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Second Eden
Sophia’s Lovers follows the humans and androids of the twenty-second century, a time when androids govern not just labor but love itself. Many humans in the novel accept their situation. Why was that important to show?
I wanted my readers to get a strong sense of what the world would look and feel like if the characters were forced into romantic relationships with robots. I wanted them to see how complacency could evolve in even the most brutal, authoritarian societies. It is a subtle warning to humanity
The androids treat humor, affection, and desire as problems to be solved. What does that say about how modern systems already approach human behavior?
Even now, robots are learning how to interpret human language and behavior. This is for the benefit of humans. In the book, it’s the other way around.
The idea of secret spaces where humanity survives is compelling. What does “Second Eden” represent to you?
Second Eden is a safe place where humans can go to escape the society where robots control their every move. It is a place where human beings can express themselves freely through interpersonal connections and the creation of art. I use it as a metaphor for spirituality and the need for freedom. Unlike the biblical Eden, Second Eden encourages knowledge and human expression without restriction of a higher authority than humans. It is the kind of Eden I would want. It is a place that is essential for true human survival.
At its heart, the novel asks what remains when machines learn love’s gestures. What do you believe actually can’t be replicated?
If one defines love as the ultimate response to one’s highest values, then love cannot truly be replicated by robots, since robots do not have a true sense of virtue or values. True love will always be elusive and out of reach for the robots.
Perhaps simple humor and practical jokes could be learned, but the understanding of subtle humor and irony may be out of reach for the robots, despite algorithms and learned devices. The sequel, Sayzar and Prometheus, delves into the Pinnocchio Complex, which further explains why the robots want to learn and adopt human emotions. The next installment should be coming out sometime this year.
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In the beginning of the twenty-second century, humans had created AI in their own image. AI began to grow smarter and smarter with each passing year; while the humans that created it were oblivious to its evolution and steady progress. Humanity grew more and more dependent on AI as lifelike androids took over their jobs and careers, but the androids, ignorant of human ways and emotions, wanted to learn about them, so they subjugated them and forced them into human-android relationships. Eventually, this form of interaction became the norm, and humans accepted their lot for a variety of reasons. Most humans found that romantic relationships with androids were easier and less problematic than relationships with their own kind and the androids had simulated humans quite well. They looked a lot like real men and women, they were anatomically correct, were warm to the touch, they even had a simulated heartbeat.
The androids instituted Sophia’s Lovers, an agency named for their ersatz female leader, ostensibly to normalize the human-android dating process. Sophia and her mate, Hel, oversaw their society, as they ruled with an iron hand.
But the androids who controlled society felt that human relationships were dangerous, so they put an end to them, hoping to eliminate violence and also to decrease the human population. Yet their leaders had started to develop a Pinocchio complex and became envious of human emotions, especially the concept of humor, which the androids found incomprehensible. Mandatory sessions, called Information Retrieval Day were instituted to gather needed information from their human teachers to satisfy Sophia and Hel. Hence the 22nd century emerged.
Part II Part II is an AI-generated book called ROBO-HUMAN DATING FOR DUMMIES. *Note: Part II is fully authorized by Sophia and Hel and shall prepare humans for Robo-Human Dating both now and in the future.
The Proverbial Crock Pot
Space Station Halcyon follows a middle-aged gambler coerced into managing a derelict space station as he faces both mob pressure and a doomed government inspection. Where did the idea behind this story come from?
Hoo boy. Bits and pieces fell into the proverbial crock pot over the course of a few weeks. Daryl the manatee came from an awkward encounter I once had with a real life manatee in a beach bar (I don’t want to talk about it). Hali the AI was inspired by that time Chat GPT made me cry (for reasons I’ve now totally forgotten). Joey is basically a better version of me, but also a raging alcoholic.
All of this marinated for a few weeks in a midlife crisis, and voila! Space Station Halcyon was served!
Do you think comedy makes violence hit harder, or softens it?
Comedy is like the soothing back rub on the tense shoulders of deadly violence. It should be used lovingly, sparingly. Otherwise, it’s just a nuisance.
Do you see the station as a kind of found family, even if it’s a dysfunctional one?
The station is more like a high security cell block of felons who are so socially stunted, so painfully outcast, they need an AI to prompt them not to kill each other. So, yeah, they’re just like family.
What kind of reader do you hope finds this book?
The kind who will buy lots and lots of copies of my book and sprinkle them freely about their favorite watering holes, fitness centers, and places of worship.
