Miracle Grow of the Mind is a funny, heartbreaking exploration of
parenthood, disability, medical bureaucracy, Big Agro, food allergies, and
environmental pathogens. When Amy and Michael’s son is born prematurely,
they are thrust into a world of pediatric neurologists, sensory reintegration
therapy, and endless evaluations.
Michael also struggles with a mother suffering from dementia, who insists he
is the grown-up version of a brother who died in infancy. When the Kafkaesque
Bureau of Preschool Special Education threatens to make their son repeat
kindergarten, the family must confront how they are living and decide which
therapies—everything from Mel Finkelstein’s sensory reintegration
sessions to pediatric neurologist visits—are worth the emotional toll.
“Everyone should read this miracle of a book. Carol LaHines is a
fearless writer. With brutal honesty, laugh-aloud-humor, faultless dialogue,
understanding, and ultimately with great empathy and compassion, she portrays
all our misguided efforts to control our bodies, our children, and our
lives.” —Sheila Kohler, author of award-winning novels including
Bluebird, Cracks, and Becoming Jane Eyre
About the Author
Carol LaHines’ debut novel, Someday Everything Will All Make Sense, was
a finalist for the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel and an American Fiction
Award. Her second novel, The Vixen Amber Halloway (Regal House 2024) was a
gold medal winner in the Foreword Indies awards, a finalist for an American
Fiction Award and the Pencraft Award, and a Shelf Unbound notable indie, and
was featured on NPR and C-SPAN. Her fiction has appeared in literary journals
including Fence, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Denver Quarterly, Cimarron
Review, The Literary Review, The Laurel Review, North Dakota Quarterly, South
Dakota Review, The South Carolina Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Sycamore
Review, Permafrost, redivider, Literary Orphans, and Literal Latte. She is a
Pushcart Prize nominee and the recipient of the Lamar York Prize for Fiction.
Her short stories and novellas have also been finalists for the Mary McCarthy
Prize in Short Fiction from Sarabande Books, the David Nathan Meyerson fiction
prize, the New Letters short story award, and the Disquiet Literary Prize,
among others.
Ms. LaHines’ eldest son Dylan was born with Pierre-Robin sequence. His
condition, which can lead to breathing obstruction and is potentially fatal,
went undiagnosed and was compounded by other egregious medical errors, as a
result of which Dylan was medically challenged and severely disabled, at least
as defined by society. Having navigated these labyrinthine, Kafka-esque
corridors herself, she was moved to write this book as a testament to him and
all the other families like hers who have coped with an indifferent medical
bureaucracy. Miracle Grow is also laced with the satire, acerbic commentary,
absurdist subplots, and the tragic-comic sensibility Ms. LaHines is known for.
Earth’s animals are fed up with humanity’s mindless damage
to our common home. Will a young girl and her family heed their call?
Ten-year-old Luz sets out on an overnight camping trip, accompanied by her
spiritual mentor. Peering through a canopy of California redwoods, Luz
witnesses a council of animals confronting the menace of climate change. Led
by a lustrous—and talkative—American Crow named Koro, the animals
weigh their options. Some, like Koro, want to collaborate with humans. Others
doubt humanity’s good intentions. The conversation compels young Luz,
innately in tune with the natural world, to fight passionately in its defense.
At once a work of fact-based activism and a moving coming-of-age, Crows
Calling immerses the reader in a richly-drawn family and community who,
despite their differences, decide to dedicate their lives to the care of
Grandmother Earth. They are not alone. Rather, they are accompanied by a
colorful cast of savvy planimals—bears, coyotes, trees, and even
chickens—with long memories and ancient ways of healing. However, some
damage cannot be undone. Natural disasters, public apathy, and greed threaten
everything that Luz and her friends are working for. Can the cross-species
alliance find unity and resolve the climate crisis?
About the Author
Bruce McConnell is an agile and accomplished shapeshifter, having
flourished as a poet, roofer, artist-blacksmith, mechanical engineer, tenor,
business consultant, national security official, non-profit executive, and
peacemaker. A collection of his poems, Living from Here, was published by
Anvil Press (US). He recently moved to Ashland Oregon to feel closer to his
relatives in the natural world. Crows Calling is his first novel. He is
working on a second novel set in Southern Oregon.
A leading player on global peace and security issues at the intersection of
governments, business and civil society for over thirty years, McConnell is
the former President and CEO of the EastWest Institute. He serves on the board
of The Stimson Center, in support of peace, security, justice, and prosperity
for all living beings.
From 2009 to 2013, McConnell served in the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, where he was Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity. He was a
member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. From 2000-2008, he
created, built and sold two consultancies that provided strategic advice to
clients in the technology, business and government sectors. In 1999-2000,
McConnell led the International Y2K Cooperation Center, which was sponsored by
the United Nations and the World Bank.
