Blog Archives
Finitude and Beyond
Finitude and Beyond is a collection of nine science fiction short stories that explore the edges of human existence—where time, identity, love, and mortality converge in strange and often heart-wrenching ways. The stories dive deep into themes of isolation, transformation, grief, and survival, blending speculative technology with painfully real emotional experiences. From the quiet awe of a child witnessing space travel to the unrelenting ache of a love that time itself cannot contain, Adams spins tales that are both cosmic in scale and intimate in feeling.
Adams doesn’t go for flashy sci-fi gadgets or action-packed battles. Instead, he writes stories that feel like they’ve been quietly fermenting for years, steeped in emotion and restrained power. “The Captain and the Sower” absolutely wrecked me. The way he built that decades-long relationship between Adlei and Captain Nkosi—a love story stretched across revolutions of time and biology—was heartbreakingly beautiful. I caught myself rereading paragraphs just to let the ache settle in deeper. It’s rare that a book makes me sit in silence after the last line, just thinking. But this one did.
The prose occasionally tipped toward melodrama, and some characters leaned into archetypes. But honestly, those flaws felt relatable. The book doesn’t try to be perfect—it tries to be true. And in that, it succeeds. Adams has a knack for rooting massive, mind-bending sci-fi concepts in very personal, very relatable pain. Whether it’s a grieving husband at the edge of the solar system or a synthetic scout grappling with her fading memories, each story carries a kind of quiet urgency that feels universal.
This isn’t a book for someone looking for fast-paced action or happy endings. But if you’re the type who wants to feel something, this book will hit you in the chest. I’d recommend Finitude and Beyond to anyone who loves character-driven science fiction, fans of Ken Liu or Ted Chiang, or just readers who aren’t afraid to stare down the existential questions we tend to shove aside.
Pages: 263 | ASIN : B0F9R473LB
The Weight of Water
The Weight of Water is a haunting and heartfelt young adult novel that follows Sailor Byrd, a teen grappling with overwhelming guilt and grief after the tragic drowning of her younger sister, Beth. Set against the backdrop of a coastal town, the story unpacks themes of loss, mental illness, isolation, and the often-messy journey toward healing. As Sailor navigates a world that’s suddenly foreign and full of blame—both self-inflicted and external—her dream of freedom on the ocean collides with harsh emotional realities. The novel doesn’t shy away from trauma, instead diving deep into it, portraying the complexities of familial relationships, friendship betrayals, and internal battles with raw honesty.
Deene writes with an intensity that sometimes left me breathless. Her prose, simple but emotionally sharp, feels like reading someone’s private journal, filled with real pain and confusion. I especially appreciated the contrast between Sailor’s dream of a life at sea and the suffocating weight of her grief. Every page feels soaked in sorrow, but there are glimmers of warmth and memory that keep it from drowning in darkness. The way Beth was written, her quirks, fears, and the bright yellow she clung to, is unforgettable.
The pacing slowed at times, especially during Sailor’s more introspective moments. While those sections reflect the real heaviness of grief, they sometimes felt a bit repetitive. A couple of side characters, like Mya and Sam, weren’t as deeply developed, especially in how their distance and betrayal were portrayed. But maybe that was the point. When you’re grieving, people can feel unfamiliar, even unreal. Through it all, Sailor’s voice remained strong and steady, anchoring the story in a way that kept me turning the pages, even during its heavier moments.
The Weight of Water is a powerful read. It’s not for the faint of heart—it deals openly with death, trauma, and depression—but if you’ve ever lost someone or felt like you were drowning in emotions, it hits close to home. I’d recommend it to teens and adults who don’t mind sitting with discomfort and are looking for an honest portrayal of grief. It’s painful, yes. But it’s also quietly beautiful. And healing, in its own way.
Pages: 240 | ASIN : B0F6Q1L2VV
Impulsive and Reckless
Switch follows a former CIA operative turned private investigator, who’s recovering from a hit-and-run attack that lands her in the middle of an investigation laced with mystery, betrayal, and emotional landmines. How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
I wrote it like a reader – expecting the peril and drama to flow and ebb in a certain rhythm. For a main character who’s often impulsive and reckless, sometimes the adrenaline feels nonstop and I think that’s something she struggles with in the story and also in this series.
What was one of the most complex parts of Switch for you to write?