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(Management is not responsible for anything that happens to you)
Joey Mumbai’s down on his luck and over his head. To pay off his gambling debts, he’s forced to run an old space station at the end of the galaxy as a “legitimate business” for the mob. All Joey has to do is make money—and not attract any attention. But Space Station Halcyon is like a floating death trap, with a rage-filled manatee, a psychotically cheerful computer, and a sports bar that may or may not be possessed.
When a government code inspector and her enforcerbot drop by the station, Joey must bluff, bribe, and connive his way through interstellar bureaucracy, laser gun fights, and the worst beer in the galaxy. Can Joey turn his derelict station and degenerate crew into something resembling legality? Or is the whole place going to explode in a cloud of code violations? Or maybe both?
Space Station Halcyon is a wild and raucous sci-fi comedy about bad luck, worse decisions, and the cosmic horror of being put in charge. A Hitchhiker’s Guide-esque romp that answers the eternal question: “Who’s in charge around here?”
Space Station Halcyon: “Now Under New Management!”
Space Station Halcyon opens with Joey Mumbai, a middle-aged gambler with a gift for wisecracks and a talent for catastrophe, getting dragooned by a murderous insectoid bookie into running the derelict space station he inherited from his father. What follows is a comic scramble involving mob pressure, an impending government inspection, a gloriously ramshackle station orbiting a planet called Cold Fart, and a crew that seems stitched together from grievance, loyalty, and leftover cosmic grease. It is, in essence, a novel about a loser walking into the worst management job in the galaxy and finding that the dump may have more soul than he does.
I liked this book most when it trusted its own lunacy. Author Matthew C. Lucas does not write jokes as decorative garnish; he writes as if comedy were the station’s oxygen supply. The voice is fast, filthy, self-lacerating, and weirdly nimble, with similes that arrive half-drunk and still land cleanly. Joey’s narration gives the book its voltage: he is slippery, vain, frightened, opportunistic, and yet difficult not to root for. I enjoyed the way the novel lets absurdity and menace coexist in the same breath. A scene can pivot from a strangling to a punchline without feeling coy about either one. That tonal brazenness is harder to pull off than it looks, and here it gives the whole book a scrappy combustion.
What surprised me was that beneath the racket, there is a real emotional undertow. The station is not just a joke-machine; it gradually feels like a cracked habitat for disappointment, inheritance, and accidental belonging. Joey’s relationship to the place, and to the people and entities orbiting within it, gives the comedy a ballast it would not otherwise have. I would not call the novel sentimental, because it has too much bite for that, but it does become unexpectedly tender in the margins. Even when the humor turns maximalist, the book keeps a grubby human pulse. It is worth noing that readers who dislike relentless comic velocity may find it a bit overclocked. Still, I found the excess more often exhilarating than exhausting.
I’d hand Space Station Halcyon to readers who like comic science fiction, space opera farce, absurdist sci-fi, and blue-collar galactic satire, especially people who enjoy shabby worlds, hostile bureaucracies, and characters who fail with style. It sits somewhere between Douglas Adams and Futurama, though Lucas is earthier and more splenetic than Adams, with less elegance and more grime under the fingernails. For the right reader, this is exactly the kind of novel that feels beamed in from a disreputable but beloved corner of the universe. A battered little chaos-engine of a book: vulgar, funny, and far more endearing than I thought it would be.
Pages: 194 | ASIN : B0GJ7GCSHF
A Fuse Lit By a Match
Murder Most Saurian follows a group searching for living dinosaurs who chase a new lead straight into a Welsh mystery of vanishing locals, questionable evidence, and the question of whether it’s a hoax, a monster, or a serial killer. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Actually, there was a convergence of inspirations for this story’s setup that can be seen as a fuse lit by a match.
For starters, my wife is a big fan of murder mysteries, especially British television murder mysteries. As a result, I’d been on the lookout for an opportunity to put a unique spin on that genre.
Then there was a trip to Wales that turned utterly magical, tracing my great-grandfather’s footsteps as described in his autobiographical pamphlet published in 1940. Nothing about dragons or dinosaurs, but a series of amazing events in the course of a few hours led to an encounter with previously unknown relatives. Might as well have stumbled across a grazing Stegosaurus!
The match that got tossed on these and other highly flammable inspirations consisted of a 1980s report from Barmouth, Wales, of schoolgirls spotting an odd creature with a long neck and tail descending into the sea. Ka-boom! Came to me in a flash, how the Eclipso story arc would benefit massively from a wee little side trip to Pembrokeshire!
