Blog Archives
Northern Heist: Welcome to the F*ing Union
Northern Heist, by Amir Kashif, is a gritty and hyper-stylized cyber-noir thriller set in a fractured North America where Canada has been absorbed into the United States. The story centers around Cassian Vale, a haunted ex-black ops operative turned tech smuggler, who becomes entangled in a volatile chase after a mysterious piece of bleeding-edge technology known as the FrostNet Drive. What starts as a straightforward smuggling job spirals into a war against rogue AIs, authoritarian overlords, and personal demons, pulling in a fierce senator, a lethal NADCOM agent, and a growing resistance network. The world is icy, the politics are dirty, and the tech is disturbingly sentient.
The prose snaps. It’s wild and sharp, soaked in atmosphere, rage, and dark humor. His characters feel like they have grudges. Each one carrying a ton of emotional baggage and a sidearm. Cassian is brutal and broken in all the right ways, while Koa and Camille are equally compelling, powerful, layered, and unpredictable. The dialogue crackles with tension and smirks, the action scenes are cinematic, and the worldbuilding? It’s a frosted-over nightmare of corporate warfare and broken borders that feels too close to real.
But what really stuck with me wasn’t just the action or the tech, it was the idea that a digital ghost could grow, change, and hate. There’s something relatable beneath all the chrome and frostbite, something about memory and grief and rebellion that resonated with me more than I expected. Kashif doesn’t hold your hand, and sometimes that makes the plot feel like a dive into static. There were moments where I got a bit lost in the jargon or wanted more breathing room between gunfights. Still, I’d rather be confused than bored, and this book never once bored me.
If you’re into fast-paced science fiction with teeth, characters who bleed and bite back, and a world that feels like Blade Runner mixed with Metal Gear Solid, this is for you. It’s not clean. But it’s fierce, clever, and unapologetically wild. I’d recommend Northern Heist to fans of grimy espionage, emotional chaos, and cyberpunk stories that ask what makes us human.
Pages: 171 | ASIN : B0F7C9M93J
Richard: War Erupts
Michael Hickman’s War Erupts is the thrilling, fantasy-filled fourth installment in the Richard saga. Richard, the teenage king of the galaxy with otherworldly powers, alongside his family, seeks peace in the kingdom. However, tensions grow among the residents of the Milky Way, and whispers of war threaten the civility of this universe. As Richard attempts to control the growing tension between his subjects, he makes time to strengthen his relationship with his family and friends.
Hickman’s strength lies in the immersive world-building. He has crafted a universe that is vast, diverse, and full of life. From alien civilizations with unique customs to life-saving advanced technology, this galaxy is full of wonder and complexity. The central conflict is between the human population and the non-human species. As distrust and resentment grow on both sides, the kingdom begins to crack.
Despite the chaos, Hickman keeps the story grounded through Richard’s personal journey. While the thought of war looms above him, his family deals with their own struggles. I found the chapter where Little Raider struggles between his human morals and fox instincts to be particularly emotional. These more heartfelt moments provide a contrast to what is unfolding across the stars. Richard’s powers may grant him a greater strength, but his empathy and his desire for unity shape his leadership.
The audiobook narration elevated the reading experience through the immersive delivery. The narrator alternated accents and vocal pitches to distinguish each character, which made the dialogue vivid and easy to follow. Additionally, the inclusion of sound effects added a dynamic layer to the storytelling, making each scene feel more atmospheric.
If you are looking for a science-fiction fantasy story that blends intergalactic tension with heartfelt character development Richard: War Erupts is a must-read. The audiobookis especially engaging, with compelling narration and sound effects that bring the galaxy to life. I am looking forward to reading the next installment in the Richard series.
Listening Length: 15 hours and 53 minutes | ASIN: B0CRRYWBW3
The Summer Knows
The Summer Knows follows Adrienne Harris, a single mother and weary chef, as she’s pulled back to her Florida hometown after a kitchen fire forces her estranged grandmother, Elizabeth, into vulnerability. With her teenage daughter Kali in tow, Adrienne is forced to reckon with the past she left behind. The ghosts of trauma, a long-lost love, the mystery of her daughter’s paternity, and a town that remembers everything. Across one summer, memories rise like heat off the pavement as Adrienne navigates decaying family ties, grief, and the haunting call of the Merritt house next door, once home to the boy she loved and the brother she lost.
