Kill Code opens in a future close enough to feel uncomfortably familiar. Climate catastrophe has divided society into protected enclaves and sprawling zones of poverty, while the National Security Council guards the people who still possess wealth and power. Hogan Duran, a disgraced former police officer surviving on society’s margins, sees the organization’s entrance program as a route back to stability. The opportunity, however, requires him to enter a system whose rewards depend on secrets, coercion, and carefully maintained inequality.

In a world gone wrong, can one man actually make a difference, or will he die trying?

Kill Code

by Clive Fleury

Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction

ADD TO GOODREADS

WHEN THE OCEANS RISE...THE TRUTH DROWNS

It's the year 2031. Our future. Their present. A world decimated by climate catastrophe, where the sun's heat is deadly and the ocean rises higher every day. A world ruled by the rich, powerful, and corrupt. A world where a good man can’t survive for long.

Hogan Duran was a good man once. He was a cop, forced to resign in disgrace when he couldn't save his partner from a bullet. Now Hogan lives on the fraying edges of society, serving cruel masters and scavenging trash dumps just to survive.

But after four years of living in poverty, Hogan finally gets a chance to get back on his feet. He's invited to join the National Security Council, the powerful paramilitary organization responsible for protecting the rich and powerful from the more unsavory elements of society. All he needs to do is pass their deadly entrance exam, and he'll be rewarded with wealth and opportunity beyond his wildest dreams.

But this ex-cop's path to redemption won't be easy. The NSC are hiding something, and as Hogan descends deeper and deeper into their world, he starts to uncover the terrible truth of how the powerful in this new world maintain their power...and just how far they will go to protect their secrets.

In a world gone wrong, can one man actually make a difference, or will he die trying?

Kill Code is the first novel in an exciting new dystopian science fiction series from the mind of award-winning author, screenwriter, and director Clive Fleury. Fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, and Divergent by Veronica Roth will be captivated by Kill Code. 

Hogan’s struggle begins with a bargain that defines the novel’s central conflict: the institution offering him security is also responsible for defending the social order that has left him scavenging to survive. Joining the National Security Council could restore his income, purpose, and standing, but the entrance process requires him to prove himself to an organization whose authority depends upon exclusion and fear.

The world surrounding Hogan is not presented as a distant abstraction. Driverless transportation has displaced workers, wealthy districts sit behind steel fencing and armed checkpoints, and entire communities have deteriorated into tents and improvised structures. These details make the class divide visible before Hogan reaches the NSC facility, establishing why its promises are so difficult to refuse and why its secrets carry such dangerous consequences.

Hogan is also an unusual candidate for the role expected of him. He is older than most of the recruits, still affected by the loss that ended his police career, and uncertain whether he can compete with younger applicants. His doubts create a more vulnerable route into a story built around paramilitary training, political corruption, climate collapse, and an increasingly hostile landscape.

The Station: a seething mass of humanity. Some came with hope in their hearts, ready to embark on the journey of a lifetime. For others, it was the only place they had left to go. They had reached rock bottom. Day or night, the scene was always the same: Transporters arrived and departed constantly, full of people desperate to get away from here, from there, from everywhere. Others wandered around the Station aimlessly. These were the homeless, the addicts, the criminals, the thieves and deadbeats. They spent their time begging or looking for something to steal.

And there was always tension in the air. A fight could break out at any moment as these tired and hungry people reached their wits’ ends and lashed out at the world.

Max and I had been waiting there two hours, which was at least one hour and fifty-nine minutes too long but neither of us minded. I kept reaching into my pocket to pull out the letter and stare at it.

“You’ll wear it out, buddy,” said a smiling Max after I had brought the note out a tenth time. “Just accept it. Next stop: Easy Street.”

I pushed the letter back into my pocket. I still couldn’t believe it. I’d been accepted. That was the good news. The bad news was I knew that this letter only confirmed that I had been chosen for NSC training. It was incredibly difficult to get this far, but even so, only a very few would make it to through to the next stage—to become officers. Frankly, I had grave doubts I could make it that far.

Max tapped me on my shoulder and pointed to a transporter that had just pulled in to Dock 10. It had the word Seattle printed above its windshield. It was Max’s ride. “Okay, Hogan, looks like it’s my time to go.”

I moved behind Max’s wheelchair and pushed it through the seething crowd towards the vehicle. It was, like all public transporters nowadays, driverless. So since there was no one to help, it was up to me to put Max’s ticket into the scanner and to lower him into in his allotted seat. After that, I folded his wheelchair and carried the chair to the luggage rack at the front.

