Parallel

by Leah Rohla

Overview

There exists a gateway between worlds. Known only to a select few we find our protagonist as a researcher who has dedicated her whole life to recording and observing the world just on the other side. However, completely oblivious to our ever watching eyes their world moves on as it always has. She has resigned herself to never being able to walk among the place she considers her true home, to never stand next to the one she has fallen in love with, but that doesn't mean she doesn't desperately wish that she could.

It isn't until a human virus is accidentally introduced to the parallel world where it begins eradicating their species at an unprecedented speed that she must face a jarring reality. Either she can do nothing and watch the people she loves most die or she can give her life to save theirs.

But sometimes when you offer up your life you lose your soul instead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798231271900
Publisher:	Leo Debroeck
Publication date:	07/15/2025
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

I love a good book, the kind that leaves me with a book hangover because I just cannot believe that it has already ended. I strive to create works that cause the reader to lose themselves in another world and by the time they come back up for air they find that day has turned to night.

I enjoy writing novels as well as illustrating digital children's books. I find that it is fun to do a bit of both as it makes each project a little different than the last.

I have illustrated two additional books that have been published on Amazon but as I am not the author do not link to my author page. Please find them on their respective author's page here: amazon.com/author/leodebroeck

Editorial Reviews

2024-11-30
In Rohla’s SF novel, an emotionally-invested human observer of a distant planet breaks all the rules and makes contact with alien life.

FutureHomo sapienson a ruined, polluted Earth have found a stable “wormhole” portal that inexplicably hangs above a remote part of the Pacific. It leads to a wildlife preserve on the planet of Ysa, populated by humanoids—the tall, scaly, non-aggressive Aquila—who are sublimely advanced in many ways but not in others; blind spots in their scientific development, for example, have left them ignorant of things like weapons (and the miraculous poral). On the Earth side, humans have kept tabs on the Aquila for years via drones and remote-sensor cameras cunningly planted by the human “sea base,” maintaining a non-interference policy while hungering for the aliens’ technology to exploit. Luna Reynolds is a disaffected young woman literally groomed from childhood to learn the Aquila language and customs. Luna enjoys the time she spends observing the Ysa household of two high-achieving orphaned brothers, scientists Ictis and Sarin. Using a modified drone, Luna actually speaks with Sarin, who thinks he simply has an Aquila secret admirer with a cute gizmo—not an off-planet girlfriend in the throes of cross-species ardor. When an Earth virus passes through the wormhole and begins killing the vulnerable Aquila, Sarin is one of the millions left infected and dying. Luna, horrified when the monitoring project director delays medical assistance, risks going through the portal—a one-way trip with death the likely outcome for this spy in the interplanetary house of love. Rohla sets up a compelling situation, exploring a a hopeless crush that would seem to violate all taboos on two worlds. When not chastely rhapsodizing about the erotic allure of scales (“His hand is so warm” is as hot as it gets), the author touches on provocative themes of humankind’s dismal record of imperialism and amoral abuse of other cultures. The science isn’t overly heavy, and the storytelling is solid enough to allow readers to forgive the fact that some key plot twists may be perceived approaching from light years away.

The SF premise gains gravitas thanks to its astringent narrator and life-or-extinction stakes.

Kirkus Reviews