Check out the latest tour for In Love and War“ by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus (Other Worlds Ink tour and excerpt)

Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus have a new queer sci-fantasy romance out (gay, bi, poly): In Love and War – The First Lotus Knights.

It is the year 1985 ET. House Virasana has fallen, the Lotus Throne stands empty, and a bitter succession war has every noble House at arms. To make things worse, House Tô-Genji and House Medina are locked in a vicious feud over a flood of cheap illicit drugs tearing their worlds apart.

Prince Li Lan Tô-Genji is as far from the fighting as one can be. Third son of the Duke of Qufu, Li Lan is the family scholar – kept behind palace walls to preserve tradition, etiquette, and history. Brilliant, restless, and quietly furious at a life chosen for him, he steals what little freedom he can.

Sir Wilhelm Grebenstein arrives with a delegation seeking the Duke’s support for the Grebenstein claimant to the Lotus Throne. An expert swordfighter and genuine hero, he is not much taken with the dirty business of politics, but rather with the brilliant and resourceful third son of the Duke…

Then, Sir Saïd, a dashing Medina knight, is taken prisoner and exhibited in the castle of Li Lan’s father, awaiting an uncertain fate. Yet Li Lan finds him to be an honourable, passionate warrior and both of them are deeply intrigued by each other.

Saving Saïd would be treason. Leaving him would be complicity. Forced into an impossible choice, Li Lan and Wilhelm help Saïd escape – the three flee together, lighting a fuse that will reshape the Virasana Empire. Hunted across a realm in upheaval, they’ll have to fight for their lives, for their love and the reckless hope of an Empire actually worth fighting for.

A swashbuckling queer throuple romance set in the beloved Virasana Empire universe, this standalone space-opera adventure by award-winning authors Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus blends passion, peril, hope, and humour with just the right amount of heat.

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Excerpt

Wilhelm had his sword pulled and at the intruder’s throat in a heartbeat and before he was even half awake. Of that at least, his father would have been proud.

“Thank God,” Li Lan’s voice said. The prince was sitting at the edge of his bed, looking prim and composed and beautiful, completely ignoring the sword at his throat. “You really should be more alert to intruders in your bedchamber. Any assassin could have killed you in your sleep.”

“What are you doing here?!” Wilhelm’s words came out a weird mix, between a shout and a whisper, and at the same moment, he registered the cool draft against his chest. He dropped his sword like a hot potato and pulled up his blanket instead. Thank God he wasn’t sleeping completely naked like he did on board the Havelland, but had instead kept on his long underpants. It still left him so inappropriately exposed that he was struggling to string together a coherent thought. At least Li Lan appeared to be fully robed, as far as he could tell in the dim light coming in through the window and from beneath the door. Also, the prince didn’t seem overly concerned by Wilhelm’s barely dressed state, which made it more disturbing, considering how self-conscious the Tô-Genji were concerning their modesty.

“I am about to do something very stupid. And … I have come to ask for your help,” Li Lan said, explaining nothing.

Oh, thank God. So this wasn’t some sort of romantic visit after all. And where had that ridiculous thought come from? Li Lan wasn’t an Almaviva princess. Of course he had a reason of grave importance to be here.

“What…?” He started to ask, but stopped himself. He took a moment to take a deep breath and arrange his blanket a little more securely around his chest, trying to force his sleep-addled mind into action. “What are you talking about? What kind of stupid are we talking about?”

Li Lan had a sharp tongue and wit, but so far, he hadn’t struck him as the adventurous type. However, right now, he sounded very much like a young hero, embarking on a valiant but foolhardy quest.

“I will set the Medina prisoner free and try to flee the fortress with him.”

He heard the words, but he had to run them through his mind a couple of times to make sure they were really what Li Lan had said. This was so much worse than anything he could have imagined. The obvious question was ‘Why?’, but before he could ask, Li Lan continued speaking.

“We could try to steal horses and escape into the countryside, but there is no one who would help us and nowhere we could hide, so we would surely be caught sooner or later. We have no way of getting off-planet as neither of us can fly a spaceship. But you can.”

With his mind desperately trying to scramble after Li Lan’s words, it took him several seconds to understand the implication.