As I finished storing the chair, I spotted an attractive woman in her mid-thirties walk up to Max. I watched as she checked the seat number on her ticket. “That is twenty-two N isn’t it?” I heard the woman say to Max as she pointed to the vacant seat next to him.

Max smiled. “It sure is. And you have the luck to be sitting next to Max Creeling.” He held out his hand. “Great to meet you.”

The woman smiled and sat next to him as I returned.

“Okay, Max, time to go. See if you can get someone to help you with the chair at the other end.”

“I think I can organize that,” the woman said. “I’m Lisa.” She pushed out her hand and I shook it.

“Pleased to meet you, Lisa. Thank you for your kind offer. Now, Max, don’t forget when you get to Seattle to keep out of trouble.”

“Will do.”

I high-fived Max. “Bye. And behave yourself.”

“Always.”

I turned quickly and headed for the transporter’s exit door. Almost as soon as I had stepped down from the vehicle, the door slid shut, the last passenger just managing to squeeze on. As the transporter drove off, Max peered out of the window and winked at me before turning to speak animatedly with Lisa. It looked like he had struck it lucky.

I missed him already.

My transporter would be in next. Dock 20. I started to walk towards the number 20 sign, scanning the crowd for those who were waiting for the NSC Transit transporter like me.

A tall, handsome man in his early twenties stepped in front of me, momentarily blocking my way. I glanced across at him. I knew the type. Dangerous and arrogant but the sort of asshole that women love. In fact, two young beautiful girls were with him: long legs, flowing blonde hair, angelic faces. They were obviously twins.

***

Kill Code will appeal to those who prefer dystopian fiction grounded in recognizable social and technological developments rather than a remote or heavily fantastical future. Its 2031 setting combines climate damage, automated transportation, mass unemployment, fortified wealth, and privatized security into a society that feels only a few decisions removed from the present.

The novel may also suit readers interested in compromised heroes and dangerous institutions. Hogan is not entering the NSC because he trusts its mission; he is entering because poverty has narrowed his alternatives. That tension gives his attempted redemption a political dimension, particularly as he begins to understand how the organization protects its authority.

Those who enjoy survival trials, conspiracies, paramilitary training, stark class divisions, and action-oriented science fiction will find those elements built directly into Hogan’s route through the story.

Clive Fleury is an award-winning writer of books and screenplays and has worked all over the world as a Film/TV director, writer and producer. He has written six books, most recently 'All Or None', the second novel in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series.

'All Or None' sees Detective Ryan back in the thick of things. His latest investigation into a mysterious death couldn’t come at a worse time. He discovers his mother is hiding a troubling secret and is further sidetracked by a new romance. Fans of who dunnit's, crime thrillers, and cop and detective stories will love this novel.

Clive's other books include 'Off Season' - book one in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series; 'Kill Code' - a dystopian science fiction novel set in a world facing climate change; ‘Scary Lizzy’ - a novel about an eight year old girl, who befriends an African child ghost – and the teen action adventure book; ‘The Boy Next Door ‘ - a story of what happens when a teenage girl has a crush on her next door neighbor, who isn’t all he seems. He also co-wrote ‘Art Pengriffin and The Curse of The Four’ - a young adult fantasy adventure about a teenage boy who discovers his father was Merlin the Magician.

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The most revealing part of Hogan’s journey may be the view from the NSC transporter. On one side are clean streets, swimming pools, green parks, and guarded checkpoints. On the other are crumbling roads, temporary shelters, unemployment, and communities treated as threats. Hogan is traveling toward the institution that maintains the boundary between those two worlds, even as he hopes it will rescue him from the wrong side of it.

That contradiction gives Kill Code more than a survival-test premise. Hogan must determine whether reclaiming his former status is worth serving a system built to protect privilege—and whether a man already carrying the weight of one professional failure can risk everything to challenge it.

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Strings begins in the eerie stillness of a nearly deserted airport, where two travelers are trying to outrun the uncertainty of an approaching national lockdown. Grace Wheeler is a Southern journalist determined to protect both her health and her precarious career. Robby Song is a Native American rock star returning to northern Minnesota while the music industry pauses around him. Their first conversation—shared over airport coffee, masks, and a misplaced packet of guitar strings—sets an unexpectedly personal story in motion against the upheaval of the pandemic.

Contemporary Fiction

Date Published: November 23, 2025

A pandemic is spreading across the globe. A national lockdown looms in the United States. A Southern journalist sees a chance to protect her health and jumpstart her career by escaping north to a Minnesota wilderness. Feisty and wary of entanglement, she piques the interest of a bored Native American rock star on his way home.

