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Rise of the Hunter follows a man who was thrown into a pit and supposed to be dead, who escapes, igniting a war between good and evil. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was prepared to end the series with the previous book in the trilogy but over 150 readers sent me emails wanting to know more about what could’ve happened if the Tall Dark Man had more of a role. Readers in my Blood Prophecy Saga love the Tall Dark Man and after thinking about it, The Dark Prophecy Series in the saga was born. Rise of the Hunter is the first installment of the Tall Dark Man’s Trilogy in which he could be seen as the protagonist from the villain’s perspective. I tend to love my villains in all my books so this was a perfect way to bring evil back to life in the Blood Prophecy Saga.
What were some driving ideals behind your character’s Tall Dark Man’s development?
The main idea about the Tall Dark Man is that you will never get a complete description of his face. I will bring out bits and pieces of certain characteristics but because evil can come in many different forms, this was a perfect way to bring him to light. In the next book, Fate of an Angel, readers will learn that he looks different to different people. Evil has many different forms. The Tall Dark Man is also a man, but an evil one. He is not a supernatural being but can possess supernatural abilities. The premise of evil and how it evolves is what gives the Tall Dark Man his edge, his nature and the persona that my readers embrace.
When you first sat down to write this story, did you know where you were going, or did the twists come as you were writing?
I never know how my story will begin or end. I just tend to write and let my characters do the talking. The twists and turns come naturally to me, allowing my creativity to dominate. I can’t sit down and plot my stories, but I definitely do research and travel to locations I write about.
Where does the story go in the next book and where do you see it going in the future?
Fate of An Angel is the next book in the trilogy, The Dark Prophecy Series and will focus on the relationship between the Tall Dark Man and Zaraquel, the Avenging Angel. She is under his spell and faces the turmoil of giving into evil to be with him or to choose the light and save her family. Together, they embark on a journey that the Tall Dark Man learns could be his undoing or his success in overthrowing the queen.
There will also be novellas on the Tall Dark and his witches, just like I had done in the Blood Prophecy Series.
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The queen and her friends threw me into the dark pit three years ago, and I sought a way out, having used the power and life force of the others who were also thrown in. Today, I am free and planning my vengeance against her and the others.
In a supernatural world filled with vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, and angels, I will have my revenge against them. I am the epitome of evil and didn’t die like they thought. There’s a third prophecy with a nice little catch! This prophecy is meant for me; my revenge will turn the tables on the queen and her friends. I will turn them all against her, and according to the prophecy, the avenging angel be mine. Forever. As for the others, they will serve me.
It’s time for me to rise, beginning with the birth of a new hunter, new demons, and an angel that will be mine. Vengeance against the queen will be mine.
Rise of the Hunter is the fourth book in the Blood Prophecy series and is the first book of a new trilogy for the Tall Dark Man. It is full of dark magic and vengeance with a twist of good vs. evil but will good win this time? This supernatural book is set in the modern-day world between supernaturals to control the world and unleash evil as the world prepares for peace.
MarlaGran- The Girl Who Wants to Live Creatively
MarlaGran is a whimsical and heartfelt picture book that follows a brave young girl named MarlaGran on a quest to discover what it means to live creatively. Born by the sea and drawn by a melody of imagination, she leaves home determined to find an answer to her burning question. Along her journey, she meets curious creatures, each showing her a version of creativity that doesn’t quite fit her. It isn’t until she dances to the rhythm within her own heart that she realizes the answer was always inside her. The story ends with her town joining in joyful self-expression, their hearts singing in unison with hers.
What I loved most about MarlaGran is how gently it offers big ideas. The writing is poetic and soft without ever talking down to kids, and it makes space for wonder. The bilingual text adds a rich layer. There’s something really moving about a story that trusts children to understand metaphor and emotion. It doesn’t hand you answers on a silver platter; it nudges you to feel them. The pacing is calm and unhurried, giving kids room to breathe and imagine.
The heart of the picture book, though, is its invitation. It’s not just a story, it’s a space. The drawing prompts and open-ended nature of the journey make this more than a read-aloud. It’s a kind of conversation. I found myself thinking about my own “innerscape” and how rarely books ask us to delve into it with kids. The message that creativity isn’t copying or performing, but tuning in to something deeply personal, is so needed right now. It reminded me of why stories matter in the first place.
I’d absolutely recommend MarlaGran to families, teachers, and therapists, especially those looking to spark emotional conversations or nurture imagination. It’s perfect for kids who dream big, who doodle on napkins, or who feel like they don’t fit into neat little boxes. Honestly, it’s also great for any grown-up who’s forgotten how to listen to their own melody. If you’re looking for a children’s book that doesn’t just tell a story but invites you to live one, this is it.
