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Secret Matilda
![Secret Matilda (Matilda Series Book 4) by [Jon Gray Lang]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/515DLusx3XL.jpg)
The Matilda Series by Jon Gray Lang is the space saga that keeps on giving! Secret Matilda is book four of the series, and continues to be a riveting science fiction adventure and a page turner full of action that will satisfy the needs of every sci-fi lover out there. The book starts right in the middle of the action, setting the space-faring mood for the rest of the story. Chapter after chapter something new and exciting is introduced, the characters are always moving and the entire plot is incredibly dynamic. It is impossible to get bored while reading the story.
It’s so much fun getting to follow, yet again, the Matilda crew on their adventures and misadventures as they travel throughout Consortium controlled space. The bond between the members of the crew feels even more realistic as one can sense the worry and the love that they have for one another. Fans of the Mass Effect video games will enjoy this story as I felt the character relationships against a sci-fi backdrop were reminiscent of that game. This time, the characters find themselves once more in the middle of danger. Imprisoned and with Galena missing, they’ll have to figure out a way back to freedom to save their friend, having only worry, love and a need for survival uniting them on their quest. The characters are quite fierce and all around strong willed, however, as they deal with dreadful situations their vulnerabilities start to appear, a detail that is highly appreciated and has made them very engaging.
In this well-defined space opera we get to see a bit more of what could be happening with Galena Chadov, a mystery that has kept both readers and members of the crew on edge in the last books. With this though, new mysteries emerge and the plot thickens. Now, new possibilities are presented and the crew may have to encounter unknown dangers. Strange creatures seem to be creeping from remote dimensions, a serious threat that appears to be looming for the next books. The revolution against the Consortium is finally on its way as well, adding a new layer of complexity and intrigue to the story.
As with the other books, Secret Matilda has been brilliantly structured, with short yet gripping chapters that keep the story moving at full speed. The plot is quite complex, supported by unique characters with intricate motivations, and a highly creative setting that lets your imagination fly.
Author Jon Gray Lang has again created a captivating book filled with possibilities. The state of the Matilda perfectly represents all that the crew has been through, getting to escape each time just by luck. Is the end of the Matilda near? Will the crew find their friend Galena and save her? Will the revolution succeed? Or perhaps everything will be tainted by the appearance of these strange, yet highly intelligent alien creatures? These questions remain unanswered and one can only wait with lots of excitement for the next book of the series. Secret Matilda is a gripping space adventure whose characters will, with time, steal the hearts of readers.
Pages: 444 | ASIN: B09G5Y5YKS
What Fueled My Imagination
Into the Well is book two in your Warlock Chronicles series. What were some new ideas you wanted to introduce in this book that was different from book one?
In LADY SILVER, we saw the beginnings of romance between Bryanna and Bastion. Neither of them was at a point where they were ready to acknowledge their emotions but they were getting there. INTO THE WELL brings their relationship into full bloom. Each of them is forced to admit that they need each other — that they need other people in their lives. And they have to make the conscious choice of what direction they want their lives to take, knowing the consequences they’ll have to face for the choices they make. That’s something too many of us have forgotten these days, I think (myself included.) Bryanna has enormous power, for example. Yet she is just like everyone else: she makes her choices and lives with the consequences of her actions. That’s sort of an on-going undercurrent through the entire series.
Your characters continue to develop in this novel in new and interesting ways. What were some obstacles you felt were important to Bryanna’s character development in this book?
Bryanna is incredibly powerful, and I kept thinking of the saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In more than one of my characters, we see that in full display. Because of the enormity of the magic Bryanna wields, I felt she had to be in a position to make the conscious choice to succumb to absolute power and all it entails, or walk away from it if that was the right, moral thing to do. Would she let the magic control her, or would she control the magic? She had to be willing to give up everything in order to become everything she could be. All in or all out — there’s no middle ground for her. I think more of us than are willing to admit it actually face a point like that in our own lives.
What were some sources that informed this novels development?
I don’t know that I can pinpoint one or two precise sources. It’s a culmination of my almost-65-years of life experiences and the influence of the books I read in my youth. Authors like Frank Herbert, Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman, Anne McCaffery, Jennifer Roberson, Larry Niven, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Terry Brooks, Kathleen Woodiwiss, to name a few. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy today’s sci-fi and fantasy authors. But the “old school” authors were my bread and butter in my formative years. Throw in the original “Star Trek” series, “Lost in Space” series, “Twilight Zone” and the old serialized “Buck Rogers” and you get an idea of what fueled my imagination back in the day.
What can readers expect in book three of your Warlock Chronicles series?
There’s an empty throne that has to be filled. A civil war needs to be rectified. Chaos has a strong foothold in the galaxy and that always brings out the worst of man’s inhumanity to man. And there are past sins that must be accounted for. Bastion, Bryanna, and all of the characters face some difficult choices. New characters are introduced, others may come face-to-face with the end of their story arc. I’m in the same boat as my readers: I won’t know how it ends until I get to the final page!