Robby Song’s career may be on hold, but Grace Wheeler is on a mission to build hers. To Robby, she’s an intriguing challenge. To Grace, he’s a distraction she’s not ready to handle. But the brutal Northwoods winter is coming. Grace flees back south . . . to soul-searching isolation and a puzzling middle-of-the-night call.

The opening situation gives Strings an immediate sense of place and time. Grace and Robby meet in an airport stripped of its usual crowds, commercial noise, and easy anonymity. Surgical masks hide their expressions, flight schedules have become uncertain, and even accepting a cup of coffee requires a new kind of caution. Jan Merritt uses those recognizable details to introduce two people whose lives have been interrupted in very different ways.

Grace approaches the Northwoods as an escape and a professional opportunity, while Robby is heading toward family and an indefinite pause in his music career. Their competing priorities prevent the relationship from beginning as a simple retreat romance. Grace is intent on remaining independent, Robby is intrigued by her resistance, and the approaching Minnesota winter adds another deadline to a connection formed during an already unstable moment.

PART I – THE NORTHWOODS

Chapter 1 – Airports

Empty. No sounds except flight announcements and Covid precautions over the PA as Grace trekked alone through the wide, carpeted corridors, stepped onto the moving walkways, and passed the shuttered kiosks, shops, and restaurants of the Minneapolis airport. The few people she saw, behind counters or scurrying past at safe distances, wore surgical masks, except for one or two who had creative, last-minute coverings . . . red bandannas or black gaiters. The antiseptic smell of hand sanitizer hung in the air, penetrating her mask. If she closed her eyes, she could think she was in a hospital. Her hair probably reeked of the stuff. Of course, her gate was the last one. She shrugged her old, green backpack off and sank into a seat against the wall, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, hoping the flight was still happening. Except for her, the gate area was deserted. Maybe she could drift off.

But it was no good. She couldn’t sleep. She was tired, and the adrenaline had worn off, but she was growing anxious. Maybe she wasn’t as brave or capable as she’d thought. She sat up, pulled the tablet out of her backpack, and began rereading her notes from the last interview she’d done, the one with the middle school English teacher about online classes. She needed to get it written up and into her editor. She could not lose this job, her only income. A seat creaked nearby. She looked up. She hadn’t heard him walk up, but good sign, another passenger. A man was sitting with his head leaned back against the window, eyes closed, long legs stretched in front of him, a guitar case leaning against the next seat with a tan jacket thrown over it. Before long, he sat up, glanced at her over his black mask with tiny gold stars, rose, and walked to the bank of windows at the end of the concourse. He stood there, looking out, a tall, thin man all in black, with a long braid. Quite the silhouette. She looked back at her notes.

“Cozy, huh? A whole airport and just the two of us.”

She jumped. The voice was unexpected . . . and hoarse. He was six feet in front of her. She stared up at him. “I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

“Well, I try to look for the positive.” He paused and cleared his throat but didn’t turn away. “I’m going in search of coffee. If you’ll keep an eye on my things, I’ll bring you some.”

“I’ll watch them.”

He moved the guitar and jacket to a seat in her row, then straightening, looked at her. “You want coffee or not? You didn’t actually say.”

They studied each other then, the way people do when they’re wearing masks — all eyes. His were dark, almost black, under barely arched eyebrows. They looked at her steadily . . . with a touch of amusement? Hers were brown, with the beginning of a worry wrinkle between her brows. She looked back with a serious expression.

“Sure. Black, one sugar.” She leaned over to get her wallet and noticed her toenails. She had meant to cover the chips with a fresh coat of blue polish. Oh, well.

“I’ll get it.” He walked off.

A red packet was on the carpet below his jacket. She put her tablet down on the little table between her and the next seat, walked over, and picked it up. D’Addario Guitar Strings. She placed it on the worn suede jacket, under the sleeve but visible, and went back to her notes.

************

“I stopped at a hand sanitizer.”

She nearly dropped her tablet this time. “You need a bell!”

“Sorry.” He was in a seat, reaching across his guitar to place her coffee on the little table. “One of my nicknames growing up was Sneak. But you seem a little edgy.”

“Maybe.” She noticed his long, slender fingers and wondered if that was good for playing guitar. Her mother’d always said it helped with playing the piano. She picked up the cup and went to remove one side of her mask, but the loop was tangled in her hair. She put the cup back down. Masks were proving to be a challenge. She’d given up trying to control her hair long ago, but masks weren’t optional. Her hair was dark red, dark enough it was hard to see the red unless she was in the sun. The kind of red hair that’s big and ends up in long twirls unless you comb or brush it which only makes it a bigger, frizzy mess. She tried to free first one side of her mask, then the other, finally getting one, then a sip of coffee. She looked his way. He was watching her. “I hadn’t realized how much I needed this. Thanks.”

