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Terra Lux
Terra Lux, by Jessahme Wren, follows a tight-knit little family on Dobani right as life starts to crack. Pearla is pregnant and running her shop during the Festival of Light, Phoenix is doing his best “steady dad” thing, and Sev is trying to act grown while still feeling like a kid in all the worst ways. Then the mood flips fast. Soldiers show up, a curfew settles over town, checkpoints pop up, and normal routines turn into fear math. The family gets swept into an “evacuation” to Kedros, a place Dobani used to treat like a dump, and the story slides into camp life, forced work, and separation. Sev reconnects with Soren in Kedros, a doctor she knows from earlier, and that reunion becomes a lifeline in a brutal place.
The writing leans hard into touch and sound and small routines. Fried bread. Moonlight. A hand on a belly. Then it pivots into boot grit, broken glass, and that awful sense of being watched. That contrast worked for me. It made the danger hit harder. The point of view shifts also helped. I stayed close to each character’s fear. I also felt the love in the gaps. Phoenix, in particular, got me. He has this gentle, stubborn warmth. It is corny in the best way. A few scenes run long, and some beats repeat. Panic, regroup, panic again. I kept turning pages because I quickly came to care about the characters. To me, that matters more than perfect pacing.
The ideas landed with weight, not with lectures. The book looks straight at what power does to regular people. It shows how fast a safe town can turn into a trap. It also shows how kindness stays alive in ugly places. A ration shared. A quiet favor. A small “I see you” moment in the middle of the mess. The found family thread is the real engine. Sev, Phoenix, and Pearla feel earned. Soren adds a softer kind of strength. He listens. He holds a line without acting like a hero poster. I loved the light motif too. Festival lanterns at the start. Kedros twilight in the middle. Then warm sun at the farmhouse after the storm. It reads like a promise. Darkness is real. Light still shows up. It is worth noting that I did wish a bit for sharper edges on the “system” side. More texture. More messy motives.
I recommend Terra Lux for readers who want character-first science fiction with a lot of heart. It fits people who like survival stories with tenderness, not nonstop grit. It also fits anyone who likes found family, gentle romance energy, and healing after harm. Expect stress and fear, plus moments that feel cozy and hopeful in the same breath. I would hand it to book clubs, too. Plenty to talk about. Power, home, loyalty, and what “safe” even means after everything changes.
ASIN : B0GDQZD128
Love, Loyalty, and Moral Choice
The Accelerates: Forty Days to Dust follows a genetically engineered child and his teenage brother and protector, who struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic society that is in collapse. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Years ago, in a shopping mall, I watched a boy, perhaps seven years old, aggressively demanding something from his parents. When they refused, he lay down on the floor and began pounding it with his arms and legs. That image stayed with me and led me to wonder what the world would look like if children were born fully developed and, within forty days, began demanding from adults their jobs, homes, and everything earned over a lifetime. I noted the idea without knowing where it would lead.
My wife and I both grew up in households rooted in love and devotion to siblings, and we raised our two sons the same way. I have one brother, three years younger than me. Growing up in the former Soviet Union, the streets were tough, and we learned early to watch each other’s backs with loyalty and care. Now, in our seventh decade of life, that bond remains unchanged. I also witnessed the same devotion among my wife and her four siblings.
A few years ago, a tragedy struck our family when my wife’s oldest brother passed away in his mid-fifties. After his death, my thoughts returned to childhood, especially to memories of a young boy’s devotion to his baby brother during a serious illness. From there, imagination took over, and the emotional core of the story formed.
When I took early retirement, I finally had the time to do what I love most, telling stories on canvas, on paper, and through words.
That is why I dedicated this novel: For the ones we love, and for those in memory.
The supporting characters in this novel, I felt, were intriguing and well-developed. Who was your favorite character to write for?
