about the author
J.L. Birchwood is a mild-mannered scientist by day and weekend novelist living on the Eastern Seaboard with her husband of 30 years. She enjoys the outdoors, playing music, British humor, musical theater, cooking, and banging her head at righteous heavy metal festivals. You can often find her at her tiny writing desk or surveying scientific journals for her next book. If you see her out there, say "Hi!" She's ridiculous.
NEW IN 2023-The Southron Chronicles
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
The Southron Chronicles, Book 0
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Meet Reese McLaren.
In the year 2050, twenty-five-year-old Reese escaped the doomsday cult he was raised in and made his way to Austin, the capital of The Southron Union, a breakaway autonomous region occupying much of the American Deep South. Ruled by the radical Nolan Society, the young country relied on Texas’ free-flowing petroleum to save them from climate change, poverty, and starvation.
Until one day, the oil ran dry.
As The Union’s society begins its inevitable collapse, Reese and his wife Lenore meet a disgruntled soldier known only as The General. The couple’s newfound friend claims he can save The Union, but only with Reese’s help. The General demands nothing less than Reese’s abject loyalty, forcing the young man to choose between his beliefs and the love of his wife and daughter.
How far will Reese go to ensure The Union’s survival?
THE SOUTHRON DECEPTION
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
The year is 2085
In the Southron Union, a breakaway autonomous region of the former United States, climate change steals more of the South with each passing day, shrinking the coastlines and leaving behind an ocean of sand in its wake. Ruled by a man known only as The General, a charismatic leader who rose to power following a military coup, life here is a brutal convergence of violence and starvation.
Tasha Strong enjoyed a privileged existence. She had food to eat. A roof over her head. Water flowed freely from the tap. After being hand-selected for a top job by The General, she met Derik, a devastatingly handsome bodyguard, and the final piece of her perfect life clicked into place. At least for a time.
When a terrorist’s bomb detonates during The Union’s independence day celebration, Tasha Strong’s world is turned upside-down, forcing the formerly naïve, pampered young woman to embark on a quest to expose the insurgents responsible and bring them to justice.
Every step Tasha takes to unravel the mystery of the bombing reveals unexpected truths, destroying the illusion of The Union, and imploding the delusion of her idyllic life.
THE SOUTHRON ODYSSEY
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
THE SOUTHRON RESURGENCE
Six months ago, Tasha Strong’s blissful existence was shattered when a terrorist’s bomb killed her husband during Recognition Day, the Southron Union’s celebration of independence from the United States.
On that day, Tasha’s old life ended, and a new one began.
Obsessed with solving the mystery of Derik’s death, Tasha’s investigation led her to an inescapable conclusion. The General, The Union’s enigmatic dictator, had ordered her husband’s murder after it was discovered that Derik was collaborating with the Gulf Coast Liberation Army, an underground resistance movement.
Over the years, Tasha certainly heard the rumors of violence wielded by The General. The iron grip he had on everyone’s lives. Especially Tasha’s. The General hadn’t taken his eyes off her since the day she was born.
The revelations flood in, one by one, forcing Tasha to escape the only way she can, in a borrowed car, entrusted to her based on a lie. What she encounters on the road is shattering, heart wrenching. Dead ecosystems. Cities swallowed up by an angry planet. Everywhere she turns is destruction and suffering.
Will Tasha finally get closure on Derik’s death? Or will the truth drive her straight into the arms of the Gulf Coast Liberation Army?
THE SOUTHRON RESURGENCE
THE SOUTHRON SACRIFICE
THE SOUTHRON RESURGENCE
Scott Tucker had it all.
As The General’s principal bodyguard, he enjoyed a life most people in the Southron Union could only hope for. Protecting the dictator had given him status, prestige, and most importantly, the love of Tasha Strong, his best friend’s widow. For a while, Scott’s life was perfect.
But in a moment of desperation, it all came crashing down, plunging Scott into a dark, never-ending pit of grief and despair.
When three Southron generals invade Austin, hoping to revive their dream of a military dictatorship on American soil, the only thing that stands in their way is a new home-grown resistance movement, led by Scott’s nemesis, Bella Tessay. They call themselves Fidelis, the Faithful.
Faithful to the cause of freedom. Faithful to the memory of those murdered by The General.