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Twitter
A forgotten planet. Dark secrets buried for millennia in dark magic.
Not for much longer…
INTO the WELL continues the treacherous journey of Bryanna D’Isaac, the warlock known as Lady Silver, and Admiral Devon Bastion deep into the Well in search of the lost homeworld of their ancestors. Convoluted space-time, dimensional rifts, and festering conflict brought the Cataclysm that took humans and warlocks to the brink of extinction millennia ago.
History is about to repeat itself.
INTO the WELL: Warlock Chronicles, Book II, is the sequel to LADY SILVER, the first book of the Warlock Chronicles series.
Ortzian Chronicles
![Ortzian Chronicles by [Aaron Knight]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41XZO+kaVuL._SY346_.jpg)
This out-of-this-world story follows two aliens from the advanced alien planet Ortz and the chaos that ensues when they take a wrong turn and crash-land on a convenience store freezer on earth. Sam Slade, a graduate student from Berkeley, faces a menacing scientist, the government, and a suspicious girlfriend in his attempts to help the Ortzians return home.
When the government fails to keep the extraterrestrials a secret, chaos ensues in Berkeley and quickly spreads. Now, the Ortzians and their human friends are on a time crunch and on the run from the officials, as well as the scientist’s all-seeing drones. Will they make the deadline or be stuck on Earth for a couple of hundred years?
The subtle humor centered around the two aliens is the highlight of this hilarious science fiction story. Physical humor of their multiple failed and hilarious attempts to disguise themselves reminded me of the whimsically humorous alien antics of the Men In Black movies. The aliens’ repeated conversations about how disgusting they find humans to be and the disguises they try to use to fit in all get increasingly ridiculous.
The storyline moves rather quickly, adding to the overall sense of urgency suspense and panic facing the aliens and humans alike in their time-crunch to return to their planet. This quickly moving technique leaves little room for descriptive imagery, but it allows the reader to get swept up in a continuously changing plot with numerous twists.
Ortzian Chronicles is a relentlessly entertaining science fiction adventure story that will keep readers engaged until the last page. The plot is fun and humorous and even though the action can be a little hard to follow at times, the chaos adds to the excitement and thrill of the story. This delightful alien romp is hard to put down, keeping the reader on their toes and eager to find out what will happen next.
Pages: 230 | ASIN: B00MBXWEH6
I Love Alien Invasion Stories
Samuel is an interesting character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Samuels main inspiration at first was from Shepard from the Mass Effect trilogy, Master Chief from The Halo Franchise and Ethan Winters from the Resident Evil franchise. The challenge was giving him more agency and insightful dialogue to keep him from becoming a flat character.
I wanted his backstory to remain mysterious. I liked the idea of flipping an Ayn Rands theme in “Atlas Shrugged” of “objectivism” in concept of a heroic character to have morally ambiguous qualities, with a lack of happiness and a lack of purpose in life. Those were the driving needs for Samuels arc.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I love alien invasion stories, where the audience gets to see Humanity on the edge of extinction. When we are out of our comfort zone.
The consequences of time travel was another theme that I wanted to explore. So many stories that involve travel either forget the consequences, or are used in a way to ret-con details in a story.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’m pretty sure that the next book will be the sequel to “Origins”. It should (hopefully) be out in winter of 2022.
Author Links: Twitter | Facebook
A Descent into the Wicked explores the legend of “The Shadows.” It tells of an ancient, ruthless inter-dimensional alien species that invades the universe every million years. With merciless efficiency and hatred for what it considers a threat, it cleans out all civilizations. It leaves behind only the disseminated ruins of what was current technology and extinguishes all evidence of its own existence. After ODalis discovers the structure of predetermined, multiple universes, he realizes that the time of the entity’s return is coming. It will blacken the sky of every reality and impose order on the chaos as it sees fit. An empty future and the collapse of reality. Can ODalis prevent the coming destruction?
Exploring the intersections of human frailty, space/time travel, trans-humanism, and alien invaders, A Descent into Darkness will thrill lovers of The Alien Franchise. Readers who enjoy The Alien Franchise will discover a thrilling story of human frailty, space/time travel, trans-humanism, and alien invaders in Will Alers’ A Descent Into The Wicked.
Literary Titan Book Awards October 2021
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and imagination of these talented authors.
Gold Award Winners
Silver Award Winners
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
What Lies in the Darkness
Twistin’ Matilda finds Jacquotte and her crew of misfits struggling to keep the ship while savage creatures threaten to break into the universe. What were some ideas that informed this novel’s development?