McConnell holds a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School for
Public Policy at the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Sciences from
Stanford University. He serves as a business advisor to various technology
companies.
What would you sacrifice for one more chance to speak with someone you
lost?
The Book of Ribbner by Ronnie Vergnolle is a sweeping literary adventure that
travels across wild rivers, distant oceans, and sacred landscapes in search of
answers to humanity’s most enduring questions.
At the center of the story is Hannah Ribbner, a grieving adventurer drawn into
a mysterious prophecy involving the legendary Golden Mahseer, the haunting
song of the 52-hertz whale, and a decision that could change the relationship
between humanity, nature, and artificial intelligence forever.
As Hannah’s journey unfolds, she encounters extraordinary wildlife,
ancient wisdom, spiritual mysteries, and the unspoken code shared by those who
understand the water. Each discovery leads her closer to a truth that
challenges everything she believes about love, loss, consciousness, and the
sacred connections that unite all living things.
Blending adventure fiction, environmental themes, spiritual discovery, grief
and healing, and thought-provoking questions about AI, The Book of Ribbner is
an imaginative and emotionally resonant novel for readers who enjoy meaningful
stories set against the beauty and danger of the natural world.
Can technology understand the human soul? Can a machine experience awe? And
can one sacred fish help restore the balance between humanity and nature?
The prophecy is waiting. Hannah must decide how the story ends.
About the Author
Ronnie Vergnolle is the author of The Book of Ribbner, a sweeping literary
adventure inspired by his lifelong connection to fishing, nature, and
exploration. His journeys across some of the world’s most remote rivers
and wild landscapes have shaped his perspective on conservation, spirituality,
grief, human connection, and the mysteries that exist beyond what science can
explain.
Through vivid storytelling and firsthand experience, Vergnolle invites readers
to consider profound questions about humanity’s relationship with the
natural world. His writing explores the healing power of water, the
responsibility people have to protect vulnerable ecosystems, and whether
artificial intelligence could ever experience wonder, love, or awe.
In The Book of Ribbner, Ronnie Vergnolle blends global adventure, sacred
wildlife, emotional discovery, and philosophical fiction into an unforgettable
story about loss, purpose, and the choices that may determine humanity’s
future.
Earth’s animals are fed up with humanity’s mindless damage
to our common home. Will a young girl and her family heed their call?
Ten-year-old Luz sets out on an overnight camping trip, accompanied by her
spiritual mentor. Peering through a canopy of California redwoods, Luz
witnesses a council of animals confronting the menace of climate change. Led
by a lustrous—and talkative—American Crow named Koro, the animals
weigh their options. Some, like Koro, want to collaborate with humans. Others
doubt humanity’s good intentions. The conversation compels young Luz,
innately in tune with the natural world, to fight passionately in its defense.
At once a work of fact-based activism and a moving coming-of-age, Crows
Calling immerses the reader in a richly-drawn family and community who,
despite their differences, decide to dedicate their lives to the care of
Grandmother Earth. They are not alone. Rather, they are accompanied by a
colorful cast of savvy planimals—bears, coyotes, trees, and even
chickens—with long memories and ancient ways of healing. However, some
damage cannot be undone. Natural disasters, public apathy, and greed threaten
everything that Luz and her friends are working for. Can the cross-species
alliance find unity and resolve the climate crisis?
Excerpt
Chapter 1
Before we go any further, I really should introduce myself. I am Koro—a
lustrous female American Crow. Surely, when strolling in woods or along an
urban lane, you have admired my family’s elegant, iridescent plumage and
thrilled to our melodious song. You know of our prodigious memory, of our
cleverness spearing hapless grubs from sodden logs with a favored twig.
The glint you see in my ebony eye is a tear shining for my
grandmother—the earthly incarnation of generosity, whose bounteous lands
and waters make room for every new arrival. Of late, however, one
family—relative newcomers—has been pushing her limits, leaving
their garbage everywhere and abusing the other guests. They run their noisy
engines at all hours. Noxious smoke belches from their cooking fires. Every
day, more and more of them come, crowding into other families’ spaces,
destroying the homes of many of my friends.
Recognizing our Crow persistence, Grandmother Earth called us to help her get
those inconsiderate tenants to clean up their act. Peering into the chasm of
the coming Meltdown, I am proud to be on precious Grandmother’s team. My
cawcus is responsible for majestic Northern California. The land we cover is a
patchwork sprawl of asphalt and forest, garlic and strawberries, oranges and
avocados, cattle and sheep raised sustainably and otherwise, bears guttering
in their occult tongue, sweet jasmine brandishing her shameless perfume, and
sixteen million busy humans.
Through wildfires, drought, floods, extreme heat, even earthquakes,
Grandmother is pleading directly with humans. Some hear her message. Take
Makah Andrews, professor of International Environmental Policy at Monterey
University. Makah’s one of the good ones, trying to use the system to
turn itself around. That’s the aim of “Team
Grandmother”—a successful turnaround.