Prepared to die rather than to relinquish one inch of territory to the generals, Fidelis wages a guerilla war in the streets, thrusting the former bodyguard back into the very conflict that threatened to destroy him.
Will he choose to fight, to vanquish the Southron threat once and for all?
Or will Scott, paralyzed by guilt, allow the seeds of tyranny to flourish in Austin one last time?
THE JOURNAL OF THE SACRIFICIAL SCIENTIST
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
“Everybody lies. No one knows anyone.”
Burgeoning young scientist Margot thought she had finally found happiness with her new husband Ryan, a microbiologist running a successful research laboratory. After several scientists die under suspicious circumstances, Ryan becomes obsessed with their murders, convinced the government is responsibl
“Everybody lies. No one knows anyone.”
Burgeoning young scientist Margot thought she had finally found happiness with her new husband Ryan, a microbiologist running a successful research laboratory. After several scientists die under suspicious circumstances, Ryan becomes obsessed with their murders, convinced the government is responsible. When a bioterrorist attack grips the nation, killing thousands of innocent civilians, Ryan becomes more isolated and secretive, drawing suspicion from everyone, including Margot. As a government agent closes in on Ryan, Margot races to find the proof of his innocence, all the while exposing secrets that will shatter her happy home and the lives of everyone she cares about.
THE MANHATTAN MUTATION
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
Agricultural scientists Jacob and Adira Henson arrived in Manhattan, Kansas in the usual way, in a borrowed van, under cover of night. Theirs is a perfect union. Smart. Funny. Loving. An amazing couple.
Or are they? What secrets are being kept in the small two-bedroom apartment just off campus? What kind of scientists carry guns and bags
Agricultural scientists Jacob and Adira Henson arrived in Manhattan, Kansas in the usual way, in a borrowed van, under cover of night. Theirs is a perfect union. Smart. Funny. Loving. An amazing couple.
Or are they? What secrets are being kept in the small two-bedroom apartment just off campus? What kind of scientists carry guns and bags of cash? Who are these mysterious people?
As they scramble to prevent another bioterror attack by the Scientific Advancement Society’s terror network, this time on the nation’s corn crop, each day closer to harvest brings Jacob and Adira closer to each other, and closer to danger. Who survives the final confrontation?
THE TELFORD TEMPEST
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
THE VIRULENT VENDETTA
Ryan Telford and Claire McNamara are haunted, terrorized by ghosts of the thousands of people they murdered during The Blood Strain Attack, a vengeful act against a government they believe assassinated their friends and colleagues, scientists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Now they’re on the run, each one escaping to their
Ryan Telford and Claire McNamara are haunted, terrorized by ghosts of the thousands of people they murdered during The Blood Strain Attack, a vengeful act against a government they believe assassinated their friends and colleagues, scientists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Now they’re on the run, each one escaping to their own corner of the world. When Ryan’s wife Margot is kidnapped and brutally attacked, intelligence agents Alex and Jacob will go to the ends of the Earth to capture the bioterrorists turned cold-blooded killers, while Ryan prepares his most audacious assault yet.
Can Ryan be stopped in time? How many more innocents will be sacrificed to satisfy his vengeance against a woman who refuses to die?
THE VIRULENT VENDETTA
THE BLOOD STRAIN AGENDA
THE VIRULENT VENDETTA
Microbiologist-turned-terrorist Ryan Telford is trapped. Locked in silent, perpetual darkness, the ghost of his wife Margot his only companion. She sadistically taunts him as he burns with a delirious fever, convinced every hallucination-filled night will be his last.
Five hundred miles away, President Baker has accomplished what is prede
Microbiologist-turned-terrorist Ryan Telford is trapped. Locked in silent, perpetual darkness, the ghost of his wife Margot his only companion. She sadistically taunts him as he burns with a delirious fever, convinced every hallucination-filled night will be his last.
Five hundred miles away, President Baker has accomplished what is predecessor, Neville Dawson had only dreamed of. After orchestrating the deaths of several climate scientists years earlier, his creation, the Committee for Scientific Oversight has humiliated the academic community with public hearings and the detentions of scientists who defied his executive orders. But this is only the beginning of Baker’s nefarious plotting.
Will anyone stand against the leader of the free world, preventing all-out civil war? Will this finally be the end of the country’s most feared insurgent?
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