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The INCARNEX Rebellion
The INCARNEX Rebellion, by A.J. Roe, is a dystopian sci-fi adventure about a fractured Britain, a world reshaped by a mind-transferring technology called INCARNEX, and two people trying to survive its aftermath. We follow David, a reluctant scientist carrying the weight of his past mistakes, and Celia, the sharp, stubborn girl he’s raising in hiding. When Celia runs away to confront the man responsible for destroying their lives, everything spirals into a collision with rebels, corrupt leaders, and a system built to keep ordinary people powerless.
The writing stays close to the characters, especially in the early chapters, where we see the quiet rhythms of life at the cottage and the messy push-and-pull between David’s fears and Celia’s hunger for freedom. I liked that the writing doesn’t feel rushed. It lets moments breathe, even the simple ones like a missed step on the stairs or the silence between two people who care but can’t quite say so. When the action hits, it hits hard. There’s a grit to it that matches the world: street gangs armed with acid, labour camps, and collapsing governments. The scenes are vivid without feeling showy, which kept me invested rather than overwhelmed.
What stood out most was how the author handles the ideas behind the plot. The INCARNEX technology could’ve easily become a cold, high-concept gimmick, but instead it’s tied to identity, memory, grief, and the messy ways people try to fix what’s broken. David’s guilt and Celia’s anger feel real because they’re rooted in that same question the book keeps circling: what do we owe each other when the world falls apart? The political threads, especially the growing fractures between cities and the power struggles after Julius’s downfall, add a believable weight to the stakes without losing the human focus. Even the final scenes feel grounded.
By the end, I found myself caring about these characters more than I expected to. The story balances tension with warmth, and even in its darkest moments, there’s an undercurrent of stubborn hope. If you enjoy character-driven dystopian science fiction with a mix of action, moral questions, and emotionally messy relationships, The INCARNEX Rebellion will sit comfortably on your shelf. It’s a great pick for readers who like stories about rebellion but want them told through the eyes of people who never planned on becoming heroes.
Pages: 315 | ASIN : B0FX3F2C3W
Comfort and Risk
In Dead Reckoning, a group of detectives and their families find themselves embroiled in a mystery complete with missing passengers and eerie mysteries on what should have been a relaxing Mediterranean cruise. Where did the inspiration for this mystery come from?
I’ve always been interested in how a normal setting can suddenly turn dangerous. Cruises are supposed to be fun and relaxing, but they’re also closed‑off worlds where people can’t just walk away. That mix of comfort and risk gave me the idea for Dead Reckoning.
How do you balance story development with shocking plot twists? Or can they be the same thing?
For me, they go hand in hand. A twist works best when it grows naturally out of the story. I like to drop little clues along the way so readers feel surprised but also realize the twist makes sense.
What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of writing a trilogy? What is the most rewarding?
The hardest part is keeping everything consistent from book to book — characters, details, timelines. The best part is being able to spend more time with the world and the people I’ve created. It lets me go deeper and give readers more to enjoy.
Can fans of The Stanton Falls Mysteries look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
Yes! Dead Reckoning is a stand‑alone mystery, separate from the Stanton Falls trilogy. I wanted to give readers a fresh story with new characters and a different setting. At the same time, I am continuing to develop future projects — including more mysteries — so fans of Stanton Falls can look forward to new work from me soon.
The Stanton Falls Mysteries – Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning follows a tight-knit group of Stanton Falls detectives and their families as they head out on what should have been a relaxing Mediterranean cruise. Instead, the trip unravels into a tangled mess of missing passengers, eerie shipboard mysteries, emotional tension, and danger that creeps up on them when they least expect it. The story shifts between calm family moments, unsettling turns, and sharp revelations. It keeps the focus on relationships and teamwork while pushing the characters into situations that test them in new ways.
While reading, I kept feeling this warm mix of comfort and suspense. The writing leans heavily into character bonds, and I liked that a lot. There is a genuine sense of history between them, and the quieter scenes made the high-stress moments hit harder. At times, the dialogue felt a little straightforward, but the emotional weight underneath kept me hooked. I appreciated how the author balanced cozy slice-of-life beats with creeping dread. It created this enjoyable tension that made me want to keep turning pages.
