Megan Bledsoe writes stories with a touch of fantasy across three distinct emotional tracks: dark, light, and gray. Her next release is The Epoch Rite of Passage, a dystopian satire trilogy for readers who wish 1984 could have ended another way.
“If you could rewrite any book’s ending, which one would you choose?”
This was WordPress’s Daily Writing Prompt today, July 27, 2026. When I saw it, it felt surreal, almost dreamlike. Because I literally just finished writing the last book in a trilogy that was inspired by a couple things:
ICE in Minnesota.
And the ending of 1984.
Worst Book Ending Ever
The MC in 1984 ends the book by saying he loves Big Brother? Seriously? No!
No, no, no!
Controversial, maybe, but… I’d kind of like to see dystopian satire books about authoritarianism and fascism and control and automated surveillance and all that stuff that nobody wants but just seems to be coming at us anyway (Your car gets to decide if you can drive? Seriously?) end with, oh, I don’t know… something better.
Hope, for starters.
A new, egalitarian way of living that treats everyone with respect and dignity would be amazing.
A glimpse of how we might get ourselves out of this mess—without resorting to the typical dystopian way of resolving things that I find so disheartening.
So I wrote it.
A third thing that inspired me
When Jimmy Kimmel was suspended, I read a post somewhere, written to Disney, that said something like, “Didn’t you watch Andor? It’s your own show!”
I haven’t seen Andor, but from what I can tell, it’s a high-fantasy type story. And it occurred to me that maybe, for some people, when a show’s world is too far removed from the real world, the themes don’t always hit home as strongly as they could.
So, I decided to write a dystopian trilogy that stuck to the real world—today’s real world—as much as possible.
What do you call dystopian fiction that’s partially ripped from the headlines?
Near-Future Collapse Fiction?
It took me three books, not one, to move the “High States,” a fictional country that looks a lot like the 2026 United States, from a growing fascist government into something better—to see if it was even possible—but I did eventually get the characters there.
It is possible.
And the last book shows how they do it.
Hopeful Apocalyptic Fiction?
Now if only the world could move in that direction, or something like it, without first having to suffer and learn the hard way that it didn’t have to be this way.
Megan Bledsoe writes stories with a touch of fantasy across three distinct emotional tracks: dark, light, and gray. Her next release is The Epoch Rite of Passage, a dystopian satire trilogy for readers who wish 1984 could have ended another way. Read the first scene here.
Corbin Kohl comes face to face with the City’s Stakeholders–the entities that even his boss fears–in book 3 of the Corbin Kohl In Hell Series, CORBIN KOHL CORNERED IN HELL.
If you want to order the book from your library (❤️), here’s the information you might need:
The Corbin Kohl In Hell series is a fun and cozy low-fantasy mystery series that’s kind of like Jim Butcher / Dresden Files meets Janet Evanovich / Stephanie Plum, only set in Hell–or someplace like it. (If you know, you know.)
Corbin’s boss is acting weird. His friend Annie insists there’s a conspiracy afoot. And his mentor, Carl, has one piece of advice: Don’t eat the cake.
The Stakeholders—the entities that even Management fears—are gathering in the City for a summit. Corbin’s boss gives him one simple assignment: Just go watch.
But nothing is ever simple in the City.
He’s impressed Upper Management and befriended a UFO, but surviving the entity that built the City? Corbin’s pretty sure that wasn’t covered in training…
The must-read third installment of the fun low-fantasy mystery series CORBIN KOHL IN HELL proves that a good attitude (and a Lucky shirt) might be all it takes to get along in the world… even when you’re in Hell.
The ebook format of most of my books will be 50% off during the first week of March at Smashbooks.
Smashbooks ebooks come in epub format with no DRM applied. They can be used with most if not all ereaders, and certainly all the main ones: Kindle, Nook, Kobo…
The sale is happening March 1-7. I will send another Timely Announcement ASAP the day it starts.
If you click that link above, the first book you’ll see is Corbin C. He’s already up for preorder!
Corbin C comes out March 24th.
The official title is CORBIN KOHL CORNERED IN HELL.
This one was really fun to write because the story just kept doing things that built out the world. We spend a good chunk of time with Annie, and another good chunk of time with Angela (!!! I know!). There’s a few new characters introduced, and three are quite… consequential? (Best I can do. You’ll have to read it to see what I mean.) It was so much fun. I really think you’ll like it. My one beta who’s been slow to warm to Corbin said it was like coming home to old friends. (Best. Compliment. Ever.)
Corbin’s boss is acting weird. His friend Annie insists there’s a conspiracy afoot. And his mentor, Carl, has one piece of advice: Don’t eat the cake.
The Stakeholders—the entities that even Management fears—are gathering in the City for a summit. Corbin’s boss gives him one simple assignment: Just go watch.
But nothing is ever simple in the City.