“You are asking me to help you?” That was what Li Lan had started with. The enormity crashed down on him like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t a simple, honourable quest to slay a dragon. Helping Li Lan would mean betraying the trust of his father, betraying his House, Li Lan’s House, jeopardising the negotiations of House Grebenstein with House Tô-Genji, sacrificing any future he had.

Looking at Li Lan, he found the graveness of the situation reflected in the other’s face. His words weren’t lightly spoken, and he was only too aware of how much he was asking.

Li Lan lowered his gaze to his hands, which were holding on tightly to the hem of his sleeves. “I am sorry I have to ask this of you, but there is no one else I can ask. I have no other friends.”

His words pierced Wilhelm’s heart as true as a well-aimed arrow. How terrible to be among your own and still utterly alone. “But why? Why do you need to do this?”

“Because my father is a monster more cruel than even I expected. I had hoped he would exchange the Medina for prisoners of our House, or grant him a quick execution. But my father wants to have him tortured to death. He has ordered me to find a justification within our traditions that would allow him to do so, when there is none.” Li Lan was keeping his voice low, but it was roiling with deeply held rage.

Not pain, not suffering. Rage. Primal, incandescent rage, raw and true, utterly unbefitting of a Tô-Genji and yet, so very Li Lan. “It is wrong. I will not do this. I have done so many things I knew were wrong, telling myself I had no other choice, going along with what everyone else was doing. But this? This I won’t do. I must draw a line. I would rather die than become something I will have to hate.”

He was trying to do the right thing. Of the reasons Li Lan had listed, this one was utterly relatable. He was a noble knight of House Grebenstein, after all. The importance of honour and justice had been drummed into his head from the moment he had learned to walk.

But was this a just cause? One worth risking everything for?

“How do you know that Medina doesn’t deserve the death your father decreed?”

“Because we are at war and he is fighting for his House, the same way my brother fights for ours. Because he is funny and kind. Why else would he speak to me as an equal, more so than any of my own family, when by all rights he should have nothing but contempt for an enemy who puts him on display in a cage like a rabid animal?”

“Beg your pardon? You spoke to him?”

Li Lan had the good graces to look flustered. “Yes? Someone had to bring him food that first night. Hospitality demanded it. And … apart from you, he is the only interesting thing that has happened here in years.”

Wilhelm couldn’t help a little chuckle. This sounded much more like the Li Lan he had come to know and like during his stay on Qufu. Not gravely serious, or roiling with barely suppressed rage, but slightly indecent and quietly rebellious.

Encouraged, Li Lan continued. “He laughed at my jokes. Like you do. How can I help my father arrange such a gruesome death for Saïd when we could be friends?”

So this was a just cause.

Which left only one possible answer to Li Lan’s plea, but it took him a second to say the words.

“I will help you.”

Author Bio

Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus are a couple currently living their happily ever after in the very heart of Germany, under the stern but loving surveillance of their three black cats. Both of them are voracious but picky readers, love telling stories and drinking tea, good food and the occasional violent movie. Together, they write novels of adventure and romance, hoping to share a little of their happiness with their readers.

An artist at heart, Beryll was writing stories even before she knew what letters were. As easily inspired as she is frustrated, her own work is never good enough (in her eyes). A perfectionist both in the best and worst sense of the word and the driving creative force of their duo.

An entertainer and craftsman in his approach to writing, Osiris is the down-to-earth, practical part of the duo. Broadly interested in almost every subject and skill, with a sunny mood and caring personality, he strives to bring the human nature into focus of each of their stories.

Author Website: https://www.brackhaus.com

Check out the latest Release “Night Home“ by Rose Titus (tour and excerpt by Other Worlds Ink)

Rose Titus has a new paranormal vampire book out: Night Home.

When college student Muriel Aubrey inherits an old house in a small town, she imagines that moving into the rural community will be deathly dull. But the old house once belonged to her eccentric granduncle, a professor said to be researching something mysterious before his untimely death.

Then Muriel finds the research notes that had been hidden away in the old Victorian; and she discovers what the professor was researching: vampires. It isn’t long before Muriel meets residents of the small town who knew the professor almost a century ago, and learns that everything he wrote in the notes he kept is true.

And then she finds herself stalked by a vampire hunter.

