It’s Different When

They’re Yours

Genre: Science Fiction

Word Count: 90,000

Comparable Titles: THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS by Jessamine Chan and THE CHANGE by Kristen Miller

Blurb: It is 2049 and a law banning mothers from the workforce has caused a worrisome drop in the birth rate. At the male-dominated tech company where she works, Delta Blick rents out hyper-realistic, highly customized, eight-year-old childbots to women curious about parenting. But when Delta’s boss forces her to spend a leave of absence mommying a childbot herself, she resents being put out to pasture like any other irrelevant woman.

Yet the childbot, Lu, exceeds Delta’s expectations. She charms Delta’s reclusive father out of hiding and befriends Delta’s colleague-turned-maybe-more, Shannon. On top of this, Lu seems intent on staying with her chosen family despite Delta’s return to work. When Delta is outed for working while mothering Lu, she must choose: keep the artificial child whom she has grown to love, or remain complicit in a society that only values women for their procreative potential. IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN THEY’RE YOURS is a darkly witty exploration of motherhood, choice, and what makes a family.