All the characters are drawn from my family, so choosing a single favorite is difficult. Leo is inspired by my younger brother and by my brother-in-law, who passed away in his mid-fifties. Ethan reflects both my brother-in-law and myself. Clara is based on my wife’s older sister, as well as my wife. Mia is inspired by my niece.
Writing these characters felt less like invention and more like remembering. Each one carries a piece of someone I loved, which made them especially meaningful to bring to the page.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Many of my family members are doctors, including my wife, my older son, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and her two sons, as well as many close friends. Because of this, I have spent years surrounded by conversations about moral and ethical questions in our society.
Those discussions shaped the heart of this novel. The most important themes I wanted to explore were morality and ethics, along with love, devotion, and family loyalty. In a collapsing world, I wanted to ask what values remain, and how human responsibility toward one another survives when structures and systems fall away.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from The Accelerates: Forty Days to Dust?
I hope readers come away with a renewed sense of responsibility toward one another. In a world that often feels fractured and rushed, I wanted to remind readers that love, loyalty, and moral choice still matter, especially in times of collapse. If the book leaves them thinking about how we care for family, protect the vulnerable, and honor memory, then it has done its work.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
When Clara gives birth to Ava, a genetically altered child, the echoes of a failed experiment ripple across time.
Leo is one year old, trapped in a five-year-old’s body, carrying the mind of someone a century old. Fragile, brilliant, haunted, he bears the weight of humanity’s final gamble.
Beside him stands Ethan, his reluctant protector, and Mia, hardened by loss and fury. Together, they scavenge what’s left of a world that forgot how to breathe. But in the shadows, a presence waits. Ava, part girl, part code, all vengeance, hunts them from the fire they tried to escape
Time is unraveling. The infected dream in equations. And every breath could be their last.
The Accelerates: Forty Days to Dust is a poetic, post-apocalyptic reckoning: part genetic horror, part elegy, part love letter to the children grown too fast.
For readers who believe memory is a weapon worth wielding.
Quantum Weirdness
Diverging Streams follows two young lovers who, after an accident, are separated and reunited twenty years later by another accident, leaving them with the ability to travel through time and dimensions. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I began working on this book over 30 years ago, and I really don’t remember any particular inspiration for it. At one point, in 2008, I gave up on it and published Chapters 2 and 3 as a stand-alone short story, but about 2010, I took it up again and finished it in 2015.
Your novel has some interesting characters with their own flaws, yet they are still likable. How do you go about creating characters for your story?
I know it sounds corny, but I listen to my characters and allow them to develop their own personalities. I like to compare it to those old Max Fleischer cartoons in which Betty Boop or Koko the Clown climbs out of the ink bottle onto the paper. And once the characters are fully developed, I let them write the story for me. I feel more like an observer than the creator.
The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?
I have long believed that time, like space, is three-dimensional, which I maintain offers the best explanation for quantum weirdness. The world I have created—the constantly dividing and diverging time streams, each with its own unique reality, follows necessarily from multidimensional time. Although the afterlife, as I have described it, is more speculative, it is perhaps more a case of probable than merely possible.
Will this novel be the start of a series, or are you working on a different story?
I have no interest in further pursuing this story. I have finished two more novels: Conniption Creek, a dark comedy in the tradition of Catch 22, and The Swing Time Soda Emporium, a coming-of-age story set in small-town America during the 1940s, which I hope to publish by late this year or early next.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Consistent with the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics, time—like space—is three-dimensional, with a nearly infinite number of constantly dividing and diverging time streams, each stream containing its own unique reality.
Centered On The Dream World
The Dreamer follows a teenager traveling through space with her parents, who experiences terrifying visions and must cope with the aftermath of a vicious attack that forces her to make important life decisions. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I’ve always been highly interested in dreams, past lives, and parallel universes. I like to believe it’s all connected. Dreams play a big part in most of my stories. I’m currently working on a new series that is centered on the dream world. When I was little, I had a very lucid dream where I was an older woman who was running through a battlefield and got shot in the leg. I told my father (who is also a historian) about my dream the next morning, and after hearing all the details, he was convinced I had been dreaming of the Revolutionary War. I was too young to know about it! I wanted to write a series with a vast, complex timeline, exploring how one person and their choices could impact an entire reality, because we actually do that every day. I have been working on this series for 17 years, so it’s pretty planned out!
