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The Phoenix Experiment
Aaron Ryan’s The Phoenix Experiment is a sweeping, futuristic tale that follows a group of orphaned teens conscripted into life aboard The Origin, a sentient science vessel orbiting Earth in the year 2471. At its heart, the book blends classic coming-of-age themes with science fiction, grief, and resilience. The Phoenix Experiments themselves are a chilling yet fascinating invention: a way for the bereaved to reconnect with the dead in dreamlike states, designed to ease loss and build future warriors called Speakers who can pacify banshees haunting Earth. The story unfolds through the eyes of Jax Hutson, a sharp and restless boy who longs to see his parents again, and it grows more tangled as the destruction of The Zephyr, the sister ship carrying girls, upends their isolated lives.
I found myself pulled in quickly by Ryan’s voice. The opening chapters do a good job of setting up the claustrophobic yet strangely wondrous life aboard The Origin. I loved the mix of sterile science fiction trappings with messy teenage emotions. Jax is both likable and frustrating, which feels honest for his age. His sarcasm and longing made me root for him even when he was being immature. I also appreciated how Ryan handled the Phoenix Experiments themselves. They are eerie, tender, and sad all at once, and that blend of emotions kept me hooked.
What I liked most was the way grief underpins everything. These kids are essentially being raised to weaponize their pain, and that idea is both fascinating and unsettling. Ryan doesn’t shy away from showing how loss shapes them, but he also weaves in humor and teenage banter that lightens the mood. The balance mostly works, though there were moments where the dialogue felt a little too modern, almost like kids from today had been dropped into a far-off future. Still, I can’t deny that it made them feel relatable, and that relatability deepened the impact of the darker themes.
I walked away feeling like The Phoenix Experiment was a story that mattered more for its emotional core than its sci-fi trappings. It’s a book about kids searching for connection, about finding ways to rise out of ashes, both literal and emotional. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy character-driven science fiction, especially younger readers or anyone drawn to stories of grief and resilience wrapped in an imaginative premise. If you like your sci-fi less about hard technology and more about the human heart, this one’s for you.
Pages: 315 | ASIN : B0FNLY8YW3
The Slide
Aaron Ryan’s The Slide is a tightly wound, emotionally raw, and fast-paced sci-fi thriller that tackles the apocalypse in a way I’ve never quite seen before. Set in late 2025, the story follows Dane Currier, a brilliant but troubled scientist who discovers that a massive, uncharted black hole is heading straight for Earth. The revelation kicks off a tense, global unraveling, paralleled by Currier’s personal obsession: a secret teleportation project called Courier 3.1. As the world faces doom, Dane sees a chance for redemption, escape, or maybe something deeper. It’s a bold mix of hard science, emotional confession, and philosophical grit.
Ryan’s writing is conversational, even chatty at times, and it works. It pulls you in like a friend telling you the end is near over a late-night drink. The balance between grand cosmic doom and intimate personal fear feels incredibly relatable. There’s a rawness to Dane’s voice. His acid reflux, his bitterness, his hope, all made him feel painfully real. I didn’t always like him, but I couldn’t stop listening. I also loved the way Ryan treats the black hole not just as a sci-fi monster, but as a metaphor for grief, purpose, and mortality. The writing is smart and hits hard, often laced with sarcasm and gallows humor.
The pacing picks up quite a bit in the later chapters, and there were times I found myself wanting a little more space to take it all in. While I admired the emotional honesty throughout, a few moments of dialogue leaned a bit dramatic. Still, these are minor things in an otherwise powerful story. What shines here is the vision: the gnawing sense that science and soul are dancing toward the same abyss. Ryan captures the spiraling collapse of society with an eeriness that feels way too close to home. And Courier 3.1? Man, that machine had me questioning everything.
The Slide is part sci-fi disaster, part confession booth, and part love letter to human stubbornness. If you like your fiction with big ideas, flawed heroes, and the occasional burp of existential dread, this book’s for you. I’d recommend it to fans of Blake Crouch, Andy Weir, or anyone who wonders what they’d do if the end of the world knocked on their door and offered them a way out.
Pages: 331 | ASIN : B0FFFMJQR3
Trace of Arcane
Trace of Arcane, by Ezra Mizuki, is a coming-of-age dystopian novel that follows Eden, a spirited and sharp-tongued teenage girl navigating a fractured society where spirituality, tradition, and power intersect in disturbing ways. Set in the colorful yet controlled city of Viridis, the story explores Eden’s struggle for autonomy, the pressures of an impending ceremonial passage called the Ruki, and the unsettling influence of a foreign missionary named Thales. Through poetic prose, social commentary, and unsettling tension, the book weaves a tale of rebellion, identity, and the often invisible violence that shapes young women’s lives.