Some ideas in the book surprised me in a good way. The ship’s strange happenings, the shifting cabin numbers, the subtle horror beneath the surface, all of it gave the mystery a fresh vibe. I loved that the story didn’t try to outsmart the reader with cheap tricks. It felt honest. There were moments when the pacing slowed, and I caught myself wishing for quicker movement, but the payoff eventually landed with enough emotional punch to make up for it. By the end, I felt oddly proud of the characters for what they’d pushed through.
I’d recommend Dead Reckoning to readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries with a touch of creepiness and a whole lot of heart. It’s great for anyone who wants a story that mixes friendships, family, and danger in a setting that feels fun at first and unsettling once things start going wrong. If you like mysteries that make you care about the people as much as the puzzle, this book will be right up your alley.
Pages: 187
Processing My Trauma
Tremor in the Hills follows a teenage girl struggling with trauma after surviving a devastating quake, whose best friend is accused of murder, and she has to help discover the truth. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration: In 2007, I was with my husband and 2 young children visiting his family in Ica, Peru, when an 8.1 magnitude earthquake struck. 90% of the town we were in was destroyed, and we had a difficult time getting home, although we were VERY lucky and grateful that we survived, and everyone in his family did also. 500 people died in the same town we were in. When I got home, everyone wanted to hear my story, but I did not want to talk about it, so I wrote it down and sent it to everyone I knew. The writing got a very good reception, and I have always loved mysteries, so I decided to continue processing my trauma through writing a story based loosely on my experience.
It seemed like you took your time in building the characters and the story to great emotional effect. How did you manage the pacing of the story while keeping readers engaged?
Tremor in the Hills has been through countless edits and 3 different editors, so I think it was mainly practice, editing, and just getting to be a better writer over the years.
How do you balance story development with shocking plot twists? Or can they be the same thing?
I hate to say it, but I think it’s a mixture of real-life experience and twisted imagination… I do believe that story development and shocking plot twists are melded together.
When will Book Two be available? Can you give us an idea of where that book will take readers?
Book two, with any luck, will be out in late 2026. It will feature many of the same characters. The setting is Caral, an archaeological site in the north of Peru, and answers part of the question of where K’antu went at the end of Tremor in the Hills. There will be 3 books total in the trilogy.
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D.O.L Light Running in Afghanistan
The book plunges headfirst into a world of secret military projects, hidden powers, and tangled family ties. Lilly and Aurora, caught between loyalty and betrayal, navigate brutal battles, heartbreaking losses, and a storm of revelations about who they are and where they come from. The story moves with a wild energy, shifting from explosive action in New York to covert missions in Afghanistan, all the while threading in the complicated web of love, grief, and survival that binds its characters together. The book is about identity and the cost of power, wrapped inside high-octane scenes and sharp dialogue.
I found myself both entertained and unsettled. The writing has a raw pulse to it, like the author wanted every scene to bleed emotion or crackle with tension. Sometimes that worked beautifully. The fight sequences felt cinematic, and the dialogue between Lilly and Aurora was charged with anger, sorrow, and just enough dark humor to keep it human. But there were moments when the avalanche of detail threatened to bury the emotional core of the story. Even then, I couldn’t put it down, because there was always another twist, another confession, another blow waiting around the corner.
I also caught myself feeling torn about the ideas underneath the action. The story plays with big questions: what it means to be family, how much pain someone can carry, and how power both saves and destroys. The story also leans hard into chaos and violence, which keeps the energy high and the tension unrelenting, never giving the characters or the reader much chance to breathe. The author clearly loves his cast, though, and that affection comes through in the banter, the awkward humor, and the way even the most hardened fighters carry their scars like open wounds. It gave the book a surprising tenderness under all the blood and bullets.
Light Running in Afghanistan reminded me of the relentless drive you find in early James Patterson thrillers mixed with the emotional grit of something like Suzanne Collins or even Stephen King at his more chaotic. It isn’t neat or carefully buttoned up the way a Tom Clancy novel might be. Instead, it thrives on the jagged edges, the mess that makes its characters feel human. Readers who want a story that punches fast and doesn’t apologize will feel right at home here.