The quantum computing details were very tricky because the technology is constantly and rapidly evolving. This is an area of technology I’ve been following for some time so I had some frame of reference, but I needed to help my characters understand it so their conversations about it would feel authentic.
When can readers expect to see Switch available to purchase?
September 30, 2025 it will be available on Amazon, B&N, and from all book retailers.
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Vampires Are Our Friends
Immortal Gifts follows a centuries-old Jewish vampire on the run from an antisemite trying to make him permanently dead, who falls in love with a mortal woman in the twenty-first century. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The original concept was a one-time challenge with my writing group: “The vampire has a wife. Set the story in the last five years.” Several people submitted wildly different stories. Mine turned into Immortal Gifts.
I’m a Pantser, and it’s a normal part of my process to reread what I’ve written and extract subtext. Early on, I started to feel that the character was Jewish. That was interesting, so I went with it.
A lot of Abraham’s early biographical details (date and place of birth and desire to study at an academy that does not allow Jews) came from the life of Jewish composer Louis Lewandowski. Obviously, Abraham is not Lewandowski! But Lewandowski ended up being the first Jewish student at the Berlin Academy. Lewandowski was admitted as a favor to his friend, Felix Mendelssohn. Abraham, not having a Mendelssohn, lied.
Abraham is not the typical vampire often found in paranormal books; he offers readers a human perspective on supernatural beings and explores how immortality affects who they are. What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
I was primarily interested in the concept of immortality in choosing vampires. It’s true that my vampires have the no-food and sunlight issues, but that was primarily so the reader wouldn’t immediately say “Immortality? Sign me up!” 🙂
Aside from that, I wanted my vampires to be very grounded in reality. Vampires are always people—that’s one of the things that makes them fun to me—but I wanted them to be very much the person they always were. If someone is a good person, eternal life in itself won’t change that. If someone is a bad person, immortality won’t change that, either. In other words: it’s your choices and actions, not the length of your life, that determines your moral alignment.
Early on the question of consent started coming up. Turning someone without asking permission first is, at the very least, a faux pas. When is it justified? Is it okay to turn someone without their consent to save their life if they haven’t offered an opinion? When is it okay to make someone’s medical decisions for them? Because that’s what it is in my book: a miracle cure for almost any ailment that also has significant drawbacks.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Mortality. Grief. Consent. Resilience in the face of oppression.
At one point I was describing the book to my sister and told her, “Don’t be afraid of the vampires. Vampires are our friends. You know what’s not our friends? The natural processes by which our loved ones get sick and die. Those are horrifying.” (Our parents are both dead, by the way.)
Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?
I’m working on the second book, and we’re still talking about mortality (and gifts). We did leave off with a couple of characters in uncertain situations and had a reveal about a third.
A lot of Immortal Gifts was written during the pandemic and has a lot of pandemic-feeling isolation. The second book is shaping up to be more… sociable.
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Prussia, 1841. Abraham only ever wanted to play violin. Hiding his Jewish status so he can study at the prestigious Berlin Academy of Music, the eager young man is delighted to find a patron who believes in him. But he’s mortified when his new friend turns him into a vampire… and Abraham earns the fury of an ancient antisemite who vows to see him permanently dead.
Fleeing the hate-mongering fiend across the decades, the sensitive violinist at last settles in twenty-first-century New Jersey with a mortal woman. But when he discovers his relentless tormentor has tracked him down yet again, Abraham despairs he’ll never find true happiness.
With everyone he’s ever loved at risk, can he escape the rage of a ruthless bigot?
In a complex tale woven through history, Katherine Villyard delivers a fresh and insightful twist on the vampire novel. Infusing the narrative with profound themes of love, betrayal, and the nature of monsters, she crafts an unforgettable saga of surviving prejudice that will keep readers turning pages deep into the night.
Immortal Gifts is the thoughtful first book in the Immortal Vampires contemporary fantasy series. If you like well-drawn characters, dual-timeline storytelling, and pulse-pounding suspense, then you’ll adore Katherine Villyard’s compelling read.
Buy Immortal Gifts to tap a vein of devotion today!
