Raven has a voice in her head. It belongs to an ancient, bloodthirsty alien with a superiority complex. She has a lot of opinions and zero patience for mortals. They’re still negotiating their living arrangements.
Better Off Dead is a funny, nostalgic adult science fantasy about magic, rebellion, possession, and a found family built on cupcakes and chaos.
— Venom, Chapter Ten“You run like a disenchanted, arthritic alpaca.”
Raven was already having a bad week. Then an alien moved into her head.
She calls it Venom, mostly because “ancient bloodthirsty entity with opinions” felt like too much to put on a business card.
Outside her skull, Bastion Heights is fracturing under the Protectorate. The rebellion has a face now — shadowed, infuriating, dangerously familiar, and scheduled to die. Raven used to love him. That’s not helping.
Raven and Venom have an arrangement. Neither of them is honoring it. It might be the healthiest relationship either of them has ever had.
Think the messy possession-bond of Venom, the supernatural-comedy-with-heart of Good Omens, and the ragtag found-family energy of Firefly or Killjoys — with a rebel ex, a rebellion, and morally gray people who are still deeply, chaotically caring.
Releasing February 13, 2027Morgan McKenna writes women who are messy, funny, and fully armed — emotionally and otherwise. It took her twenty years to get this story on paper, scene by scene, and it turns out an ancient alien with opinions was exactly what it needed. Better Off Dead is her debut adult science fantasy novel, book one of the Hope and Havoc series.
Want to know when preorders open, when the cover finally shows up, and when Raven’s chaos hits shelves? That’s what this is for. Better Off Dead lands February 13, 2027.