“You have a lot of hair.” He turned away, removed his mask with one hand, took a sip, and turned his face toward her, pausing, then going on, “I knew how much I needed it.” Leaning forward, he put his forearms on his thighs and held the coffee between his knees. He was not unattractive, in an angular, ascetic kind of way — prominent cheekbones, straight nose, full lips, and the dark eyes.

He’d bought her coffee, so she figured she should try to be sociable. “Have you come a long way?”

“Not today. Just from my apartment. But I’ve been traveling. Got in late. You?”

“This is my third airport since five this morning.”

“Sounds like you’ve come a long way. Got somebody in Duluth?” He sipped.

“I wish. I have no idea what I’m doing next.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked over at the clock. “I’d say you have about an hour and a half to figure something out.” Just then, an agent walked up to the check-in desk.

“Do you think they’ll take us, if it’s only us?”

“I don’t know. Probably depends on whether they need to get a plane to Duluth, for commuters. I guess we’ll see. I’ve never had this flight cancel.”

“You’ve done this before?”

He nodded, swallowing a sip of coffee. “Every four . . . six months or so. I’ve got family all around Duluth . . . and this time, I’m staying . . . a while. I figure I’m safer up there than most anywhere.”

“Me, too.”

The PA system came on. “Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 2514 to Duluth. We are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you.” The agent looked in their direction and shrugged. “If you guys are ready, you can board.”

They gathered their belongings. He noticed the strings and looked over at her, but she was putting her tablet away. As she passed him, he said, “I’m Robby.”

She replied, “Oh . . . Grace.”

Strings is likely to connect with those drawn to character-centered contemporary fiction shaped by recent history. Grace and Robby meet under circumstances that make ordinary social rituals feel unfamiliar, so their early exchanges carry the awkwardness, caution, and unexpected intimacy many people associate with the first months of the pandemic.

The novel may also suit those interested in stories that contrast regions and personal backgrounds. Grace brings her Southern perspective and career ambitions into Robby’s Minnesota world, while the Northwoods setting introduces isolation, family ties, and a winter severe enough to influence her choices. Music, journalism, cultural identity, and the tension between independence and attachment all contribute to the relationship taking shape between them.

Jan Merritt lives on the coast of South Carolina with strong ties to northern Minnesota where her dad was born. Her early life was filled with rich, but conflicting narratives. On the one hand, her dad regaled her with pioneering stories from Minnesota: Merritt boys tramping through tamarack swamps and the Northwoods, learning from their Ojibwe neighbors; surviving -60° winters; and the saga of her great-grandfather leading them to discover iron ore on the Mesabi Range only to lose that mining fortune to John D. Rockefeller in a New York City courtroom. But on the other hand, Jan’s education in an elite private girls’ school in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, led her into a privileged, old South social set she wasn’t born into, one with a different set of values. These opposing values simmered in Jan’s head.

She grew up passionate about teaching, both in the classroom and on horses. She married and had a family. Life was good, but it came to a halt when she discovered by accident that she had brain cancer. She has survived, but after the surgeries and treatments, her brain is not the same. She can’t ride or teach school, but her new brain is busy. It creates conversations. One night toward the end of Covid, Jan gave up trying to sleep and decided to write down what the people were saying … maybe if she got the chatter out of her head, she could sleep. It didn’t work but she hasn’t stopped writing. Jan has a new passion.

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The packet of guitar strings Grace finds beside Robby’s jacket is a small object, but it neatly connects the novel’s title to the first fragile line drawn between them. Both characters are traveling toward uncertain futures: Grace does not know what she will do after landing in Duluth, and Robby knows only that he plans to remain near his family for a while. Their meeting occurs before either can understand how thoroughly work, geography, and isolation will reshape their plans.

Strings places that relationship inside a period when distance could mean safety, loneliness, or both. The Northwoods may offer Grace the separation she believes she needs, but the puzzling call that follows her return south suggests that leaving Minnesota will not neatly sever what began there.

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Egyptian Lovers gathers three connected novellas in which desire reaches across death, reincarnation, and the supernatural histories buried beneath Egypt’s desert sands. Isabella Jordan links each romance to a different mystery—an archaeologist reunited with an immortal lover, a descendant investigating an eighty-year-old disappearance, and a reluctant traveler summoned by a sphinx through her dreams. The featured excerpt returns to Abydos in 1926, where an expedition leader’s sudden death and a strangely intimate desert wind signal that Emma Bonham has entered a story far older and more dangerous than the excavation she expected.

