a family of writers & creatives
Our work has been published through Wiley, Skyhorse, Amphorae Publishing, and our family imprint, Layla Dog Press, and many of our books are available in print, ebook, and audio. We wholeheartedly support libraries and independent bookstores. If you choose to support a particular independent bookstore, you can find yours at Bookshop.org. Happy reading!
Young adult / science fiction
With nearly 60,000 sold and a film option, THE SEEDS TRILOGY and the novella THE PRELUDE are set in the world of Okaria where the food you eat can change who you are and the powerful kill to keep their secrets. Written by the mother-daughter trio of Kristina, Amira, and Elena Makansi, you can get the ebook bundle here.
The SOWING: Book 1
After Remy Alexander's older sister is murdered in a cold-blooded massacre, her family discovers the Okarian Sector is hiding the truth behind the attack. Remy and her parents flee the Sector to join the clandestine Resistance movement. Now, three years later, Remy and her friends are convinced they've found a clue that can help them unravel the mystery behind the murders and expose the secrets behind the Sector's use of genetically modified food. But back home in the Sector, Valerian Orlean, the boy Remy once thought she loved, is put in charge of hunting and destroying the Resistance. Even as Vale strives to live up to his parent's expectations, he is haunted by the memory of his friendship with Remy and is determined to find out why she disappeared.
The REAPING: Book 2
Remy Alexander wants justice. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Sector only to watch her world burn around her, she will defy everyone to find her revenge. Valerian Orlean wants truth. After learning what evils the Sector is truly capable of, he must confront his past in order to create a better future. In a world where deadly secrets lurk around every corner, and the food you eat can enlighten or enslave you, Remy and Vale must walk the line between hope and hate, love and loss, violence and vengeance, in order to unite – or destroy – their world.
The Harvest: Book 3
Remy Alexander wants revolution. After watching Vale fall back into the hands of the Sector, she will stop at nothing to reveal the corruption in Okaria. When she joins a secret Outsider network in the underbelly of the capital city, she must use all her skills as a fighter and an artist to show the people the truth.
Valerian Orlean wants emancipation. When he wakes up in Okaria as a political prisoner and learns what his parents have done to him, he realizes time is running out before millions of people are forever enslaved.
The prelude: a seeds trilogy novella
Our gift for you, THE PRELUDE is a novella set in the world of the SEEDS Trilogy. Written by Amira of the K. Makansi trio, it tells the story of Soren’s life in Okaria and how he came to be a member of the Resistance. Readers will learn more about Soren’s rivalry with Vale and his friendship with Dr. James Rhinehouse and Jeremiah Sayyid. Weaving in equal parts politics, music, science fiction, and a coming of age story, THE PRELUDE provides an in-depth look into one of our readers’ favorite characters in the world of SEEDS.
Download THE PRELUDE for FREE now. If prompted for a password, enter SOREN_PRELUDE_2014.
The Golden Compass meets Thirteen Reasons Why in this explosive, genre-bending science-fiction and fantasy crossover novel.
The paths between stars
Seventeen-year-old Noomi Perez is desperate for an escape. In the years since she watched her father die, she's experienced blinding attacks of darkness she calls "shadows." After years of therapy, countless drug regimens, and a rotating cast of mental health specialists, the shadows are only getting stronger. But when Noomi seeks the escape she craves by dousing herself in gasoline and striking a match, she walks away unscathed. The next day, Noomi meets a boy with iridescent eyes who seems to know something about the shadows that haunt her. But when she asks his name, he vanishes with the wind. As the shadows grow stronger and threaten to swallow her whole, Noomi must find a new way forward. The path she charts will open her eyes to worlds she could never have imagined—and put her in more danger than she could ever have believed.
ADULT FICTION
the pantheon league: speculative near-future romance
For readers worried about the state of American democracy, but still believe in the power of hope, family, friendship, and love. And magic.
NEMESIS IN LOVE - BOOK ONE OF THE PANTHEON LEAGUE SERIES
When Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance and Retribution, is called back to earth to deal with troublesome humans intent on dismantling American democracy, she never expects to fall for Cyrus Bigelow, a southern Arizona businessman who is much more than he seems.
“Funny, irreverent, and politically charged. A high-intensity page-turner with plenty of spice.”
“I pretty much inhaled Nemesis overnight. Timely, sexy, and suspenseful, Nemesis in Love is a richly imagined, satisfying ride you won’t be able to put down.”
HELEN UNLEASHED - BOOK TWO OF THE PANTHEON LEAGUE SERIES
A failed witch and a former Navy SEAL band together to solve the mystery of a SEAL’s death. As they delve deeper, they uncover a web of corruption, human trafficking, and worse. And they discover that the web has ensnared people they love—and have promised to protect.
Beta readers said:
I think the most important thing to share is that after I read this, I was sad that I didn't have the next book already!
I'm kinda hooked and can't wait for the next.
Loved it. When can I read the next one?
Ebook | Paperback
WREQUIEM AT THE RED ROCKS - A NOVEL OF BRUTALIST SATIRE AND FUTILE GESTURES
When attendees at the “Neo-Anthropocentric Models of Retrospective Freedoms” colloquium arrive in spiritual Sedona, they become facilitator Bradley Maniopolos’s problem. Scholarly debate immediately devolves into who has freedom, who doesn’t, who’s getting it, who confers it, who assumes it, who guarantees it, and why the hell anyone cares. All the while pontificating on stolen land. But Bradley has problems of his own. Looming retirement. His identity. Personal issues of a private nature he’d rather not talk about.
