Speculative Fiction Books

1885, East London

Abigail and Gideon are under siege. Noxious fogs have been bringing their clinic waves of indigent patients with inexplicable symptoms, telling wild tales of a demonic presence in the fog. If that’s not enough, someone wants the clinic for themselves, and they’re using the force of law to get it.

On the other side of town, heiress Meg Eisenstadt and her brother Nat live a life of well-intentioned aimless luxury. She dabbles in social justice causes and he pursues alchemy. And in a secret lab in the depths of Whitechapel, disgraced physician Jin Wylie attempts to rebuild his shattered life by performing dubious research for a shadowy cabal.

They live in separate worlds on different trajectories until the mysterious fiend in the fog brings them together.

Abigail and Meg discover a shared passion for social justice, and for one another. But where does that leave her plans with Gideon? And what of the future of the clinic? Gideon has his own monster. Can he keep it in check without Abigail’s constant presence? Does Dr. Wylie’s research hold the solution to Gideon’s problems, or is it the cause of them? And could Nat’s own dabblings be the key to defeating the vicious killer in the fog?

Danielle Clark is done with the Resistance. After years of leading a relentless charge against the National Armed Forces, she has nothing left to give. Her brother Lucas in tow, Dani leaves the frontlines for the solitude of the wastelands, content to start a new life as a scavenger. Dani thought she’d finally found peace until the general’s daughter, Katelyn Turner, shows up on her doorstep and brings the fight right back to her.

Now Dani has to decide what to do about Kate, ranking member of the NAF, a once-sworn enemy…and a woman she can’t keep out of her head. The growing spark of attraction forces Dani into an impossible choice between her newfound life and Kate’s fate. She must act quickly or risk losing everything.

Far from her Midwestern roots, Kathleen Schmitt is living in Tokyo as the project head for Personal Love Companion, a synthetic love robot made to match a customer's preference in personality and appearance. When Kathleen receives her own beta model for testing, she’s shocked to find her personalized robot is the exact replica of her neighbor, Yuriko Vellucci.

American-born engineer for the PLC project, Yuriko is sympathetic to Kathleen’s difficulties adjusting to Tokyo’s culture, but quickly realizes Kathleen will need her help if this transition—and the PLC project—is to be a success. With Yuriko to show her the way, Kathleen learns to socialize at an izakaya, find the best onsen in Nikko, party at a matsuri, buy doujinshii in Akihabara, fall in love with Japan, and, perhaps, fall for the person who showed it to her.

First Bold Strokes Books edition; previously published 2016.

Naos has come to Calamity, and chaos has come with her. Cordelia had enough problems without teaming up with former enemies in order to defeat a mad goddess. And she doesn’t yet know that the Storm Lord has been resurrected in a new body. On the plains, the prophet Lydia is convinced that Fajir is the one chosen to stop a massive firestorm in the future, if only Fajir wasn’t so set on killing everyone around her.

With their murderous leader dead, hostilities have ceased among the drushka, but the long-living aliens are slow to adapt. The last thing they want is a drushkan king with powers none of them dreamed of before.

With the Storm Lord dead, Cordelia Ross and Simon Lazlo return to Gale, to normality, but when they find the populace poisoned by the drushka, it’s clear the aliens must be dealt with before life can be anything near normal. In the north, Patricia Dué takes control of Gale’s mine with Jonah, the servant she created in Dillon Tracey’s old body. She thinks controlling the humans’ only source of metal will bring her power, but her past won’t be banished so easily.

Amidst the chaos and conflict, a prophet predicts that true calamity is still to come, and the only way to stop it may be a murderous widow looking for revenge. As factions splinter and reconnect, the fate of Calamity lies uncertain, and even the prophets can’t see every ripple on the horizon.

The spaceship Pathfinder arrives at its destination, Gemocon, the new homeworld for the Oconodian/Gemosian people. Commander Pamas Seclan has spent the journey incognito amid the civilians. Traumatized by years of captivity, she is both apprehensive and eager to locate her now grownup children.

Darmiya Do Voy arrived at Gemocon with the advance fleet three years ago. Normally exuberant and positive, the brilliant scientist has burned out and lost her spark. Darmiya meets Pamas and their mutual attraction is intense. Pamas feels she is too old and damaged for Darmiya, but still can’t keep away. Darmiya is determined to persuade Pamas to give them a chance.

During Pathfinder’s massive landing procedures, President Tylio and her associates learn the hard way of the remaining terrorist cells. As the terrorists unscrupulously attempt to reach their objective, Darmiya fights to save Pamas who is toe-to-toe with her former captors.

What would you do if you could go back in time and change your past? 

For Eva Caldwell that question is a no-brainer. After her parents were murdered while she was away at summer camp, Eva was placed into the custody of her abusive uncle and bullied in school. She’d gladly go back and change it all. When her uncle passes, Eva discovers he created a time machine. The problem with the once-hypothetical question becomes clear: changing the course of her past would mean giving up Casey McClellan, her best friend and the girl her heart has belonged to since she was twelve years old. 

Will Eva choose to save her parents’ lives or take a chance on the love of a lifetime?

Naos is bored. Alone in space, life should be idyllic. No more random thoughts intruding on her brain; no bodies clogging her senses. But what is there to do besides stare at the planet below and wonder what it would feel like to be Calamity’s only god?

War between the other gods shouldn’t be too hard to start. The Storm Lord has a bad temper, and after being abandoned by Simon Lazlo, source of immortality, he’s easy to provoke. And the Sun-Moon live closely with Calamity’s plains-dwelling people and their new neighbors, a pack of humans and aliens led by the intriguing ex-soldier Cordelia Ross. With a plague ravaging their numbers, it will be easy to set them at each other’s throats.

A little war, a bit of death, and the chance to be Calamity’s only deity? It’s a game to keep even the most fickle goddess entertained.

Surrounded by dead crewmates, marooned above an unknown planet, the bridge crew of the Atlas awakens from a crash with extraordinary mental abilities. When their most powerful member jettisons their passengers to the planet below, they have an unprecedented opportunity: they can become gods.

Two hundred years later, Lieutenant Cordelia Ross is a paladin serving the Storm Lord, her city’s patron deity. Her faith is absolute until her people are attacked by a native species, harmless creatures turned devious by an unknown hand. Cordelia tries to solve the mystery of their development before they kill anyone else, but the secrets surrounding them are too deep. As orders from the Storm Lord begin to value obedience over integrity, Cordelia wonders whose side her god is really on.