What was your approach to writing the interactions between characters?
I wanted my teen and young adult characters to feel real, with their emotions and dialogue feeling natural. I spent a very long time crafting each character’s background so that I could drop them into any situation and have their interactions flow without me having to think too hard. Sometimes they would say or do things, and I would be surprised as I was writing it! I love that feeling when your book starts writing itself! There are characters in the second book that popped up as I wrote, and I would think, “Who’s this guy?”
The science inserted in the fiction, I felt, was well balanced. How did you manage to keep it grounded while still providing the fantastic edge science fiction stories usually provide?
Honestly, I tried my hardest not to turn this into a super “sciencey” book. I wanted to write a sci-fi saga that was easy to read and accessible to a broad audience. It makes me sad that so many people are intimidated by science fiction. It can get too heady or science-based, taking away from the emotional journeys. I wanted to write about teens who happened to be in space. I wanted to be inclusive and normalize the marginalized. I wanted the fate of the galaxy to fall on a group of misfits who end up saving it, but I also wanted them to be stressed out about their first kiss, engulfed by jealousy, and annoyed with each other. I was a teenager who grew up overseas, performed in theater, and was also trying to learn Klingon… if that tells you anything!
Can you give us a glimpse inside Book 2 of the The Black Stone Cycle series? Where will it take readers?
We open with two brand-new characters, one of whom is the one I mentioned above, who appeared without me planning him at all. He turned out to be one of my favorites! It will explore the galaxy and society further. It’s already written, and I’m always interested in ARC readers, so please contact me if you’re seriously interested!
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
But when a quick stop on Phobos goes from routine to disaster, Ash’s fragile world implodes. Stranded and hunted by enemies she doesn’t understand, she’s thrown together with a ragtag crew of teens just as lost as she is.
There’s Isaac and Isabel, telepathic twins caught between uncovering the truth about their missing parents and outrunning the Mind Squad agents they once thought were a myth; Edan, a street-smart survivor who just happens to be the prince of the space pirates; Moon, a savant who speaks code more fluently than feelings; and Xai, a mysterious blue alien boy who lingers in Ash’s dreams―and who might be far more real than she wants to believe.
As Ash wrestles with grief, trust, and the colossal power flickering to life inside her, she stumbles into a prophecy that feels way too personal. Being the “chosen one” isn’t what Ash signed up for. All she’s ever wanted was a chance to stop running and just be a regular teenager on some boring moon colony.
With telepathic super soldiers closing in, betrayals around every corner, and a galaxy-shaking secret in her hands. Ash must decide whether to keep running―or finally stand and fight. Because some destinies can’t be outrun.
The Dreamer is the first book in The Black Stone Cycle, a thrilling YA sci-fi saga about found family, hidden legacies, and the messy, exhilarating journey of discovering who you really are. Fans of Firefly, Skyward, and The Expanse will feel right at home among the stars.
Dramatically Changed by Circumstance
Born Again American: Megan follows a wounded woman and the boy from her past as they reunite and slowly rebuild their lives and each other through friendship, patience, and imperfect healing. What were some sources that informed this novel’s development?
My wife is a country artist who has had several songs on the charts and was nominated for Best Female Artist in country music in 2002, She wrote a song about a decade ago called Born Again American. This is the story behind that song. It was intended to be inspirational, and at the same time, is written as the back story for Megan, one of the main characters in the Tachyon Tunnel series.
Why was Alaska the right setting for Isaac and Megan’s reunion, and how did it shape the emotional tone of the book?
