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Beamed
Anyone who knows a beamed individual has one of two ease the pain or get out the way.
In an alternate future, colourful beams fall from the sky at random and afflict their targets with six months of intense, unexplained suffering. Science has no answers. Medicine makes it worse. Once you’re marked, you're marked.
Aly, a young civil engineer, is struck on her way home from work. Emilia, a conceptual art student, wants to help the beamed—but only if it helps her first. Caelan’s pregnant wife wakes up beamed, and everything he thought he knew about their future begins to unravel. And Fred, an elderly alcoholic, is unwillingly paired with an anorexic teenager as part of a misguided friendship scheme.
At a support group for the beamed, their lives crash together. What follows is a darkly comic, deeply human story about pain, absurdity, and the fragile connections we form when nothing else makes sense.
In an alternate future, colourful beams fall from the sky at random and afflict their targets with six months of intense, unexplained suffering. Science has no answers. Medicine makes it worse. Once you’re marked, you're marked.
Aly, a young civil engineer, is struck on her way home from work. Emilia, a conceptual art student, wants to help the beamed—but only if it helps her first. Caelan’s pregnant wife wakes up beamed, and everything he thought he knew about their future begins to unravel. And Fred, an elderly alcoholic, is unwillingly paired with an anorexic teenager as part of a misguided friendship scheme.
At a support group for the beamed, their lives crash together. What follows is a darkly comic, deeply human story about pain, absurdity, and the fragile connections we form when nothing else makes sense.
287 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2025
7 people want to read
About the author
Leo X. Robertson
39 books500 followers"I have never in my life been exposed to a more fascinatingly bizarre story--and I've been exposed to some pretty damn fascinating and bizarre stories in my day! Buy this damn book! Now!" - Michael Alig, on my novella, Bonespin Slipspace (Psychedelic Horror Press, 2016)
One thing I know I can't write is a witty bio of myself- so if you want to know anything, just ask :)
In the meantime, here are some stories I got published that you might like:
Stabbing in a Lighter Darkness
The Hundred-Year Storm
The Audition Altar
Find me on Twitter: @Leoxwrite
Follow me for my author blog where I write about writing, reading and general observations- or you can find this content on my Tumblr
here.
I also recently started a podcast, Losing the Plot, which you can listen to here. And if you're a reader, writer, or fancy a chat about books, do get in touch with me at losingtheplotpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com!
One thing I know I can't write is a witty bio of myself- so if you want to know anything, just ask :)
In the meantime, here are some stories I got published that you might like:
Stabbing in a Lighter Darkness
The Hundred-Year Storm
The Audition Altar
Find me on Twitter: @Leoxwrite
Follow me for my author blog where I write about writing, reading and general observations- or you can find this content on my Tumblr
here.
I also recently started a podcast, Losing the Plot, which you can listen to here. And if you're a reader, writer, or fancy a chat about books, do get in touch with me at losingtheplotpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com!
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 4, 2025
Leo X. Robertson’s Beamed delivers a darkly comic yet deeply human exploration of suffering, resilience, and the unexpected bonds that form under extreme circumstances. In this alternate-future tale, the inexplicable phenomenon of “beams” afflicting ordinary people for six months becomes the backdrop for a series of interwoven stories that are at once absurd, tragic, and profoundly moving. Robertson deftly balances humor with heart, creating characters who are flawed, relatable, and unforgettable from Aly, the young civil engineer, to Fred, the unwillingly paired elderly alcoholic.
Fans of speculative fiction that combines social commentary, quirky character dynamics, and inventive worldbuilding will find Beamed both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant. It’s a story about how human connection persists even in the strangest and harshest circumstances.
Fans of speculative fiction that combines social commentary, quirky character dynamics, and inventive worldbuilding will find Beamed both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant. It’s a story about how human connection persists even in the strangest and harshest circumstances.
Displaying 1 of 1 review