Book excerpt: Hybrid Earth is set in a future where most of the planet's population has been merged with machines. These half-machine/half-human creatures are called Hybrids. In December of 2023, a coordinated terrorist attack on most of the world's nuclear power plants created a devastating fallout environment across 63% of the globe. Millions were killed but the survivors gathered in "safe zones" and went about the process of rebuilding the world. They started with trying to find a way to decontaminate the fall out. They put together a team of the most brilliant minds the world had to offer and came up with a solution. Nanobots. Billions of these microscopic robots were made to absorb radioactive particles which would, in turn, make the areas destroyed by fallout habitable again. The scientists ran hundreds of tests and simulations, all with excellent outcomes, and decided that the project was ready to implement. The nanobots were released into the areas effected by radiation and did what they were supposed to do. They absorbed it. After the absorption phase, however, things didn't go according to plan. Instead of heading back to a safely secured site for decontamination, the nanos dispersed themselves over the entire Earth. When they fell back down, they merged humans with whatever machine or metal they happened to be touching at the time. Hybrid Earth follows the story of Officer Xander Hastings and his Orb, Link. Together they try to keep track of the chaos and make sure innocent people aren't caught in the crossfire. It's a tough job, especially in a world where nearly everyone has abilities and he has none. Even though he is constantly outmatched by beings more powerful than himself, he still finds a way to get the job done.