Dark Paranormal Romance

Date Published: July 31, 2026

Publisher: Changeling Press

Series: Egyptian Lover, Book 4

Format: Box Set

Edition: Second Edition

In the desert sands of Egypt, three lovers battle a maniacal curse. Only their love can save them.

Half vampire, half sphinx, Kahma roams the deserts of Egypt, praying for death -- until his lost love returns, reincarnated as archeologist Emma Bonham. But to fulfill the passion Kahma offers, Emma must part with her life.

Fascinated by the tale of Emma Bonham’s disappearance some eighty years ago, Carson Bonham comes to Egypt to unravel the mystery. But the bloody carnage of Karnak’s history has a way of repeating itself. The struggle to keep Carson alive will be a death defying act for the powerful vampire Sopdet.

Alexis Peters has no intention of returning to Egypt, until a mysterious dream lover promises endless pleasure if she will just return to him. Little does Alexis know she’s bound to her Egyptian savior, the legendary sphinx, Amenhotep…

Publisher's Note: Egyptian Lovers Box Set contains the previously released novellas Kahma, Sopdet, and Ardeth & Amenhotep.

Egyptian Lovers offers more than a single supernatural pairing. Its three-novella structure lets the central curse unfold across separate relationships, time periods, and forms of otherworldly connection. Reincarnation drives Kahma and Emma’s reunion, a family mystery draws Carson into Sopdet’s violent past, and a dream summons Alexis back toward Amenhotep. That changing perspective gives the collection room to examine how an ancient bond can appear as memory, investigation, temptation, or fate.

The historical setting also matters. The excerpt from Kahma opens at an Abydos expedition in November 1926, placing Emma’s first encounter with the supernatural amid archaeological ambition, isolation, and the practical dangers of desert travel. The result is an explicitly adult paranormal romance in which erotic attraction, expedition suspense, vampires, sphinx mythology, and a recurring threat are tightly intertwined.

This collection is best suited to adult romance readers who prefer supernatural relationships shaped by danger, sacrifice, and long histories rather than lighthearted courtship. The combination of vampires, sphinx mythology, reincarnated lovers, archaeological settings, multiple-partner themes, and explicit intimacy gives the series a distinct identity.

It may also appeal to those who enjoy connected novellas that can shift protagonists while continuing a larger mystery. The three stories approach the Egyptian Lover world from different angles, making the box set especially relevant to readers who like seeing one curse—and its consequences—develop across several romances.

Isabella Jordan is the alter ego of an otherwise stressed out web designer, programmer, and internet junkie. When she's not trying to perfect her own personal caffeine IV drip, she enjoys spending time with her family, doing volunteer work, and writing. She loves creating new stories of all kinds and chatting with readers and friends.

Isabella would love to hear from her readers!

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Egyptian Lovers is built around love that refuses to remain buried. Its immortals do not offer simple escape from death; their bonds demand return, recognition, and, in Kahma’s case, a devastating choice. By collecting the three previously released novellas in one volume, this edition allows the curse, mythology, and repeated collisions between past and present to be read as a continuous design.

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Uprising places a young woman between the privileges of her birth and the people suffering under her father’s policies. Set against the unrest of England in 1381, J.E. Rizzo’s novel follows Blanche Fitzjohn as an arranged marriage, an approaching revolt, and heightened senses she cannot fully explain force her to decide where her loyalties belong.

Uprising

J.E. Rizzo

Book One of the Fitzjohn Duology

Genre: Historical Fiction with Speculative and Romantic Elements

Date Published: September 1, 2026

Publisher: Literary Wanderlust

England, 1381 AD: Blanche Fitzjohn is an outcast in her small coastal village. Not only is she the illegitimate daughter of John of Gaunt, the man responsible for her neighbors’ over-taxation, but she possesses strange abilities: hearing sound from miles away and smelling people’s emotions.

She takes solace in her studies with the local wisewoman and in her friendship with Geoff, a groom at the local manor. Until the day Henry of Lancaster, Blanche’s half-brother, brings her news of an arranged marriage to Sir Thomas Prescott, Constable of the Tower of London. Although she smells cruelty on him, Blanche agrees to marry Thomas in the hopes that her influence may help better the lives of Geoff and all England’s villeins.

But soon, the peasants’ discontent turns to revolt. Though her heart is of the people, Blanche’s nobility makes her an enemy to the rebels. To save herself and Henry from the executioner’s ax, Blanche must use every power at her disposal, even those she once considered a curse.