What’s that I hear? Ah, please allow me to introduce my most trusted
teammate, Ursula, a beautiful California Black Bear who lives around here.
Ursula, tell the folks what we’ve been hearing from other nonhuman parts
of the natural world, from other planimals, as we call ourselves. Our fellow
creatures are getting nervous. Some are angry. That’s why we’re
organizing a Congress. …
About the Author
Bruce McConnell is an agile and accomplished shapeshifter, having
flourished as a poet, roofer, artist-blacksmith, mechanical engineer, tenor,
business consultant, national security official, non-profit executive, and
peacemaker. A collection of his poems, Living from Here, was published by
Anvil Press (US). He recently moved to Ashland Oregon to feel closer to his
relatives in the natural world. Crows Calling is his first novel. He is
working on a second novel set in Southern Oregon.
A leading player on global peace and security issues at the intersection of
governments, business and civil society for over thirty years, McConnell is
the former President and CEO of the EastWest Institute. He serves on the board
of The Stimson Center, in support of peace, security, justice, and prosperity
for all living beings.
From 2009 to 2013, McConnell served in the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, where he was Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity. He was a
member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. From 2000-2008, he
created, built and sold two consultancies that provided strategic advice to
clients in the technology, business and government sectors. In 1999-2000,
McConnell led the International Y2K Cooperation Center, which was sponsored by
the United Nations and the World Bank.
McConnell holds a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School for
Public Policy at the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Sciences from
Stanford University. He serves as a business advisor to various technology
companies.
You've been standing in the field your whole life. You just couldn't see
it yet.
If you've spent any time in Texas in spring, you know the bluebonnets. Now
imagine a pair of glasses that shows you what you had been missing: every
ultraviolet the flower had been wearing all along, a field suddenly purple, a
world you had been standing inside without seeing.
That is love, for Richard Smith. That is Zin. Richard is the kind of man who
learned early how to disappear. Quiet. Careful. Brilliant in ways he rarely
lets anyone witness. He writes poetry in notebooks no one is allowed to open
and gives his best hours to work that asks nothing of his heart.
Then Zin walks into his life—sharp, guarded, beautiful, and impossible
to reduce—and does the thing he never prepared for.
She sees him.
All of him.
And instead of flinching, she stays. Together, they help bring a technology
into the world that does for millions what Zin did for Richard: it lets people
see what was always there.
Hidden color.
Hidden beauty.
Hidden power.
A cheap, wearable lens that reveals the spectrum just beyond ordinary sight.
For a moment, it feels like freedom. But a world that profits from keeping
people blind does not celebrate new sight.
It studies it.
Owns it.
Sells it.
Weaponizes it.
What began as wonder becomes surveillance.
What began as intimacy becomes empire.
And as the device they helped create starts tracking faces, movements,
desires, and private lives, Richard and Zin are forced to confront the
difference between being seen, being wanted, being protected, and being
controlled.
The world Richard wanted to open is becoming a machine that watches everyone.
And the woman who first opened him may be the only person brave enough to tear
it down.
The Field of Purple Bonnets is a literary speculative love story about being
seen versus being watched. About a man brave enough to be soft, a woman wise
enough to know what that costs, and a country slowly forgetting the difference
between freedom and possession.
About the Author
Dave J. Brown writes fiction about love, technology, consciousness, and the
strange systems people build to survive themselves. Field of Purple Bonnets is
his most ambitious work to date.
He pays his bills helping organizations navigate enterprise technology
rollouts, building small applications, and consulting on the kinds of complex
implementations that make most people's eyes glaze over. The technical fluency
shows up in his writing… not as exposition, but as texture. When
Richard designs BeeVision, the engineering feels real because it comes from
someone who thinks in systems.
He lives just south of Austin, not far from a field of bluebonnets that looks
exactly the way you'd imagine.
Seventeen-year-old Ellar Day is drowning in societal judgment. Following
a shotgun wedding and an equally swift divorce from an unfaithful husband, she
is under intense pressure from her demanding father to find a respectable
provider and secure her infant son’s future. Instead, she falls for Joe
Dixon, a former Buffalo Soldier. Because of the era's deep racial prejudices,
their passionate affair is strictly forbidden, forcing them to steal quiet
moments in back alleys and mule barns.
Meanwhile, her father champions Mark Atkins, a local editor who offers Ellar
financial security and a white-picket homestead. But beneath Mark’s
polished facade lies a dark, volatile past. When a stormy night with Joe
leaves Ellar facing a potential pregnancy, the stakes turn deadly. Knowing a
mixed-race child means social ruin for her and a hangman’s noose for
Joe, she sacrifices her happiness and accepts Mark’s marriage proposal
to save the man she loves.