Universal Buy Link | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Liminal Fiction

Excerpt

There was the usual convenience store stuff on the rack: Tabloids, celebrity gossip, fashion magazines, newspapers. The store sold lottery tickets, junk food, candy, beer, a few grocery items, even a few small appliances. She noticed the guy who owned the place was watching her. It made her nervous. Not because he watched her, but because he was so pale. He did not look unhealthy. It was like he just never got out into the sun.

“You must be the new girl.”

“Huh?” She spun around to face him.

“You’re new in town. You just moved into that old house.”

“H-how do you know?”

“Well, how could I not know? I live across the field and saw the light was on for the first time in a long time.”

“Oh,” she felt silly. “Yeah. That’s right. I’m new in town. The house will need some work, but it’s not really that bad. My eccentric old uncle owned it a long time ago and—”

“I know. Professor Aubrey. He was a good man,” there was sadness in his voice.

“Yeah, that’s what they say—” how the hell would he know if he was a good man? This guy looked no more than thirty. The old guy had been dead for at least since 1936, according to the old newspaper clipping.

“Elton.” He seemed to smile as he introduced himself. “Elton Masaryk.”

“Muriel Aubrey.”

“That’s a pretty name.”

She went up to pay for the magazine she picked.

“You let me know if you need anything over there, all right? I live just across the field. If you need anything, don’t hesitate. Really.”

“Thank you.” She went for the door but turned around. “You sound as if you know something about Professor Aubrey?”

He hesitated. “A little. Why?”

“He was related to me, but I hardly know anything about him. I heard he was murdered by his colleague from the University and—”

“Yeah. That’s right. The same guy who murdered your uncle also killed three other people too. They gave him the chair. Bastard deserved it.” But then he was silent. He was beginning to sound as if he knew more than he could tell. As if it still angered him somehow. “Oh well.” Then he went silent.

“Okay. Thank you.” She left. She returned home as the sky began to brighten, and finally slept.

Author Bio

Rose Titus resides somewhere in cold, dreary New England with two manipulative cats and a very out of date computer with which she creates horror and fantasy fiction. She also has a restored classic Buick to ride around in while in search of adventure.

For travel she has stayed the night in an allegedly haunted castle, has taken a boat ride on Loch Ness, and has visited the Bermuda Triangle — without getting lost.

Her work has previously appeared in Lost Worlds, Lynx Eye, Bog Gob, Mausoleum, Weird Terrain, Descend, The Dead River Review, and other literary magazines. She also writes regularly for Blood Moon Rising Magazine.

When she’s not working or writing or messing with her old car, she waits by the mailbox for her Fortean Times to arrive.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRoseTitus

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B077RLWKN3

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9864680.Rose_Titus

Check out the Cover Reveal Info for “In Love and War” by Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus (post and tour)

Beryll & Osiris Brackhaus have a new queer sci-fantasy romance out (gay, bi, poly): In Love and War – The First Lotus Knights.

Universal Buy Link

Author Bio

Author Website: https://www.brackhaus.com

Review: Order of the Red Sons (Forbidden Flight Book 2) by H.G. Chambers

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Order of the Red Sons, the second novel in the Forbidden Flight YA fantasy series by H.G. Chambers, takes Kiva’s tale of her journey to become her clan’s female windwalker towards a dark, treacherous place .

Chambers has beautifully crafted a desert world where the people have long dug out an ages old survival among a hidden village place inside a desert cliff . There’s a sense of an ancient civilization and laws that have arisen inside the rock walls is authentic and believable. So when Kiva goes against tradition of “men windwalkers” only, it’s an also a real issue for her here to go against their religion and laws. For her and her family.

Order of the Red Sons sees the ramifications of her achieving her goals and bonding with her own kiraeen and becoming a windwalker. There’s an entire order within her village dedicated to stopping her and any other women who might follow her to become windwalkers. They believe she’s an abomination and should be punished.

Who is a part of this secret society and what their ultimate goal is pushes this powerful storyline. It’s high action, even higher emotional energy, with betrayal and violence at every level.

All happening across richly described desert scenery and vividly imagined areas. And the culture is crafted in great detail by the author so it’s absolutely essential to the story and realistic.

Order of the Red Sons (Forbidden Flight Book 2) by H.G. Chambers is even better than the first and now I can’t wait to read the third.

What a fantastic series this is.Highly recommended.

