SUMMER 2026
WINNER: Replay by Azeez Aregbesola
“Thrilling…non-stop action!”– Geek Digest
“Intense pace, intricate plot, complex characters…” – Bookause Reviews
In the future, one corporation controls everything… even your memories.
Meridian’s miracle drug, Replay, lets you relive your happiest moments in perfect detail and delete the ones you’d rather forget. The world calls it freedom. Meridian calls it progress. But every Replay session uploads your memories straight into their servers, giving them the power to rewrite lives… or erase them entirely.
When Meridian deletes the woman he loves, Richard Uche becomes the only person alive who remembers she ever existed. A former engineer with an AI‑boosted 198 IQ, Richard knows exactly how dangerous Replay really is — because he helped build it.
Now Meridian is preparing a global “upgrade” that will overwrite billions of minds in one flawless stroke. If Richard doesn’t stop them, humanity’s past, and future, will belong to a single corporation forever.
To fight back, he must outsmart the system he created, break into the world’s most secure memory vault, and uncover the truth Meridian tried to wipe from existence.
REPLAY is a high‑velocity dystopian techno‑thriller about a world addicted to forgetting, and the one man willing to remember.
OTHER FINALISTS
The Way of Lucherium by Christopher J. Rziha
The Way of Lucherium plunges the reader into a war-torn land where the boundary between spirit and matter is blurred and introduces them to a Geoffrey: an ambitious bard who falls out of favor with his powerful superiors before finding freedom and fulfillment in the most paradoxical of places: with a band of traitorous insurgents hell-bent on destroying the world he loves.
Christopher J. Rziha is a doctoral student of Spanish language and culture at the University of Notre Dame. He studies drama, mysticism, and metaphysics. He is the author of several essays on Spanish theater and religion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as of the fantasy novel, The Way of Lucherium.
Gang Will (They Do It In Glasgow 1) by Jon Night
The Scion Conspiracy (Crucible of Legacy Book 1) by Mike Cahoon
During a burgeoning Age of Exploration, a conspiracy of deadly politics and dark magic is abducting children from across the continent for an unknown purpose. As the greatest powers in the world fight for control over the New World, alliances shift by the moment and no one’s future is set in stone. As goes the Conspiracy, so goes the world as nations are dragged along in its wake, forever defining all that follows in the first installment of this dark fantasy epic.
The Wrong Side of Charm by Jane Shaw
After sixteen years in the US, Sarah returns to the west London town where she once taught primary school, hoping for quiet reconnection and a fresh start. But her past greets her with unexpected intensity: Matt, a charismatic young man with a magnetic charm, sweeps her into a whirlwind romance—only for Sarah to discover he was once one of her pupils, now grown and enigmatic. At the same time, Jonathan, a former parent from her teaching days, reappears—steady, generous, and quietly devoted. He once encouraged her to chase her dreams, and now seems ready to build something lasting.
Caught between two men who represent vastly different versions of her past, Sarah begins to feel the ground shift beneath her. What she thought was nostalgia becomes something darker. Secrets surface. Motives blur. And as Sarah edges closer to love, she unwittingly steps into a web of obsession, memory, and betrayal—where the line between protector and predator is not as clear as it once seemed.
By the time she realizes what’s at stake, the damage is already circling—and the truth threatens to unravel everything she thought she’d come home to.
The Other Queen by Damilola Awe
“Epic Fantasy Thriller done right…” – Ray Anyasi
“Solid five star… worthy of any praise it gets.” – Geek Digest
Aldor, the economic heart of the Six Kingdoms, is thrown into chaos when Abhunka rebels strike with ruthless precision. King Kuar of the House of Bruu is trapped outside his own walls, cut off from his family as the rebels tighten their siege around the capital. With no path home and no army at his back, he makes a perilous choice: seek refuge in the southern kingdom of Alamagu, ruled by the enigmatic and widowed Queen Kiduni—a woman whose past with Kuar is as dangerous as the war now consuming his lands.
Inside the besieged city, Queen Sarina must hold Aldor together alone. Pressured by the political might of Manhui and surrounded by enemies, she forges uneasy alliances and makes sacrifices that will reshape her kingdom—and herself. Every compromise strengthens her rule, but also draws her deeper into a web of power she never sought.
In Alamagu, Queen Kiduni sees opportunity in Kuar’s desperation. She offers him sanctuary, but her ambitions reach far beyond her borders. With Aldor vulnerable and Manhui’s dominance ripe for challenge, she intends to use Kuar as the spark that ignites a new order. Yet she underestimates the quiet steel of Queen Sarina, whose resolve under siege may prove the deadliest force of all.
As rival queens manoeuvre in the shadows and a displaced king fights to reclaim his throne, the balance of power across the Six Kingdoms tilts toward war. Loyalties will fracture, old wounds will reopen, and the fate of Aldor will be decided not only by armies—but by the cunning of those who dare to rule.
WINTER 2026
WINNER: Call the Four by Osagie Onolunose
When four teens vanish in Edinburgh, a leaked CCTV clip frames Adeyinka, sparking nationwide anti-immigrant riots. As the city burns, Adeyinka and his friend Eoin fall prey to a ruthless trafficking ring. Call The Four is a pulse-pounding thriller that questions modern society’s darkest impulses.
OTHER FINALISTS
Lily Starling wakes up in a city she barely recognizes, with no memory of her past—only a metal tag bearing her name and an instinct for survival. When a Union starship crew claims she belongs with them, she’s pulled centuries beyond her own time and into a desperate mission against the psionic Krythar.
Aboard the starship Salamander, Lily is drawn into a found family of misfit officers, warriors, and exiles. Together, they uncover mysteries hidden among the stars: an ancient memory seed carrying the voices of the dead, and a weapon capable of unraveling time itself.
But when Lily faces her greatest fear, she must choose—confront the demons of her past, or risk losing everything.
Seven years after leaving Ethan—now her sister’s husband—Samantha returns seeking closure. But her “drama-free” holiday is derailed by Craig, a charming younger neighbor with a dangerous reputation. Ignoring her sister’s warnings, Samantha finds her resolve melting under his gaze. In the summer heat, the one man she shouldn’t want becomes impossible to resist.
After a DNA test shatters her perfect life, Tessy abandons her fiancé and family to flee to the UK. Disguised as a student, she hunts for the biological father hidden by her mother’s lies. In this high-stakes search for identity, Tessy must decide if the truth is worth the wreckage.
A homeless man wanders through endless versions of Fort Wayne, Indiana with a shapeshifting kitsune partner. Together they face their odd realities and a strange multiverse taco truck owner while piecing together broken memories. They try to find home across a sixth-dimensional current that refuses to let them rest.
Meticulous consultant Marlon risks everything after a night of secret, back-to-back sexual encounters with boutique owners Chelsea and Rebecca. As professional boundaries dissolve into a web of guilt and desire, Marlon’s double life threatens their livelihoods and his integrity. In this high-stakes drama, one man must face the devastating cost of a hidden truth.
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