Spiritual and Biblical Freedom
The End: Omicron follows a young Christian on a mission who joins the Emperor’s youth organization with the intent of making his way into the inner circle so he can kill the Emperor and bring vengeance and justice to Christians. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Well, it’s continuing the story of Sage et al from The End: Alpha, trying to navigate a world with a tyrannical lunatic despot at its head – at least mostly in the United States – in 2113, and they’re all having to carefully thread their way through that. The message I was trying to convey in Omicron is exactly what’s on its front cover: Defiance can be deadly; almost as deadly as obedience.” We see what happens when Sage thinks he’s “doing God’s will” and yet he may have been wrong all along. We see what happens to you when you draw closer and closer to Emperor Nero and the chilling and dangerous effect that has on anyone who does so. On the flip side, however, we see clearly what happens when someone exits that circle and begins to experience the life-changing freedom, grace, and change that Jesus offers us. What happens in Omicron is absolutely chilling in both respects because it’s new and unfamiliar on both sides, and it isn’t just the turn of a dime; both main characters have to learn ’the new way of living’ and have to figure out their new lives. There’s also a bystander in Colonel Thomas Drexler who is somewhat helpless on the sidelines, trying to counter Nero’s every autocratically terrifying move with checks and balances, and he is on his own emotional journey as well through that, given their previous proximity to one another. If Alpha was a story of what happens when one exits Nero’s circle, Omicron is a story of what happens when one enters.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
I love action scenes, and my only regret is that they’re over too quickly; otherwise, you can err on gratuitous or overlong sequences that tend to serve as a kind of self-aggrandizement. “Oh, look at what I know, look at all the research I’ve done to make this believable!” And so on and so forth. I try to keep the action scenes crisp, engaging, tense, and somewhat brief. The real story is the real story. The action is not the centerpiece; it’s meant to be a crescendo or peak of the tension mounting, and then….we now return you to your scheduled program already in progress.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
My faith in Christ. I memorized a lot of Scripture as a young adult. The Bible says that the Word of God does not return void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent out. Many of the verses that I’ve held dear over decades have found their way into Alpha, Omicron, and, as you’ll see, Omega. It’s been truly impacting to write something with such spiritual and Biblical freedom, imparting these words of comfort and sharing them with my readers through the eyes, words, and thoughts of my protagonists and tertiary characters.
Can you tell us where the book goes and where we’ll see the characters in the next book?
Eeeek! I’d have to be really careful about that of course. Suffice it to say that there is redemption, conflict, poetic justice and so much more coming in Omega. A powerful conflict is drawing near, and in fact more than one. Characters will return, twists will unfold, and a lot of incredible love will be on display as Sage, Drexler, and Darius continue to thread their way through the mayhem of 2113. I’m VERY proud of how Omega turned out and it’s going to be the fitting and powerful conclusion to this wonderful saga God has given me. I’m truly grateful to be the custodian of “The End.” Cheers!
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
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Maximillian has defected. The god-king Nero has bled. And now, the High Vassal has stolen an AirGuard and sought shelter among Earth’s last surviving military stronghold: The United Kingdom. But in an unthinkable twist, Colonel Thomas Drexler’s son, Sage, has also switched sides, joining up with the youth organization Friends of Nero. What the Colonel doesn’t know is that Sage desires to infiltrate Nero’s inner circle and kill him, bringing vengeance and justice for all the Christians who have paid the ultimate price. Confident he is carrying out the will of God, Sage has placed himself on a dangerous quest in drawing nearer to the Emperor.
Unbeknownst to any of them, however, Sage has company. He will need it…because The Test is coming.
Will Christian brothers and sisters be able to accept Maximillian into their midst? Will he prove an asset to the Defiance…or a liability? As for Colonel Drexler: will he be able to successfully and publicly unmask Nero’s lies and prove to the world, once and for all, who the Emperor really is? And as for Sage, he is in great danger. Will he emerge from the Friends of Nero training camp scarred for life, or will he succeed in killing the totalitarian ruler hellbent on exterminating Christians?
Indeed, in a world of mandated obedience, defiance can be deadly.
Strength in Slow Growth
Gathering Storm is a lyrical and emotionally charged fantasy epic where a haunted hero and a fractured world face the rising storm of magic-infused corporate tyranny and buried personal truths. What were some new ideas you wanted to explore in this book that were different from books one and two?
I wanted to highlight something deeply personal—that there are times in life when we feel like we don’t quite belong like we’re out of place. Those moments, those seasons of disconnection, shouldn’t break us. Instead, they can shape us—if we’re willing to look closely enough or be patient enough to find the meaning behind them. In Gathering Storm, I tried to capture that quiet truth: that even pain, confusion, and displacement can serve a greater purpose if we let them.