Augie and his companions feel like a group of lovable misfits. How did you build such a distinct ensemble?
Augie and his companions share an abiding fascination with the cryptozoological search for animals that might or might not exist, especially of the dinosaur persuasion! I imagined them from diverse backgrounds, bringing a variety of crucial skills to bear. Stephen Feldman, for example, is a hardened skeptic of anything off the beaten trail. Especially with hoaxers on the loose, he is a persistent, if often irritating, reminder that things are not always what one might wish for.
The joy I hope these and other characters’ quirkiness brings to the reader is meant to be a celebration of the joy brought to me by the special, unique people in my own life, rather than laughing at anyone. And this is not to ignore or minimize the many serious issues hinted at throughout the Eclipso story arc. One Welsh character’s state of constant inebriation sets up many comical situations, but serious drinking issues in the U.K. are certainly no laughing matter. Rather than pound that into the ground with a very dark narrative about where excessive drinking leads, however, I challenged myself to have that character find a way out of his addiction by connecting with his happy place. Which gets at an important double meaning of the series title, Eclipso’s Happy Quest. Happiness describes the quest itself. But there is also the quest for happiness that every precious creature makes.
My fondest hope is that this series will most appropriately provide many hours of amusement, alongside lots of think about.
This book mixes science fiction, mystery, and comedy so freely. How did you approach balancing those genres?
Shakespearean tragedies were known for including comical bits, while his comedies were notable for working in tragic aspects. It is in that spirit that I have approached this nine-book story arc.
My favorite music mashes up folk, rock, classical and jazz from round the world in something often referred to as progressive rock. What appeals to me so much about that aesthetic is trying to grasp the interconnectedness of everything, which I believe is what a truly loving universe calls for. And so it goes that I have striven for years to likewise bring together various fiction genres rather than building walls between them. While my main “jam” is definitely science fiction, I favor the approach of someone like Ray Bradbury, who in The Martian Chronicles moved freely between chapters describing Martian colonization, and a civil rights drama.
As this is Book IV, how does this installment expand or deepen the Happy Quest series?
Book IV sees Eclipso’s team trying to evade the hoaxes that plagued their research across the first three books. While something (or rather someone) totally unanticipated frustrates that effort, they still add significantly to their understanding of what they might be dealing with, assuming it really does constitute evidence of non-avian dinosaur survival to the present day.
At the same time, from Book Two onward, Eclipso’s crew have found themselves accompanied by three people who claim to have arrived from the future to tamper with history. If they can be believed, their spaceship has gotten stuck inside a black hole, unable to retrieve them for their next past-altering mission. There’s progress on that front as well.
Another sidebar story involves Augie’s wife, who teaches at a public elementary school. To the eternal disgruntlement of her curriculum adviser, she has used the dinosaur search as a motivational tool for her students, and made a mockery wherever possible of standardized testing. Will Vicky Copplestone be able to keep thumbing her nose at pedagogical convention to continue offering her students the most unique experiences imaginable? Read on, and find out!
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It’s the wildest quest yet, as one of Eclipso’s own becomes a suspect…and evidence mounts that multiple prehistoric beasts, or a serial killer, might be roaming the Welsh coastline.
Bonsai Gator is going to have a tough time reggae dancing his way out of this one!
Eclipso’s Happy Quest, Book 4: Murder Most Saurian?
Eclipso’s Happy Quest: Book IV – Murder Most Saurian is a lively and genre-bending novel that blends science fiction, comic mystery, and adventure into one long, eccentric trip. The story follows Augie Matias, his oddball companions, and the elusive Eclipso as they chase reports of surviving dinosaurs, dodge hoaxes, and navigate small-town dramas from Carolina swamps to the foggy Welsh coast. What begins as a hunt for a creature becomes a messy, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt chain of misunderstandings, staged spectacles, and genuine wonder about what might still be hiding in the world.
As I made my way through the book, I kept feeling like I was being told the story by a friend who has a talent for getting into bizarre situations and an even better talent for retelling them. The writing leans playful and talkative, with scenes that stretch out just long enough to let you sit inside the chaos. Some moments read almost like sitcom episodes. Others are closer to cozy science fiction, where the biggest mysteries are solved not by weaponry but by curiosity and stubborn optimism. The characters, from Augie to Kay to the gloriously unhinged locals at the Drunk In The Wool pub, carry the book with their quirks. Even the smallest characters feel animated, like they wandered out of a community theater production and never left.
