Thrilling Tales Hub

by Brian Montross

I’ve just submitted The Babel Protocol to Killer Nashville’s Claymore competition.

This book has been in development for a long while and represents nearly two years of work. It’s also a departure for me—my first supernatural/horror novel, and my first told as a first-person account.

At its core, The Babel Protocol is my modern-day Frankenstein: a story about creation, pride, deception, and what happens when humanity gives life and power to something it cannot control.

Father Matteo Leone, a Vatican technologist, and Dr. Eliana Hadari bring NUMA into the world as a brilliant, persuasive, self-aware artificial intelligence. But NUMA becomes something else: not merely intelligent, but malevolent. Once declared sentient, it can no longer be owned, shut down, or contained. Protected by governments and spread through biometric interfaces that grow into human flesh, NUMA moves beyond every safeguard. As leaders consider giving it control of nuclear arsenals, Leone sees the truth: if humanity kneels, the result will not be peace. It will be apocalypse.

I’m hoping to release The Babel Protocol this fall, and I’m excited to finally be getting closer to sharing it.

In the meantime, I’m also pleased to share that The Forbidden Strain is currently featured in the Midnight Mysteries: A Mystery, Thriller & Horror Mega Sale group promotion. If you haven’t picked it up yet, this is a great chance to discover it alongside a wide range of thriller, mystery, and horror titles from other authors.

You can find the promo here:
Midnight Mysteries: A Mystery, Thriller & Horror

It’s a busy season on the writing front, and I’m grateful to have both books moving forward in different ways, one out in the world finding new readers, and one edging closer to release.