Blanche’s position gives the political conflict an unusually personal shape. She is connected by blood to John of Gaunt and Henry of Lancaster, yet her friendships, sympathies, and daily life bind her to the villeins burdened by noble rule. The coming revolt therefore threatens her from both directions: the ruling class can use her as a political asset, while the rebels may judge her by the family name she cannot escape.

Her heightened hearing and ability to detect emotions through scent add a speculative dimension without removing the story from its medieval setting. Those senses expose cruelty that others can conceal, but they also overwhelm Blanche and mark her as different. Combined with an arranged marriage to a man she already distrusts, they turn questions of consent, duty, and self-preservation into central parts of the historical struggle.

Uprising is well matched to readers who enjoy historical fiction shaped by class conflict, contested loyalties, and women attempting to exercise agency within rigid social systems. The 1381 setting and Blanche’s connection to both the nobility and the villeins will particularly interest those drawn to stories that examine major political events through an intimate, character-centered perspective.

The novel should also appeal to readers comfortable with speculative abilities woven into a recognizable historical world. Blanche’s sensory gifts influence how she understands danger, attraction, and deception, while her relationship with Geoff introduces a romantic conflict divided by rank as sharply as the country itself.

J.E. Rizzo is a life-long history fanatic and writer of historical fiction, and her work can be found in Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Tudor Times, Tudor Life Magazine, Scary Mommy, and Ultrarunning Magazine. Rizzo won Manuscript Academy’s Agent Choice Award in 2024, and her article Past and Precedence: Abortion Law in the Middle Ages and Its Use to Overturn Roe v. Wade won History Inquiry’s Medieval History Writing Challenge.

By day, Rizzo works in Human Resources—a field offering more than ample opportunity to observe the follies and fancies of humankind. Before her career in HR, Rizzo worked as an opera singer, a professional baker, and a dog walker. These days, when not writing she can be found running ultramarathons through the forests and mountains of New England, knitting, reading, sewing, baking, or performing any number of (what some might call) old-lady hobbies. She also keeps busing caring for her two children and forty-seven houseplants, making her husband carry heavy things and cook her gourmet meals, and rehabilitating her rescue dog and semi-feral ginger cat.

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Blanche’s greatest danger may not be choosing the wrong side, but discovering that neither side fully accepts her. Noble blood makes her suspect among the rebels, while illegitimacy and unusual abilities leave her vulnerable within the world of privilege. Her proposed marriage turns that divided identity into a binding political decision just as England’s social order begins to fracture.

The chapter excerpt sharpens that conflict by showing what duty would cost Blanche personally. Her closeness with Geoff, her desire for her father’s approval, and her awareness that consent is still hers to give pull her in incompatible directions. With the Peasants’ Revolt approaching and the first half of the Fitzjohn Duology opening on September 1, Uprising promises a story in which private choices carry consequences far beyond one household.

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A missing noblewoman, whispers of an illicit auction, and a vengeful enemy force Adrian Croft to confront two dangers at once in A Deadly Inferno Consumes. The sixth House of Croft mystery places its investigation inside London’s criminal underworld while raising the personal stakes for Adrian and Samantha, whose newborn daughter gives them more to protect—and more that can be used against them.

A Deadly Inferno Consumes

Sophie Barnes

House of Croft, Book 6

Genre: Murder Mystery Romance

Date Published: July 28, 2026

A chilling disappearance, a lethal enemy, and a family pushed to the brink…

When the Duke of Wrengate’s sister vanishes without a trace, suspicion swirls. Did she flee to escape a scandalous secret…or has she been abducted? Whispers lead to a treacherous underworld, where rumors of an illicit auction suggest a far more sinister fate: a woman trapped, drugged, and enslaved. Determined to save her, Adrian Croft and his valet, Murry, plunge into London’s darkest corners.

But Finn O’Leary, the Irishman bent on revenge, remains a threat that presents a difficult choice for Adrian: save Wrengate's sister or protect his family. With the recent birth of his daughter, he and his wife, Samantha, have more to lose than ever before. And as danger closes in, they must fight with everything they have. Not only for justice, but for their very survival.

A Deadly Inferno Consumes binds its mystery to a painful conflict of loyalties. Adrian cannot pursue the missing woman without risking the wife and infant daughter who now depend on him, yet abandoning the investigation could condemn another family to an unthinkable loss. That pressure gives the search a personal urgency beyond solving a disappearance.