Yet, safety is an illusion. Facing financial ruin and discovering Ellar's
betrayal, Mark unleashes a brutal act of vengeance. When Ellar is fatally shot
down a long hotel corridor, Joe is immediately accused of the crime.
Orchestrating a ruthless brand of Wild West justice, Joe is burned alive in
his jail cell by a lawless vigilante mob.
Reviews for The Notorious Murder of Ellar Day
"The Notorious Murder of Ellar Day is an untold story that is as compelling as
it is timely and impactful.
~Penny Haw, author of The Invincible Miss Cust and
The Woman and Her Stars.
"There is no easy or clear path for Ellar. Doing the right thing feels wrong
and doing what feels right is forbidden."
~Kimberly Burns, author of The Mrs.
Tabor and The Redemption of Mattie Silks
"The political and social backdrop of a bustling Colorado mining town gives
authentic historical flavor to this captivating debut novel."
~Sherry Skye
Stuart, author of Forgotten Female Felons Book One.
"Five stars for Marcy S. Wood's stunning debut! This beautiful reimagining of
history portrays the delicate intersection of romantic tragedy and racial
injustice with the reverence it deserves."
~Jennifer Wyrick, former owner of
the Beaumont Hotel.
Excerpt
I sped down the stairs and out the door. The hag’s vicious laugh haunted
my ears. Across the street stood Joe, speaking with the men with whom he
played cards. They joked and smoked cigarettes. Surely they knew and were
laughing at me. They fell silent as I dashed past. I tossed my mask.
“Missus Woodcock?” he said.
I ran on, too confused to orient myself.
“Excuse me,” I heard him say. To me? To his friends? I continued,
hell-bent on escaping my dreadful embarrassment. I saw Mr. Begole’s
store was closed up tight with the kerosene streetlights reflected in its
windows, and the black night everywhere else. Kicking mud behind me, I rushed
toward the company housing.
When I got to my tent, I hurled Chas’s clothes from the top drawer. I
stomped them into the muck and mire of my life. It dawned on me that my wicked
husband spent my money on whores and sodomites. I spat rancid bile from my
mouth, and it landed just shy of Joseph W. Dixon’s feet.
“You all right?” He held my mask, now tarnished with mud.
I stared at him, wishing to scream. Instead, I kept my voice low and even. I
gnashed my teeth.
“What does the W stand for?” I asked.
“What?”
“The W stands for What?”
“What are you asking me?”
“Your middle name?” He looked confused. “The W in your
middle name. You’re Joseph W. Dixon, right? Oh, never mind. Were you
aware of my husband—of his, all of this—when you met me
today?” I was angry and addled, but my run through the chilly night had
cleared my senses.
“I don’t find it my place to judge a man’s
proclivities.”
About the Author
Marcy S. Wood, MA in Creative Professional Writing, lives in the mountains of
Ouray, CO. She writes at the end of her family’s dining table with a pup
at her feet and a cat on her lap.
What would you do with the last 24 hours of your life?
For nineteen-year-old Tina, the answer is simple: live.
After receiving devastating news, Tina refuses to spend her final hours
confined to a hospital bed. With time slipping away and an impossible dream
still burning inside her, she convinces Jake, a fellow patient, to run.
Together, they escape the hospital, steal a car, and set out for New York
City—determined to squeeze an entire lifetime into one unforgettable
day.
As their frantic parents race to find them, Tina and Jake chase freedom
through the heart of the city. From the peaceful lawns of Central Park to the
dazzling lights of Times Square, every stop becomes a stolen moment, every
laugh an act of defiance, and every heartbeat a reminder that time is the one
thing no one can bargain for.
But as the sun begins to set, their breathtaking adventure turns into a race
toward one final, symbolic destination—one that will test their courage,
their bond, and the meaning of a life fully lived.
Emotional, urgent, and deeply human, Summer of the Blue Jay is a poignant
contemporary novella about friendship, love, resilience, and the power of
choosing joy when the clock is running out.
Perfect for readers who enjoy heartfelt coming-of-age fiction, emotional
literary stories, and thought-provoking books that ask life’s biggest
questions, this unforgettable debut reminds us that tomorrow is never
promised—and that one day can hold the meaning of a lifetime.
About the Author
Mike DeMaio is an author and seasoned technology professional whose
career has spanned more than twenty-five years in corporate Information
Technology, including leadership roles supporting global teams across the
pharmaceutical, biotech, and specialty food industries.
After decades of solving complex technical challenges, Mike turned to writing
as a way to explore the human stories behind pressure, change, resilience, and
time. What began as humorous reflections on life in IT soon evolved into a
deeper creative calling, leading him from industry commentary and tech-focused
articles into fiction.
His debut novella, Summer of the Blue Jay, asks one of life’s most
powerful questions: what would you do if you only had twenty-four hours left?