Chris is a haunted yet determined protagonist. How did his trauma and resilience evolve through the writing process?
From the beginning, I knew that Chris’s journey would take time. Writing books one and two, I was always aware that his development needed to stretch across the entire five-book arc. His resilience had to be earned slowly, not rushed. I made a conscious choice to let his growth unfold at a more deliberate pace than some of the other characters. What I really wanted to reflect was something very human: we don’t all heal or evolve at the same speed—and that’s okay. There’s strength in slow growth. There’s truth in letting characters—and people—take their time.
The kindred tongue and its cadence added a rhythm to the dialogue. What inspired its creation, and how did you approach its development?
Tolkien has always been one of my greatest inspirations. Reading his works was probably the biggest spark behind creating the Kindred Tongue. I’m also multilingual, so I naturally gravitate toward how language shapes thought, culture, and identity. In developing the Kindred Tongue, I immersed myself in the sounds and rhythms of various languages—real and fictional—and imagined how my characters might speak if they came from that world. It became an act of fusion: drawing from linguistic influences and crafting something that felt unique to the Kindred, something that could carry weight, history, and emotion in its very cadence.
Were there any characters whose arcs surprised you as the story unfolded, diverging from your original outline or expectations?
My answer might come as a surprise, but honestly—no. Not at all. Before I even began writing the first book, I had already outlined all the major events, scenes, and character arcs from books 1 to 5. Every decision, every turning point, every emotional beat was planned and documented. There’s a very thick binder on my desk with the full roadmap, and I’m a serious planner when it comes to writing.
That said, what did surprise me wasn’t the plot—it was the emotional impact. Some scenes hit me far harder than I expected. I didn’t anticipate how deeply I’d feel the weight of certain moments until I was actually writing them. Getting teary-eyed while crafting those scenes reminded me I was truly on the right path. It made the journey feel even more meaningful.
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YET WAR DOES NOT CARE FOR SYMBOLS, NOR DOES IT OFFER THE LUXURY OF GRIEVING LOST FUTURES. A NEW CHRONICLER OF WAR RISES, AND UNLIKELY ALLIANCES WITH OLD ENEMIES MAKE THE CAPITALS BELIEVE THEY FINALLY HOLD THE ADVANTAGE. BUT THE TRUTH UNRAVELS—HAVET’S PLANS WERE NEVER TRULY THWARTED, ONLY DELAYED. EVERY BATTLE, EVERY REVELATION, EVERY MOMENT OF PERCEIVED VICTORY HAS ONLY DRAWN THEM DEEPER INTO HIS DESIGN. AND AS THE TIDES SHIFT, ALLIANCES CRUMBLE INTO BETRAYALS, PROVING THAT ALTHOUGH LOYALTY MAY BE THE CURRENCY OF WAR, IT IS BOTH THE CHAIN THAT BINDS—AND THE BLADE THAT CUTS DEEPEST.
Flawed but Loveable
Seen follows a morally grey antihero in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, who obsesses over clearing his name and getting revenge, till he spots a young woman and she becomes his obsession. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was walking to work one morning and a prison van drove passed me on its way to the courthouse in the centre of Belfast City. I noticed that it had blacked out windows and I wondered if the prisoners inside could see out. My brain immediately made the jump to ‘what would happen if someone inside saw a person on the outside and that obsession became everything’. That small notion continued to grow in my mind until I had the makings of a whole organised crime family, perhaps a sign that I had ventured too far down the dark romance/mafia rabbit hole.
While doing research for the book I visited some of the main locations and even managed to get a tour of the inside of a prison van as well as the cells within the courthouse. I wanted to show an authentic story when it came to the characters, locations, and storylines. Therefore, each book in the series contains certain societal issues prevalent within Northern Ireland e.g. Drugs and criminality in book 1, human trafficking in book 2, and book 3 will be slightly different in that it will be a sports romance, specifically boxing, and features 2 men as the main characters. Northern Ireland is still far behind other countries in relation to the acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community so I am aiming to highlight the internal struggles of this for one of the characters in particular.
Aodhán and Nora are interesting characters who have their character flaws but are still likable. How do you go about creating characters for your story?
