Brain Lag’s most prolific author, Arlene F. Marks, continues to release new books. In January 2025, she returns to the universe of her popular space opera series Sic Transit Terra with The Stragori Deception, the first book in the Sic Transit Stragon trilogy.
This standalone follow-up to the six-book series brings readers new and old to the Human colony world of Stragon. Civil unrest is threatening to escalate to full-blown war, with millions of Terran refugees caught in the middle. Former Earth Intelligence Service agents Isabela and Angeli, cast adrift after the rest of their team was extracted off world, are quickly snatched up by sometime employer and eternal meddler Dennis Forrand, to use in another scheme to try to head off the coming violence.
With her down-to-earth writing style and wealth of history- and worldbuilding skills, Marks brings planet Stragon to life, while weaving a tangled web of politics and conspiracies. The Sic Transit Terra series has been praised as “smart, gripping, and breakneck” (Ed Greenwood, creator of The Forgotten Realms and Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inductee) and “an intriguing story told with wit and constant invention” (James Alan Gardner, author of They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded).
The Stragori Deception will be releasing January 7, 2025 in trade paperback and ebook formats. The cover art will be revealed and preorders will open in August.
After holding jobs ranging from travel agent to fashion consultant, Toronto-born Marks retired from a career in teaching and now writes full-time from her home in Collingwood. She will be holding panels and workshops at When Words Collide in Calgary, August 15-18, and is organizing writing events in the Georgian Bay area.
The Stragori Deception will be Milton, Ontario-based Brain Lag’s 55th published title. It follows up Marks’ novels Adventures in Godhood (2021), Weekends Can Be Murder (2022), The Earthborn (2023), and The Bloodstone (2024), and her short story collection Imaginary Friends (2022). Brain Lag has two additional books signed from Marks to be released in 2025 and early 2026.
Media inquiries and requests to contact the author can be directed to publishing@brain-lag.com.
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