What struck me first was how beautifully the book is written. Mizuki’s language is lyrical and haunting. The worldbuilding is rich, and the sensory details, like the spices in the market, the moonlight on old clay walls, made the setting feel close and alive. Eden’s voice is electric. She’s messy, sarcastic, defiant, and vulnerable all at once, and her internal monologue was sharp enough to make me laugh out loud one moment and feel sick to my stomach the next. But what really pulled me in was the unflinching way Mizuki handles trauma, not as a spectacle, but as something that hides in plain sight, in the spaces between duty and silence. The dynamic between Eden and Thales was especially chilling, and watching how Eden rationalized her pain left me uneasy in the best kind of way.
At times, I found myself frustrated, more with Eden than the book itself. Her contradictions felt so real, so raw, that it became hard to root for her without also wanting to shake her by the shoulders. But that discomfort is part of what made the book so powerful. It doesn’t try to teach a lesson. It invites you to sit with all the complications: a mother trying to protect her daughter from a life she herself was forced into, a society that wraps obedience in tradition, and a girl trying to claim herself in a place where every choice comes with a cost. Some of the dialogue felt a bit uneven at times, and a few characters, like Zig, came across as slightly exaggerated. Still, those moments were small and didn’t take away from a story that kept me engaged.
Trace of Arcane deals with spiritual abuse, coercion, classism, and betrayal in ways that feel too familiar. But if you’re someone who likes character-driven fiction that doesn’t sugarcoat the truth, something dark, poetic, and intimate, then this book will speak to you. I’d recommend it for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, or The Power. If you’re a teen or adult who’s ever felt caught between two worlds, between tradition and choice, or if you’ve ever wanted to burn the whole system down just to breathe for a second, this is a must-read.
Pages: 425 | ASIN : B0F7SLJ9QZ
A Story of Great Courage
Winter Comes in June is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel that weaves survival, science, and sorrow through the fractured memories of a family navigating life after an asteroid shatters Earth. What inspired the choice to tell the story through diaries and multiple family perspectives?
I have always wanted to write a dynamic and interesting post-apocalyptic novel where family members share their experience through their memories recorded after an Extinction Level Event. The inspiration to tell the story this way came from another science fiction novel written by a writer, Sheri Tepper, titled The Visitor. It also dealt with a world shattered by an asteroid impact. I felt that by telling this story through several individual voices adds depth to each character and makes them more sympathetic.
How did you balance the technical accuracy of the science with the personal emotional arcs?
In preparation to make this novel a reality, I read several fiction and non-fiction books dealing with asteroid impacts and their awesome destructive power that affected our planet’s evolution in the distant past. The personal emotional arc for each character is unique. Their reaction to the imminent asteroid collision and the life after the impact is also deeply personal. I tried to project realistic human emotion into the story, to make it character-driven. This is a story of great courage in the face of apocalyptic horror and the triumph of the human spirit. In my novel, everyone is touched by a world-shattering tragedy that my characters are able to overcome by their strength, their will, and their humanity.
Did you base the lunar Armstrong base or the Amira Event on any real scientific models or speculative research?
The lunar base Armstrong in my story was partially based on several proposed NASA projects since the first landing on the Moon in 1969. The original NASA plans were to build a permanent manned science base on the Moon. There were several interesting proposals, which were scientifically well grounded but were ultimately canceled because of the lack of proper funds and the danger of long-term exposure to the low gravity of the Moon, which would have had many negative effects on the astronauts’ health. The Amira Event described in my novel is, of course, purely fictional, but is based on the solid scientific data on what an asteroid this size can do if it had struck Earth. The rock that supposedly had killed the dinosaurs was only five to six miles long. In my story, the Amira asteroid was twice as big and caused much more damage.
What do you hope readers take away from the emotional aftermath portrayed in the story, beyond the survival elements?
In my opinion, a good book, just like a painting in a museum or a good movie, must provoke an emotional response. Skipping the survival elements, where the reader can reasonably guess the characters’ motivation and personality, I hope that the readers can take away with them the strong emotional impact and try to place themselves in the fictional character’s position. I believe that my readers will find inspiration from the main characters through their words and actions that often speak louder than words. I also hope that they can learn that no matter what happens, one must never abandon hope. I would also advise them to remember the ancient Greek myth about Pandora’s Box. When she opened the box out of curiosity, all the terrible things came out into the world. But at the bottom of the box, the Hope remained. Our species has survived many great catastrophes and challenges in the distant past. I hope that we are better prepared to face any type of disaster and emerge from it deeply scarred but ultimately victorious.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Light and Dark Shades
After the Before follows a pair of scavengers navigating the ruins of a collapsed world who uncover a mysterious box, only to wind up on an adventure filled with religious fanatics, deadly mechanical beings called A-Eye, and a stark landscape marked by craters and threats. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The original title of AFTER THE BEFORE was “Plassik,” the material from which the sealed, found box is made. The scenario of finding the box created the landscape, the characters that people it, and the story’s chain of events. I liked having a mystery from the get-go, a mystery that’s not solved until the very end of the book. Imagining what a world would be like 300 years after an apocalyptic event was challenging. Even the language was changed. All the imagining was fun!