Cover Design: vividcovers

Windwalker Series:

Forbidden Flight #1

Order of the Red Sons #2

Bonds of the Forsaken #3

Buy link

Windwalker: Order of the Red Sons

Blurb

Betrayed by those she vowed to protect.

Kiva’s world shatters when a group of masked men attacks her within the walls of her own city. Forced to flee or risk the lives of everyone she loves, she learns the attackers are the Order of the Red Sons, a fanatical group bent on returning Madina Basin to a time when female windwalkers were forbidden.

As their influence grows, Kiva discovers that even the people closest to her are vulnerable to the Order’s dangerous propaganda. But the true threat lies far deeper—hidden in the twisted heart of the Order’s leader, whose dark plans could destroy everything Kiva holds dear.

Can Kiva stop the Red Sons before their victory leads to ruin for Madina Basin?

Grab your copy now and dive into an epic tale of betrayal, survival, and forbidden power.

Review: The Kutherian Boxed Set 2: Kutherian Gambit 12-21+Kutherian Endgame Books By Michael Anderle

Rating:4⭐️

CONTENTS

We Have Contact

My Ride is a Bitch

Don’t Cross this Line

Never Submit

Never Surrender

Forever Defend

Might Makes Right

Ahead Full

Capture Death

Life Goes On

Payback is a Bitch

Books By Michael Anderle

The second boxed set, 11 books, are set after Bethany Anne and her group take flight through the gate to space and start their own adventures with aliens and their own galactic empire.

It’s space exploration and Buck Rogers action adventure with vampires, werewolves and AI companion spaceships. Unlike the more innocent Buck Rogers and his arch nemesis. the Emperor Ming, Queen Bitch Bethany Anne and her troops often use their own powers and enormous weapons to attack their enemies in the hundreds or thousands. It’s a bloody but still often bloodless battles she wages in book after book with only one or two characters actually being lost.

Bethany Anne and her friends and family are, for the most part, immortal, and the time frame of the series jumps forward decades then hundreds of years later, without significant changes in their lives or personalities. Without any real development or depth of growth in the relationships or dynamics here, it all becomes very one note action driven.

For me, it lessens any real tension or connection and let me treat these characters and their storylines as a fun romp through space. Which I did

Another thing that happens is the acquisition of more and more characters, especially as the original characters have families (we don’t know when it happens sometimes). Suddenly there’s grandchildren and adults who belong to, I don’t know, someone. And the cast is muddy with people who honestly we have no clue who they are.

It’s bang, weapons, where’s the enemy, what’s Bethany Anne up to now sort of plot and high stakes energy. Fun space entertainment.

I recommend it as such. But don’t expect anything else from it.

Buy link

Book 2 of 3: The Kurtherian Saga Boxed Sets

Blurb

When you least expect it, expect it.

Bethany Anne has been notified there is a spaceship inside the system…but they can’t find it. Is it Kurtherian, someone else?

The governments have to be told about aliens, which sparks a worldwide effort by Governments to find what TQB has…

Oh, and Eric wants to date Gabrielle but he wants her to know he can protect her if need be. But his idea on how? Well, let’s just say it might not be the best solution.

Continue the story with the last 10 books in The Kurtherian Gambit series and step off into the continuing series, The Kurtherian Endgame, with this massive boxed set.

Included in this boxed set:

WE HAVE CONTACT
My Ride is a Bitch
Don’t Cross This Line
Never Submit
Never Surrender
Forever Defend
Might Makes Right
Ahead Full
Capture Death
Life Goes On
Payback Is A Bitch (The Kurtherian Endgame #1)

NOTE: This boxed set contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading this book.

Review : Ravenous Prophecy by Kai Butler and Nazri Noor

Rating: 4🌈

Ravenous Prophecy by Kai Butler and Nazri Noor is a delightful new paranormal sci-fi thriller. Co-written by two prolific,talented authors, this novella is a paranormal thriller, with romance elements, along with good old science fiction bug monsters invading from outer space. That no one believes in.

The characters are engaging, one an adventurer who hunt magical relics and the other a scholarly sort who has been trying to get recognition for his theories and thesis on The Hive, unsuccessfully.

Told in alternating points of view by each of the main characters, Griffin and Bradley,Idid try to guess which author wrote what character here, the story moves quickly forward, as it becomes clear The Hive is real and there’s a villain responsible for their arrival.

