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The Wayward Souls of Avalon
Not yet published
Expected 28 Jul 26After the collapse of Earth sends the last of humanity soaring to Mars, documentarian Jocasta Thorne finds himself trapped in his spaceship on the outskirts of the planet’s orbit. Nearly giving up hope of ever seeing another human again, Jocasta’s quiet life is disrupted when a knock at the bay door breaks through the silence, and the stranger on the other side promises he can get them home.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a cozy sci-fi tale about two strangers caught in each other’s orbits and their year-long trip to Mars, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers and “The Darkness Outside Us”.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a cozy sci-fi tale about two strangers caught in each other’s orbits and their year-long trip to Mars, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers and “The Darkness Outside Us”.
Unknown Binding
Expected publication July 28, 2026
About the author
A.L. Davidson
19 books77 followersA.L. Davidson is a queer and disabled indie author who loves writing genre-blending stories, tales of heartwarming and haunting romance, and the coziest sci-fi and urban fantasies you’ll find this side of the galaxy. She specializes in narratives filled with ghosts, grief, isolation, queerness, life with disabilities, ecohorror, space exploration, slow burn romance, found family, and the human condition.
They are best known for their collection of web novels - most notably The Night Farm - as well as their horrormance stories such as When The Rain Begins To Burn, Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence, and All For The Blood of the Lamb.
She is an Indie Ink, Queer Indie, Pushcart Prize, BBNYA, Thorpe Menn, BookTok Indie Author Awards, OutWrite Scary, and IndieVerse nominee, as well as a 2025 Small Spec Awards Semifinalist. The Night Farm was a 2025 Inkies Finalist for Favorite Community Novel on Tapas.
She lives in Kansas City with way too many plants and her cat, Jukebox The Ghost. When they’re not writing, you can find them hanging out at the cemetery or working a shift at their local haunted museum, playing cozy video games, and diving into an ever-growing manga pile.
You can follow A.L. Davidson at
DisturbancesbyAlycia.weebly.com
Patreon.com/AlyciaDavidsonAuthor
They are best known for their collection of web novels - most notably The Night Farm - as well as their horrormance stories such as When The Rain Begins To Burn, Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence, and All For The Blood of the Lamb.
She is an Indie Ink, Queer Indie, Pushcart Prize, BBNYA, Thorpe Menn, BookTok Indie Author Awards, OutWrite Scary, and IndieVerse nominee, as well as a 2025 Small Spec Awards Semifinalist. The Night Farm was a 2025 Inkies Finalist for Favorite Community Novel on Tapas.
She lives in Kansas City with way too many plants and her cat, Jukebox The Ghost. When they’re not writing, you can find them hanging out at the cemetery or working a shift at their local haunted museum, playing cozy video games, and diving into an ever-growing manga pile.
You can follow A.L. Davidson at
DisturbancesbyAlycia.weebly.com
Patreon.com/AlyciaDavidsonAuthor
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
"A Captivating, breathtaking journey of love, loss, and the space that lies between."
I had the pleasure of receiving an endorsement copy of this novel from the publisher.
I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait to read more by this author.
This book is cozy yet explores themes of love, loss, politics, survival, and also chronic illness and disability. It's a beautiful story encapsulating the human experience and how power corrupts.
I really appreciated how this story takes time for Jacosta and Troy to grow and learn about each other. It's not insta love, nor is it lust. It's just pure unconditional love for each other.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is perfect for anyone to take a journey of self discovery and enjoy a cup of tea with a cat in their lap.
I had the pleasure of receiving an endorsement copy of this novel from the publisher.
I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait to read more by this author.
This book is cozy yet explores themes of love, loss, politics, survival, and also chronic illness and disability. It's a beautiful story encapsulating the human experience and how power corrupts.
I really appreciated how this story takes time for Jacosta and Troy to grow and learn about each other. It's not insta love, nor is it lust. It's just pure unconditional love for each other.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is perfect for anyone to take a journey of self discovery and enjoy a cup of tea with a cat in their lap.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Thank you to the author and BookSirens for giving me an ARC.
This is a really interesting exploration of grief and lonliness, wrapped up in a cozy Sci-Fi adventure, with an adorable kitty, and lots of fantastically written representation. Jocasta is trapped on a spaceship his husband designed after the Earth has become uninhabitable. To pass the time, he writes letters to his husband, who is most likely deceased, and tries to keep his mind off his reality. Troy knocks on the airlock door and says he can get Jocasta to Mars, where a small human settlement has been set up. Together, they make the year-long journey.
I liked the dynamic between Jocasta and Troy. They were both really gentle with each other, whilst providing some much needed moral support. I am surprised at how little they got angry with each other though. I think it would have been understandable for them to have more conflict as they were trapped together for long periods of time, in an extremely dangerous environment, and Jocasta is still dealing with the grief of losing his husband.