Pages: 364 | ASIN : B0F9TV3ZX2
Invisible Tragedy
Driven follows a woman recovering from the brink of madness who discovers a man is searching for unammi survivors to experiment on, and humans are being kidnapped, leaving her determined to find a way to save them all. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Our own world is beset with social issues. I wanted to take these two—slavery and medical experimentation on living beings (humans and animals)—and kind of push them into the reader’s face, so that they couldn’t be ignored. Slavery, also known as “human trafficking” or “sex trafficking,” takes place every day, but for those of us who are insulated in privilege, it’s an invisible tragedy and easy to overlook.
It’s the same with the experimentation; though that’s a bit harder to see in contemporary civilization, it’s definitely there, hidden behind closed doors and shuttered windows. Because we don’t see these problems, it’s easy to pretend they don’t exist.
There are many ways to fight these issues, not all of which are as bold as Alira’s choices. But here’s the thing: if we don’t face them with unflinching outrage, they will never stop.
Regardless of the methods we choose with which to fight, no one person can solve all these problems. Not alone. Yet even though one person can’t save everyone, they can help a few. And that can start a larger movement.
Alira is that person, the one who saves those she can reach. She’s already gone through so much; she is the unflinching (okay, she does flinch on occasion, but it doesn’t stop her from moving forward) individual who says, “If not me, then who?”
Alira is a fascinating character. What scene was the most interesting to write for that character?
That’s a tough choice. Alira’s whole character arc is so tightly woven that choosing a single scene as “most interesting” is like trying to choose a single favorite thread in a completed tapestry. And Alira has her peak moments in each book in this trilogy.
For Driven, I lean toward one of Alira’s “rescue” scenes—either of Bika (which has two parts, the rescue and the aftermath), the ikanne harvesters, or the brothel slaves. Each of those times gave Alira’s spur-of-the-moment creative problem-solving skills room to shine.
I find that authors sometimes ask themselves questions and let their characters answer them. Do you think this is true for your characters?
Definitely. Sometimes, their answers surprise me.
But at least one major focus of my writing is to ask big questions, sometimes even the ones we don’t want to face. I think The Founder’s Seed trilogy manages to do that. I feel like Alira’s answers to those questions came from a courageous heart and a strong spirit.
Where do you see your characters after the book ends?
Oh, their story continues in the coming follow-up trilogy, tentatively titled Nexus. That trilogy will be told through the eyes of non-POV characters that were introduced in The Founder’s Seed, but Alira, Botha, and Galen/Thrace will all be there. We see the start of that at the end of Driven, in the new secret colony Alira and Kilbee have established.
Stay tuned.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | BlueSky | Website | Niveym Arts | Amazon
On Danua, acting Clan Admiral Knøfa experiments on his unammi prisoner. Except the squib isn’t healing any longer, and the medics aren’t working fast enough to save her. Knøfa starts searching for another unammi—maybe a male this time, so he can create all the test subjects he wants.
Stopping the Cartel is enough to keep Alira’s hands full. She doesn’t want to fight the Clan, too. Yet, when she learns Knøfa is searching for the unammi survivors, she races to warn them. As Knøfa’s ship approaches them on Earth, the council tries to force it to leave. But Alira knows that if the humans escape, the unammi are doomed. Knøfa’s “experiments” will escalate, and other humans will follow his example. To protect her people’s secrets, she must stop that ship. Her only hope is to attempt something no Founder’s Daughter has ever done.
Making it Believable
In Daughter of the Void, a young woman must learn to navigate her own magical abilities in a world divided by war and forgotten secrets. Where did the idea for this book come from?
As odd as it might sound, the concept for Daughter of the Void came from science and not fantasy. I have a secret love of astronomy and theoretical physics, and I’ve always been fascinated by the concepts of dark matter and antimatter. I wanted to create a magic system that captured the mystery of our world’s unseen particles in a unique framework. In Daughter of the Void, you get to experience magic as a substance only visible to those with a gift for it, and you get to witness antimagic in the form of Raelyn’s power. While my magic system doesn’t follow the same rules as dark matter and antimatter, those concepts were my inspiration.
Who was the inspiration for Raelyn’s traits and dialogue?
I put a little bit of myself into all my characters, and Raelyn got more of me than I care to admit. Her quiet, contemplative approach to life mirrors my own. Neither of us is going to be the belle of the ball or the social butterfly. I also gave her my love of nature and solitude, and her little bit of sass is mine, too. As for her stubbornness, kindness, and commitment to seeing the best in people—those were traits of my grandmother, to whom the book is dedicated.
