Last month I invited you to request an Advance Review Copy (ARC) of my upcoming novel Periphage Blues, releasing June 1. Some of you had questions about how ARC copies work, so here’s a brief explanation.
What’s an ARC? An ARC is a pre-release copy offered free to readers who are willing to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, or similar platforms. You get to read the book early, and your honest review helps others decide whether it’s for them. Win-win.
Why is there a questionnaire? Why does it ask for my reviewer links? It’s part of the process that StoryOrigin—my author platform—uses to match books to reviewers. People who’ve reviewed other books are more likely to follow through with a review. It also helps pair you with books that align with your reading tastes. Let’s face it: if you love breezy summer romances, a gritty noir sci-fi novel might not be your cup of tea.
What if I don’t like the book? If it turns out this isn’t your kind of story, there’s no pressure to leave a review. And if something about it bugs you, feel free to drop me an email.
What if I find a typo? I’ve already combed through the manuscript a dozen times, but if you happen to spot something that slipped through, I’d be grateful for a heads-up via email. There’s still time to make corrections before release.
If that sounds like your kind of story, and you’ve left reviews in the past, I’d love to have you read Periphage Blues.
Advance Review Program
Be one of the first to read my new book!
Periphage Blues
Chuck Boeheim
Smuggler Samuel Whitt has a past he doesn’t fully remember. When he crosses paths with Color of Air, an enigmatic shapestealer, he thinks he’s playing her. But she turns the tables, stealing his body, his memories, and his ship.
It’s identity theft on a breathtaking scale. Samuel should be dead. Instead, he’s a passenger in her mind, forced into an uneasy alliance to survive. And they’re being hunted. The Concordium’s black ops division will stop at nothing to weaponize Color of Air and erase anyone who gets in the way.
Plans unravel fast. From a seedy bar to mobsters, covert labs, and a collector who turns the living to stone for her amusement, they seek to uncover the conspiracy that brought them together. Samuel begins to realize his past isn’t just missing. It might never have been his to begin with.
For fans of Murderbot, The Expanse, and Timothy Zahn, Periphage Blues is a gripping sci-fi thriller with a noir edge, full of survival, identity, and a partnership neither one chose.
Free download from StoryOrigin
What We‘re Reading
Visit our archive of reviews and recommendations on the Books We Like page of our website. You‘ll find over one hundred recommendations in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Non Fiction.
Where possible, I’ve also included links to other retailers, including Bookshop.org, which is a non-profit that contributes a percentage of sales to independent bookstores near you. Bookshop.org now provides ebooks as well as physical books, so you can do all your shopping there.
The Martian Contingency
Mary Robinette Kowal
After a devastating meteor strike on the east coast of the US in 1952, humanity has to bootstrap colonies on the Moon and Mars before the Earth becomes uninhabitable in the next century. It’s now 1970, and the face of the US space program, Elma York, the original Lady Astronaut, is second in command of the second Mars expedition, the first expedition to establish a permanent base on the red planet.
From the start, the mission seems doomed to abort, as they face sabotage, disastrous equipment failures, and unpredictable Martian and Solar storms. Beyond that, there’s a strange tension among the crew from the first expedition. Something happened on that mission that they’re not willing to talk about.
Kowal combines a huge enthusiasm for the history of spaceflight with character-driven plots to deliver a satisfying tale of an alternate history that we’re only one asteroid away from living ourselves.
While this is the fourth in a series, there’s enough background provided that you should be able to dive in at this point. To follow the saga from the beginning, start with The Calculating Stars.
Buy on Amazon Bookshop.org
City of Lies
Sam Hawke
Jovan has trained all his life to detect poisons, preparing to succeed his uncle as the proofer (the poison-taster and protector of the Chancellor of Silasta). When his uncle—thought to know every poison in existence—is killed alongside the Chancellor, Jovan is thrust into a role he thought he’d have years to grow into, So is Tain, his childhood friend, who inherits the Chancellorship just as an army marches on the city. The poisonings were more than just court intrigue. They were the opening salvo in a war that no one expected.
