Resembling Lepus

OUT NOW!

Earth’s sixth mass extinction has ended, and survivors who have struggled with unhealthy air, food rations and regimented energy consumption are now faced with disturbing new challenges when a detective leads an investigation into a string of inconceivable murders that have rocked her city. This is the futuristic urban setting for Resembling Lepus, the new dark speculative fiction novella by Amanda Kool that becomes the inaugural release in the Emergent Expressions imprint from Grey Matter Press (GMP) when the title publishes on April 26.

Kool’s Resembling Lepus is a tautly written, multi-layered crime mystery set amidst a post-dystopian urban landscape at the end of the current Holocene Era after humans have caused irreversible damage to the planet. Citizens of this surveillance state now required to live with a higher reverence for all life are horrified by a series of murders in this cli-fi dark thriller that investigates the repercussions of man playing god.

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order RESEMBLING LEPUS:

AMAZON US: Kindle | Paperback

AMAZON AU: Kindle | Paperback

BOOK DEPOSITORY (free worldwide shipping!):
https://www.bookdepository.com/Resembling-Lepus-Amanda-Kool/9781950569090

GOODREADS:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60285734-resembling-lepus

What others are saying

“Kool asks difficult questions here, about life and consciousness, and about rights and privilege.” ~ Alan Baxter, author of The Gulp and The Roo

“RESEMBLING LEPUS is a disturbing dystopian noir that takes us into a future we should hope never comes to pass. With climate change having wrought havoc on the planet, what remains of humanity faces a reckoning: what kind of value do we place on life, and what kinds of lives do we actually value? Amanda Kool sketches a complex, confronting world within this tightly plotted novella – if we’re lucky, we’ll see more stories from her that explore its dark and ethically tangled depths.” ~ Kirstyn McDermott, author of Perfections and the Never Afters series

“RESEMBLING LEPUS is a timely futuristic crime noir tale, set in a very different place - a world like no other - and deals with the complex lives of the creatures upon it. Hauntingly realistic, Kool masterfully tackles the issues and outcomes of our world of today, and provides a frightening glimpse into the very real possibilities of our future.” ~ Steve Gerlach, author of Love Lies Dying and Lake Mountain

“A detective story for animal lovers, keenly aware of the sacredness of life. Alternately gentle and empathetic, creepy and tense, with a dark climax to savour. A futuristic novella for our times.” ~ Rjurik Davidson, author of The Stars Askew

"Kool's RESEMBLING LEPUS is a self-contained novella that intermingles identity, human(?) nature, and a reverence for all life in a murder mystery that says more about the systems humans put into place to define what "life" or "murder" is. Cool, deeply imagined speculative fiction." ~ John FD Taff, multiple Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Fearing and The End in All Beginnings

Tallwood

It took just two weeks for the world to end. Those who survived fled underground to build a new life, while otherworldly clean up crews prowled the surface, looking for stragglers.

Over generations, mankind adapted. She kept quiet, kept her animals quiet. She abandoned sound, made talk with her hands. She changed her weapons, her way of killing.

She stayed underground like the rabbit, acting like the prey. Noise brought death.

The city of Recondite is struggling with a population already too large to sustain. Its Custodian must find a new home for half the denizens. But inside the city itself, people are disappearing.

The thing mankind fears most is on the surface. But to survive the threat inside, the city has to do what it has been taught not to for generations.

Go up.

Tallwood is out of print and looking for a home right now.

Reviews

Smash Dragons: "Tallwood is one of the most unique books I've ever read. It is also one of the best post apocalyptic stories I've come across in recent years. Combining a strange and incredibly enchanting universe with authentic and exciting characterisation and action, Tallwood is storytelling at its absolute finest. A must read for fans of speculative fiction everywhere!" ~ Matthew Summers

Amazon: "Amanda Kool's Tallwood is really quite an accomplishment. I was initially struck by two things: firstly, the originality of the ideas. Secondly, the strength, individuality, and flat-out assuredness of the writing itself. This is so clearly the work of someone who has been writing for a long time, because they've been having amazing ideas for a long time. Both of these aspects are well polished, yet utterly true to themselves" ~ Paul Rasche

Goodreads: "If you enjoy dystopian/ post-apocalyptic books, you really don't want to pass this one up. I'd re-read this over Wool or Hunger Games any day of the week. It truly was unique and incredible..."

