Architects Of The Illusion is an ongoing sci-fi action epic, setting us down in a future far after Earth’s demise. The star system of Arela threatens to be torn apart, both by factions within and darker threats from the depths of space; the Fireseed mercenaries and their allies – a coalition of far-flung aliens and the endangered species known as humanity – stand in the face of their world crumbling down.
It all begins with Seed Of Treachery, continues in The Great Scourge, and the Scourge War arc reaches its climax in Elysium Protocol!
Seed Of Treachery
“But here, I can do something real…where I don’t have to turn away, where those that do wrong…I can – I will – bring them down.”
Earth is long-gone. In a distant future where the endangered species known as humanity has assimilated into a much broader tapestry, the star system of Arela is at the brink of war with itself. What measures are right and wrong in the moral vacuum of space?
Join the last vestiges of the human race, the birdlike Arkerians, technological Terraxins and others in the first installment of Architects Of The Illusion. Though the galaxy may be won by the bolts of blasters and forbidden sciences, darkness lurks just beyond the corners of perception…
313 pages. Originally released in 2012. Cover art is done by the inimitable Robert Stjärnström, also known for his cover art and vocal work for Machinae Supremacy. If you want to go all the way back to the very beginning with an arc that poses hard questions about morality in a time of crisis, start HERE! Get a Kindle version here, or a good ol’ physical copy here!
The Great Scourge
“We looked to the stars, and the stars looked back.”
Tension grips the star system of Arela, picking up the pieces after the Jagged Edge conflict. But the still has been shattered by the rise of an ancient foe.
Caught between new allies that force the faltering Fireseeds to the fringes of science, and revelations echoing from humanity’s past, the galaxy stands between extinction and revolution. The Scourge saga begins: the Fireseeds and their allies leap into interstellar action against an enemy far beyond reckoning.
502 pages. Originally released in 2014. Cover art is done by the talented Tomi Skantz. If you want to see the Scourge war begin and jump right into an action-packed epic with absolutely massive setpieces, start HERE! The adventure continues here on Kindle, and physical copies are right here!
Elysium Protocol
We are not the dark between the stars.
Taxed to the limit in the brutal Scourge war, the Arela system fights on against the ravenous hiven, scrounging for the one thing that could bring them victory: Project Olympus. But it’s going to take everyone, working together when discord is but a fracture away.
Only courage can prevail: courage on the battlefield. Courage to sacrifice. Moral courage in a time of desperation. But the enigmatic Talon has yet to play his hand. And the unthinkable truth of the Fireseeds’ elusive foe could change everything.
Join the Fireseeds and their allies in the world-shattering climax of the Scourge war!
775 pages. Originally released in 2021. Cover art is done jointly by Robert Stjärnström and Tomi Skantz. If you want to see the latest Architects adventure, the climax of the Scourge war and some of the deepest character dynamics and most shocking revelations the Convergence has yet thrown at us, you might want to start HERE! The physical version is here, and digital is here!
Of course, the digital copies on Amazon offer peek-inside options for the first section of each book, so you can have yourselves a bit of a read to decide first-hand if it’s in your wheelhouse. (I wouldn’t leave you out to dry, would I?) And while Architects is, of course, a series, I like to think it’s been written in such a way that you don’t have to be caught up before diving into the newer stuff.
Co-authored works:
Tales Of The Ba’tala by Salathiel Silva
I’ll be up front with you about this: Ms. Silva’s high-fantasy series does not have any installments out yet, as world development, plotting and storyboarding are still in progress. The only reason I’m listing it here instead of holding back like with some of my other in-progress projects is because Ba’tala does in fact have an online presence, albeit in the form of a Tumblr page for now, by-and-large run by Ms. Silva (though legend has it that I pop in on occasion when the moon is very blue). She uses tumblr for things like sketchwork, idea-dump and RP with fans, but our work together is largely behind the scenes at the moment as we weave plot threads together and she builds the world piece by piece.
My role, in addition to various world details, centers mainly around the creation, arc writing and plotting for one of the main characters, a slave girl named Kalayaan, who does not yet know that both her past and future are deeply tied in with the fate of the Broken World…
I’ll keep you updated as things progress to a more concrete state!
Additional Material
Check me out on Deviantart, plenty of cool stuff there including some scenes from Architects with detailed creator commentary!
The full-colour Architects sketch archive is here! That’s the one to click on if you got the physical version of Elysium Protocol with the B&W sketch pages and want to see them in colour.
The Arthur’s review of Seed Of Treachery can be found here!
My interview with Infinite Pathways! I talk inspiration, the creative process, speculative-fiction worldbuilding, and so much more!
Seed Of Treachery is reviewed at Literary Titan (previously The Hungry Monster Review; I have to admit I was partial to the old name. Om nom…) here!
Literary Titan also did a short interview with me after that review went up, and you can find it here.
Literary Titan reviewed The Great Scourge here!
LT also interviewed me when their review of TGS went live, and it seems I got significantly more talkative in this one. Check it here!
And here’s Literary Titan’s (five out of five star) review of Elysium Protocol!
Check my most recent interview with Literary Titan, where I deep-dive a number of concepts and ideas behind Elysium Protocol!