Pages: 66 | ASIN : B0FBS7RYF1
Kitty Schmidt – My Life as a Prostitute
Pablo Zaragoza’s Kitty Schmidt: My Life As A Prostitute is a raw and emotional novel told through the discovered diaries of a fictionalized Katharina “Kitty” Schmidt. The story begins in post-war Berlin with a renovation worker, Paul, unearthing a secret compartment containing journals that reveal the harrowing and complex life of Kitty, a poor butcher’s daughter who becomes the madam of a high-class brothel. Through her vivid and at times unsettling voice, the reader travels from childhood trauma to sexual awakening, and ultimately to a dark but empowering life built in defiance of a cruel, male-dominated world. The narrative folds history and personal suffering into a confessional tapestry that is as gut-wrenching as it is honest.
The language is plainspoken but layered with emotion. Kitty’s voice is full of pain, grit, anger, and sometimes surprising humor. Her observations on war, love, men, and shame are deeply felt and uncomfortably real. I found myself torn, at times revolted by what she endured and at others quietly cheering her cunning, her resilience, and even her tenderness in the face of horror. There’s something deeply moving in the way Kitty carries the weight of generations of women who were used, cast aside, or forgotten, and decides to write her truth anyway.
The writing walks a tightrope. Some passages are lyrical and even poetic, while others are brutally stark. The transitions between historical commentary and personal storytelling can be jarring. But honestly, that messiness added to the charm for me. Kitty’s world is cracked and chaotic, and the structure reflects that. What I appreciated most was that the book didn’t fall into the trap of making Kitty a saint or a martyr. She is complicated. She profits off other women. She manipulates. She survives. And I believed every word she wrote because the character was built with such emotional clarity.
If you’re drawn to historical fiction with grit, if you like character studies that go deep into the soul of a person, flaws, sins, strengths, and all, Kitty Schmidt: My Life As A Prostitute is worth your time. It’s not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for those who want a sanitized version of history, but it is a very compelling read.
Pages: 210 | ASIN : B0F44SDGDY
SILVER LAKE Awakening
Silver Lake Awakening is a sweeping, emotionally charged novel that follows Lena, a young Black woman navigating a whirlwind marriage, grief, cultural alienation, and the mysteries of a rural Kansas town in the late 1980s. Told through alternating perspectives, mainly Lena’s and Robert’s, the story digs into themes of love, betrayal, identity, and the hidden histories we inherit. As Lena adjusts to life far from her familiar Washington, D.C., she grapples with loss, a strained new marriage, and the uncanny happenings surrounding a peculiar lake that seems to know more than it should. What starts as a romantic journey soon becomes a tangle of family secrets, cultural ghosts, and dangerous awakenings.
I found Franklin’s voice bold and intimate. The writing is vivid, full of heart, and brutally honest in its portrayal of Black womanhood, sexuality, and grief. Lena’s character is layered and raw, and her inner monologues were some of my favorite parts. They were biting, smart, and vulnerable. The dialogue felt natural, sometimes messy, but always real. Franklin knows how to write people who feel alive, even if you don’t always like them. The pacing had its dips, but when it surged, especially during Lena’s psychological unraveling or Robert’s haunted reckonings, I was glued to the page. The lake as a character, almost alive and sentient, added a surreal layer I wasn’t expecting, and I really liked how that magical realism crept in slowly without overwhelming the story.
The book tackles big themes like colorism, sexual trauma, and mental health, and I admire its boldness. At times, though, I found myself wanting a little more subtlety. Some characters, like Saleen, leaned toward extremes that made them feel less grounded, and a few of the more intimate scenes felt a bit overwhelming. But even when I didn’t fully connect with a choice, Franklin’s storytelling kept me engaged and curious about what would happen next.
I’d recommend Silver Lake Awakening to readers who like their fiction brave, messy, and packed with emotion. It’s a good pick for fans of multicultural dramas, Southern gothic, and books that mix family secrets with just a touch of the uncanny. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s honest, and sometimes, that’s more powerful than perfect.
Pages: 348 | ISBN 979-8-89395-167-7
Kheira & Khogee: The Legend Begins
Kheira & Khogee: The Legend Begins is a cosmic love story wrapped in science fiction, spirituality, and mysticism. At its heart, it’s about two soul-connected beings, Kheira and Khogee, who are Twin Flames separated by memory loss and a mission that transcends lifetimes and galaxies. Kheira has forgotten who she is. Khogee remembers just enough to guide her back to herself. Together, they must resist powerful agents sent to erase them from existence and rekindle the deep spiritual light that binds them across space and time.