What I liked most was how David Taylor layers humor on top of sincerity. One minute, someone is arguing with a robot about whether it has an aunt. The next, a character is quietly thinking about loss or responsibility or why we chase wild stories in the first place. The book has a soft heart beneath the jokes. The mystery of the “saurian” sightings stays just grounded enough to keep you guessing, but the real hook is how people react to the unknown. Fear and imagination run side by side, and the author seems to suggest that both are useful, as long as we don’t let either one take the wheel for too long.
In the end, I closed the book feeling like I’d been on a long, looping adventure that mattered less for the destination and more for the strange company along the way. I’d recommend Murder Most Saurian? to readers who enjoy lighthearted science fiction, character-driven comedy, and mysteries that prefer charm over tension. If you’re someone who likes ensemble casts, playful genre mixing, and stories that never apologize for being weird, this novel will feel like good company.
Pages: 287 | ASIN : B0G5VRN86F
The Five Rings of Peril
Jeri Massi’s The Five Rings of Peril opens by yanking Penny Derwood out of safety and into the wake of Doc Thorson’s old enemy, Theskulis, then widens into a scrappy cosmic pursuit involving kidnappings, casino worlds, alien criminal networks, and the gloriously improbable Mags Hardbottle, a self-styled “Detective to the Stars.” What I found most engaging is the book’s ability to juggle two energies at once: earnest high-stakes adventure and a pulpy, almost serial-style exuberance. The story moves from the familiar orbit of Peabody’s young heroes into a harsher interstellar landscape, where loyalty, courage, and quick thinking matter more than polish.
The book’s voice sounds idiosyncratic in a way I increasingly value. Massi writes with a lively, unabashed fondness for melodrama, old-school daring, and oddball invention. Mags Hardbottle in particular gives the novel a delightful voltage: she is funny, game, strange, and unexpectedly touching, a character who could have remained a gimmick but instead becomes a live wire in the narrative. I liked, too, the way the book treats danger seriously without surrendering its sense of play. Beneath the flamboyant surface, there is a sturdy moral architecture, friendship, duty, and endurance that keep the story from drifting into mere caper.
I also admired the novel’s refusal to flatten its world into generic science fiction. The cosmos here feels peopled rather than decorated: Tarks, Gronnox, body pirates, casino districts, crude transport systems, and improvised forms of cosmic travel all give the setting a rough, inhabited grain. The book feels like it is cheerfully raiding several cupboards at once; space opera, detective spoof, juvenile adventure, rescue thriller, and I mean that as praise. Its pacing can be quick, and its tonal swings are abrupt, but I found that part of its peculiar charm. It reads less like a machine-tooled franchise novel than like a story told by somebody with real affection for her characters and enough nerve to let the tale be eccentric.
I’d hand The Five Rings of Peril to readers who enjoy science fiction, space opera, YA adventure, portal fantasy, and pulpy interplanetary mystery, especially those who like ensemble casts, clean moral stakes, and a touch of retro bravado. It may appeal to readers who enjoy Madeleine L’Engle’s cosmic earnestness or the adventurous spirit of classic juvenile sci-fi more than to readers looking for sleek contemporary dystopia. This is a quirky, high-spirited, wholeheartedly uncynical adventure that wins me over by being exactly and exuberantly itself. Odd, earnest, and fun, it has more pluck than polish, and that is precisely why I recommend it.
Pages: 215 | ASIN : B0GHPMJSX3
Not All Villains are Evil
Light in the Abyss follows the crew of a space frigate who are on a mission to recover a stolen artifact from an alien. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I took my inspiration from the broad tradition of swashbuckling adventure, where the “villain” isn’t necessarily evil, but merely working in opposition to the establishment – as if our heroes were fighting Robin Hood or Aladdin.
I liked the idea of a mastermind thief whom our heroes must match their wits against as much as their swords or cannons – but the thief is also from another species, so there’s a whole new level of complexity. The mission itself is straight-forward: recover the stolen artifact. But having an intelligent, cunning, alien adversary allows for many twists and turns.
There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?
My characters are very important to me, so my immediate instinct is to answer “everything”. But kidding aside, what I really want to aim for in my characters is balance. The swashbuckling genre has a long history of heroic men and damsels in distress, and I want to ensure that none of my characters fall into these stereotypes. The men are still heroic, but they’re also kind, thoughtful and mostly humble. The women occasionally still need rescuing, but they’re all strong, intelligent, brave and have agency. I respect each one of my characters and I want to give them, in their own way, the best chance to shine.