Your story has some very interesting characters that have their character flaws but are still likable. How do you go about creating characters for your story?
Character flaws are what create interesting characters. A character would need to be a complete psychopath not to have some likeable trait. Backstories or lack thereof provide enough information for a reader to like even a creep like the religious fanatic.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
At heart, AFTER THE BEFORE is about four women, from young to old, who live their lives in this forlorn landscape. They each want something different: one wants closure, one wants purpose, another needs freedom, and another wants love. Love is really at the core of everything in the story. Together, these women explore loss, longing, loyalty, desire, and grief. It’s a broad palette with light and dark shades that offer great avenues for emotional exploration.
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 book in the AFTER series. AFTER THE BEFORE took three years to finish. I hope to have book two, IN THE AFTER, out much sooner! Some of the characters from AFTER THE BEFORE will be returning.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Instagram | Amazon
Three hundred years after the fall of civilization, scavengers Sophie and Markus uncover a sealed, translucent box buried deep in the ruins of The Before. What’s inside might hold answers to the apocalyptic origins of The After and a path to a safer future—if it can be opened.
Hoping for help, they set out for the faraway City where a reclusive historian may have the knowledge they need. The trek takes them across the cratered plain, bombed almost into oblivion, and infested with unstoppable humanoid machines hungry for human flesh.
When a religious fanatic derails their mission, Sophie and the box disappear. Markus enlists unexpected allies to help find her, pushing into the heart of his worst fears and opening bitter wounds and testing loyalties.
What’s in the box may lead to a better future—but it just might cost them each other.
Everything Is at Stake
Until the Rescue Ship Arrives follows a retired priest who discovers a washed-up alien on a beach and chooses to protect this visitor and not turn them over to the authorities. What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
Regardless of genre, what I consider great fiction always reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the characters who are presented with a problem or crisis in which much or everything is at stake. Great fiction requires presenting characters with great challenges.
What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?
There are numerous scenes in Until the Rescue Ship Arrives in which characters had to reach deep within themselves, especially in Chapter 22, but to avoid giving those surprises away, a scene I would mention is in Chapter 4 when the female alien, already physically depleted and functioning almost on force of will alone, battles fatigue and the elements in her struggle to reach the Oregon shoreline.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am still exploring little fragments of stories that come into my head. Sooner or later, I’ll conjure a scene, a situation, or an exchange of dialogue that tells me there is a story here waiting to be discovered. I constructed the Until the Rescue Ship Arrives from the opening of Chapter 1 in which Father Hughes discovers the alien female on the beach. I saw everything pretty much as I wrote it up to the point when he kneels down and realizes he has discovered a person from another world. For some time thereafter I engaged in “what happens now?” until finally, I just began writing that scene. From then on, I was mostly just a reporter describing what I saw and what I heard the characters saying. The next book will probably follow that pattern.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
An Old Soul: A Novel
An Old Soul follows Isaac André, a 25-year-old VHS store clerk and self-described “Chariot Conjurer” navigating the sticky summers of 1996 Southside Chicago. On the surface, it’s a coming-of-age story wrapped in nostalgia: payphones, VHS tapes, Walkmans, and the early days of the internet. But beneath that sepia-toned exterior is something more intricate, a meditation on time, synchronicity, personal loss, and the quiet search for meaning. The novel takes its time, steeped in the mundane beauty of everyday life, as Isaac’s path begins to twist subtly into something more surreal and philosophical.
What struck me most at the outset was the remarkable vividness of the world Hayden constructs. He doesn’t merely depict Chicago—he inhabits it on the page with remarkable sensory detail. The oppressive summer heat seems to radiate from the text, the sharp, familiar rhythm of barbershop banter resonates clearly, and the scent of Grandma’s buttery, oven-baked rolls practically rises from the pages. A particularly poignant scene early in the novel illustrates this immersive quality: Isaac, having just given away his last ten dollars to a desperate man named Oscar, watches his bus pull away. Briefly frustrated, he is soon met with the improbable arrival of a second bus, just in time. It’s a moment that encapsulates the novel’s deeper theme: that life moves in patterns, and meaning often emerges from small, unexpected alignments. Hayden scatters these moments with a natural ease, never feeling contrived or overly orchestrated.