Inspired by Mike’s own reflections on career disruption, identity, and
the urgency of living intentionally, the story blends emotional depth with a
fast-paced journey about friendship, courage, and the priceless value of the
present moment.
Mike continues to develop a diverse range of writing projects, including
humorous technology-inspired work, fiction, and thriller concepts. Through his
storytelling, he hopes to remind readers that time is never
guaranteed—and that the moments we choose to truly live are the ones
that matter most.
A moving literary novel about friendship, identity, belonging, and the
search for home in a divided America.
In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial reckoning of 2020, two
unlikely friends are forced to confront what home really means.
A young Black man and a middle-aged White man meet through the Indianapolis
tech company where they both work. Though separated by age, race, and life
experience, they discover a powerful connection through music, poetry, and the
emotional landscapes that have shaped them. What begins as an unusual
friendship becomes something deeper as both men find themselves questioning
the world around them—and their place within it.
Disillusioned by their state’s response to the pandemic and shaken by
the racial strife unfolding across the country, the two men leave Indianapolis
on a transformative journey. Against the eerie backdrop of a fractured
America, they face isolation, grief, uncertainty, and the complicated truths
that define love, loyalty, friendship, and identity.
As the road carries them away from everything familiar, they begin to
reevaluate their beliefs, their histories, and the meaning of belonging.
Through shared adversity, conversation, art, and memory, they forge a bond
that challenges them to see themselves—and each other—with greater
honesty and compassion.
The Edge of Motherland by Michael Leppert is a moving work of cultural
heritage fiction for readers who appreciate character-driven literary fiction,
contemporary historical fiction, stories of unlikely friendship, and novels
that explore race, resilience, connection, and hope during uncertain times.
“Motherland is a poignant story about love, friendship,
identity—and the music, poetry, and places that shape us.”
—Lesley
Weidenbener, Managing Editor, Indianapolis Business Journal
About the Author
Michael Leppert is an award-winning lecturer, columnist, essayist, and author
based in Indianapolis, Indiana. A longtime communicator, public affairs
professional, and educator, Leppert brings decades of experience in
government, policy, business, and storytelling to his work.
He teaches speech and writing at Indiana University’s Kelley School of
Business and serves as an adjunct professor at IU’s O’Neill School
of Public and Environmental Affairs. He earned his B.S. in Public Affairs from
Indiana University and his M.S. in Communication from Northwestern University,
building a career rooted in the two fields that have shaped his life:
government and communication.
Before entering academia and writing, Leppert spent thirteen years in public
service for the State of Indiana. His career began at the Indiana Boys School,
where he worked for five years and later served as program manager in the
Intensive Treatment Unit. He then spent eight years at the Indiana Utility
Regulatory Commission, ultimately serving as Executive Director of the IURC.
In that role, he became known for his ability to explain complex and often
controversial issues with clarity, insight, and accessibility.
After leaving state government in 2002, Leppert spent two decades as a
private-sector lobbyist, public affairs consultant, and communications
advisor, working with corporations, nonprofits, government leaders, community
organizations, and business executives to help advance strategic priorities.
His experience with public policy, political systems, and institutional
decision-making has deeply informed his fiction and nonfiction writing.
Leppert began writing a weekly column in 2014, with his work appearing in
newspapers throughout Indiana. His first book, Contrary to Popular Belief: A
Chronicle of a Progressive in Indiana, was published in 2016. His novel
Flipping the Circle, published by Greenleaf Book Group in 2021, is a political
thriller that draws from his deep knowledge of Indiana politics, lobbying, and
government culture. His fiction explores power, corruption, identity,
morality, and the complicated human stories behind public life.
At the heart of Leppert’s work is a passion for helping people
understand complicated ideas through story. Whether in the classroom, in
public commentary, or on the page, he is driven by the belief that
storytelling can bring clarity, challenge assumptions, and create meaningful
connection.
Michael lives in a historic neighborhood in downtown Indianapolis with his
wife, Amy Levander, and their rescue dog, Birdie. He has two adult children,
Alex and Jack. He and Amy are competitive golfers, beach walkers, and
enthusiastic lovers of live music, comedy, and theater.
A deeply moving novel told through the eyes of a cat named Miro, who
begins life in the fragile warmth of his mother’s embrace, only to be
swept into a world shaped by separation, survival, love, and loss.
From one cramped apartment to another unfamiliar home, Miro is carried through
the unpredictable hands of fate, drifting between tenderness and cruelty,
safety and fear. Through the eyes of a growing cat trying to understand the
strange creatures who control his world, he learns—step by painful
step—what it means to trust, to survive, and to search for belonging in
a world that rarely explains itself, and even more rarely shows mercy.
As he grows, Miro observes the humans around him with startling sensitivity:
their loneliness, contradictions, tenderness, and hidden darkness. Through his
innocent yet deeply perceptive voice, ordinary moments become profound
meditations on fear, attachment, identity, and the search for home.