He’s impressed Upper Management and befriended a UFO, but surviving the entity that built the City? Corbin’s pretty sure that wasn’t covered in training…
The must-read third installment of the fun low-fantasy mystery series CORBIN KOHL IN HELL proves that a good attitude (and a Lucky shirt) might be all it takes to get along in the world… even when you’re in Hell.
And here’s his cover:
The paperback is also done! So far, I’ve seen it available for preorder at Barnes and Noble. More options should be populating soon. You can find it all here:
They say reality behaves differently when someone is looking… It’s Release Day! 🎉
If you’re reading this…
You’re probably a subscriber. But maybe you followed the breadcrumbs from my website or social media. Which means you’ve probably experienced a glitch in the matrix… or are at least curious about mine.
Glitching the Matrix is a work of fiction. But the spark for it? That was very, very real.
I’ve experienced at least half of the weird things described in the book.
(NOTE:There’s a minor spoiler coming up for something that happens on the first page and in Chapter 2. If you really don’t like spoilers, skip this story and tell me your own glitching story instead. You can always come back and read my story after you’ve finished the book. [Jump to the next safe section.] If you’re good with a little preview…)
The shower, the glitch, and the day reality broke
Take the shower scene, for instance.
Most people go on autopilot in the morning, but that’s usually when the universe decides to show its hand.
I’ve lived in my current house for over a decade. The shower in the master bath has a round handle with a little arrow that points up when it’s off. Twisting it just a fraction of an inch to the right has always turned on boiling hot water with limp water pressure. The water would then get colder but with better pressure the more you turn the handle to the right.
Until… one day… a few months ago… it didn’t.
I remember turning the handle to the right and the water being frigid. I checked the water in the sink to see if the hot water was working. Hmm. It was. It flowed nice and hot out of the tap. I checked the shower faucet again.
Still freezing.
I turned the shower handle to the right some more, thinking It doesn’t make sense, since it’s always hot right away and only gets colder (but with better pressure) the more I turn the handle, but maybe I just didn’t turn it on enough.
I turned the handle all the way to the right until I could not turn the handle any more. The water stayed freezing—and then it shut off.
What the—?
That had never happened before, either. Roaring cold water, that’s what I always found at the right-most position of the shower handle—not no water at all.
So I turned the handle to the left again—because what else was there to do? The water stayed a nice pressure. But it also stayed cold. And the handle was reaching its off point. I twisted until the little arrow was pointing straight up…
But the water kept roaring…
And I kept twisting, until the little arrow was pointing to about ten o’clock.
The water turned hot, gloriously hot, and with wonderfully powerful water pressure.
I stepped in and enjoyed my upgrade, wondering how could this have happened.
I got out, expecting something to go wrong. But it didn’t. The water wouldn’t turn off until the little arrow was pointing down, but it did turn off. And it didn’t leak.
The next glitch mentioned in the book is also one I’ve experienced a few times. But I’ll let you read that one for yourself…
The thing about these moments is that we’re trained to ignore them.
We call it a “plumbing fluke” or a “lapse in memory.” We move on because the alternative—that reality isn’t as solid as we think—is too much to handle.
But Karen doesn’t move on. In Glitching the Matrix, Karen takes that same curiosity I felt in my bathroom and turns it into an a fun obsession—that turns dangerous. She stops waiting for the universe to show its hand and she starts demanding answers. What if you don’t just wait for reality to glitch… what if you make it glitch?
Writing this book was my way of “poking” at these undeniable phenomena—the synchronicities, the déjà vu, and the shower handles that reorient themselves.
Is it just me, or did I already post this? Something feels… off today. GLITCHING THE MATRIX is out now.
It started with an odd happening in the bathroom…
Have you ever experienced something unexplainable, something so off you didn’t think anyone would believe you?
Most people continue about their business. Karen doesn’t.
I am so thrilled to announce that my latest release, GLITCHING THE MATRIX is officially out in the world today!
What is it about?
A suburban soccer mom who experiences a series of small, unexplainable events some call glitches in the matrix.
Most people just brush these things off. Karen sets out to make reality glitch on purpose. She decides to stop just looking and start poking.
But when you try to make reality glitch on purpose, you have to be prepared for what looks back.
Why I wrote this
I take inspiration from the world’s unexplained but still undeniable phenomena. I’ve experienced a fair share of glitches and synchronicities and have always been fascinated by why they happen and what they mean. This book is for anyone who has ever felt that the world is a little bit stranger than it seems–and that there’s a reason for that.
GLITCHING THE MATRIX is a mind-bending thriller of metaphysical and supernatural suspense about questioning reality and seizing control.
Are you ready?
Where to find it
You can grab your copy right now at the links below:
Tell me: Have you ever experienced a “glitch in the matrix” that you just couldn’t explain?
To celebrate the release, I’ll be sharing a personal ‘glitch’ story of my own over on my Substack today—come read it and share yours! I’ll be hanging out in the comments all day!
P.S. If this post appeared in your feed twice… maybe it wasn’t an accident.
