci-fi in the vein of Altered Carbon that fights like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and drips the romantic tension of Bridgerton.

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