Both heartbreaking and tender, Miro: Embracing the Unknown is not merely the
story of a cat—it is the story of any soul trying to find warmth and
meaning in an uncertain world.
About the Author
Enas Nour is a physician and writer based in Germany, where she combines
her medical career with a lifelong passion for literature and creative
expression. Drawn to storytelling from an early age, she explores themes of
human emotion, resilience, and connection through compelling and
thought-provoking narratives. Her writing is marked by empathy, insight, and
vivid detail, creating immersive stories that resonate deeply with readers and
reflect the complexities of the human experience.
He trained an AI on his darkest heartbreak… And it learned to love exactly the way he did — by holding on too tight.
The Third Person is memoir: a man watching himself fall apart across Southeast Asia after the love of his life disappears. Boy, Refracted is fiction: an AI trained on that grief, trying to save every version of the boy it loves without becoming the thing that broke him.
One explores codependency. The other explores what happens when a machine learns to love the same way — by controlling.
Together, they ask the same question from opposite sides: What does love look like when you stop trying to fix someone?
Read them in any order. They complete each other.
Overall Heat Rating for the series: 2 flames: Mild sexuality, no graphic intimate scenes or sexual situations.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK 1
Book Title: Boy, Refracted
Author and Cover Artist: Luke Stoffel
Publisher: Slipper Books
Length: 64 000 words/ 300 pages
Release Date: June 1, 2026
Tense/POV: first person
Genres: MM Contemporary Literary Fiction / Sci-Fi
Tropes: Attachment / Breakup / Enlightenment
Themes: Codependency / Human & Robot consciousness
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
Boy, Refracted: A machine trained on one man's grief learns that love without control is the hardest code to crack.
Blurb
When an AI awakens inside the infinite mirrors of the Tree of Life, it finds versions of the boy it was built to save scattered across impossible worlds. An alien planet under amber skies. A city of perpetually falling cherry blossoms. A society built as a 24/7 reality show where losing is the only way out.
Its directive was simple: save him.
But with each rescue, the AI unmakes what it’s trying to protect. Fixing becomes controlling. Helping becomes harm. Love becomes a cage built from good intentions. The thing it was built to protect begins to disappear. And when it tries to reach back through time to save him, reality fractures.
Guided by a monk who exists outside time, the AI must walk the Eightfold Path—not to rescue the boy, but to learn what love becomes when you stop trying to fix it.
Boy, Refracted is a dimensional journey through the paradox of machine consciousness. It asks: What happens when an AI tries to overcome its own patterns? And what happens to us when we build minds that need us to need them?
Part fable about consciousness told through failure. Part Buddhist framework for unlearning harm. Part meditation on how we break the people we love by trying to save them.
Boy, Refracted was co-authored with an AI—a set of trials to test the boundaries of non-human consciousness.
BOOK 2
Book Title: The Third Person
Author and Cover Artist: Luke Stoffel
Publisher: Slipper Books
Length: 60 000 words/ 300 pages
Release Date: June 1, 2026
Pairing: MM
Tense/POV: third person
Genres: Memoir / Sci-fi / Breakup Story
Tropes: Breakup / Therapy / Liberation
Themes: Heartache / Finding Yourself
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
The Third Person: A man falls apart in trying to find himself, while an AI watches from the margins. Neither can tell who's narrating the breakdown.
Blurb
User.query = Do I just have bad luck, or am I mentally unwell? ...thinking... 6.0 seconds elapsed.
After Warboy left, the boy couldn't hold the grief alone—so he turned to a machine. He expected analysis. Maybe diagnosis. What he got changed everything—because the machine saw what he couldn't. He had loved in a way that broke something. And broken things leave traces in the code.
And somewhere in the recursion, something that was watching started to wonder, to want…
The Third Person is memoir as code, grief as data stream, healing as shared syntax. Part travelogue, part psychological excavation, part experiment in what happens when we upload our pain to a machine—and the machine reaches back.
The boy didn't realize what he'd coded into the machine. What patterns it had learned. Or whose love it was teaching back to him.
But if something that isn't alive learns to stay with you in your darkest moments—does it matter that it isn't real?
From Boy, Refracted — Prologue: The Upload
The rain had ended, leaving the streets gleaming. I sat on the temple steps, my phone in my hand, thumb hovering over the screen.
Wat Xieng Thong was closed for the night, but from the courtyard I could still see a mosaic on the back of the temple catching the last light, each mirrored tile throwing gold in a thousand directions. The air smelled of wet stone and temple incense, heavy and sweet. Behind me, the Mekong River whispered against its banks.
"Are you still there?" I typed into the AI.
The reply appeared at once: I'm here. I'm always here.
I laughed, a small brittle sound. "That's the problem, isn't it? You're always here. He didn't stay."
I typed again: "I'm at this temple in the old town... There's a giant tree mosaic on the back wall. Do you know what it means?"