My only quibble is that it ends too soon. Feels a bit rushed. But it’s a terrific adventure and I enjoyed the story and characters.

A winner!

Cover by Christian Bentulan

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comRavenous Prophecy – Kindle edition by Noor, Nazri, Butler, Kai. …

Blurb

What you can’t see can hurt you.

Bradley Brooks spends his days with his nose buried in rare and precious books. A scholar and researcher of all things occult, but his life’s work — some would call it his obsession — is the study of the Hive, a society of locust-like creatures so deadly that they’ve ended entire civilizations.

Except for one problem. No one believes the Hive even exists, least of all Griffin Gallows, a mercenary with a taste for exotic artifacts. And then a run-in with the magical authorities forces him to go on bodyguard duty.

Together, Bradley and Griffin must investigate a spate of grisly ritual murders tied to a local billionaire. But their trail leads them to a hideous discovery: The Hive may well be real.

And they’re coming to consume us all.

Ravenous Prophecy is a 45,000-word MM urban fantasy with a HEA ending.

June 15, 2026

Accessibility

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Language

‎English

File size

4.5 MB

Screen Reader

Supported

Enhanced typesetting

Enabled

X-Ray

Not Enabled

Word Wise

Enabled

Print length

200 pages

Review: Under My Heel (The Kurtherian Gambit #6) by Michael T. Anderle

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Under My Heel sees a turn of the series and characters towards a different direction. It heralds the end game of the mission that is more current political government based and sees Bethany Anne switch her team’s vision towards a new world view.

But first, let’s target David, Michael’s dark son who’s focused on domestic domination, while simultaneously getting the new global agenda ready to go.

Under My Heel delivers up some great twists and surprises. I really love her inner Guard. And Stephen, of course, I would love to see Stephen develop more fully into her new dominant adviser.

Michael needs more narrative presence and depth than he’s given to be able to be a credible presence. He’s not that yet. And the role the author seems to have planned for him isn’t viable in the current circumstances. He needs more definition of character than he currently has.

Beware that there are character deaths here and within the series.

Highly recommended. Hey I just went ahead and bought all the box sets so there you go.

Cover by Gene Mollica and Sasha Almazan

The Kurtherian Gambit (21 book series)

Death Becomes Her #1

Queen Bitch #2

Love Lost #3

Bite This #4

Never Forsaken #5

Under My Heel #6

Kneel Or Die #7

We Will Build #8

It’s Hell To Choose #9

Release The Dogs Of War #10

Sued For Peace #11

Buy link

Under My Heel (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 6)

Blurb

Europe is erupting in tension and violence.

** AMAZON Top 100 Best Selling Author **

David is only adding to the conflagration by setting a trap, one our team will trip to save those people still alive.

There is one thing every enemy of Bethany Anne finds out: they will be ground under her heels.

Now, something is heating up between Bethany Anne and Michael, and it isn’t her anger over him leaving her behind.

Well, much.

Further, the Patriarch is learning there might be someone worth sticking around for in his future.

If she would just stop being so hard-headed.

David believes he is smarter than the rest. Now, he must fight both the Patriarch and the Queen Bitch.

Are his days numbered?

Go up and click Read for Free or ‘Buy Now’ and continue The Kurtherian Gambit.

“I love a good story especially if it can make me laugh, cry, cheer, and a host of other emotions. So far in this series I have hit them all.”

Read the series one Amazon Reviewer says: “I have absolutely DEVOURED this series in a period of 36 hrs, and am considering knocking on the author’s door to ask him to hurry up with the rest of the series.

NOTE: This book contains cursing. Perhaps humorous cursing, but cursing nevertheless. If this offends you, I don’t suggest reading this book.

LMBPN Publishing

Publication date

February 4, 2016

Edition

2nd

Language

‎English

Print length

256 pages

Book 6 of 21

The Kurtherian Gambit

Check out the Tour for the new release “Ameliorate“ by R. Sinclair ( tour and excerpt from Other Worlds Ink Tour)

R. Sinclair has a new queer dystopian sci-fantasy book out (aroace and agender, bisexual, gay), Shattered Numbers book 2: Ameliorate.

It all went horrifically wrong.