Wires

Coming soon…!

This is a story about faith. Not religious faith, but the faith to believe in something so much that you're willing to let someone shoot you in the head for it.

Angus Lehane witnesses the shooting death of his wife, Zoë, in a crime that shakes a small island fishing community. As the weeks pass and Angus tries to come to terms with his loss, a man named Danny tells him his wife is not dead. She was sent 'somewhere else' by the weapon that killed her. Danny knows how Angus can get her back.

One catch; Angus must get shot by the same gun. Shot dead.

Danny is looking for his brother, also shot by this mysterious weapon. He will do anything to get him back – except go himself. When a person returns from this other place, they do not come back the same as they were and that is something Danny cannot risk.

But things don't go to plan and shots are fired into a dark night.

Three complete strangers wake in a strange, mist-filled land with empty houses, tiny silver bells on the walls, and wires stretching from one "island" to the next across great seas of fog.

Danny's brother and Angus' wife are here somewhere, amid the clustered communities and the defended strongholds. They have to work together to navigate the new world or die trying.

And the new world has its own monsters. 

The Murderer's Cloth

Investigators Goddard and Bixby are struggling to make ends meet in a city still shivering in the wake of Jack the Ripper.

Stabbings are up, bludgeonings are common. The intrepid pair are finding it hard to garner any attention in the overbearing shadow of Holmes who, at this time, is enjoying well-earned public and royal notoriety. Goddard's wife is inexplicably "away" and the ledgers are swiftly falling into the red.

The desperate pair is eventually forced into kidnapping a woman from the streets at the behest of her father, a Viscount.

It is during this first, clumsy assignment that they meet Hypatia, an uncommon woman with an exceedingly common occupation. Risking the wrath of her powerful family, Goddard and Bixby must put their reputation and their lives on the line to protect her.

But Goddard has kept something from his business partner and it is this secret that could bring them all to a bloody end. While Bixby reluctantly takes Hypatia with him to investigate other cases, Goddard's erratic behaviour back in London begins to worsen.

With the help of Hypatia, Bixby must not only find the missing woman and ensure the continuation of the investigative agency, but save his friend from facing certain death at the hands of a brutal assassin. 

'I can't get a blasted thing done in the square mile without him taking all the good jobs, buying up the last of the magnifying lenses – not that he needs them – and cosying up to the Realm every chance he gets.'

'There are other jobs,' Bixby said.

'I want his. All of his. All the ones he gets! They pay better!' Goddard tore at the crumpet with his teeth and ferociously chewed, butter glistening on his chin and a large dollop of jam sliding off the side of his mouth like a snail making its way south.

~ The Murderer’s Cloth

Resembling Lepus (Novella)

An unthinkable murder kicks off an investigation into what it means to be a human animal, played out in a world where non-human animals are just as precious. 

Available now!

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A man, deathly afraid of the water, falls in love with a Mermaid who is not at all what she seems.

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An act of violence creates a human monster, whose revenge reverberates through an entire bloodline - leading them to a very inhuman monster who simply will not die.

This Fishbowl (Short Story)

A story about a woman who is shut away from the world in all ways - until it comes sneaking in through her front door...

A Proper Rabbit (Short Story)

A war destroyed most of the world, but in a hidden valley, two people survive, happy, content. The fact that it's all a lie doesn't cross their minds.

Half Fired (Short Story)

A bank robbery, a survivor, an injury that no one else can see; an injury that won't go away. 

The Paper Fox

The Paper Fox is a marvellous tale of adventure and whimsy.

Brought to life in stunning digital paper-craft, The Paper Fox follows the journey of a young fox forced to leave his home to discover the cause of earthquakes shaking the land.

Reluctant at first, Paper Fox travels in search of aid from the denizens of the land, each of which hold a clue to solving the mystery. Some creatures are cryptic, some are unwilling, and some are downright....hungry!

Will Paper Fox succeed?