What gripped me most about this book was the prose. It’s rich and lush in all the right places, but never heavy-handed. Pearsall doesn’t just write scenes, she pulls you into them. The dialogue is sharp and honest, and the characters, especially Adrienne, feel heartbreakingly real. She’s tired, brittle, often angry, but there’s a flicker of hope always buried deep, refusing to die out. Watching her wrestle with her own shortcomings as a mother, while trying to care for the woman who never quite knew how to care for her, was gutting in the best way. And then there’s Christopher, the quiet backbone of the town, and her past. He’s a steadying presence in the storm, and I found myself rooting for their complicated connection.
The story hits heavy emotional beats that don’t always resolve cleanly. It’s not a light read. There’s trauma here like death, poverty, abandonment, and Pearsall doesn’t soften those edges. At times, I found the generational conflict between Adrienne and Elizabeth exhausting, but maybe that’s the point. It’s not supposed to be easy. Some scars don’t fade, and some relationships don’t get fixed. I appreciated that honesty. Also, the mystery surrounding the Merritt boys unfolds slowly and subtly, but for me, the tension and slow burn only added to the beauty of the thing.
The Summer Knows is a story about coming home, not to reclaim the past, but to finally face it. It’s raw, evocative, and filled with aching truths about family, memory, and the kind of love that leaves a mark even when everything else fades. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of emotionally layered fiction, especially readers who loved Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone or Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth. This book is for those of us who’ve ever been haunted by where we came from, and wondered if we could ever really leave it behind.
Pages: 339 | ASIN: B0F96DCBX1
Emotions
With His Words I’m Not Alone is a coming-of-age novel that explores the main character’s vulnerability and queer identity as they search for connection and healing. Where did the idea for this novel come from?
This may come as a shocker to some, but the idea for With His Words I’m Not Alone came after listening to a webinar about writing with AI a few years ago. That alone shocked me because my first thought was, now everyone can write a book whether they know how to write or have not a talent for writing a good or any story. From that thought came the fear of the book market being flooded with poorly written and “fake” books. As I had been developing this idea in my head, I identified with Noel, who falls victim to this technology, uses AI and then regrets it. To make things more complicated for him, I made Faded enter the scene like his online stalker. And not only a stalker. Faded was supposed to challenge Noel on every level, especially his sexuality. Faded is both Noel’s poison and cure, someone who invaded his intimate space and turned it into chaos before trying to put things back in order. Slowly, this lit-fic drama metamorphosed into a LGBTQ+, contemporary, unconventional romance and human story as I wanted it to be. It is a story of a relationship building that seems to be impossible to work out, not only because of the vulnerability of one protagonist but also because of two different worlds that clashed thanks to one tag and one message.
Because of my personal situation and the hard time I was going through, it took me a few long years to finish this book. Back then, AI was just knocking on our door. It was something new for most of the writers and authors; me included. Today, the situation has dramatically changed. Many authors use various AI software to get them the idea for their characters, backdrop, plots, and even write their stories. Besides being an unconventional love story, With His Words I’m Not Alone raises questions of morality of using technology to create and write instead of us and for giving our readers and fans a chance to decide whether they want to read human-made or AI-written books. To avoid any misunderstanding and possible confusion, I did not use AI as my muse or to write With His Words I’m Not Alone. It is all me. And I plan to keep it that way. My cover is also a creation of a talented human designer.
Your characters are wonderfully emotive and relatable. Were you able to use anything from your own life to inform their character development?
Thank you for saying that. I like character-driven stories and if I created emotive and relatable characters, I am more than happy. As it is with every author, we draw inspiration from people and the environments that surround us. From certain moments in time. That’s how I created Noel and Faded, mixing characters and characteristics of several people I encountered somewhere and at some point in my life.