The suspected auction also shifts the investigation away from drawing rooms and respectable society into a criminal network built on secrecy, coercion, and exploitation. Murry’s presence beside Adrian adds another layer to the inquiry, while Finn O’Leary’s continuing pursuit ensures that the danger is never limited to a single case. For readers following the House of Croft series, this installment brings an established enemy into direct conflict with Adrian’s changed life as a husband and father.

This release is suited to readers who prefer historical romance with an active mystery plot, recurring adversaries, and consequences that extend beyond the central couple. The search through London’s darker corners will appeal to those drawn to investigations involving hidden criminal enterprises, while Adrian’s impossible choice gives the story particular weight for readers invested in family loyalty and protective heroes.

Established House of Croft readers will find the strongest connection here, especially those following Adrian, Samantha, Murry, and the unresolved threat posed by Finn O’Leary. Newcomers interested in the premise can still expect a blend of danger, marital devotion, and historical suspense, though the continuing relationships and conflict make this sixth installment especially meaningful within the larger series.

USA TODAY bestselling author Sophie Barnes writes historical romance novels in which the characters break away from social expectations in their quest for happiness and love. Having written for Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins, her books have been published internationally in eight languages. With a fondness for travel, Sophie has lived in six countries, on three continents, and speaks English, Danish, French, Spanish, and Romanian with varying degrees of fluency. Ever the romantic, she married the same man three times—in three different countries and in three different dresses.

When she’s not busy dreaming up her next swoon worthy romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, baking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading.

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The most compelling element of A Deadly Inferno Consumes is the cost attached to every possible decision. Saving Wrengate’s sister may expose Adrian’s own family to Finn O’Leary, but retreat would leave a vulnerable woman in the hands of men who view her as property. That moral pressure, combined with the Crofts’ new responsibilities as parents, gives this release a sharper emotional edge than a mystery built around clues alone.

Sophie Barnes brings the House of Croft series to a dangerous crossroads on its July 28 release date. Readers who have followed Adrian and Samantha will see how marriage and parenthood have altered the risks they are willing to take—without weakening their determination to confront cruelty and pursue justice.

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St. Augusta College presents an immaculate union of art, theology, and devotion, but the order behind its iron gates begins to fracture when a troubled artist encounters the campus’s new priest. In Sacred Salvation, Casia Pickering brings religious conviction, creative compulsion, paranormal danger, and forbidden attraction into the same shadowed space. Father Sebastian Hardwicke may be the one person capable of quieting what is growing inside Emilia Trent, yet helping her could require him to confront the parts of St. Augusta—and himself—that piety has kept concealed.

Sacred Salvation

Part of Sins of the Sacred

Author: Casia Pickering

Genre: Dark Priest Romance

Father Sebastian has found a home in St. Augusta College. 

But when that home is threatened by a student, questions arise in his own beliefs. 

St. Augusta College is known for weaving the Arts with Theology. Within its iron gates lies a prestigious education that can drive a person mad. 

Father Sebastian Hardwicke is new to the position. Not once has his religious fervor been tested until he is sent to the cathedral on St. Augusta's campus. The school is not what he expected. Hymns and prayers echo within the cathedral, and the faculty are pious and helpful. Even the students held a reverence he had only experienced in seminary. On the outside, it is perfect. 

But a mask is still a mask, no matter how enticing. 

Emilia Trent has two goals in life: to convey true emotion into her art and to quiet the voices. But the voices have gotten louder, screaming and demanding that she keep painting. There is no freedom in her expression. With the new priest coming to campus, her urges grow to a point where she no longer knows who she is. There is an almost paranormal force growing inside her. 

There is only one person capable of holding the demon at bay- Father Sebastian Hardwicke. But will he choose to face the evil head-on or fall into the deep embrace of temptation? 

Part of Sins of the Sacred, a dark priest romance shared world series featuring eleven amazing authors.

St. Augusta’s polished religious culture gives the story a setting where appearances carry as much danger as the supernatural force troubling Emilia. Her paintings are not simply an artistic ambition; they are tied to voices that erode her sense of control, making creativity both refuge and threat. Sebastian’s role adds a second pressure point because the person best positioned to help her must weigh compassion against doctrine, suspicion, and temptation. That tension between belief and lived experience gives the romance a psychological and spiritual conflict that extends beyond forbidden attraction.

“I don't think there is a demon inside you,” Sebastian sighed, “that wasn't my intention-” 

“My father died when I was starting high school,” Emilia said. "He used to drive freight trucks at night. During one night, a nasty storm happened, and, well, it crashed. He was in the hospital for weeks until we couldn't keep him on life support.” 

“I'm so sorry,” Sebastian said. He looked off into the distance, as if heweres lost in his own thoughts. 

