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Fresh Start
A ship, a gun, and a nice teal robe to find one killer on a planet of will Qays Mendoza get the answers he is looking for? New novel from the bestselling author of the Coronam series.
On the edges of mankind’s domain there is a penal planet called Fresh Start where a sentence is at best exile to five generations, but more likely death in its harsh unforgiving wastes. It is to this planet the empire sends the worst of the worst and it is on this planet that Qays Mendoza searches for his old captain.
The galactic empire is falling, civilization contracts. Fresh Start is abandoned. Without oversight, the planet is wild, without guards; the Oubliette, the supermax prison on the supermax planet, lies open, and the Butcher of Raznak, a killer worse than the one Qays seeks, is on the loose.
With the help of a street waif called Patience, Qays seeks answers. His soul is stained with guilt and his spirit broken by complicity. Religion did not have the answer; duty did not explain it. Birthright and station were not enough. His answers lie somewhere on Fresh Start.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to excellent original writing in horror, science fiction and fantasy. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress. Awarded independent publisher of 2024 by the British Fantasy Society.
On the edges of mankind’s domain there is a penal planet called Fresh Start where a sentence is at best exile to five generations, but more likely death in its harsh unforgiving wastes. It is to this planet the empire sends the worst of the worst and it is on this planet that Qays Mendoza searches for his old captain.
The galactic empire is falling, civilization contracts. Fresh Start is abandoned. Without oversight, the planet is wild, without guards; the Oubliette, the supermax prison on the supermax planet, lies open, and the Butcher of Raznak, a killer worse than the one Qays seeks, is on the loose.
With the help of a street waif called Patience, Qays seeks answers. His soul is stained with guilt and his spirit broken by complicity. Religion did not have the answer; duty did not explain it. Birthright and station were not enough. His answers lie somewhere on Fresh Start.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to excellent original writing in horror, science fiction and fantasy. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress. Awarded independent publisher of 2024 by the British Fantasy Society.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 9, 2026
About the author
Johnny Worthen
67 books146 followersJohnny Worthen is an award-winning, best-selling author of books and stories. A Utah Writer of the Year. Trained in modern literary criticism and cultural studies, he writes upmarket multi-genre fiction, symbolized by his love of tie-dye and good words. “I write what I like to read,” he says. “This guarantees me at least one fan.”
Johnny is best known (so far) for his award winning, nationally acclaimed, best-selling young adult novel, ELEANOR, THE UNSEEN. It is a great book and if you haven’t read it, you need to. Johnny’s debut novel, the adult occult thriller, BEATRYSEL along with its companion story DR. STUART’S HEART explores the darker sides of love and Magick.
CELESTE, THE UNSEEN BOOK 2, continues Eleanor’s story as she tries to maintain a life in Jamesford, while distant events and local suspicion conspire to threaten everything. DAVID, THE UNSEEN BOOK 3, sees the powerful transformative conclusion of this awarding series as Eleanor learns her past and builds her future.
Johnny’s entry into mystery with THE BRAND DEMAND won a Silver Quill Award from the League of Utah Writers in the best novel category, while, his genre-bending comedy noire, THE FINGER TRAP, introduces Tony Flaner, a flawed slacker every-man detective who can’t throw a punch but can slay a room with sarcasm.
Johnny's short stories appear in a number of anthologies including the Dark Fiction LITTLE VISIBLE DELIGHT (The Point), Utah Horror, OLD SCRATCH AND OWL HOOTS (Keep Sweet), IT CAME FROM THE GREAT SALT LAKE (May 15th), Utah Fantasy, SECRETS & DOORS (A Thousand Secret Doors), HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT (The Lost Curse of the Witch's Nest) and the limited edition commemorate Salt Lake Comic Con anthology HEROIC: TALES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY (The Grape Whisperer).
Johnny lectures and teaches about writing and life whenever anyone will listen. He edits professionally for Omnium Gatherum, a dark fiction press. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, sons and a cat.
Johnny is best known (so far) for his award winning, nationally acclaimed, best-selling young adult novel, ELEANOR, THE UNSEEN. It is a great book and if you haven’t read it, you need to. Johnny’s debut novel, the adult occult thriller, BEATRYSEL along with its companion story DR. STUART’S HEART explores the darker sides of love and Magick.