Megan grew up in Alaska and Isaac was a military brat who spent 18 months there during a time when they both were learning to become adults. When he leaves, he continues along his trajectory, but hers is dramatically changed by circumstance. Alaska has significant mental health problems because of the long periods of darkness in the winter. This adds to the storyline.
How did you approach writing addiction and depression with honesty without letting them overwhelm the relationship arc?
The point of the story is not necessarily the depression as much as how solving problems and pulling oneself out of tough situations builds strength and character. The point of the book is not the depression, but instead how determination and belief in something can make a person stronger. Megan is the strongest character in the Tachyon Tunnel series, and this book shows the challenges she had to overcome to rise above and truly build the foundation of that strength. There’s a line from an old Dan Fogelberg song: “When faced with the past, the strongest man cries.” That line explains that strength is built in adversity.
What do you hope readers take away about healing and second chances after finishing the book?
Even the worst situations can be turned into something positive. Just pick a target, focus, and don’t let the chaos around you pull you under.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Megan Hoglund had every reason to give up. Life shattered around her, family lost, dreams abandoned, and nothing positive to turn her around.
Then one Marine picked her up… and taught her how to save herself.
Megan learned that American Dream doesn’t begin with success, but instead is forged in the hottest furnace, forcing her to rise in the wake of failure.
With discipline, grit, and a spark of genius she once believed was gone forever, Megan rebuilds her body, mind, and spirit. She becomes a fighter, a creator, a visionary, and a woman who refuses to be defined by tragedy. She turns tragedy into strength and renewed purpose.
And in that transformation, she discovers something profound: She is not just surviving.
She is becoming a born-again American.
In the process, Megan crafts a revolutionary technology that could change the world, and discovers the higher she climbs, the more powerful the forces that try to pull her back down.
This is the second in the Born Again American series, telling the early life of Tachyon Tunnel badass, Megan Hoglund.
Duck It!
Duck It! follows Lionel Romero, one of the few survivors of a world crushed by a fast and merciless sickness. He leaves his dead parents’ home in Florida and heads toward the Midwest, writing about the trip in a plain notebook. The story blends road travel with emotional fallout, and it traces how he sees the ruined world around him while digging into the memories that shaped him. The book moves between his present journey and his old hurts, which come alive again as he confronts fear, quiet, and the strange freedom of having almost no one left.
I was pulled in by the voice. It is raw, jumpy, funny in dark ways, and full of chaotic honesty. The writing has a rhythm that hits hard because Lionel keeps drifting between bold thoughts and quiet self-doubt. I appreciated how the author let him ramble, swear, and laugh at himself. Sometimes the scenes hit me with this weird mix of dread and warmth, like when Lionel finds comfort in silence or when he sees animals in the open fields and suddenly feels joy. I enjoyed that emotional swing. It made the world feel alive even though most of the people in it are dead.
The idea of being forced into a life you never chose, which Lionel describes through his years working under the Florida sun, came through with sharp detail. The book lingers on resentment. It lingers on guilt. It lingers on that strange sense of floating through your own life. Those moments felt personal. When he describes seeing the dead family on the road, I felt this heavy pressure in my chest. The scene pushed me to imagine what he was too scared to say straight out. The story works best in those places where the emotion sits just under the surface.
By the end, I felt like I understood Lionel’s loneliness, even if he masks it with jokes, curses, and stubborn pride. The book struck me as a study of what a person becomes when the whole world falls apart, and it does this without trying to be poetic or grand. It is simple in its words and messy in its feelings. That mix gives it a strong pull. I kept wanting to hear more of Lionel’s voice.
I would recommend Duck It! to readers who enjoy intimate, voice-driven fiction. Anyone drawn to end-of-the-world stories that feel grounded in real emotion would appreciate this book. It suits those who like flawed narrators, rough humor, and a story that cares more about the person than the plot.
