Ascendance is first book in a series of Nathan Marks stand-alone, near-future science fiction mystery-thrillers about human society and the impacts of new and potentially deadly technologies.
About Ascendance
Is it murder to kill GMO people?
Four teenagers are gunned down at a prestigious private school. Three of them were flawless and beautiful—almost superhuman—but also hateful bullies. The fourth was the vice president’s niece.
Reluctant partners Detective Sara Sanchez and tech billionaire Nathan Marks search for the killer as the world erupts into a war over what it means to be human… or a soulless abomination.
What they don’t know is that the shooting was part of a plot to kill millions. They have only seven days to stop a horror that will tear the world apart.
This cover was inspired by something I saw online about evolution. Designer Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers took that inspiration and made it real. Thank you!
Arachniss is a stand-alone near-future science fiction horror story about, well, you’ll see.
From the Cover
Who would you sacrifice to save what you love?
David just wants to write children’s books, spend time with his infant son Jason, and try to get out of his toxic marriage with his sanity intact.
The only problem is, something’s eating Jason.
Something’s eating everyone, bit by bit, inch by inch, and no one else notices. They have great stories about how they lost a limb here or a body part there, until they lose something they can’t live without and just…vanish.
Jason’s just missing a pinky today. No, wait, two. And a toe. His son is dissolving in front of him, and David will do anything to save him.
But how can David save his son from something no one can see?
“…a graphic, detailed, haunting and complex story of artificial intelligence, alien invasion, human nature in opposition to everything around us, and the obliviousness of mankind…” – 4.5 Stars / Reading Cafe
“Tension building was wonderfully done and was very ‘edge of your seat’. The author has a good sense of humour, which can also be quite dark at times, helping to lighten otherwise tense moments throughout the story. An intriguing and well executed supernatural thriller.” – 5 Stars / Bookish Beyond
Inspiration
I write science fiction and Arachniss is absolutely science fiction, but like Alien there’s also a good deal of horror and a lot about human–and inhuman–dysfunction. Is there deeper meaning to it? Probably. I mean, I hope so.
In Babadook, the monster is depression. In Jacob’s Ladder, it’s PTSD and addiction. The Ring, I assume if there is a metaphor, it’s about the destructive power of television. Night of the Living Dead is immigration and change. Zombie’s generally represent the dangers of groupthink and the numbing sameness of modern life, never more so than in Shaun of the Dead. In King Kong, it’s the modern world vs. nature and of course racism. In Get Out, it’s white supremacy. Godzilla: nuclear war. Vampires: sex and sexuality. Frankenstein’s monster: modern science. Werewolves: puberty and sexual awakening. Grendel: pride. Perhaps in Arachniss, it’s our willingness to accept horror for others to protect ourselves, and our ability to ignore it if it comes on slowly. We are all the frog in the initially comfortable pot of heating water, and we are all oblivious to what’s coming…
About the Cover
I came up with the cover on Canva, after a lot of idiocy and really bad ideas (which you might be able to see here on Pinterest). Designer Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers was kind and professional enough to take my concept to the finish line. Thank you!
They can save millions of lives, if she doesn’t kill them first
Tourist Raymond Molina finds the body of a young biologist in a Costa Rican bay—apparent victim of a shark attack—but no one knows how she got there. As Ray searches for what really happened to her, he stumbles onto the best kept secret in the natural world.
This is a secret hidden for centuries by residents of the coastal town of Sonara, protected by intelligent but violent animals unknown anywhere else on earth, and coveted by a massive biotech company that will do anything to discover the truth—no matter the cost.
And behind it all is a creature with the power to cure disease, all disease…or kill everyone on earth.
“…a wonderful story full of mystery and miracles. It explored a town essentially trapped in time, concealing many dark secrets, which would soon be uncovered by the main character.” – Bookish Beyond
“…drawn by the hand of a virtuoso…had me laughing and crying out loud… This is easily five stars—I’d give it more if I could.” – Dr. Heather Carter, author of The Black Unicorn
“…all is not well in the small coastal town of Sonara…the past holds heartbreak and death, betrayal and guilt, and threats to the world’s population now and in the future. Beasts is a complex, detailed, haunting and captivating story line of animal sentience, genetic manipulation, and immortality: a character driven twisted tale of family, tragedy, power and control…” – ReadingCafe
“There’s a lot of levels to this story…but it all really boils down to the relationships between EVERYONE living in Sonara. The ending was satisfying: wrapping everything up for each of the main characters and storylines. Oh, and don’t forget the enormous shark…” – Heather’s Bookshelf
“…fast-paced, with constantly unraveling mysteries… It reads like a thriller.” – L. Johnson
Inspiration
It’s hard to describe what inspired Beasts without giving too much away, but…one thing I loved about old movies and TV series like King Kong and Land of the Lost was the concept that there was still power and magic in nature if you knew where to look. And sometimes that magic is just biology we don’t yet understand. Beasts is about what happens when that biology creates power, and that power threatens to change almost everything we know about the natural world.