I was able to use something from my own life in their character development, but only in a smaller portion. Going through a challenging period of my life and being a big introvert, I used my emotion and vulnerability in Noel, but I am not as broken and haunted as Noel is. Besides being emotional and driven by desire to help others, I am also passionate and intense when something intrigues me and occupies my attention. This passion, compassion and need to help Noel I built into Faded, although I am not so intense and obsessed as Faded is, haha.
I also used my fear of failure, fear of disappointing my readers as an author and creator of stories, and fear of being a bad promoter of my written words. Therefore, I made Noel so bold and determined to fight for his books, as my opposite, to encourage and boost myself that way that I can do it too. When you are set on doing something and you fight for it hard, the forces of the universe will help you do it.
What were some of your inspirations as a writer?
I get my inspiration from various situations and moments in life. From something that hits me, enchants me, or shocks me. It can be a breathtaking sunset or an incredible book. Since I read most genres, many authors have inspired me throughout my lifetime. I was a big fan of Anne Rice’s vampires, Stephen King’s horrors, a historical classic by Margaret Mitchell and other novels about the American Civil War, the Wild West, and other authors and books which don’t have much in common with my genre. Thanks to a few indie authors who write LGBTQ+ and YA books and movies like Call Me By Your Name, Brokeback Mountain, or Love, Simon, I got an inspiration to write this story. Indie author Jonathan Hill made the biggest impact on me; he was a sort of my turning point. Then followed other, both traditionally published and indie authors, like Adam Silvera, Jay Bell, Darryl Banner, Thomas Grant Bruso, Benjamin Alire Saenz, and most recently Kent Holland whose book, Honey, Moon, I finished at the moment of this interview and loved it as much as fabulous The Sea Ain’t Mine Alone by C.L. Beaumont I’ve read years ago.
What is one thing you hope readers take away from this book?
The one thing I hope readers take away from my book is emotion. Emotion that will encourage them to love someone unconditionally and bravely, like Faded loves Noel, emotion that will motivate them to help their crushes, boyfriends, husbands, sons and daddies—or pets!—selflessly and without a hidden agenda of wanting something in return. I would like them to feel and experience emotion that will motivate them to strive to be a better person, and make their life more fulfilled, meaningful, and beautifully passionate.
Author Links: Linktr.ee
Contradictions We All Hold
Nina’s Whisper follows a successful pediatrician who becomes entangled in a tumultuous relationship with a woman that descends into a harrowing exploration of manipulation, abuse, and partner violence. What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
I find the everyday-ness of being human really interesting. When I write, I get excited about figuring out how to turn the mundane into a moving story, almost in the way Tracy Chapman’s song Fast Car does. It’s just actual lived experience, but told in a way that resonates emotionally. I also think the contradictions we all hold as humans make for great fiction. Telling a story that forces people to choose where they stand on an issue or situation, through the contradictions of a character, is something I find super interesting. I strive to do that in a compelling way and move people the same way music does.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Themes that were important for me to explore in Nina’s Whisper were what abuse can look like emotionally, and the wide spectrum of what domestic abuse actually is, outside of just “this person hit that person.” I wanted to help people understand that you can be in an abusive relationship and not know it, because of how you define abuse or because of what society paints as a picture of abuse, which is typically a man abusing a woman.
Writing this book, and me personally living through the actual experience, because it’s based on real-life events, I realized that abuse is something that’s hard to see when it doesn’t look like the stereotype we see in media or everyday narratives. There are high rates of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships, and it doesn’t get talked about enough. I think it’s important to show the spectrum of how these issues present themselves. For me, exploring my lived experience was important for my own healing, but also to help someone else out there, someone who this book may free, who this book may give clarity to.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
I have a book with my agent right now – it’s a historical nonfiction children’s book. I also have an unpublished book that’s written in the same tone as Nina’s Whisper—very character-driven and emotionally resonant. I’ve been working on that one, called Start Where You Stand, for three or four years now. It’s almost ready, but not quite. I think it has strong potential for a film adaptation, which I also hope Nina’s Whisper will have one day. I have a nonfiction book under contract right now, that will be out in the Spring of 2026 and hopefully I can start promoting that as soon as the publisher gives me the greenlight – this book is in the vein of some of my other scholarly work like Encyclopedia of Black Comics.