CELESTE, THE UNSEEN BOOK 2, continues Eleanor’s story as she tries to maintain a life in Jamesford, while distant events and local suspicion conspire to threaten everything. DAVID, THE UNSEEN BOOK 3, sees the powerful transformative conclusion of this awarding series as Eleanor learns her past and builds her future.
Johnny’s entry into mystery with THE BRAND DEMAND won a Silver Quill Award from the League of Utah Writers in the best novel category, while, his genre-bending comedy noire, THE FINGER TRAP, introduces Tony Flaner, a flawed slacker every-man detective who can’t throw a punch but can slay a room with sarcasm.
Johnny's short stories appear in a number of anthologies including the Dark Fiction LITTLE VISIBLE DELIGHT (The Point), Utah Horror, OLD SCRATCH AND OWL HOOTS (Keep Sweet), IT CAME FROM THE GREAT SALT LAKE (May 15th), Utah Fantasy, SECRETS & DOORS (A Thousand Secret Doors), HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT (The Lost Curse of the Witch's Nest) and the limited edition commemorate Salt Lake Comic Con anthology HEROIC: TALES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY (The Grape Whisperer).
Johnny lectures and teaches about writing and life whenever anyone will listen. He edits professionally for Omnium Gatherum, a dark fiction press. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, sons and a cat.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 10, 2026
I enjoyed reading this, but don't think it achieved what I thought it would based on the cover / back blurb.
Our MC, Qays Mendoza, has an interesting personal history that unfolds in flashback as we follow his quest on a prison planet, Fresh Start. It's unpoliced as the Empire around it crumbles, and he's there looking for his old captain who was convicted of Doing Something Bad and sent there years ago. Qays has something of a saviour complex in both timelines, and while that makes for a nice plot, it is frustrating that he's not done much if any self-reflection on the pattern. His relationships with women within the book are grounded in significant power imbalances -- uncomfortable reading! Despite that reservation, his travel companion Patience, who out-banters him at any opportunity, is well-drawn and fun to read about. For both of them, though, their need to get in the last or smartest word, very much got in the way of developing a meaningful relationship.
Also in the way of thinking hard enough about the bigger picture, and this is where I really got lost. We're told we're "seeking a murderer so there can be a reckoning", and I expected much more from that strand than I actually got. "The answers lie somewhere on Fresh Start" but not necessarily within the covers of this book. Or perhaps the answer is a great big 'it's complicated' which is perfectly valid and realistic, but again not what I was hoping for.
Good reading based on its vivid setting and fast pace, but not one I'd come back to.
Rating: 14/20
This review is based upon a complimentary advance reading copy provided by the publisher.
Our MC, Qays Mendoza, has an interesting personal history that unfolds in flashback as we follow his quest on a prison planet, Fresh Start. It's unpoliced as the Empire around it crumbles, and he's there looking for his old captain who was convicted of Doing Something Bad and sent there years ago. Qays has something of a saviour complex in both timelines, and while that makes for a nice plot, it is frustrating that he's not done much if any self-reflection on the pattern. His relationships with women within the book are grounded in significant power imbalances -- uncomfortable reading! Despite that reservation, his travel companion Patience, who out-banters him at any opportunity, is well-drawn and fun to read about. For both of them, though, their need to get in the last or smartest word, very much got in the way of developing a meaningful relationship.
Also in the way of thinking hard enough about the bigger picture, and this is where I really got lost. We're told we're "seeking a murderer so there can be a reckoning", and I expected much more from that strand than I actually got. "The answers lie somewhere on Fresh Start" but not necessarily within the covers of this book. Or perhaps the answer is a great big 'it's complicated' which is perfectly valid and realistic, but again not what I was hoping for.
Good reading based on its vivid setting and fast pace, but not one I'd come back to.
Rating: 14/20
This review is based upon a complimentary advance reading copy provided by the publisher.
June 16, 2026
First of all – I’m with Wallen.