Emilia shrugged. “I've had depression ever since. My painting helps with it and so did a therapist when I had one, but it isn't because of my depression that I struggle.” 

“What is?” Sebastian asked. 

Emilia thought quietly. She glanced at Sebastian. Without the white collar pinned into his polo shirt, he'd look like any other well-dressed man. It was that and the type of shirt that seemed out of place with his jeans and glasses that he was constantly pushing back up the bridge of his nose. She wondered what made him choose the life he chose. 

Was he a believer, or was it pushed onto him by people around him? She remembered an argument she had with her mother about maybe joining the military to help pay for college. That was before the art contest and scholarship that got her into St. Augusta. As much as she stressed about being at the school, she wouldn't change her choices if she had the chance. But her knowledge about Father Arthur, Sister Rebecca, and Miranda would be for Sebastian. It may not be her responsibility, but it was something Emilia didn't want on her conscience. 

“I'd rather not talk about it,” she finally decided, shaking her head, “no offense, but I doubt you'd take my life experiences into consideration if I told you.” 

“What do you mean?” Sebastian's eyes furrowed in confusion. 

“Imagine being abused or having a bad relationship with a friend or something,” Emilia said, “can you do that?” 

Sebastian’s expression went still. It was as if he were seeing something from his past. A pang of guilt hit Emilia’s chest. If she had known he might’ve experienced something like what she was suggesting, she might not have said that. 

“Okay,” Sebastian whispered, “go on.” 

Emilia nodded. “Let’s say you told someone about that experience, but that person you told didn’t believe you because the person who abused you or the friend who was awful hasn’t shown that side of themselves to that person. Can you imagine how that feels?” 

“I can.” Sebastian’s voice was raspy and hard. He worked his jaw and rolled his head from side to side. 

A squirrel jumped from headstone to headstone as birds twittered. His cheeks were bulging from the collection of nuts. The leaves rustled as another autumn breeze brushed past. Emilia looked around at the quiet beauty of it all. 

Even the voices weren’t around. Emilia looked around, this time paying attention to every small detail. There was no fog or shadows. The only brightness that held her attention, aside from the slowly dying sun, was Sebastian. It was as if the cemetery was an oasis away from whatever plagued the campus. 

“That’s why I’m not ready to say anything,” Emilia said. "I don’t know if you’d believe me or not, but it’s not worth saying if we end up arguing.”

The Sins of the Sacred dark romance shared world series brings together standalone stories by multiple authors, each exploring the collision of faith and forbidden desire within religious settings. From medieval abbeys and dissolution-era monasteries to modern churches and theological colleges, priests, nuns, exorcists, and other religious figures face temptations that challenge their sacred vows. The series spans various time periods, incorporating paranormal elements including demon possession, angelic intervention, and exorcism that intensify conflicts between duty and desire. 

With diverse pairings including M/F, MM, F/F/F, and MFM configurations, each book delivers explicit romantic content while exploring themes of religious trauma, repression, and the struggle between devotion and forbidden longing. The series features omegaverse dynamics, second chance romance, and enemies-to-lovers tropes alongside darker explorations of possession, crisis of faith, and the psychological impact of religious structures. Designed for readers seeking taboo romance that examines the tension between sacred vows and human desire in emotionally complex narratives.

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Sacred Salvation is aimed at dark-romance readers comfortable with taboo relationships, religious conflict, explicit content, and paranormal menace. Its theological-college setting will particularly suit those who enjoy institutional secrets and communities whose polished surfaces conceal coercion or corruption. Emilia’s struggle with grief, depression, artistic compulsion, and the fear of not being believed also gives the story an emotional intensity likely to resonate with readers who prefer vulnerable characters confronting both supernatural and human threats.

Even though she claims she can write anything, the biography remains to be Casia’s arch-nemesis. Despite this, Casia has used her Writing degree to craft stories in over ten anthologies, maintained a book blog for more than a decade, and has begun to write novels. A multi-genre author, Casia Pickering, is incapable of keeping to one thing. Every story has a piece of her personality that she treasures and shares with her readers. She currently lives in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia with her biggest supporter and helper, her son, affectionately known as Bug. Previous works are under the name, Casia Courtier.

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The central danger in Sacred Salvation is not limited to a possible demon or a forbidden relationship. Emilia needs someone willing to believe what St. Augusta’s respectable exterior makes easy to dismiss, while Sebastian must decide how much of his faith depends on obedience and how much demands that he act. Their connection forms at the point where testimony, temptation, and spiritual authority collide, giving this dark romance a conflict rooted in trust as much as desire. 

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