Illusions of Control: Stories of Beings with a Hero Complex (Paperback or Softback)

Elusive global sensation Chris Malhotra is young reporter Auriel’s last chance to save the one remaining cornerstone of respectable journalism, but Hollywood is where noble aspirations go to die in Talent.

In Luxury, an industrious mother, Laxmi, is sick of just getting by, but the price of status is high in a world ravaged by pollution and disease.

Locked away in an alien prison, rebel leader Amora’s past and future collide in an explosive, bloody bid for dominance when he stumbles upon an old friend in Extermination.

Robbed of her identity and memories in a mysterious attack she can’t recall, Darla Smith retraces her steps into Bangkok’s underbelly in Pursuit, but she may not want to know the answers of her past.

A devil man sits on a hospital windowpane, ready to stamp out a prophecy and slaughter a slumbering boy who must never grow into a soldier of the future in Savior.

A Hollywood writer who has fallen from grace, and unable to come to terms with the loss of importance in the elite circles, finally starts writing his slasher masterpiece to reclaim his lost laurels in Catharsis.

In Whisperers, the world is on the brink of war. With intel that aliens are controlling powerful leaders, only a handful of blind people can save the world from complete destruction.

The future is as unforgiving as the past. Replete with electrifying twists, Mahesh Ratnam’s short(ish) stories examine the darkest trends of our future while never losing sight of the tenacious human spirit. The protagonists of these sci-fi tales aren’t always heroes. Still, they crawl ever upward through the muck, fighting tooth and nail for life, liberty, and love. Whether they can make it out in one piece is another question entirely.