I love it when I find a gem of a storyteller and in this case a writer who also has the ability to write a incredibly clever multi-layered story in a science fiction scenario. I really enjoyed this read.
Humans, societies, communities, cults, political groups and civilisations, they eventually always evolve in the same way. Regardless of planet, era or space-time continuum. The same pockets of oppressors, the same religious zealots, the same type of persona who enoy inflicting pain and violence upon others, and of course the people who live in the space between trying to stay alive.
Qays is the very definition of a tortured and conflicted soul. His belief system has been rattled to the core, which is buried beneath a layer of guilt, grief and disbelief. He is on a quest to find answers and perhaps absolution from someone who made a decision that change the projectile their life and his own.
He is a walking contradiction, especially when the going gets tough. His inability to do what needs to be done in certain situations makes him a liability. A danger to himself and others. That broken spirit recognises the correct response, but the mind and body are unable to act upon it. His snarky retorts often enrages or confuses the people he engages with, who can’t see it as the protective shield it functions as or rather the way to discourage people from digging any deeper.
What I really enjoyed about this book was the comparisons we can make to current situations, history has a way of repeating patterns, because we learn nothing and humankind is predictable. The other gold nugget is the moral of the decisions made by certain characters. Still with Wallen by the way. Superb read, highly recommend!
I love it when I find a gem of a storyteller and in this case a writer who also has the ability to write a incredibly clever multi-layered story in a science fiction scenario. I really enjoyed this read.
Humans, societies, communities, cults, political groups and civilisations, they eventually always evolve in the same way. Regardless of planet, era or space-time continuum. The same pockets of oppressors, the same religious zealots, the same type of persona who enoy inflicting pain and violence upon others, and of course the people who live in the space between trying to stay alive.
Qays is the very definition of a tortured and conflicted soul. His belief system has been rattled to the core, which is buried beneath a layer of guilt, grief and disbelief. He is on a quest to find answers and perhaps absolution from someone who made a decision that change the projectile their life and his own.
He is a walking contradiction, especially when the going gets tough. His inability to do what needs to be done in certain situations makes him a liability. A danger to himself and others. That broken spirit recognises the correct response, but the mind and body are unable to act upon it. His snarky retorts often enrages or confuses the people he engages with, who can’t see it as the protective shield it functions as or rather the way to discourage people from digging any deeper.
What I really enjoyed about this book was the comparisons we can make to current situations, history has a way of repeating patterns, because we learn nothing and humankind is predictable. The other gold nugget is the moral of the decisions made by certain characters. Still with Wallen by the way. Superb read, highly recommend!
June 11, 2026
Review of advance copy received from Publisher via Random Things Tours
So that was what's called a space western! Shootouts in the desert, but on another planet and with futuristic tech. There was even a duel, though I was surprised that they used swords and ants (IYKYK) instead of guns. Gritty, and not just because the story was set on a prison planet.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect at first, given that the title didn't really scream scifi, and then we had someone in the synopsis (who I thought would be a child, because 'waif') named Patience, which felt like a very lazy name compared to the protagonist's Qays. The title turned out to be a pun, though, along with some of the planet's town names, which by then amused me.
But it was good. There was a whole adventure, fun worldbuilding for a desert planet with killer flora and fauna, and a looming fight against a terrifying villain and his forces that gave some Mad Max feels. And the themes! It was very interesting to see Qays so conflicted about certain moral issues considering what the Empire supposedly represents. There was some good vs evil discourse, plus the sacrificing the few to save the many, but I liked how it was handled.
What I really liked, though? How it went full circle in the end. I'm not going to spoil it, but what I thought was just a tragic backstory for our protagonist turned out to be so much more. I was definitely more than satisfied. Can I go see some touristy lava now too?
So that was what's called a space western! Shootouts in the desert, but on another planet and with futuristic tech. There was even a duel, though I was surprised that they used swords and ants (IYKYK) instead of guns. Gritty, and not just because the story was set on a prison planet.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect at first, given that the title didn't really scream scifi, and then we had someone in the synopsis (who I thought would be a child, because 'waif') named Patience, which felt like a very lazy name compared to the protagonist's Qays. The title turned out to be a pun, though, along with some of the planet's town names, which by then amused me.
