Lovestruck Maggot

"A fun, propulsive novel with memorable worldbuilding."—Kirkus Reviews Magazine (Featured Indie Review)
 

Short List (ongoing)—2026 Cygnus Book Awards
 

"Lovestruck Maggot is a phenomenal journey. The setting, characters, politics, and culture saturate every paragraph without ever feeling heavy-handed. I would have loved to come back to meet Mona and her Maggots again, but instead I'll content myself with having spent a perfect few hours with them."—Independent Book Review (Starred Review)
 

"I'd hand this to readers who like space opera, science fiction, romance, survival adventure, body horror, dystopian fiction, and weird western-inflected SF with a sharp voice and a taste for the baroque. Lovestruck Maggot is proof that even in the harshest world, love can still be the most explosive substance on the page."— Literary Titan (Gold Book Award)

A heartbroken scavenger. An intrepid space cowboy. Some very good wood.

The planet Kalderra is known for several things. A blue sun. An oversized, violet moon. Massive craters formed through past volcanic activity. Strange forests comprised of the rarest, most magnificent trees in the galaxy. And kameeba, bizarre creatures whose scavenged parts can smooth skin, extend lives… and power worlds.
 

Mona "Ripper" Ripple is a Maggot—responsible for harvesting the volatile yet prized remains of recently deceased kameeba. As leader of the elite Karcass Five unit, Mona is the best Maggot that Kalderra has ever known. Tough and ill-tempered, demanding and crude, she's also on the far side of forty—ancient for one in her trade—with all the scars and wrinkles and terrible memories to match.
 

Mona Ripple is also in love.
 

Smitten by a handsome recruit named Darien Vance, Mona revels in finally having something beautiful to call her own. She dares to dream of a picturesque future defined by passionate devotion rather than butchered extraterrestrials. As young Darien sleeps in her acid-burned arms, Mona prepares for their eventual planetary exit… together.
 

Unfortunately, Mona's plans unravel when Darien catches the crimson eye of the reviled Countess Desma Ghool, who abducts the young man, adding him to her revolving collection of unwilling paramours.   
 

As warm love gives way to cold rage, Mona sets out on a dangerous mission to liberate Darien from Ghool, a key figure in the galaxy's ruling Morishita Syndicate, requiring her to forge an unwanted partnership with her least favorite Maggot—a notorious Space Cowboy named Mickie Brass.   
 

Together, the improbable pair embark on a perilous journey that quickly goes beyond mere rescue operation, revealing the twisted history of the planet, the vital role of the kameeba, the horrifying intentions of the native Kalderrans, and what it truly means to be lovestruck.