I always knew I wanted Aodhán to be a flawed but loveable character, someone who could be morally grey but would be a cuddly teddy bear for the right person. Nora is the epitome of every dark romance reader who loves a bad boy on paper. A woman who is both terrified and intrigued by a man with such clear red flags. When developing them and the surrounding characters I built individual profiles of their personalities, likes, and dislikes, and some of them are even loosely based on people within my life.
Are you a fan of the dark romantic comedy genre? What books do you think most influenced your work?
I was first introduced to the dark romance genre in October 2023 and became a firm fan, reading as many stories-mostly by indie authors as I could. Books to me are an escape from reality and the indie author community offered a much-needed space for raw and unadulterated stories. The romance comedy element came naturally when writing Seen as I wanted it to be authentically Belfast and we Irish are known for our dark humorous nature.
I would say I am probably most influenced by Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love Trilogy, CJ Riggs’ No, For An Answer, Luna Mason’s Beneath the Mask series, and Nikki J Summers’ Soldiers of Anarchy series. These stories all contained elements that resonated with me while I was building my characters and storylines.
Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?
Yes, this is the first of a 3-book series. Each book focuses on one of the O’Neill brothers. I don’t have a publication date for either of the follow-up books and I am currently writing book 2. It focuses on the eldest brother Cormac and the female character is Eireann Collins. Book 2 centres around the aftermath of Eireann, who was captured and tortured at the hands of a human trafficking ring. It focuses on her healing journey and ultimately her revenge on those who hurt her. Cormac is also working to take down the same perpetrators. Their journeys will intersect but it is made more complicated by their shared history. Book 2 is already shaping up to be darker than Seen, however, it does still retain some of the Belfast humour.
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Nora Kavanagh was just a girl who loved nothing more than chilling with her friends and fantasising about the men she read about in her books. That was until she unwittingly became snared in the sights of a man who both terrified and intrigued her.
Try as she may, to fight what the future holds, now he has seen her, nothing will stop him from capturing his shining light in the darkness and making her his.
The Death Wizard Chronicles: Volume 1
Jim Melvin’s The Death Wizard Chronicles: Volume 1 is a sweeping and gritty epic fantasy novel that plunges the reader into the war-torn world of Triken, where magic, violence, and fate collide. The story centers on Torg, a Death-Knower—a warrior-king who dies and resurrects repeatedly, gaining mystical powers with each return. As the leader of the desert-dwelling Tugars, he stands alone against Invictus, a rising sorcerer whose dark magic and monstrous allies threaten the very balance of existence. When Torg trades his freedom to save a peaceful race known as the Noble Ones, the tale shifts into a tense meditation on sacrifice, loyalty, and power. The plot is fast-paced and cinematic, with vivid world-building and sharp dialogue.
Reading this book was like stepping into a dream soaked in blood and moonlight. I found myself torn between awe and discomfort. Melvin’s writing is intense. Every sentence is packed with texture and movement. He doesn’t shy away from the raw stuff: pain, rage, lust, and death are all front and center. Some of it is genuinely brutal, but it fits the world he’s built. What impressed me most wasn’t the action (though it’s stellar), but the psychological depth of Torg. He’s not your average sword-swinging hero. There’s a stoic grief to him. A strange tenderness even when he’s cracking skulls. That complexity kept me emotionally hooked, even when the violence became overwhelming.
Melvin’s prose is lush and immersive, often leaning into a rich, almost poetic style that brings the world of Triken to vivid life. He isn’t afraid to slow things down with detailed exposition and bold philosophical themes, giving the story a thoughtful, almost meditative weight. The villains are unapologetically dark, embodying evil in a way that feels mythic and larger-than-life. While the lines between good and evil are stark, it adds to the high-stakes drama and classical tone of the tale. What truly stands out is Melvin’s fearless storytelling. He dives deep into spiritual allegory without losing the grit and guts that define epic fantasy.
This isn’t casual fantasy fare. It’s a deep dive into the violent, mystic, and strangely poetic mind of a world at war with itself. If you’re someone who loves dark fantasy with spiritual weight, who doesn’t flinch from graphic content, and who wants more from their fantasy than just dragons and quests, this one’s for you. I wouldn’t hand it to a casual reader, but for the seasoned fantasy fan craving something fierce and different, it hits like thunder.
Pages: 502 | ASIN : B0F3MVZWWD
LITERARY TITAN 