How did you balance magic and its use throughout the story to keep it believable?
This was an important sticking point for me. I think it’s easy for magic to become overpowered in any world. When a magic system doesn’t have regulation, it makes readers wonder why the characters aren’t just blasting their way to the end goal. To keep Daughter of the Void’s magic system realistic, I limited who could use it and made it extremely time-consuming and difficult to master. Only the most talented and dedicated mages could become truly powerful, and even then, they could only specialize in one or two types of magic due to its complexity. Of course, the ultimate balancing agents are wardens, such as Raelyn.
Can we get a peek inside the next book in this trilogy? Where will it take readers?
I would love to share a sneak peek! I am so excited for book two; it has been so fun to write. In this next installment, you’re going to spend time on The Grey Isle, where you’ll get to know the Holy Knights, Saints, and another “special” cat named Alphesior. Now that the world knows Raelyn is a warden, her assumed destiny starts to look more and more inescapable, and she accepts an offer of formal training as forces around the world seek to claim her power. In the mix, we’ve got smugglers, traitors, magic battles, a murder mystery, a conspiracy, necromancy, essence magic, and Laris doing his best to protect Raelyn despite some big roadblocks. Be prepared for an unexpected alliance at the end of it all.
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In a world where tendrils of magic envelop all things, Raelyn discovers she’s one of the last of her kind: a warden. As a conduit of the gods capable of creating holes in the fabric of magic, she is a daughter of the void. Forced to flee as her city burns and her best friend is kidnapped, she finds herself in an unexpected partnership with Laris, a mage whose abrasive personality hides a desire to keep her safe. The pair are chased deep into the Vast, a treacherous mountain range filled with hostile feyfolk, where Raelyn grows ever closer to her companion and learns the consequences of being directly connected to the gods.
Guided by the spirit of the last Holy King and unknowingly hunted by Saraht, an enemy warden with a personal vendetta of her own, Raelyn and Laris embark on a journey to seek answers. Along the way they must confront the growing threat of war and the knowledge of Raelyn’s true purpose: a devastating power she will need to embrace to defeat Saraht, but one that will alter her fate forever.
Daughter of the Void
H.R. Cole’s Daughter of the Void, the first book in the Chains of Fate trilogy, follows Raelyn, a young woman caught between duty and destiny in a divided world haunted by magic, war, and forgotten secrets. The story begins with a forbidden excursion that sets the tone for an epic unraveling of personal identity, looming war, and hidden powers. As political alliances form and dangerous truths bubble to the surface, Raelyn must navigate complex relationships and a growing sense of her own magical abilities, all while being tethered to a prophecy and a mysterious past that could remake the world.
I was completely pulled into this world. The writing is smooth, but not overly polished. H.R. Cole has a talent for atmosphere. You feel the chill of ancient forests, the oppressive silence of stone castles, and the heat of tension between characters who know more than they let on. Raelyn as a protagonist isn’t perfect, and that’s what makes her work. She’s sharp but hesitant, brave but emotionally guarded. The relationships, especially between Raelyn and Ellisand, felt raw and real. And Laris—well, he’s complicated in all the best and worst ways. Their interactions were electric, uncomfortable, and often intense, and I honestly didn’t know how I wanted things to turn out. That kind of uncertainty kept me turning the pages, though.
But it’s not all sunshine and sword fights. A few scenes in the middle of the book lingered longer than needed I think. And while the world-building is strong, there are many moving parts—factions, magical laws, military structures—and some of it felt like it was waiting for the next book to really pay off. That said, there’s no shortage of intrigue. Secrets hang over every chapter like storm clouds. I found myself rereading certain passages just to catch all the foreshadowing. And the way Cole threads emotional stakes through the political drama? Honestly, it got me more than once.
In the end, Daughter of the Void is a slow-burn fantasy adventure with a lot of heart and a sharp edge. It’s for readers who like complex women, moral gray zones, and stories that aren’t afraid to bruise their characters a little. If you enjoy the emotional tension of Kristin Cashore’s Graceling or the slow, layered world-building of The Queen’s Thief, this book will be perfect for you. I’m already hungry for book two.
Pages: 374 | ASIN : B0F8ZZ7JPB
LITERARY TITAN 