Even More Inspiration
The town of Sonara is vaguely based on the village of Nosara, where I spent a few different trips surfing and generally having an amazing time with locals and retirees and pretty much everyone. They were joyous, inspiring, formative trips that would probably never have happened without the invite of my friend Rusty, to whom I am forever grateful. You should visit Nosara, get a massage, do some yoga, go surfing, eat great food, drink a lot and generally embrace all that Pura Vida has to offer. And yes, there is or was a “Coconut Harry” in Nosara, but he and the Harry in Beasts are in no way related…even if they both run cool surf shops.
If you’re wondering, Sonara kinda means “it will dream” in Spanish, if you’re feeling charitable (but more correctly, “it will sound”). So Beasts of Sonara sort of means beasts of future dreams, or maybe jeweled beasts in mangled Swahili. So many bad choices…
About the Cover
I came up with the cover on Canva, after a lot of idiocy and really bad ideas (which you might be able to see here on Pinterest). Designer Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers was kind and professional enough to take my concept to the finish line. Thank you!
Related Books
See Run Lab Rat Run, where the genetic miracles of Sonara have taken a bizarre and brutally human but inhumane course.
Sonara, the fictional town in which Beasts takes place, is trademarked. Nomanity, the name of Jon Lamarr’s company in Costa rica, is a trademark. Nomanity also appears in Run Lab Rat Run.
“If Michael Crichton wrote the Hunger Games. Engrossing story in a futuristic (pre-post-apocalyptic?) world where genetic engineering has reignited a full-blown caste system with have’s, have-not’s, and a thirst for social media-driven voyeurism.” –Jonathan Isaacs, author of Stopwatchers
“Vivid and fast-paced, Run Lab Rat Run explores the coming era of human augmentation at every level, from scientific to ethical, asking ‘What if every possibility comes true? Might we split into dozens of species?’ This is the real deal in speculative fiction.” – David Brin, author of The Postman and Existence.
“Gattaca meets the Hunger Games in this dystopian science fiction adventure” – K.A. Fox, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Murphy’s Law
“Shawn C. Butler pulls the reader into a world of genetic enhancements and mutations, artificial intelligence, robots and implants…a cautionary tale; a complex, thought-provoking and twisted story of specieism and discrimination, competition, power and control.” – ReadingCafe
“5 stars! Recommended to lovers of gripping futuristic tales with themes of society, inequality, and genetic modification. Run Lab Rat Run proved to be an insightful and gripping read, surrounding core themes of society, discrimination, and genetic modification. It was a highly thought-provoking read.” – Bookish Beyond
“I was instantly immersed in the book. Such fantastic, descriptive language without being verbose. Written so that it was a scarily believable future. A strong female lead who is also beautifully flawed such that we can empathise with her.” – Isobel Ross, Ultra Runner & Coach
“A fun and entertaining read that presents science fiction in a very believable way. Brilliant metaphors and imagery that could only be written by someone with personal experience in pushing a body to its limits.” – Tim Y
“Shawn Butler presents us with a glimpse into this possible future in an entertaining tale of an athletic competition gone mad.” – Lazarus Lake (aka Gary Cantrell), Founder of the Barkley Marathons
And Run Lab Rat Run has been an Amazon bestseller in several categories, including #6 in Genetic Engineering science fiction, #4 in Humorous SF; and #1 in Running and in Extreme Sports. Which is pretty cool.
Inspiration
Run Lab Rat Run was originally called Modified, as its core message is about what it means to be genetically engineered. What does “human” mean, and how will we share the planet with bioengineering humans who are, possibly, far superior physically and mentally to our “natural” selves. Will we have a caste system, a hierarchy analogous to white supremacy, with the most modified on top?
Those questions and many more occurred to me when CRISPR was introduced to the world. CRISPR offered new way of genetically modifying pretty much anything, cheaply and easily. It’s obvious that within a few years, and far less than a generation, human beings will be editing themselves–first for disease resistance, then for genetic anomalies, and then for, well, whatever we want.
If that doesn’t scare you, you’re not paying attention. Run Lab Rat Run is about one very possible world where value is determined by degrees of modification; a world I sincerely hope we do not choose.
About the Cover
This is the updated (second) cover, designed by myself and then finalized by Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers. Hopefully, this one is more true to market and compelling for the science fiction audience.
This was the original cover. I had no experience with book covers at the time, so I fiddled around in Canva, gave up, and paid for one on Fiverr. It’s not bad… though I decided to update now that I know more about how important covers are for conversion. You can see some really bad initial ideas on Pinterest.
This cover was inspired by something I saw online about evolution. Designer Jayelle Morgan at DreamSaver Covers took that inspiration and made it real. Thank you!
I came up with the cover on Canva, after a lot of idiocy and really bad ideas (which you might be able to see 
I came up with the cover on Canva, after a lot of idiocy and really bad ideas (which you might be able to see 