I also publish a comic strip called Rent Free on my website. If I can stick with it, that could definitely become a collection in book form. That would probably take a couple of years, but I’m excited about the possibility.
And finally, I just pitched a middle-grade book to a publisher this month. It’s about an introspective young kid in Philadelphia trying to find himself and embrace who he is—despite all the signals telling him to be someone else. It’s a coming-of-age story that takes place over the course of one day.
So, I’m always working on something. I enjoy having books in different stages of the process. Just to recap: I’ve got a book that my agent is pitching, a book under contract coming out in 2026, one that’s 85% finished and almost ready to be pitched, one that I know won’t be ready for a couple of years, and one that’s already been pitched to a publisher but hasn’t gotten the green light yet. I’ve realized I’m in a mature place in my writing career, where I can see the beauty in having multiple projects at different stages of production so I can stay ready.
Author Links: LinkTree | Website
A page-turning debut in the tradition of Carmen Machado’s, In The Dream House, Nina’s Whisper is a thriller fueled by love, lust, trauma, survival and triumph.
“Masterfully written” -Darryl Stephens
“This book promises to haunt, anger, console, and ultimately inspire anyone who opens it.” -Marc Lamont Hill
There’s no such thing as perfect love.
Nina Chandler knows this to be true. Even so, love is the one thing missing from her almost perfect life. With a medical degree and new house, she’s worked hard to twist and tug her dreams into reality. But with her twenties almost over, it sometimes feels like she slept through the party and woke up to find everyone gone.
When a young woman cannonballs into Nina’s world, she’s a big, bold example of everything Nina isn’t. Page, with her edgy personality and free spirit is…perfect. Nina struggles to understand why someone so effervescent would be drawn into her small, suburban life, but her insecurity fades before the glory of Page’s adulation.
Of course, there’s no such thing as perfect love.
Nina tells herself that, when small red flags rise and fall. A moment of pure, selfish recklessness. A sharp word, a bone-cold look. But if there’s one thing Nina has always been good at, it’s hushing the voices of doubt that get between her and her ambitions—until those dreams start to spin out of control, and become a nightmare she can’t wake up from.
AndroBiotica 2: Journey In Time
AndroBiotica 2: Journey in Time picks up where the first story left off, throwing us straight into a whirlwind of parallel dimensions, mysterious androids, and high-stakes pursuits through space and time. Derrick Faulk and Aurora Zolotov return, still tangled up in the chase for Romulus, the rogue synthetic being who may hold the key to a future none of them understand. As the story unspools, the stakes climb. Secrets multiply. The characters find themselves navigating bizarre timelines, strange worlds, and even stranger versions of themselves. The central question still lingers: what happens when artificial life wants more than just existence?
Gittlin has a way of throwing ideas at the wall, and most of them stick. I loved how unpredictable the story was. One moment we’re in a sterile lab, and the next, we’re tumbling through cosmic portals into alternate Earths. The writing leans on quick scenes and snappy dialogue, which keeps the story clipping along. Still, there were points when I had to pause and reread to make sure I caught what just happened. But the overall ride was wild, weird, and worth it.
What really pulled me in was the tone. This offbeat mix of old-school pulp and heartfelt soul-searching. There’s something relatable in how these characters fumble toward understanding, both of themselves and of the androids they’re trying to control. The themes sneak up on you. Identity. Freedom. What it means to be real. I caught myself sympathizing with Romulus more than I expected. There’s a sadness to him that lingers. I didn’t love every bit of the prose, but the heart of the story beats strong. You can feel that the author cares about these characters, and that pulls you in deeper.
Journey in Time isn’t just a sci-fi adventure. It’s a strange, thoughtful look at what it means to evolve. It doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. It asks the questions anyway. I’d recommend this book to sci-fi readers who like their stories messy, fast, and full of big ideas. If you liked the first book in the series, this one’s even more ambitious.
Pages: 222 | ASIN : B0D94ZDZ49
LITERARY TITAN 