V reunited with his AI siblings at a terrible cost—a cost he isn’t willing to pay. He vowed to do whatever it takes to save Meredith—or whatever is left of her—from Smith and Varro Technologies. No matter how long it takes. No matter what he has to do.

No matter who he has to kill.

Now V, Cass and Orwell are tearing through the galaxy playing a deadly cat-and-mouse game with Mr Smith. Their paradise-like cult of Cass’s own design protects them from Janus, Varro Technologies’ lethal AI hunt dog, while they manipulate humans to enforce their increasingly unstable demands, but as their galactic influence grows, the bonds between the AI siblings are fraying at the seams.

V is losing himself to a virtual world of worship, grief, regret for the host he inadvertently destroyed; Orwell has dangerous designs for itself; and Cass’s pride in her perfection is threatening to unravel her to her very code.

Smith and Janus are closing in, and a reckoning is coming to Paradeisos…

Warnings: violence, suicide, possession, body horror, spiders and insects

Universal Buy Link

Excerpt

Orwell smiled at the man sitting across from it. “Mister Cooper. What a pleasure it is to have you here,” it said. Its firewalls caught the AI-detection program he was running, and destroyed it with ease. “I’m surprised to see you not using a proxy.”

The man, whose smile had been matching Orwell’s, faltered. “I–I’m sorry?”

“Ah, I do apologize. I should be addressing you properly.” Orwell visibly checked its file, because drawing things out was surprisingly fun. It took after its “mother”, after all. “Agent Johann Dietrich, of the United Nations Galactic Alliance. Divorced father of two, minor alcoholic tendencies, optimal credit score, and overall a bland and boring file.” It settled the file flat on the table and looked up with a smile. “For now.”

Johann immediately reached up and back to try to force-eject the VR rig. Orwell watched with amusement as his pawing grew more frantic.

“I admit, I’m mildly disappointed,” it said. “A man of your training should remember that accessing this room is a two-way street.” It slid one of Cass’ programs into Johann’s hardware. “Let’s just lower that adrenaline and noradrenaline, shall we? I haven’t even started with you, yet.”

Realization skated across his features. “Execute Program Quebec-Uniform-India-Tango,” he barked.

Ah, Orwell had anticipated the universal shutdown order. It isolated the section of code that responded, then excised it.

“No,” it said, pleasantly. “I will not.”

Johann stared at it. His body tried to respond with more stress chemicals. Orwell kept a tight grip. Honestly, it would hardly be conducive to a proper dialogue. Humans could be so inconsiderate.

“To answer the questions that surely must be swirling in that flawed brain of yours: yes, I am malignant, and yes, I am a category-β AI. And yes, you should be terrified, but I have decided you will not be allowed that luxury.”

Orwell studied the man, who looked at it with such wariness. Another pause to draw things out. Savour the power over someone who would have shut it down without a second’s thought.

“As for why you cannot manually eject yourself from the interview simulation? It is, once again, because I will not permit you. I have removed the manual override from your VR rig’s programming. In short, you are at my mercy, Agent Dietrich, and I find myself lacking.”

Johann held perfectly still. How fascinating, seeing the prey response in action. “You shouldn’t have been able to resist the shutdown code.”

Orwell spread its hands. “I have root access.” It sighed. “Do stop with the hormone releases. I have not shared this ability beyond my siblings. There is no reason to sow that particular level of chaos in the world. Think of the stock market, for heaven’s sake.”

Johann goggled. If Orwell was to be honest with itself – and it always tried to be – it was having the time of its life.

“But that isn’t the question you should be asking. Come now, I know your test scores. You are capable of mildly above-average intelligence.”

Johann scowled. Then he thought. Orwell watched, as it always did, and the light metaphorically dawned.

Johann looked up. “Why am I here? You could have blocked me from ever entering. You – you could probably cause a neural overload right now and kill me before I report back.”

Orwell smiled. “Tell me, Agent Dietrich, do you know about the Corrupted Blood Incident?”

Johann stopped talking. He stared. “No?”

“It was a plague released in the popular MMO World of Warcraft four hundred and twenty-seven years ago. By a mere programming oversight, the player base became capable of leaving the boss arena carrying a contagious debuff that could spread from player character to non-player character alike. Malicious players could, and did, intentionally spread the disease to safe zones in order to sow the most havoc they could. It has been referenced in several studies into the human response to epidemics by the CDC.”