The city of Silasta is more than a backdrop—it’s nearly a character in itself. Built atop the ruins of older civilizations, its layers mirror the layers of its society, with past truths buried but not gone. As the city comes under siege, so do the systems of power that have kept it running—revealing fault lines of class, ideology, and memory.
Jovan requires structure and regularity to an obsessive degree, qualities that are suddenly in short supply during a war. His sister Kalina, long sidelined due to her own health issues, steps into a more active role as well, and the bond between the siblings is one of the book’s emotional anchors.
City of Lies is a layered story, equal parts court intrigue, family ties (and rivalries), the lore of poisons and antidotes, and social warfare, all set amidst the scenes of a city under siege. I’ve definitely put the sequel on my books-to-read list.
Buy on Amazon Bookshop.org
Rivers of London
Ben Aaronovitch
Probationary Constable Peter Grant is securing a murder scene in London (which involves standing out in the cold all night to keep the public out) when a ghost volunteers his eye-witness account of the murder. The fact the Peter takes down the account and methodically follows up brings him to the notice of Thomas Nightingale, chief of a very specialized unit of the Metropolitan Police — the one that investigates cases too strange for the regular force. Peter becomes the newest member of the unit in the last fifty years, doubling its size, and becomes a trainee wizard cop under Nightingales’s tutelage.
Peter’s first assignment is to investigate the strange murder that the ghost had recounted, which quickly spirals into an entire string of strange killings. But there’s also a budding royal war that Nightingale assigns him to mediate — between the king of the upper Thames and the queen of lower Thames, both genii locorum, deities of the river itself. Thomas discovers a talent for the work, with a bent for scientific quantification of magic that is sometimes at odds with the old school Nightingale.
The story is steeped in London lore as thick as a copper’s mug of tea, told by someone who’s grown up there, and walked the beat for the past two years. It shows you a side of London you may have never seen. It’s full of wry, cynical cracks at London culture, language, and architecture. It’s a whole lot of fun and I heartily recommend it. Proper odd bollocks, this—mad as a box of frogs, and all the better for it.
Buy on Amazon Bookshop.org
You may also enjoy…
I participate in book swaps with other indie authors to support the writing community. The books below are ones I felt would appeal to my readers. I haven’t read them myself, so this isn‘t a personal endorsement—they‘re here for you to branch out and explore.
Burning Oath
Rowan Ashborne
They burned his name. Shackled his magic. Called him traitor. Now he’s back—with fire in his veins.
Darius Valorian was once the Empire’s golden son—until prophecy marked him for ruin. Banished by a lie and stripped of power, expected to die in the Wildlands. He didn’t.
The rebels saved him. The Empire’s top commander still hunts him. Darius wields unstable fire magic—and it’s getting stronger. If he can’t control it, it’ll destroy more than the enemy.Elara Veyne, the rebellion’s fiercest warrior, doesn’t trust him. The others barely tolerate him. But the Empire is building a weapon that can erase magic itself.Villages are vanishing. Magic is dying. Time is bleeding out.He fights with a shadow-panther bound to his soul. His allies stand divided behind him. Darius must decide—burn for revenge or rise for something more.The prophecy says he brings destruction.But Darius isn’t here to serve fate. He’s here to break it. And if he fails, fire won’t be the end. Oblivion will.
Buy via StoryOrigin
The Survivors
Richard Rimington
In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.
Her plan to avert galactic catastrophe will unite a band of survivors who have faced every imaginable danger and disaster.
Free via StoryOrigin
The Orc King's Wife
Sapphire Lebesque
King Ougigoth wants to take a second wife. First wife, Queen Borba, wants revenge on her cruel and scornful husband. When he and his brother, Prince Shuhguz, are distracted by their invasion of Asprei, their neighbour, she attempts to take it.
A grimdark fantasy short story.
Free via StoryOrigin
