Red Demon – ARCs Available!
A new book is coming and I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on an ARC.! It’s called Red Demon and I am really excited to tell you more about it.
Title: Red Demon
Author: Sill Bihagia, writing under Oria Press. Red Demon is their debut novel and second published
work.
Proofreader: Pushcart nominated author, editor and literary agent Danai Christopoulou
Genre: Science Fantasy / Sci-fi Fantasy / LGBTQ+
Subgenres/Tropes: Gritty male POV, romantic subplot, morally gray characters, found family, enemies
to lovers. Queer-normative worldbuilding and a bi MMC.
Themes – Resilience, Redemption.
Comparative Titles – The Poppy War by RF Kuang, Red Rising, but with a romantic subplot and open
door scene.
Cover Art: Design by award nominated Maria Spada, with character illustrations by celebrated artist and
influencer Kateryna Vitkovska
Red Demon received strong beta feedback from both hard sci-fi and romantasy readers.
It reads like a fantasy novel, but with well-researched science—neuroscience, CRISPR-based genetics,
and mycology—woven just beneath the surface. Sill’s background in memory neuroscience informs the
FMC’s unique amnesia, which reflects a plausible disruption to episodic memory with preserved limbic
circuitry. Readers will simply experience a character who remembers who she loves, but not why she
kills.
You can request an ARC from the author’s website here. You will have the choice from NetGalley (my fave), BookSirens, or a physical ARC request (Ahhh, I’d love to get this!) and you can add the book to your TBR on Goodreads.
About the Book:
On an isolated planet where unity is as engineered as its people, Jesse seeks the truth
behind the slaughter of his family—starting with the immortal who spared him.
A century ago, two human lines nearly wiped each other out rather than acknowledge their
shared humanity. But when Jesse’s mining town is slaughtered under mysterious circumstances,
it’s clear ancient bigotries are still alive, and rebels have access to some magic or tech capable of
wide-scale genocide.
The Red Demon bloodied her swords in that massacre—a bioengineered immortal left over from
that century old war. Jesse expected to be upholding his empire’s fragile peace, not killing her
own. Jesse is too optimistic and stubborn to break. Better days are coming—and he’s willing to
take on an immortal to ensure they do.
Faruhar, the so-called Red Demon, is not the mastermind Jesse expects. Her fragmented mind is
ravaged by guilt over crimes she cannot remember committing, and a code impressed on her by a
few kind people she cannot forget.
A fast-paced science fantasy with tense fight scenes, a spicy romantic subplot, and a twisty
plot that punches you in the feels. Fans of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising and R.F. Kuang’s
Poppy War Trilogy will appreciate this book.
Here’s some early praise for Red Demon:
“I had the chance to work on this fast-paced science fantasy as a proofreader and I was mesmerised by its richly realized setting and characters. I also may or may not have threatened Sill that I need more books set in this world.” – Danai Christopoulou, Pushcart-nominated author and editor at Hugo-nominated khōréō
This book is set to release on August 19, 2025.
Formats: eBook, Paperback & Hardcover via KDP and IngramSpark, For US readers, editions with
sprayed edges will be available at indiereads.org for the same price as standard edition major retailers.
Audiobook production is currently scheduled to begin in March ’26 with High Gravity Productions,
narrated by Brandon Francis and Cassandra Trieu.
Standalone/Connected: Although Red Demon can be read as a standalone, it is the first book in a shared
universe. The series Sill envisions is something unlikely to be greenlit by large traditional publishers: a
loosely connected series of five novels, each focusing on new characters that fold into an expanding
political/epic landscape. Meanwhile, they plan several standalone science romantasies set in the same
world. A political romantasy titled Introgression Tree, set five centuries after Red Demon, is scheduled for
release in early 2026.