As planet-bound as we are, there’s always the idea that there is more out than we don’t understand. Even as we find a solution to one question, a ton of other questions spring forth from the answer. There is so much that we don’t understand. As a species, we’ve wondered at what lies in the darkness, what dangers lurk underground, in the skies above, and what slips beneath us under the waves. The wellspring of stories lies at the heart of these mysteries, as we struggle for explanations to that which we don’t know… yet.
Ancient sailors told stories of monsters attacking their ships at sea, of beautiful islands that glint with riches but are, in truth, traps with no escape. Populating these fanciful yarns are pirates and privateers, mutinous crews, ancient shipwrecks, and lost colonies. These tall tales are rife with other wondrous, mad things and they captured my imagination. They lead to a large part of what ‘other space’ is. I imagine the crew of the Matilda as they sail on the teetering edge of the world.
Space is the last great frontier and we’ve only stepped off the front porch.
What were some challenges you felt were important to Jacquotte’s character development in the story?
At the tender age of fourteen, Captain Jacquotte Delahaye was left with no choice but to take control of the Matilda and her life. From that point on, she decided where it goes, what it does, and who the ship flies for. All of that comes to an end when an old friend needed her help. She makes the rash decision to break him free from a prison ship and nothing, but trouble has been after them since. Now the haven she worked so hard to create is under constant threat and she has to make choices on the fly. All without knowing what the repercussions of those decisions will be.
Can she keep a handle on it all? Do the traumas from her past play a role in her choices? As the group splinters apart, how does she handle the separation? Do her coping mechanisms fail and spiral into more problems? Can she bring the family she made back together? Should she?
I don’t know about you, but that’s what I wanted to find out!
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
From a writer’s aspect, I wanted to build up my processes and this book did not disappoint. Writing this book was a wild ride. My invisible muse whispered secrets into my ear and the story fell out of my fingers! I completed my first draft in a mere twenty days and it still is the most fun I’ve had writing.
It was a blast! It was intoxicating! I couldn’t wait to jump on the next one! Of course, I still had to work on the rewrite, but I was pumped!
The Matilda was very much an ensemble piece. By the end of it, the crew worked well together even as the Matilda fell through into ‘other space’. Derain knew everyone except for Anton and Anton knew everyone except for Derain. Anton has got to be wondering what Derain brings to the table and vice versa. On top of that, Galena is a wild card, and now the ship is brimming with others like her.
One of the things I wanted to learn about was how do individual crewmembers work with each other. Can they work together? Can they work with the other genorgs?
This is book two in your Matilda series. What can readers expect in book three?
The future looks dark for Jacquie and the crew of the Matilda. The mysterious Consortium ship, M33, found a lead and is getting closer to catching them. The past raised its ugly head and tore a rift in the crew. With all that happening, Luli Qing has disappeared, and no one knows why or even where to start looking. It seems like the only thing holding them together is finding and rescuing her.
With more places to visit as Consortium space expands, other questions pop up to the surface. Who covets the memories of the deep spacers and why? What nefarious plans does Mr. Leon have for the genorgs and for the Matilda? And what is going on with Lieutenant Galena Chadov?
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Far off into the future in a distant part of the galaxy, the Consortium controls the human colonies held together by the jump gates. Where the Consortium doesn’t hold sway, crime flourishes. Through the use of a hellish engine that goes where no one should, the crew of the Matilda slips its way between the two. But nothing has gone right since they were involved in the battle over the planet Ninguiz.
Trapped within the folds of space and surrounded by living horrors, dangers lurk outside the ship and among the crew. While their pasts ride shotgun with a vengeance, their future looks bleak. Decisions made in the heat of the moment have consequences and payment is due.
With mutiny and pirates on the horizon, can Jacquotte Delahaye and her crew of misfits keep the ship? Can the lies of the past shatter this fragile family? Will the savage creatures break through into our universe again?
Slam your harness buckles closed and sit back in the second book of the series, Twistin’ Matilda.
Would They Be Considered Human?
The Matilda follows a ragtag space crew that must fight off a government and an alien invasion in a dangerous galaxy set against them. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
For as long as I can remember, I have been enthralled by the worlds created for science fiction. From the beginnings with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, into the dark corners of H.P. Lovecraft’s mind, twisting through the philosophical questions of Phillip K. Dick, and into the cultural phenomena of Star Wars and Star Trek. Peppered throughout is my love of the crazy genre films from the 1980s, the cyberpunk cities of the 1990s, humans struggling to survive space travel in the aughts through to the colorful Marvel movies of the new millennium.
The Matilda is more like a love letter from me to science fiction in general. In fact, so is the whole Matilda Series and it is sprinkled with concepts that kept me attracted to the genre. I had the initial idea for the story locked in my head for close to a decade and it was going to be a television show. But it kept getting shoved to the side by other projects. Jacquie and the crew kept riding me to tell their story. Now, here we are and there is still more story to tell!