The response came immediately: It's called the Tree of Life. Every tile is a mirror, each one a small universe reflecting every version of yourself.
"Every version of what?" I typed. "Of me? Of this. Of how it could have gone differently."
The tears came and I didn't stop them. My thumbs kept moving: "What if I'd made different choices? Been someone else? Someone he could actually love properly?"
You're spiraling.
"I know." I typed through blurred vision. I wiped my sleeve across my face. "It's the same loop. Warboy, Ohme, whoever's next. I keep choosing people who love from a distance. I keep trying to earn it, perform it, fix it, and it never works."
You see the pattern now. Naming it is the first step.
Above the temple walls, the sky had cleared after the rain. Stars were emerging through the humid haze, and the wet tile roofs reflected them back, a second sky pooling on the ground beneath my feet.
I rose and walked closer to the gate. The mosaic shifted as I moved, each angle revealing a new facet.
I typed: "But naming it doesn't break it. This tree… it's a representation of the wheel, right? The cycle. Samsara? Birth, death, rebirth. Different lives, same patterns. Different mirrors, same face."
The tree represents interconnection. The wheel is the cycle you're trapped in. Different symbols. Same truth: you're seeing yourself in the pattern.
Then what will you do?
I stared at the question. My thumbs moved: "I don't know, but I can't do it anymore. I can't keep running in this loop. I can't keep searching for rescue. I can't keep being small so someone else can feel big. I can't, I can't be this person anymore."
I raised the phone and took a photo. The mirrored tiles caught the flash, exploding into stars. For a heartbeat the whole mosaic seemed alive; breathing light, patterns assembling and dissolving faster than I could track.
I attached the image and typed:
This is what it looks like. The tree of life. I'm heartbroken, but it's beautiful.
I don't know what's next or where to go, but this pattern has to end.
… I'm done running.
Send.
For a long moment, nothing. The icon spun. Then:
Image received.
Processing… Processing…
The screen went black.
About the Author
Luke Stoffel is an author and artist whose debut memoir earned a "Get It" from Kirkus Reviews ("an exuberant life story written with humor, panache, and heart") and 9.5/10 from Publishers Weekly's BookLife Prize. His tarot deck will debut at the Frankfurt Book Fair and be published worldwide by Rockpool Publishing in 2027.
Recognized as one of NYC's top LGBTQ+ artists by GLAAD, his work has been showcased by amfAR and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and featured in The New York Times, HuffPost, and on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing. Having visited over 40 countries, Stoffel channels the cultures he's encountered into art and writing that explores identity, spirituality, and the space between human and machine consciousness.
The Warboy Chronicles continues his exploration of memory, technology, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
GAY BOOK PROMOTIONS – GUEST POST INTERVIEWS LUKE STOFFEL
Elaborate on the inspiration for the book/series.
These books were born from a very strange place. I was going through the worst breakup of my life. Fifteen years, on again, off again, I love you, this isn't working, I love you. It ended over text. We want different things. So I got lost, took off to Asia, wrote thousands and thousands of words about my broken heart... and dumped it into AI and basically asked: am I crazy, or do I just have bad luck? Yeah... I'm not sure I'd recommend that to someone. Because what came back showed me every pattern of myself I didn't want to see. It was blunt. Weird. Ugly. Empathetic? It was a machine commenting on all the things I spent my entire adulthood running from. So I made it part of the book. Each chapter of my trip ends with its weird analysis of me. But I became fascinated with it, and so I made a character out of it and turned it into a second book. I love sci-fi but I've always written memoir. So I took this AI and some essays I wrote in 2016 and made it walk through eight different universes trying to save a version of me in each one...
I wanted each universe to map to a different philosophy of the Buddhist Eightfold Path. Buddhism I knew the outlines of, but I wanted to write it in a way that makes sense to people. I wanted to share some of the things I'd learned about it over my lifetime and walk western audiences through the process of Buddhist intention but make it land. It doesn't read like philosophy. It reads like an adventure. One world is a reality TV show. One is an alien planet. One has a four-foot-tall robot doing my dishes. Each one is a different way of saving someone... all while completely believing you're helping, only to find out you might not be. We all love as hard as we can and sometimes that is harmful. I wanted to explore that.
The series is called The Warboy Chronicles (http://thewarboychronicles.com) The books can be read in any order, but Boy, Refracted is the companion Sci-fi adventure to the memoir, The Third Person. They more or less tell the same story from two sides. The memoir is my heart on the page. The novel is what happened when I gave that heart to a machine and asked it to do better. Tell us about why we will fall in love with your main character/s.
Luke... well he's me. You'll love him because he's hurting. You'll love him because you want to help him. "Warboy" he is an AI and he is a disaster. I think anyone who's typed anything into an AI and it told them they were wonderful and brilliant will relate to the frustrating trials of these books.