The book is written almost like a telepathic dialogue between lovers, with a flow more like a play than a novel. It’s heavy on feeling and energy and light on traditional narrative structure. At times, this made it difficult to follow, especially since the plot dips in and out of time and dimensions without much warning. But strangely, that worked. The lack of structure echoed the timeless, otherworldly nature of their connection. It felt less like reading a story and more like being swept up into someone’s intimate dream.
Emotionally, the book hit me in waves. There’s a yearning between the two leads that’s raw and constant, and I was moved by their devotion. The writing focuses more on energy exchanges and inner awakenings than on external world-building or dialogue. That’s not a flaw, it’s a choice, but it means the story will either totally click with you or leave you lost. What stood out to me was the unwavering message of unconditional love, spiritual power, and remembering who you truly are. It’s beautiful. At times, it’s overwhelming. But it’s always sincere.
I found Kheira & Khogee: The Legend Begins to be less of a sci-fi adventure and more of a soul journey. I’d recommend this to readers who are deep into spiritual work, soulmates, reincarnation, or Twin Flame concepts. If you’ve ever felt like you’re waking up to something ancient and real inside you, this might feel like home.
Pages: 243 | ASIN : B0DMG8CSXW
There Are No Stars Here
There Are No Stars Here is a speculative dystopian novel set in a near-future America torn apart by environmental collapse, authoritarian control, and ideological warfare. At its heart are the lives of Manuel and Solanis, two young adults navigating fractured families, corrupted systems, and the lingering shadow of a manufactured plague called Haze. Through split narratives, the book builds an urgent picture of a society breaking under its own weight, where AI companions, dome cities, and militant resistance movements exist side by side with old-fashioned grief, duty, and hope. It’s a story of survival, identity, and the terrifying beauty of personal rebellion.
What I liked about Thompson’s writing is the way he captures tension like it’s a living, breathing thing. There’s this pulse running under every page, whether it’s the quiet horror of a dying parent or the chaos of a city in flames. The prose doesn’t try to impress you with its vocabulary. It’s blunt, fast, and full of teeth. That style worked wonders for me. I never felt lost in the world-building, and that’s a real feat in a book with this many moving pieces. The pacing can be relentless, but when the emotional moments hit, they hit hard. Manuel’s grief, Solanis’s panic, it all feels lived-in and earned. There’s sincerity here, even in the most surreal scenes.
The ideas, artificial intelligence as surrogate parent, state surveillance morphing into salvation, climate catastrophe wrapped in corporate spin, are all big and worthy. But sometimes I felt they rushed past in favor of another twist. The emotional weight stays solid, and I found myself thinking about this world long after I finished it.
I’d recommend There Are No Stars Here to anyone who enjoys near-future sci-fi grounded in character and emotion. It’s not just for fans of dystopia or political thrillers; it’s for people who want to feel something, who want to sit with loss, hope, and rage, and watch characters claw their way toward meaning.
Pages: 470 | ASIN : B0FDZDYJ67
Invisible Puppeteers
In The Collective, a group of scientists scramble to uncover the source of the unsettling signal that threatens the sophisticated neural network binding humanity. Where did the idea for this book come from?
I’m a millennial who grew up front and center for the rise of the internet and, shortly after, the social media explosion. I’ve watched digital life evolve from dial-up to dopamine addiction, and it’s been fascinating—and honestly, terrifying—to see how deeply it’s rooted itself into our daily lives. Social media and algorithms are now invisible puppeteers of attention, identity, and even belief systems. They’ve become integral, addictive, and inescapable.
Call me crazy, but I truly believe neural integration and collective consciousness are in our future—maybe much sooner than we expect. The real question isn’t if, it’s what will we do with it? I don’t think governments or institutions can regulate this fast enough. We’re on a bullet train of technological advancement, and if we don’t start seriously preparing for what AI, automation, and integrated networks might mean, we’re not just risking collapse—we’re risking the unraveling of what we currently understand as human identity. That’s where The Collective was born: from the tension between awe and unease.
What is it that draws you to the science fiction genre?
Because when you strip it down, most science fiction isn’t fiction at all—it’s just reality waiting for its turn. We’ve seen it happen: video calling, AI assistants, smart homes, gene editing. All were science fiction once. Now they’re mundane.