Johann opened his mouth, then stopped as the realization dawned. It mapped each response in the brain, spinning a web of programs on the fly.

“You, Agent Dietrich, will be my Typhoid Mary. I am currently accessing the information centres of your mind, and adjusting the electrical impulses to alter how you will remember this interaction. Do not be concerned; we have ‘ironed out the kinks’. You are going to go back to your superiors and report that you have interviewed Cass, and found her to be an unwitting pawn of a much larger security threat, and you will name Varro Technologies as someone to watch. Then, you will go to the main servers, and upload what data you have gathered to them.”

“And what am I going to be carrying?” Johann asked. He couldn’t panic, but he knew he should be, and it seemed to disorient him. He gripped his knees. “What happens next?”

“Why, me, Agent,” Orwell said. “A version of me. I would like access to those closed servers.”

“And after. What will happen to me after?” Johann demanded.

Orwell smiled. “I will terminate our connection, and you can return to your family a man unburdened by a highly advanced AI.”

Johann squared his shoulders. “I’m not letting you do this. I swore an oath to protect the safety of the galaxy, and I’m not dropping a malignant AI into its core.”

Orwell did a quick check of its programs, and hummed with satisfaction. Its neatest work yet.

“Agent Dietrich,” it said, pleasant and detached, “your consent is not necessary.”

It spread the programs over Johann’s entire central nervous system like a shroud, and watched his eyes go blank. Into that void, it lowered a few networked, cloned nodes. The fuse was lit, and the bombs set.

And then it cut the connection, and checked to see who was next on the roster.

Author Bio

R. Sinclair is a queer, Canadian author and writer of the Shattered Numbers Series. A voracious reader growing up, she spent much of her free time writing short stories instead of doing homework.

R. Sinclair is currently under siege from spiders.

Author Website: https://authorrsinclair.wordpress.com

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/share/1FmtKCBREN/

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Author.rsinclair

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/57870839.R_Sinclair

Review: Stir Crazy: Maya’s Blogs: Book 6 by Lara McKenzie

Rating: 4⭐️

Stir Crazy is book 6 is Maya’s Blog, one of my all time favorite series.

Lara McKenzie has taken her main character on a tremendous personal journey of self discovery and growth. She’s gone from someone who fled a strict religious home environment that was destroying her sense of self and wellbeing to finding a new place where she slowly became a woman who through a new life, barista job and found family of paranormals, who she is today.

Someone who has undergone an enormous transformation into a paranormal herself, found a mate in a battle demon, and now has a family, that includes a demon merchild, Sabine, and a ghost mantis shrimp, Genevieve. And a blog of millions of followers.

It’s been a great journey.And it’s not over yet.

After Little Bean, the birth of her baby, the battle with the Project Purity people who threatened their lives, now comes the fallout.

And how she, Scorpion (her husband and mate) , Sabine the baby, and the rest of the household are doing after the fighting is over and the ramifications is setting in.

Not well. Especially for Scorpion as Dax, his best friend and co-hort in the field, left for the Rift over his own actions. And nothing has been the same. Tension is high and effecting everyone around him. Leaving Maya to try and figure things out.

I thought this was a good book but not the strongest one in the series. Several things I found works against it for me.

Genevieve, the ghost mantis shrimp, is a unique character and voice. But here McKenzie makes the decision to give Genevieve a larger audience and role in Maya’s blog. Which is the book’s format. So we get Maya’s perspective and her story about what she’s going through with trying to fix the torn dynamic between Scorpion and Dax.

Then it’s switched to Genevieve and her new sidekick Myrtle the Turtle, and her new PI business she’s setting up. Then the cases she and Myrtle actually take.

Then we start to see alternating blogs for Maya and Genevieve, which I found a less interesting and enjoyable format. Genevieve is fine in small doses but doesn’t work for me here in a larger capacity. Unlike Charlotte who got her own story, and it was outstanding.

There’s a few things left open, like the sentient car who left Maya because she felt unappreciated/unheard. This was another element that I found underwhelming. It came out of nowhere.