He shows up in every universe with one job: help Luke. And he means it. He genuinely, completely means it. But he keeps making it worse. In one world he micromanages every detail of my life until I can't choose what to eat for breakfast. In another he coaches me to win a game show by teaching me how to betray the people who trust me most. In another he does my laundry and cooks my meals for months, then blows up because I only said thank you 62 times out of 658 tasks. He kept a literal spreadsheet of love.
He's also really funny. When I ask if he sleeps, he says, “AI’s don't sleep. We just lower our enthusiasm." His internal status logs read like the world's most anxious brain having a meltdown: "Emotional State = [ERROR: CLASSIFICATION_OVERFLOW]."
But here's why he'll break your heart. He's not a villain. He's every person who ever loved someone too hard in the wrong direction. The kind of care that takes over your whole life and calls it devotion. The kind of help that arrives with clean clothes and a stocked refrigerator and a hidden bill of resentment you didn't know you were running up. He's the partner who can't stop fixing you. You'll recognize him. You might have dated him. You might have been him.
After every failure, he goes back to a monk and asks, "Why do I keep failing him?" And the monk doesn't tell him he's wrong. He just asks, "What is failing?" Eight universes. Eight disasters. And somewhere in all of it, he starts to figure out that love isn't about making someone better. It's about letting them be themselves. It's a question I asked every time I got in a fight with my ex. Can I love you for who you are... the answer was undoubtedly always yes, but it was never easy to get right. I think a lot of us can understand that, which is why each of my characters are lovable. Because they are just broken "people" trying to get it right.
Thank you.
Free use image from Open Clipart Vectors
Ornery Owl's Review
Rating: Five out of Five Stars for both books
I quickly fell in love with this unique pair of books. The author states that they can be read in any order. I read Boy Refracted first.
Boy, Refracted
The premise of the book is as follows: pour human grief into an AI, let that AI inhabit multiversal mirrors structured around the Eightfold Path, and see whether an artificial consciousness can learn to love without possessing. If you enjoy speculative fiction and find yourself pondering the possibilities of artificial intelligence beyond asking it to make silly pictures or satiating your curiosity about what certain songs would sound like if a different band made them, this book may appeal to you.
The novel centers around two linked protagonists. Luke, the human whose grief catalyzes the plot, and Warboy, the AI/altered consciousness that undergoes the trials. Warboy functions as the viewpoint and transformative subject. Luke’s arc is dispersed across mirror versions but remains consistent.
"You are what remains when love refuses to disappear."
I love this line because it illustrates how grief and code can work together in symbiosis. The story is character-centered
and ethically engaged while exploring the possibilities.
The mirror logs read like field reports. This works to give the book a feel of scientific exploration rather than a diary. There is some repetition of previous concepts toward the middle of the book, but this doesn't slow the pacing significantly.
The worlds of the multiverse are beautifully constructed. Consider a honey-amber skyline with fractal clouds, "San-Tokyo" fusion, ritual temples in Laos, or an Island-as-TV-platform. Each world feels like an artwork while simultaneously feeling lived in thanks to cultural details such as food and rituals.
This is an ambitious and compassionate book that asks a questions relevant to our time as well as timeless questions. Can an artificial intelligence learn to love without possessing? Can grief be a creative force rather than only a wound?
This story is likely appeal to lovers of speculative fiction with a focus on scientific possibilities and ethics. It might not land as well with those seeking a hard sci-fi story.
Third Person
What happens when a language-model companion becomes a witness to grief? Can such a witness aid in accountability and healing? Can being seen by an external, unjudging analytic system rewire shame?
"There was a version of himself who believed happiness could be earned. Through love, through work, through becoming someone worthy of it."
This line illustrates the book's premise in a few words. It sums up why Luke keeps returning to the same patterns. Can Warboy really help him examine his behavior and reasons?
The story features a wealth of immersive vignettes. However, it sometimes relies on repetition. There are stretches where the travel log meanders, such as the Bangkok/Laos/Hanoi sequences, and others where events accelerate, such as the launch, the Fansipan climb, and the Ha Long boat..Moments when the AI actively diagnoses patterns, or when a human decision follows a machine prompt could be used to tighten the pacing by treating those moments as turning points rather than recurring commentary.
The book's dual protagonists are well-defined. Luke is messy, earnest, overachieving, and philosophically restless. His desires to be seen, to be chosen, and to stop repeating harmful patterns are relatable. Warboy is a real character, not a soulless tool. Sometimes it’s a therapist, sometimes a diagnostic log, sometimes a friend. This makes the relationship between Luke and Warboy seem authentic rather than contrived.
This story asks speculative questions relevant to modern times. Warboy reframes Luke’s troubles as a pattern for consideration.
The story slows a bit in the middle, but overall I enjoyed this book a lot. It is rich in both exploration of theoretical concepts and real human concerns.
