Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere have made it. They’ve defeated Philip Martiniere, and Philip’s suicide leaves them an opening to reform the Martiniere Group as well as the Martiniere Family. To create their own, positive legacy.
But. The legacy of the Martinieres isn’t so easily repaired. Forty-five years of dominance by Philip doesn’t just go away overnight. Gabe and Ruby have a lot of work to do, especially since Philip’s toxic legacy endures in unexpected places.
New foes arise—including the specters of age and health. The mysterious worm that interferes with digital and living memories, and glitches their newest biobot designs.
Then Gabe begins to wonder—is Philip truly defeated?
Can he keep his legacy safe? Or is he doomed to lose his second family, only in a slower manner than the plane crash that killed his first family?
What will it take for Gabe to guarantee that his legacy endures?
Joyce Reynolds-Ward has been called “the best writer I’ve never heard of” by one reviewer. She has published over 32 books that include themes of high-stakes family, corporate, and political conflict, digital sapience, personal agency, realistic strong women, and (whenever possible) horses, frequently in Pacific Northwest settings.
She is the author of six speculative fiction series: The Netwalk Sequence, Goddess's Honor, The Martiniere Legacy Quartet, The People of the Martiniere Legacy, The Martiniere Multiverse, and The Cost of Power as well as standalones Vision of Alliance, Federation Cowboy, Beating the Apocalypse, Klone's Stronghold: Reeni and Alien Savvy.
Joyce is a Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off Semifinalist, a Writers of the Future SemiFinalist, and an Anthology Builder Finalist. She is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, co-chair of SFWA’s Independent Author Committee, and a member of Soroptimists International.