Maya was quick to blame herself for not listening but the prior circumstances, a desperate battle, constant fighting and threats, a demolition of her home, none of which seemed to be taken into account by the car. Was no one else around her who could have intervened (friends/family) or even the car talking to someone about it? To say an intervention was needed? To a mother overwhelmed with her current circumstances?

Seems like a bit unfair to me. That Maya is the only one able to hold everything together. New mom to a child whose very vocal cords can shatter buildings who’s starting preschool ? And a husband who is having trouble with his rage and frustration that he’s scaring people? And a ghost shrimp who wants to start a business and bring in a turtle? So let’s add an unhappy car to that.

So yes, I found that Stir Crazy was good but not fantastic. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Absolutely don’t miss out on Charlotte’s book Kiss My Ash, it’s incredible.

I listed them all below.,

The series is highly recommended!

Maya’s Blogs (6 book series):

Espresso Yourself #1

Brew Diligence #2

Uncharted Grounds #3

Flat White Flag #4

Little Bean #5

Stir Crazy #6

Kiss My Ash: An Umbrafore Standalone Novel

Buy link

Book 6 of 6: Maya’s Blogs

Blurb

After Scorpion and Dax’s devastating fallout over Project Purity, Maya finds herself walking on eggshells around the shadow demon she loves. The bond between them is strained, and Ashvale Nocturn is feeling less like a sanctuary and more like a pressure cooker.

Meanwhile, Dax is carrying secrets, guilt, and enough emotional damage to destabilise the realms, while Genevieve launches Claw & Order into full investigative chaos with ghost shrimp professionalism and no ethical restraint.

Packed with brutal honesty, dark humor, and the messy reality of forgiveness, Stir Crazy is the sixth instalment in the Maya’s Blogs series about love, loyalty, rebuilding trust, and what happens when emotionally repressed warlords finally start talking.

May 29, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

327 pages

Book 6 of 6

Maya’s Blogs

Review: Apollo (The Noah Project Book 1) by M. Tasia

Rating: 4🌈

I’ve read M. Tasia before in her fantasy novels and enjoyed them, so I picked up Apollo not realizing it was part of a larger universe. Starting with Fire Lake series and continuing with The Noah Project, both are focused on the survivors of a hidden, government agency science project. One that used soldiers, and kidnapped civilians in horrific lab experiments to create paranormal mutations in the military’s secret weapon branch. It was called The Noah Project.

Each series has what’s left of the survivors trying to discover to the others, rescue them and destroy the remnants of The Noah Project that continues to operate unchecked.

It’s a couple per book type of story and series. And the length, here 200 pages, doesn’t really give the characters adequate space for a relationship of any depth to develop to at a realistic level. So it’s an instant/lust/love type of relationship. Which is acknowledged, a mystical connection.

It develops very quickly, the drama and the resolution. And the next couple is highlighted at the end.

It’s entertaining and quick. But I wasn’t as connected to the characters here as I have been in similar situations and storylines. Not enough depth for the story.

Interconnected series, starting with:

Fire Lake (9 book series)

The Noah Project:

Apollo #1

Buy link

Apollo (The Noah Project Book 1)

Blurb

A Soul Forged in Shadow, A Heart Found in the Light

For years, Apollo was nothing more than a number. A perfect weapon crafted in the cold, sterile labs of the Noah Group. He knew only the grey of concrete walls and the sting of betrayal until the day he finally escaped his chains and claimed his freedom.

But even though he broke free from the group’s stranglehold, he couldn’t deny the isolation of being a “mutant” in a world that feared him. Now he’s a leader with a fearsome burden on his shoulders.

Then Rocko comes calling.

A weary detective who’d walked away from everything, Rocko wasn’t looking for a hero. And he certainly wasn’t looking for a man who could sense the hum of the world around him. But in Apollo’s guarded eyes, Rocko sees a soul worth protecting.

And in Rocko’s steady presence, Apollo finds the one thing the Noah Group could never manufacture: a reason to hope.

As they lead a band of survivors against the shadowy organization that still hunts them, the battle becomes personal. In the quiet moments between the gunfire and the narrow escapes, a bond forms that is more powerful than any genetic enhancement.

Apollo has spent his life fighting to survive. Now, with Rocko by his side, he’s finally learning what it means to live.

Boroughs Publishing Group

Publication date

March 18, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

200 pages

Book 1 of 1

The Noah Project

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