Pages: 315 | ASIN : B0GDS32354
Arid
Arid follows Joshua and a dwindling band of survivors who struggle to stay alive in a scorched wasteland where water is nearly gone, and hope feels just as scarce. The story opens with violence and fear and then tumbles into a tense rhythm of hunger, grief, and desperate choices. What begins as simple survival slowly grows into a harsh portrait of a world ruined by greed and war. The plot moves fast. The danger grows even faster. Every chapter places the characters on thinner ice, or really, thinner sand.
I was pulled into the raw emotion of the group. The writing surprised me with how blunt it was. It hits hard without dressing anything up, and it carries this grim honesty that kept me hooked. The world feels brutal and close. I caught myself clenching my jaw as the characters scraped by on scraps and bad luck. The book plays with fear and loyalty in a way that feels relatable. Even when the dialogue gets sharp or rough, it has this realness that fits people who have nothing left to lose.
I had mixed feelings about the pacing at times. Moments of danger slammed into moments of tenderness so fast that I felt a little off balance, but in a strange way, it worked. Life in a dying world would probably feel exactly like that. What I appreciated most was how the story leaned into relationships. Watching Joshua push himself past exhaustion made me feel for him in a deep way. The book never lets you forget how fragile everyone is. It never lets you relax, either. I liked that, even though it made me anxious along the way.
Arid feels like a story for readers who enjoy emotional survival tales that stay raw and gritty. It suits anyone who wants characters who fight with heart, make mistakes, and keep going even when the world seems determined to crush them. Arid reminded me a bit of The Road because both stories paint survival as a harsh grind, yet Arid feels more like watching a tight-knit group unravel, while The Road follows a quieter and more intimate struggle. If you like dystopian fiction that leans into both hope and heartbreak, this book will be a good fit.
Pages: 272 | ASIN : B09L6QF2XV
Deal Hunter
Deal Hunter is a fast-moving sci-fi story that follows Princess Kainda, a young woman who gets blasted out of her controlled royal life and into the path of a rough salvage ship, the Deal Hunter. What begins as a simple rescue turns into a full transformation as Kainda learns the truth about the sabotage that nearly killed her, uncovers betrayal inside her own family, flees to survive, trains to fight, and gradually grows into a leader who challenges pirate clans and rigid political systems. The book winds through battles, bounty hunts, palace intrigue, and a rising sense that Kainda is meant for something far bigger than being a decorative royal figure.
I found myself rooting for Kainda almost immediately. Her frustration with being treated like a pretty tool instead of a person felt sharp and honest. When the explosion sends her spinning into space, her fear is captured with blunt simplicity, and I felt it right in my chest. The dynamic with the Deal Hunter and its robots really pulled me in. The ship becomes more than a tool. It acts almost like a guardian and a reluctant mentor. Watching Kainda stumble through her first moments onboard, half frozen and confused, reminded me how quickly our lives can flip. I liked how the writing sits in those little moments of uncertainty and lets them breathe.
As the book ramps up, the emotional stakes climb right with the action. I enjoyed the mix of tense scenes and Kainda’s stubborn spark as she pushes back against every limit others try to place on her. There were times I wanted to shake some sense into the people around her because their condescension felt so real. I also appreciated how the author keeps returning to the theme of control. Kainda wrestles with the family that smothers her, the pirates who want her dead, and even her own role as a princess. Watching her claim her power bit by bit was satisfying. Some sections move fast, and the pacing jumps, but the heart behind the scenes carries the story. The book has this gritty charm that made me lean in instead of pull back.
Deal Hunter feels like a story for readers who enjoy scrappy heroes, found family energy, political messes, and the thrill of saying to hell with expectations. If you like sci-fi that mixes action with character-driven growth, this book will be a fun ride. I would especially recommend it to anyone who loves seeing a character climb out of the box the world put them in and build something entirely new.
Pages: 245 | ASIN: B0CGHLQX36
LITERARY TITAN 