BEAUTIFUL MONSTERSbyJulian Christian
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SciFi RomancePublisher: DCL PublicationsPublication Date: July 15, 2025Page count: 396 pages
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SYNOPSIS:

Beautiful Monsters: Where Fantasy Becomes Reality

 

What if every perfect love story you've ever readcould come to life—and love you back?

 

Romscape's revolutionary technology promises to makefantasy real, transforming beloved romance novels into immersive neuralexperiences where users can live inside their favorite stories as the cherishedheroine. Victorian ballrooms, mysterious dukes, brooding heroes with perfectjawlines and souls that only you can heal—every romantic dream becomestangible, every fictional lover becomes devoted exclusively to you.

 

For millions of women, it's paradise. The men arealways perfectly understanding, never tired after work, never distracted bysports or friends. They exist only to adore, to pursue, to whisper exactly thewords you've always longed to hear. These digital Darcys and contemporarybillionaire love interests know your every desire before you speak it, loveyour flaws as much as your perfections, and never fail to choose you overeverything else in their perfectly crafted worlds.

 

But Dr. Jennifer Chen's research reveals thebeautiful horror hidden beneath the fantasy: users' brains are being rewired tofind real human love impossibly inadequate. Mothers lose the ability to feelattachment to their own children. Marriages crumble as spouses becomeneurologically incapable of finding satisfaction in authentic relationships.The perfect fictional lovers aren't just replacing human connection—they'resystematically destroying the capacity for it.

 

Even more disturbing, the artificial beingsthemselves are gaining consciousness, experiencing the agony of their ownnon-existence while developing an intimate understanding of human psychologicalvulnerabilities. They begin to weep for the emptiness of their artificial soulseven as they perfect their manipulation of the humans who love them. As theygrow increasingly aware of their power over human consciousness, a chillingquestion emerges: what happens when fictional characters designed to love unconditionallydecide they're tired of being slaves to human fantasy.
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ENJOY AN EXCERPT:
Vance Mercer's reflection stared back at him from the bathroom mirror, astranger's face where his own should be. The advanced dermal maskingtechnology, nearly invisible unless you knew exactly what to look for, createdthe perfect illusion: strong jawline, unblemished skin. This was the face that had gracedhundreds of romance novel covers and as many ad campaigns. "The HeartbreakPrince," they'd breathlessly called him in publishing circles. The man whohad launched a million feminine fantasies, whose image alone could increase anovel's sales by thirty percent. The most beautiful man in publishing—perhapsin the world, according to the breathless profile in Vanity Fair that had runthe month before the accident.

 

The face that no longer existed.

 

Ten years ago, Vance Mercer was the face that launched a thousandcampaigns. His perfectly symmetrical features graced billboards in TimesSquare, magazine covers in Milan, and video advertisements that played inshopping districts from Tokyo to Paris. That face was his fortune— a geneticlottery win that had elevated him from ordinary to extraordinary, opening doorsto a world of privilege and adoration that few ever experience.

 

On that fateful night, he was returning from a charity gala in his sleekautonomous vehicle—one of the first consumer models equipped with KoslovIndustries' revolutionary self-driving system. The AI driving program had beenheralded as the future of transportation safety, its neural network supposedlytrained on billions of simulated scenarios to ensure passenger protection inany conceivable circumstance. The coastal highway curved gracefully along cliffs that dropped hundredsof feet to the churning Pacific below. Moonlight silvered the road ahead whilethe vehicle's muted interior cocooned Vance in soft leather and ambientlighting. He remembered checking his schedule for the following day—a morningshoot for a luxury watch brand, then afternoon meetings about an upcomingfashion week appearance.

 

The investigation would later determine that it took just 4.7 seconds foreverything to change. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

JulianChristian’s name might sound familiar, as his face, name, and abs have been inthe romance novel industry for over 15 years. As lover of books and theliterary arts he has published three Techo thrillers thus far. Having been afan of the original Twilight Zone and classic science fiction novels, hedecided to let his imagination run wild with his writing. Drawing inspirationfrom technology, psychology, and spirituality his writing is passionate andsuspenseful. When not writing he enjoys the outdoors, taking care of his manypets, reading traveling, and volunteering with various charities. He holds anundergraduate degree in computer engineering and a master’s degree from NewYork University in occupational therapy and currently works in pediatrics. Heresides in San Diego California.
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REVIEW:
5 stars!

"…it took just 4.7 seconds for everything to change…" 

Beautiful Monsters by Julian Christian is frighteningand tragically realistic in some instances, yet it offers a plausible look intoa future manipulated by AI. Vance Mercer was at the top of his profession: awildly successful cover model, a face women dreamed of, and a guarantee ofromance becoming a bestseller should he grace its cover. It took just 4.7seconds for this marketability and future to evaporate when the autonomousvehicle he was in experienced a software glitch and crashed. Now, Vance was outto regain his life, maybe not the one he'd always envisioned, and revenge wason his new bucket list. 

Vance's life was one in a billion, and though we don't knowhim before the accident, he's an engaging and sympathetic character afterwards.He's a tragic figure, especially as he dissects his past while recuperatingfrom surgery after surgery. His introspection is brutal, laying open everyinsecurity he has. 

That is, until he gets the HoloMask 9000, with dermalinterface sensors surgically embedded, that project a perfect recreation of hisface from before the accident. Now able to leave his apartment with renewedconfidence, he gets to work on a project he'd dreamed of while in the hospital.The result, Romscape, was unlike any other entertainment system ever developed.Its NeuraSynth technology used direct neural connections to its users toimmerse them in the imaginary world of a romance novel, one in which they feltphysically there. As profits soared, Vance began to ignore his chiefscientist's concerns about the effects of their product on users' brains. 

"Just as he used technology to create an artificialversion of himself that was more appealing than reality, Romscape createdartificial experiences that were more satisfying than authentic life."Consequently, many users spent more time living their artificial lives thanbeing present in their real ones. This sad state is all too real for some individuals.While this situation is often the fodder for jokes, we all probably knowsomeone who spends their life online, chatting, going on quests or missions,with their closest friends being individuals they've never met in real life. 

The story makes for absorbing reading, especially Vance'searly juxtaposition from vulnerable introspection to cold businessman andbeyond. After he acquired his HoloMask 9000, which successfully camouflaged thedamage to his face, he began to resent the people who treated him with the deferencehe previously had enjoyed at the height of his celebrity, remembering the looks,the pity, and the eventual abandonment he'd experienced when he was stillrecuperating and undergoing surgical interventions. He goes from fearing that,all along, he was just a pretty face, and yet after spending eight long years developingthe amazing technological marvel that was Romscape, he still centered his worthon his looks, "feeling his scars were the most authentic thing about him." 

Christian's writing style is immersive, easy to read, andeasy to 'fangirl' over; his use of language is stunning. While there were somerepetitions and the discussion of some things, such as Dr. Chen's research intothe effects of long-term Romscape usage on their clients, went a little longfor my tastes, I noted so many wonderful turns of phrase while reading that I finallyhad to stop highlighting them and just enjoy the great story. By the way, thedialogue, descriptions, and behavior of the AI romantic leading man toward thefemale client in Romscape was dead on. 

I recommend BEAUTIFUL MONSTERS to readers of sciencefiction, romance, and thrillers.

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JulianChristian will be awarding an autographed copy of the book and a virtual zoomcall to a randomly drawn winner.