science fiction book – Ridley Park

EDIT: I’ve finished this book and wrote about it on my Substack.

I’m about a quarter done with I Who Have Never Known Men. The pacing feels about right, but much of the mystery has yet to be revealed, if ever it will be. In fact, there are a few loose ends that need to be traced.

I am genuinely interested to see where it goes. A group of 40 women in a guarded cell in an unknown location. The protagonist is the youngest of them, likely by at least a decade. She doesn’t know how old she is, but she tells us that she stopped maturing, as it were, part-way through puberty, which evidently has implications for the story. No one seems to remember much of the past, including how they came to be there, but it seems to be a long time, and despite odd ageing profiles, they do seem to age and die.

This book appears to be both psychological and metaphorical, but I’ll reserve further comment for another time.

Ref: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/229870757-i-who-have-never-known-men

🛸 A Closer Look at the Cover of Sustenance

👽 People ask me: What’s with the aliens on the front cover of Sustenance?
Fair enough. Let’s talk about it.

Sustenance is set in Iowa – real, dusty, soybean-and-corn Iowa. I’ve spent months there. I’ve lived in the Midwest (including Chicago) for over a decade. The farms, the tractors, the gravel roads… they aren’t just set dressing. They’re part of the book’s DNA.

So, yes: we’ve got the requisite red barn, green tractor with yellow wheels (hi, John Deere 🚜), and a crop circle or two. The audiobook cover even features an alien peeking out of the barn – though logistics are holding that version back for now.

Please note that the Kindle version is available for free for the rest of today (8 Sep 25). Download your copy while you still can without paying through the nose. Leave a review for👍 better or for👎 worse.

But those aliens…

If the composition feels familiar, it should.

The cover is a quiet parody of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” – a pitchfork-wielding farmer and his companion, stoic before their rural home. It’s one of the most recognisable paintings in American art, and I couldn’t resist twisting it just slightly. Grant was an Iowa boy.

I designed this cover using a flat vector art style, almost like cut paper or stylised children’s book illustrations. The sky is cyan, the land is beige, and everything is built in clean layers: barn, tractor, field, crop circle, and of course… two violet, large-eyed aliens striking a pose.

But no, this isn’t a literal scene from the book. You might encounter violet aliens in Sustenance, but you won’t find them standing around with pitchforks like interstellar Grant Wood impersonators. The image is meant to evoke the tone, not transcribe the events.

Why this style?

Because the story itself is quiet. Subtle. Set in the kind of place often overlooked or written off. The aliens aren’t invading with lasers. They’re… complicated. And the humans, well, aren’t always the best ambassadors of Earth.

The cover reflects that blend of satire, stillness, and unease.

Oh, and one last note:
🛑 No aliens were harmed in the writing of this book.

Tag: science fiction book

What’s With the Violet Aliens?

But those aliens…

Why this style?