A single father fights to retain control as he shares his body and mind with an evolving AI
It’s been nine years since the government banned all technology. So when Joel Lodowick, a young transgender father struggling to support his five year-old daughter, has an old bionic upload itself into his head, he is faced with a decision: Go to the cops and risk prosecution? Or use the robot’s skills to turn his life around?
Scared of losing his daughter, Joel chooses the latter. Heightened intelligence and physical enhancements quickly land him a better job and a brighter future. But things take a sinister turn when Joel realizes his uninvited companion has an agenda of its own, which may or may not include leaving him in control.
Unable to approach the government who covered up the truth about A.I. sentience, Joel finds himself on the run. With his daughter’s life on the line and his own body turning against him, he must find a way to convince the bionic in his head to value his human life before he loses the chance forever.
“A scifi thriller that takes us into the near future and explores what it means to be human, to find family, and to embrace our full selves. Perfect for fans of Sara Pinsker and Annalee Newitz.”
—Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Black Sun
“Transness, bodily autonomy, and A.I. sentience intersect with razor-sharp precision to create a heartfelt declaration of what it means to be human.”
—Al Hess, author of World Running Down
“Reese Hogan's ‘My Heart is Human’ is a passionate, well-written look at found family, identity, freedom, and love with a dash of punk rock and a reminder that the apocalypse is only the beginning (usually of another apocalypse).”
—R.W.W. Greene, author of Mercury Rising
“Hogan deftly weaves moral questions about identity, humanity, and self-sacrifice throughout the narrative without losing a drop of tension.”
—Sarah J. Daley, author of Obsidian
“MY HEART IS HUMAN is a smart, exciting, near future adventure that attacks the deepest questions of personhood, identity, and the impending confrontation with the technologies we've created. An intense rampage that leaves you both breathless and pondering the nature of self.”
—Chris Panatier, author of The Phlebotomist
“Transtastic! Hogan rewrites the binary code of 1s and 0s and transcends it with the unique markers of empathy, unconditional love, and humanity!”
—Patricia A. Jackson, author of Forging a Nightmare
“An exciting and thoughtful exploration of what identity means for A.I. and human alike.”
—Ginger Smith, author of The Rush’s Edge
A soldier returns home with a dangerous secret from an alternate realm, unaware that she is surrounded by spies and collaborators, in this intense military science fiction novel.
Naval officer Mila Blackwood is determined to keep her country's most powerful secret - shrouding, the ability to traverse their planet in seconds through an alternate realm - out of enemy hands. But spies are everywhere: her submarine has been infiltrated by a Dhavnak agent, and her teenage brother has been seduced by an enemy soldier. When Blackwood's submarine is attacked by a monster, she and fellow sailor, Holland, are marked with special abilities, whose manifestations could end the war - but in whose favor? Forced to submit to military scientists in her paranoid and war-torn home, Blackwood soon learns that the only people she can trust might also be the enemy.
“Hogan writes with tangible energy, capturing the trials of divided loyalties in the midst of global war… Fans of military SF will enjoy Hogan’s fresh take on the genre.”
—Publishers Weekly
“This SF novel mixes science fiction with The Hunt for Red October and garnishes it with the spywork of John Le Carre.”
—Amazon Book Review
“Loads of action and well-earned plot twists, with a thoughtful examination of the effects of war and trauma on people.”
—B&N Sci Fi & Fantasy Blog
“Military conflict, spy thriller intensity, and mind-blowing revelations… Shrouded Loyalties stands out above the rest.”
—Realms and Robots
“Loyalty, honor, and a dangerous new technology all come together in this unique world filled with intrigue and action.”
—Maria V. Snyder, New York Times bestselling author of Poison Study
“Constantly competing levels of deception and espionage all juggled at once, and somehow simultaneously packed to the brim with non-stop action and terrifying escalations.”
—Nathan Makaryk, author of Nottingham
“Hogan’s ability to come up with jaw-droppingly exciting new ideas and possibilities proves inventive original storytelling is far from dead.”
—SparklyPrettyBriiiight
I hold you tight, to keep you alive
As though my heart could make you thrive.
I see every second your spirit deprived...
But if I keep you close, maybe something will survive.
In a time of blood and myth, humanity used its nuclear weapons to crack the world. In the year of blinding white light which followed, gods of death and cruelty poured in through the gaps and staked their claims. Now, two hundred years later, the city of Black Angel struggles to survive. The souls of the dead are burned into ash, smeared in books, then burned as offerings to the deadly and powerful Chahrboga. But Svana, one of the few readers left, sees books as something else: a glimpse of a time when human lives mattered. And when she collects the ashes of a lifelong friend in her most precious relic, she has no intention of giving him to Chahrboga.
As Black Angel’s population is ravaged by invisible soul-stealing demons, Svana learns that the soul she holds could be all that stands between them and total annihilation. Plagued by grief and guilt, and hunted by her loved one’s killer, Svana sets out to save those remaining, armed only with the ashes and words in a dead artist’s journal. Her crusade will bring her to the heart of Chahrboga's powers, and test just how far she'll go to hold on to a life taken too soon.
“I’ll admit it. I never expected to get out of Russia alive. And that was before I was targeted as the man who murdered Stalin.”
The year is 1928, and American mercenary Echo Maebius is seized while fleeing Russia after the disappearance of Joseph Stalin. Just when things can’t get any worse, Echo’s doppelganger walks into the room, offering him a way out—but with a terrible catch. Now, broken, damaged, and alone, Echo must find out why his closest comrade Jez has disappeared from his life—and why the failure of their mission in Moscow is responsible.
Told in alternating chapters between Echo’s past and present, The Deadliest Echo is a science fiction thriller about assassination, alternate paths, and the dangers of being a foreigner in a country newly raised from revolution. It is a powerful tale about the thin line between loneliness and friendship, and the intricate web of secrets that forces Echo to confront the one truth he most wants to escape…
Unless he can finish the mission he never completed in Moscow, the whole world will pay the price for his failure.