Jamie Marriage

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian cyberpunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found at https://jamiemarriage.wordpress.com/

When the world is coming to an end, famine and war abound, the few remaining powers struggling to maintain any semblance of control, there is nothing but the plan. A plan for a future where descendants of the lucky few could step upon a pristine world to begin again.

The name of that plan: Haven’s End.

Buried deep within their mountainous vault the inhabitants of Haven’s End toil ceaselessly to maintain their time capsule of a society; rigid class structure keeps the lowly toiling, the entitled in a lifestyle of luxury and the police force holding the line between the two with violent efficiency. Only the hope of a future under the open sky holds the fragile peace together.

But what if the upper-classes didn’t want to give up the status quo? What if the world above had been safe for re-habitation for centuries? How far would those in power go to preserve their stranglehold on those below?

When a primitive surface-dweller makes it into the mechanised guts of the underground city it catalyzes a chain of events that can only end violently as the fragile trust the commoners hold in those in power is shaken to the core. Everything hinges on Marcus Jarrett and his small band of political outcast skaters who want to escape their rotten world before they mysteriously “vanish” like so many others before.

Haven’s End is a brilliant mix of post-apocalyptic design, political intrigue and hopeful dreaming. Multiple layers of worldbuilding stacked upon each other like strata of rock tell of hundreds of years of history and turmoil while characters drag the reader into a vision of the future where humanity can survive against its worst intentions.

With intricate characters, a web-like plot, graceful construction of several in-depth societies, and a sophisticated timelines Austin has written an incredible piece of Utopian fiction that stands proud in a genre difficult to encompass well. This novel has the style and complexity to keep even the most die-hard fan of the genre engrossed.

Haven’s End is available as an Ebook on Amazon

Jamie Marriage

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian cyberpunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found at https://jamiemarriage.wordpress.com/

Picking up from where Blood of Innocents left off Mitchell Hogan returns us to his chaotic realm of sorcery and subterfuge in book three of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence; A Shattered Empire.

Familiar protagonists return in this blood-fueled third volume of Caldan’s life as he seeks to find a cure for his beloved Miranda; to free himself from the nefarious plans of the corrupt and sorcerous Emperor; and maybe even save the world from Kelhak, the man who brought destruction and death down upon the world in the most apocalyptic game imaginable.

The narrative is, like the previous volumes, split between protagonists and antagonists alike: Caldan, the once regal but now destitute Lady Felice, honourable and misjudged Aidan, homicidally insane Amerdan and more getting to tell their sides of the story. It reveals that in times of war and great confusion things are rarely black or white; in the end people will do what is necessary in order to survive or help those they care about. While others are using the time to accumulate power or practice their craft on a panicked populus.

All the elements of the game are now revealed to our young protagonist. Sorcerous warlocks demand his blood to extend their lives, violent Touched demand his loyalty unto death, and the creatures that seek to overrun humanity see him as little more as a distraction towards their ultimate victory.

A Shattered Empire is a master-crafted piece of world building, going deeply into historical backstory, character arcs and both technical and philosophical discussion as to how such a land and people develop. In doing so Hogan has answered so many questions that remain lodged in our minds since the A Crucible of Souls, such as what happened to Caldan’s parents? What is the purpose of the mysterious trinkets he carries? Can anyone truly be trusted? And is there any way he can save the world so that he and Miranda will be left in peace?

In this, the most deadly of games, all rules are going to be broken. The pieces are arranged, schemes and strategies plotted, each possible move a risky gamble that could lead to supremacy or disastrous defeat. In the game of Dominion there can only be one winner; but what if winning comes at too great a cost? Only Caldan can make that decision.

If he fails all that will be left is A Shattered Empire.

Jamie Marriage

Jamie Marriage is an internationally published Australian cyberpunk author with a taste for the dangerous and obscene aspects of life. His work ranges from the sarcastic to the satirical. Links to his work can be found at https://jamiemarriage.wordpress.com/

Distant space. A single lonely spaceship. A hope for a new world to revive a fractured humanity. A commander with too much to hide. Something was bound to go wrong.

The Tau Ceti Diversion is the latest work by Brisbane-based Aurealis short-listed author Chris McMahon; and it’s a cunningly written example of survival against odds of an inhuman scale, written against a masterfully-crafted space opera backdrop.

Awakened from his long hibernation in stasis by the Starburst’s artificial intelligence, Karic Zand is quickly brought into a situation where he needs to make a choice: risk the life of the thirty something crew under his care by waking them prematurely on their long trip to a new world, or let them sleep through what could be a lethal radiation surge. His choice leads to further troubles, as those he once looked to for command, prove to have more important things in mind than the survival of the crew.

Drawing close to the Tau Ceti system, the Starburst finds itself in an a place far too alien for its crew to comprehend. This hostile and uncompromising area of space that they spent so many years sleeping to discover, could be the death of them all, or the source of their very salvation. However, there are forces at work here who see these strange invaders as a threat to a life they have known for millennia.

The Tau Ceti Diversion harks back to a golden age of science fiction exploration. The setting quickly shifts from familiar to extra-terrestrial, the characters from friendly and direct to conniving and alien, even the pace is reminiscent of the glory days of space and the unknown, with life and death struggle a real and present challenge at every turn.

This is a great novel from an talented novelist of our age. McMahon has written a book that will not only take you out of this world, but draw you into something far greater than what has come before.

Marianne will be launching Chris McMahon’s SF novel Tau Ceti Diversion on September 22nd at Books@Stones in Stones Corner. It’s open to the public and you can find it as a FaceBook event.

Marianne has known Chris for many, many years and is thrilled that Severed Press are publishing it. Register for the Facebook event and join their In Conversation.