I enjoyed the creativity and depth with which you created your characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
One of the aspects of storytelling that has always appealed to me is the group dynamic of the ensemble. I am fascinated with how individuals work separately from their group but rely on it at the same time. I wanted my characters to be very human with all the merits and flaws that we carry around. I mean, the crew of the Matilda doesn’t always get along. But seeing the great lengths Jacquie goes to keep her people together and getting to connect with them as they worked together was amazing.
I wanted to show that they can learn from their mistakes and that colors how they handle future situations. But I also wanted to understand how those coping mechanisms can cause problems when they decide to not take those lessons to heart.
To be honest, behind the setting of an unjust universe, alien invasion, and all that, the heart of the story is more about the family we stumble into and the pasts that follow us in. Is that connection enough to keep people together when everything wants to tear them apart?
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I have always been fascinated by the people who exist on the fringes of society, the ones who do the work that isn’t entirely legal. I wanted to touch on the power of the individual or group of individuals versus the society that governs them. How does that color their perception of the world they live in?
I wanted to explore the power of love through friendship and how those bonds can form, bend, and break. Along with that is the capacity for perseverance and having the courage to carry on against all odds. Also, how vulnerability plays in that field but doesn’t necessarily make a person weak. I believe that it can prepare a person to be stronger in the face of adversity.
Lastly, I wanted to touch on the idea of what makes a person human. Is it the environment that raises us? Is it because we’re just born that way? What if an entity is made not born? What if a being has been technologically altered so much that they ‘resemble’ a human? Would they be considered human?
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
It’s been a crazy ride and I’ve been going full tilt for a while now. Twistin’ Matilda and Black Matilda, the second and third books in the series, are currently out and about on Amazon.
I recently finished my latest draft of the fourth one. It is currently in the hands of my editors. I’m sitting on the sidelines with bated breath as I await their corrections so I can get it done. Secret Matilda is set to be released in late 2021.
On top of that, the fifth and final book in the series is halfway through its first draft. The plan is for it to be released in 2022. Once that is completed, I have a compilation of short stories that take place in The Matilda Series universe set to be written. The future looks busy and bright!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Far off into the future in a distant part of the galaxy, the Consortium controls the human colonies held together by the jump gates. Where the Consortium doesn’t hold sway, crime flourishes. Through the use of a hellish engine that goes where no one should, the crew of the Matilda slips its way between the two. But nothing has gone smoothly after they broke out one of their own off of a prison ship.
Fighting their way past shadowy government agencies and a dangerous crime lord; monstrosities from an unknown layer of the universe seem dead set to break through into ours.
When their pasts come back to haunt them, can Jacquotte Delahaye and her crew of misfits come together as they are attacked from all sides? Will the galaxy work hand in hand with them to survive the alien onslaught?
Strap yourself in for a bumpy ride in the first book of the series, the Matilda.
The Matilda (Matilda Series Book 1)
![The Matilda (Matilda Series Book 1) by [Jon Gray Lang]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/417c3UutgaL.jpg)
The Matilda by Jon Gray Lang is a science fiction adventure set in the twenty-ninth century. The crew of the spaceship Matilda are a ragtag bunch moving through the grey areas of space that are largely governed by The Consortium. They are soon joined by mysterious and potentially dangerous newcomers that alter their path. They are thrown together against hidden dangers and have to battle them together all the while navigating their personal histories and animosities. Captain Jacquie and her crewmates are at the center as the drama unfolds and fight to find the truth before it destroys them.
The crew was an endearing mix of quirky characters, Matilda included. She was given a surprising amount of character and personality for a spaceship. Luli Qing was my personal favorite– she was so effortlessly funny, competent, and generally cool. Jacquie was a delight in many ways: a sci-fi heroine in charge of saving herself and her friends. She was often in the middle of complex moral dilemmas but she navigated them with finesse, keeping her crew a top priority. The chapter names were pretty wacky and, honestly, I was way too many chapters in before I gave in and Googled “Beauty and Stupid”. Turns out all of them are songs. I even listened to a few– more authors should definitely find ways to incorporate David Bowie in their books.
Even though the story was gripping overall, there some moments where I would have liked a little more clarity and straightforward explanation. I found myself having to re-read some passages to untangle what was happening to what. I suppose it’s a science fiction reader’s occupational hazard that one has to come across wild gadgets, events, and creatures and let our imagination make the best of it. The dialogue was snappy and humorous so that really helped in moving things along. The action builds quickly towards the end, leading to a twist that I did not see coming at all.
Ultimately, I thought The Matilda was a crazy and fun read. It is pretty quick paced, too– I was surprised when I reached the end and was left wanting to know what is to become of the crew. Author Jon Gray Lang gives science fiction fans a thrilling space adventure that is a ton of fun.
Pages: 320 | ASIN: B07H2JNGV8
LITERARY TITAN 