In the tradition of Catch-22, A Confederacy of Dunces, and The Sellout, Wrequiem at the Red Rocks makes you laugh until you see yourself. Then you cry. Earning the highest praise from readers, Wrequiem's brutalist satire slams a wrecking ball into the hypocrisies we flawed humans depend on—and vociferously deny.
THE ALCHEMIST OF ALEPPO
“You were dying. I was desperate. So I rearranged the world.”
When Michael Samaan and Kat Musgrave meet by the display case of a fourteenth century glass goblet at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, they know immediately that they are deeply connected-to each other and to the goblet. But neither one understands what that connection means. Through a series of uncovered books and recovered memories, Michael, a British art historian, and Kat, an American geneticist, work together to peel back the layers of history-and their past lives-to find answers.
Spanning centuries, The Alchemist of Aleppo bends the space-time continuum of souls forever bound together and embodies our fascination with what science can't explain and money can't buy.
THE TROUBLE WITH ROOMMATES
Second chances, forced proximity, and enemies-to-lovers rule the day when your worst enemy becomes your pandemic roommate…
Three years after the kiss of a lifetime in a public parking lot followed by months of online and in-real-life stalking and misogynistic bullying from tech bro Gabriel Landon's fan boys, journalist Aria Turner returns home from a year abroad in London just as the world starts to shut down due to Covid-19. Problem is, her condo has been subleased to her arch nemesis: Gabriel Landon.
And just when Gabriel is getting his feet back under him, mending fences with his sister, and starting a new business in New York City, a new unwanted roommate for his subleased condo shows up: Aria Turner.
THE MOMENT BEFORE
America’s global ambitions are reduced to one father, his daughter, and the two men who seek to reunite them.
The unflinching story of an American-Arab’s life in limbo after Elias Haddad is tricked by the two people closest to him. He leaves his beloved daughter Cheryl Halia for what he believes is a short trip home to Syria to visit his dying father. Largely ignorant of Middle East politics, Elias is detained upon arrival in Damascus and conscripted into Assad’s army, beginning a forty-year geopolitical odyssey from hell which culminates in his captivity in Guantanamo during America’s post-9/11 War on Terror.
ORACLES OF DELPHI
Two sacred oracles. One dead body. How far will the priests and priestesses go to protect their power?
All Althaia wants on her trip to Delphi is to fulfill her father's last wish and enjoy time away from her tiresome new husband. Finding the body of a young woman on the altar of Dionysos in the theater of the Sacred Precinct on her first day in town is not in her plans. Neither is getting involved in the search for the killer, falling for the son of a famous priestess, or getting pulled into the ancient struggle for control of the two most powerful oracles in the world. But that's exactly what happens when Theron, Althaia's tutor and a man with a reputation for finding the truth, is asked to investigate.
Non-FICTION
PAINTING BY NUMBERS: How to sharpen your BS detector and smoke out the “experts”
The 12 commandments for evaulating the numbers that shape our lives.
How well do you know what you think you know? If you've ever pored over election polling data, argued about climate change, or read an article describing the latest study on a topic you care about, this is for you. Entertaining and approachable style and with humorous illustrations to help explain complex modeling concepts, it is an essential tool for making sense of the numbers shaping modern society.
In this award-winning book for educators, parents, and everyone who wants to understand the world today, author Jason Makansi uses real-life examples drawn from polling data, medicine, climate modeling, and more. Fun, easy to understand, and essential.
Ebook | Paperback
CARBON IRA & YOUTILITY
How to Address Climate Change & Reward Carbon Reduction Before It’s Too Late.
Written before the latest cascading effect of cataclysmic climate change, this little book presents ideas that still matter. From the concept of an easy-to-implement reward structure for reducing carbon to a more comprehensive approach to managing our consumption, author Jason Makansi presents ideas with clarity and wit.
Paperback
LIGHTS OUT and AN INVESTOR’S GUIDE TO THE ELECTRICITY ECONOMY
Both published by John Wiley & Sons, these two books received high praise and were reviewed in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The St. Louis Post Dispatch, and many more. As an experienced industry journalist, editor, and journalist, Jason Makansi spoke at events large and small about the technological, economic, and climate challenges facing us all.
Lights Out is still available in print. Order here.
Amira Makansi
Co-author of The SEEDS Trilogy and author of THE PRELUDE, Amira is also a writer in her own right, a wine aficionado, foodie, historian, outdoors-woman extraordinaire, and experienced marketing entrepreneur. Find out more North Node Marketing, https://thezaxis.co/, and subscribe to her Substack: The Ecology of Tomorrow. Authors interested in growing their brand, should check out Manuscript to Momentum: An Action-Oriented Guidebook to Build Your Author Brand, Find Your Readers, and Sell More Books.
Order her non-fiction books from online retailers or on her website.
Elena Makansi
Also, one of the three co-authors of The SEEDS Trilogy, Elena is an accomplished artist, illustrator, photographer, writer, environmentalist, social media professional, outdoor enthusiast. Check out her Substack and her website.