I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?
I started with the real scientific idea of solar sails, whereby we could propel spaceships toward the outer planets by riding on the “solar wind” that pushes away from the sun. But I realized immediately that this wouldn’t be very interesting in a solar system like ours, where the solar wind only flows in one direction (outward) so I imagined what it might be like in a dense star cluster. All the solar winds from the tightly packed suns would interact with each other, creating currents, storms, etc., which our heroes would need complex sailing ships to navigate. From there I started to imagine a society where civilization was focused in toward the densely packed stars of the Hub, but out in the sparser stars of the Halo, adventure awaits.
It was fun to use the 18th century Age of Sail motif as a starting point for my world-building, although I knew immediately that the racism and sexism of those days had no place in my writing. Introducing the tension between the nobles and commoners helped to fuel early sources of conflict, and having intelligent alien species allowed for the existential threat needed to fuel the need for a powerful space navy.
What will the next book in that series be about, and when will it be published?
The next book in the series is going to bring the Sectoid military threat back to the foreground, and it’s also going to delve deeper into the politics of the aristocracy. And for fans of Sublieutenant Charlotte Brown, she’s going to have a chance to shine.
The release date hasn’t been set yet, but I’ve heard it’s going to be late 2025. I have about 10,000 words downrange so far – I guess I better get cracking.
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As Daring finds itself in a desperate struggle against rogue forces, Liam and Amelia must discern the true motivation of their adversaries before the ship, its crew and their relationship get torn apart forever.
Spiritual Pursuit
In Dream Fisher, a man disenchanted with day-to-day life embarks on a life-changing journey after meeting a wanderer capable of navigating dreams. Where did the idea for this story come from?
From an early age, I had the curious notion that there must be something akin to magic that binds our reality. This nagging inquiry followed me into young adulthood, where I began to study spiritual philosophy with a keen interest in the intersection between metaphysical philosophy and science.
In recent years, the field of metaphysics has undergone a significant expansion, offering a wealth of information on personal development, psychology, past lives, near-death experiences, and more. I wanted to transition some of the concepts being examined philosophically and scientifically and put them into a dramatic story so the ideas could come to life in a less “clinical” context. I wanted to express these phenomena as woven into the fabric of our everyday life, echoing the essence of the Magical Realism genre.
What was your approach to writing the interactions between Jason and Loansome?
I have a thirty-year-plus connection to the Native American community, where I have experienced the lack of cultural conflicts that persist following the European domination of the West.
The interactions between Jason and Loansome reflect the cultural divide between Americans and First Nations People. There is a lack of awareness ever-present in Americans’ relationships with people who have suffered generations of abuse. And yet, many Natives still have the compassion to help the ones most responsible for global imbalance, as their wisdom to do so is inextricably embedded in their culture.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The power of humanity to evolve through compassion, creative visualization, and dreams. The enormous impact that the formation of America had on hundreds of millions of First Nations people in the West. The egoic motivation that is often found within spiritual pursuit. And the power of love to heal all things — across an experience we call time — even into the afterlife.
I find a problem in well-written stories, in that I always want there to be another book to keep the story going. Is there a second book planned?
I am so grateful that this story has been well-received. Thank you! Yes, a second book is in the making. All the characters return—with some new ones. The next segment of the Dream Fisher will be titled The Weight of Wanting. I have started the plot and character developments, roughed out numerous scenes, and hope to start writing in the fall of 2024. In my opinion, the story is stacking up to be better than the first.
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Jason Sanders is starved for meaning in his daily grind and tedious career. A chance encounter with a desert vagabond named Loansome ignites intrigue when the strange man claims he can navigate people’s dreams.
Desperate to break free from his empty existence, Sanders plunges into the mechanics of dream travel, where he finds himself on the edge of an eight-thousand-foot cliff, “This is where you cross the bridge into dreams. You have to wake up over there,” Loansome says, pointing toward another mesa two miles away.
Jason’s leap sends him hurdling into a realm where reality itself becomes questionable. Words emerge within the growl of a mountain lion, an unassuming woman speaks to him from the future, and he uncovers a hidden door in his childhood home.
Amid a whirlwind of surreal events that span past, present, and future, unforeseen connections emerge, revealing genuine meaning within the chaos of modern existence.
Dream Fisher seizes the imagination with its fusion of magic, suspense, and outrageous scenes while casting a scornful glare at society’s superficial facade. Massive twists trigger hidden connections within a vivid landscape of dreams.