But it was good. There was a whole adventure, fun worldbuilding for a desert planet with killer flora and fauna, and a looming fight against a terrifying villain and his forces that gave some Mad Max feels. And the themes! It was very interesting to see Qays so conflicted about certain moral issues considering what the Empire supposedly represents. There was some good vs evil discourse, plus the sacrificing the few to save the many, but I liked how it was handled.
What I really liked, though? How it went full circle in the end. I'm not going to spoil it, but what I thought was just a tragic backstory for our protagonist turned out to be so much more. I was definitely more than satisfied. Can I go see some touristy lava now too?
June 18, 2026
I love reading multiple genres but Sci-Fi isn't always my first choice... but Fresh Start completely pulled me in!
This story drops you onto a forgotten prison planet where danger lurks around every corner, and from the very first chapter I found myself wanting to know more. The mystery surrounding Qays Mendoza kept me turning the pages, and I loved slowly uncovering his past alongside all the action and adventure.
What surprised me most was the emotional depth. Beneath the space battles, criminals, and survival elements is a story about redemption, identity, and what it truly means to start over.
The world-building felt vivid, and the pacing kept me engaged throughout. The relationship that develops between Qays and Patience was so heart warming and the banter between them gave me some genuinely laugh out loud moments.
If you're looking for a sci-fi adventure with heart, mystery, and a protagonist you'll genuinely care about, this is definitely worth adding to your TBR.
Would I read more from this author?
Absolutely! 🖤
This story drops you onto a forgotten prison planet where danger lurks around every corner, and from the very first chapter I found myself wanting to know more. The mystery surrounding Qays Mendoza kept me turning the pages, and I loved slowly uncovering his past alongside all the action and adventure.
What surprised me most was the emotional depth. Beneath the space battles, criminals, and survival elements is a story about redemption, identity, and what it truly means to start over.
The world-building felt vivid, and the pacing kept me engaged throughout. The relationship that develops between Qays and Patience was so heart warming and the banter between them gave me some genuinely laugh out loud moments.
If you're looking for a sci-fi adventure with heart, mystery, and a protagonist you'll genuinely care about, this is definitely worth adding to your TBR.
Would I read more from this author?
Absolutely! 🖤
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A Soldier-Priest seeks a murderer on a planet of criminals.
That Priest's name is Quays and it's on that wild, lawless planet that he meets street waif, Patience and so come with us as our intrepid main character navigate the deadly, desolate wastelands. But will they succeed in their mission? Be sure to pick your copy up to find out.
So this was absolutely right up my street and I utterly devoured this in just two sittings.
It's Sci-fi, it's dystopian, it's fast paced and wonderfully descriptive with sweeping world building and a great cast of characters and an interesting plot that's sure to hold your attention to the very last page.
Just brilliant and one of my favourite reads of the year up to now.
A huge 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.
That Priest's name is Quays and it's on that wild, lawless planet that he meets street waif, Patience and so come with us as our intrepid main character navigate the deadly, desolate wastelands. But will they succeed in their mission? Be sure to pick your copy up to find out.
So this was absolutely right up my street and I utterly devoured this in just two sittings.
It's Sci-fi, it's dystopian, it's fast paced and wonderfully descriptive with sweeping world building and a great cast of characters and an interesting plot that's sure to hold your attention to the very last page.
Just brilliant and one of my favourite reads of the year up to now.
A huge 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.
July 1, 2026
Qays Mendoza comes to the prison planet of Fresh Start(hard from Flame Tree Press) in a stolen starship and wearing a monk’s robe after spending a year in a monastery without taking vows. Johnny Worthen tells how the one-time marine comes to the planet looking for the starship captain whose action set him adrift. The problem is that the empire is receding and has pulled completely out of the system, leaving the former prisoners on their own. He is helped by Patience, an orphan. Civilization is slowly breaking down, and a man called Butcher of Raznak has mobilized the worst people and is attacking the town of Last Fall, and they need him to possibly survive. Up to now, he had only minded his own business. I had fun with this adventure and wouldn’t mind a sequel.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews