Exovelum renamed Ultravelar

My 2021 novel Exovelum has been renamed as Ultravelar. The story itself hasn't changed at all, so it doesn't make any difference which version you read.

Why have I done this? Basically because the original name has always bugged me. The word exovelum is a noun that translates as "external veil" or "outer veil", while the adjective ultravelar means "beyond the veil" or "on the other side of the veil". The importance of this distinction will be immediately obvious to anyone who's read the book.

The synopsis is:

After starting work as a nightwatchman in a huge office complex, Alexander Manning finds there’s one intruder he could never have predicted. It shows up at the same time and place once a week, a trespasser in the dead of night no security guard could ever banish.

The intruder appears to be a recurring glitch in the Matrix, proving that reality is an illusion, the result of a computer-generated simulation designed to mimic an actual universe.

At first Alexander is mesmerised by this eye-pleasing visitor – until bizarre, disturbing events start shattering the calm of his previously uneventful graveyard shifts. The glitch may not be what it seems, and it may be far more dangerous than it looks.

Ultravelar is available from Amazon.

Read Wakers of the Cryocrypt for free

My new book Wakers of the Cryocrypt is now available from Amazon.

You can download the ebook for free from Booksprout and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. To access this option follow one of these links:

https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/170044/wakers-of-the-cryocrypt

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/434500

Downloading the book requires you to set up an account with the Booksprout or NetGalley website. For Booksprout, reviews can be left on Amazon, Goodreads or Kobo. You can also follow me on Booksprout.

Reviews are important to authors, sometimes dramatically affecting a book's uptake. I would be very grateful to any reader who supports my writing in this way.

Upcoming book Wakers of the Cryocrypt

My next book is a science fiction novel about artificial intelligence. Titled Wakers of the Cryocrypt, it's currently undergoing editing and will be released very shortly.

Here's the synopsis:

The future. The human race is extinct. Earth is ruled by eltecs, descendants of the AIs humans created before their demise.

While searching for prehistoric cave paintings, two eltec explorers discover a hidden cryogenic crypt containing 23 perfectly preserved human bodies frozen inside crystal columns.

As eltec society argues over who might have built the crypt and what to do with it, one of its occupants is restored to life. Human beings are no longer extinct, but, for reasons of their own, not every eltec wants to see them come back. The only living human on Earth is in terrible danger.

Free ARCs (advance reader copies) in exchange for reviews will be downloadable from Booksprout and possibly other websites. Once released, it will be available from the usual stores: Amazon, Apple Books, Google Play Books and Kobo.

I hope you like it. Wakers of the Cryocrypt took at least a year to write, and I hope it presents a potential future meeting of human beings and self-aware AIs in an accessible and entertaining way.