What lingered with me most was the profound sense of loneliness that permeates Isaac’s character. He is not overtly depressed, but he exists slightly out of step with the world around him, a jazz enthusiast and Philip K. Dick devotee whose sensibilities rarely align with those of his peers. His coworker, Sharika, openly derides his interests, and while he outwardly dismisses her comments, the emotional impact is evident. There is a quiet, persistent yearning that runs beneath his interactions, visible in the way he observes a woman on the bus reading a strange, futuristic magazine, or in his reflections on his inability to dream. It is a subtle, aching melancholy. When he eventually forms a connection with someone online, an enigmatic user named BirdGurl9, the moment carries an immediate, almost electric emotional charge.
The novel is rich in detail, and while much of it contributes meaningfully to the atmosphere, certain scenes, such as the extended mall purchase and the somewhat tedious exchange with the salesman, might have benefited from a more concise approach. The deliberate pacing appears to be intentional. Isaac is not in a hurry; he moves through the world attentively, absorbing his surroundings as he seeks to understand both himself and the strange phenomena that continue to shape his reality, recurring coincidences, sensations of déjà vu, and city buses that seem to arrive precisely on cue. These elements do not overtly declare themselves as science fiction, but rather suggest something more subtle and unsettling. The quiet undercurrent of the uncanny is what makes them so compelling.
If you appreciate narratives that forgo conventional plot-driven momentum in favor of quiet introspection and emotional resonance, An Old Soul is well worth your time. Readers drawn to the contemplative pacing of Richard Linklater’s films, enthusiasts of classic science fiction, and those who have ever felt slightly out of step with the time or place they inhabit will likely find a deep connection here. I would particularly recommend this novel to those who favor richly developed characters, meaningful coincidences, and slow-burning explorations of existence and identity.
Pages: 233 | ASIN : B0F453QXNG
Redemption
Heavy Weight of Darkness follows a disgraced former officer given one last chance to redeem himself by hunting down a once-privileged woman turned revolutionary who has become a symbol of the uprising across colonies.What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The story continues the story of the Endless Fall of Night from the perspective of Captain Willard Bennett, former captain of the Jefferson Davis where our heroin, Cassandra Kurtz, escaped and started of movement on Mars to rid the fledging colony of imperialism, racist patriarch. In a desperate act to curb insurrection on Earth, space command’s admiralty and tribunal branch offers him redemption in the form of a new mission: track, find and kill Cassandra Kurtz. In return, he will receive his freedom, commission, life extending health care and a return to his former glory. He does find redemption but not in the way he expects.
I find the world you created in this novel gripping and immersive. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?
Drawing inspiration from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the Heavy Weight of Darkness is the sequel to the Endless Fall of Night where questions are answered, lives are altered, and truths come out in the final confrontation between Acting Captain Willard Bennett and the infamous disrupter, Cassandra Kurtz.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Heavy Weight of Darkness takes a look at Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s work that found stupidity to be the driving force of heinous crimes against humanity. It was not mere evil or malice that convinced an educated population in an industrialized, cultured society in the 21st century in the middle of a “civilized” Europe to embrace genocide, accept racism and to practice wholesale fascism, but rather it was good people who suspended critical thinking, believed one small lie after another until the “truth,” irrefutable facts became inconsequential, irrelevant and incidental. Bonhoeffer’s work is cautionary postscript of one of the darkest periods of human history while Heavy Weight of Darkness is a tale of how history can rhyme when it doesn’t repeat.
Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?
There is another chapter in the works that will return to Casandra’s world as a new instrument of destruction, XO Robert Lee VI of the Robert E Lee, picks up her trail and is tasked with completing the mission that Captain Bennett abandoned.
Author Links: GoodReads | Instagram | Website | Blog | Second Website
In a desperate act to curb insurrection on Earth, space command’s admiralty and tribunal branch offers him redemption in the form of a new mission: track, find and kill Cassandra Kurtz. In return, he will receive his freedom, commission, life extending health care and a return to his former glory.
Originally enthused, he researches Cassandra’s origins, the once first class, full citizen from the oldest family of the Third Republic turned insurrectionist on Earth and a full-blown terrorist on Mars. But it’s after his investigation of the Delta Quarter, where it all started for Cassandra, that Bennett’s resolve diminishes.
Drawing inspiration from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the Heavy Weight of Darkness is the sequel to the Endless Fall of Night where questions are answered, lives are altered, and truths come out in the final confrontation between Acting Captain Willard Bennett and the infamous disrupter, Cassandra Kurtz.
LITERARY TITAN 