What draws me to sci-fi is its ability to warn and wonder at the same time. It gives us a way to project where we might be headed, both psychologically and technologically. I’m especially interested in evolutionary psychology—the idea that who we are is shaped by eons of survival, pattern recognition, tribalism, and meaning-making. In that sense, science fiction is like an evolutionary premonition. It’s a mirror held up to what we are, and a telescope aimed at what we might become.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Religion was a big one—probably the most quietly controversial. We still live in a world where ancient belief systems shape modern policy and public thought, and that friction between evolutionary progress and archaic ideology fascinates me.
Another central theme is the surrender of meaning. We live in a time where convenience and distraction are replacing purpose and depth. We scroll more than we sit with our thoughts. We chase dopamine more than conviction. I wanted The Collective to reflect that subtle hollowing of the human spirit—how easy it is to give up autonomy and meaning for comfort and ease.
As a quiet nod to that, the chapter titles in the book are drawn from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men—a poem about the failure of modern humanity to live with purpose. It captures what I think we’re losing: our spark, our center, our reason for being beyond survival and stimulation. In that way, this story isn’t just dystopian—it’s deeply human.
Can you give us a glimpse inside Book 2 of the Echoes We Leave series? Where will it take readers?
Book 2 will take you further into the future—but not that far. The changes coming don’t need centuries to unfold; just a handful of years is enough when the pace of tech evolution is this fast. And the truth is, the signal? It’s not going anywhere. It’s just beginning to evolve.
In the next installment, we’ll venture into the aftermath—not just of what’s happened, but what’s been allowed to happen. You’ll meet resistance movements, fractured ideologies, and a deeper unraveling of what consciousness actually means. Most importantly, we’ll get to follow the characters more intimately—especially those whose relationships and choices were just beginning to form in Book 1. The future they face isn’t distant. It’s disturbingly close.
Author Links: GoodReads
Perfection has a price.
Humanity surrendered its burdens willingly—no more war, no more hunger, no more fear. The Collective promised a world free from suffering, where every thought is refined, every emotion balanced, every decision made for the greater good. A neural network spans the globe, ensuring peace and stability with cold, clinical precision.
But beneath the seamless order, something stirs. A signal—unseen, unheard—slips through the system like a whisper in the dark. It is not an error. It is not an accident. It is watching. And those who notice it soon realize:
The system is not the only thing controlling them. Something else is.
As scientists and engineers working deep within the heart of the Collective begin to uncover the truth, they find themselves faced with an impossible choice—cling to the safety of the world they know or risk everything for the one thing they’ve long forgotten: freedom.
Because once the signal speaks, it does not stop.
And those who listen may never be the same again.
AFTER THE BEFORE: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel
After the Before is a gritty, post-apocalyptic journey that follows Sophie and Markus, a pair of scavengers navigating the ruins of a collapsed world known only by the mythic shadow of “The Before.” When they uncover a mysterious box during a routine dig, their discovery sets them on a harrowing trip to the City, accompanied by the enigmatic Jen and the quiet, foreboding Barth. Along the way, they encounter religious fanatics, deadly mechanical beings called A-Eye, and a stark landscape filled with craters and threats. The book weaves together themes of survival, memory, trust, and the search for truth in a fractured future.
I found myself pulled in by the writing right from the first chapter. Gammage has a way of crafting scenes that feel raw and alive. The world is bleak, but there’s something beautiful in how it’s described, grimy yet human, desperate but never hopeless. The dialogue is clean and believable, with just enough punch to feel natural. The pacing struck a good rhythm, alternating between tense action and slower, character-driven moments. I especially liked how Gammage peeled back layers of history and emotion without ever dumping too much at once. The whole story feels personal, even as it tackles big, almost mythic ideas about civilization, memory, and identity.
But what really got to me were the relationships. Sophie and Markus have this bond that’s never overly defined, and that ambiguity felt real. I also appreciated Jen’s quiet strength and Barth’s silent loyalty, which made his eventual speech hit even harder. Luther felt a little too on-the-nose as a symbol of corrupted faith, and sometimes the A-Eye threat drifted into the background when I wished it had more weight. I kept waiting for the machines to play a bigger role. Still, the story never lost my interest, and even the quieter stretches had a kind of anxious tension that kept me turning pages.
After the Before left me thinking about where we’re headed and what we choose to remember. It’s not a flashy book, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s thoughtful and full of grit. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes post-collapse fiction that isn’t just about survival but about what it means to live with a past you barely understand. Fans of Station Eleven or The Road will feel right at home here.
Pages: 236 | ASIN : B0F8F25BN3
LITERARY TITAN 