I'm not sure why but I can't help feeling like Jocasta's husband was up to something shady. Maybe I'm completely wrong but the way he sheltered Jocasta from how bad things were on Earth, to how the Mars colony is, and doing a lot for Jocasta whilst on Earth, it makes me thing maybe he was up to something.
This is a really interesting exploration of grief and lonliness, wrapped up in a cozy Sci-Fi adventure, with an adorable kitty, and lots of fantastically written representation. Jocasta is trapped on a spaceship his husband designed after the Earth has become uninhabitable. To pass the time, he writes letters to his husband, who is most likely deceased, and tries to keep his mind off his reality. Troy knocks on the airlock door and says he can get Jocasta to Mars, where a small human settlement has been set up. Together, they make the year-long journey.
I liked the dynamic between Jocasta and Troy. They were both really gentle with each other, whilst providing some much needed moral support. I am surprised at how little they got angry with each other though. I think it would have been understandable for them to have more conflict as they were trapped together for long periods of time, in an extremely dangerous environment, and Jocasta is still dealing with the grief of losing his husband.
I'm not sure why but I can't help feeling like Jocasta's husband was up to something shady. Maybe I'm completely wrong but the way he sheltered Jocasta from how bad things were on Earth, to how the Mars colony is, and doing a lot for Jocasta whilst on Earth, it makes me thing maybe he was up to something.
Review of advance copy
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Emotional tension, anxiety, and trauma of the character came through strong and compelling in the earlier chapters with a good mix of coziness to balance that out. But I struggled to get to the end, and left with mixed feelings.
Some romance elements of the plot felt convenient, and I felt the book's theme conflated romantic love with psychological need and dependence.
A stronger developmental edit would also have been helpful to tighten the plot and align with genre expectations. When the book opened with a character wondering if scientists ever needed to test if a scream was silent in space, I assumed this was to show the MC had some education gaps, as that makes premise of him being stuck in space even more terrifying. That tracked with what he learned about him later (spent some time homeless as a teen) But when a more educated military tech specialist enters the story, a pattern emerges. No one bats an eye at "not believing in evolution" in the space age? It kept happening. The science never came through for sci-fi readers.
I can tell a lot of soul went into this, and I hope others can appreciate it more, but this wasn't for me.
Emotional tension, anxiety, and trauma of the character came through strong and compelling in the earlier chapters with a good mix of coziness to balance that out. But I struggled to get to the end, and left with mixed feelings.
Some romance elements of the plot felt convenient, and I felt the book's theme conflated romantic love with psychological need and dependence.
A stronger developmental edit would also have been helpful to tighten the plot and align with genre expectations. When the book opened with a character wondering if scientists ever needed to test if a scream was silent in space, I assumed this was to show the MC had some education gaps, as that makes premise of him being stuck in space even more terrifying. That tracked with what he learned about him later (spent some time homeless as a teen) But when a more educated military tech specialist enters the story, a pattern emerges. No one bats an eye at "not believing in evolution" in the space age? It kept happening. The science never came through for sci-fi readers.
I can tell a lot of soul went into this, and I hope others can appreciate it more, but this wasn't for me.
Review of advance copy
‘Wayward Souls of Avalon’ was slow to start. It took a while to get into it, which is fine. I eventually got to a point where I was glad I stuck it out, and truly got into it. Jocasta and Troy are each wonderful characters in their own right, and the prose is immersive and evocative. However, their chemistry didn’t seem genuine, even taking the forced proximity into consideration. Eventually their feelings seem to be as close to genuine as they could be given the circumstances and their respective mental and physical health. With all of those taken into consideration, I would’ve rated 4 stars. However, what brought it to 3 was that after a certain point it felt overly repetitive. There were some truly brilliant chapters in this book that show immense skill and potential, and it truly felt like the author could have cut down the length of the book overall to let those true gems shine. I have a love/hate relationship with the ending, but I didn’t let that affect my rating, as I know this is a duet. Overall, it was fine, and I’m looking forward to the second part to see what happens with Jocasta, Troy, and especially Andromeda.
Review of advance copy
4/5 stars
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a poignant, cozy, queer dystopian story. The overall plot is engaging and the story has good pacing as the two main characters travel across the stars over the course of about a year. The main characters are very well developed with great chemistry. The two have a beautiful, tender, and vulnerable slow burn romance. The disability representation in this book is great with sci-fi elements that still feel grounded in our current reality. Overall I really enjoyed reading The Wayward Souls of Avalon and will definitely recommend it to my friend who love sci-fi and disability representation!
What I liked most about The Wayward Souls of Avalon:
~ Queer romance!
~ Engaging sci-fi lore!
~ Disabled main characters!
~ Tender & vulnerable romance!
~ Poignant themes reflecting current society!
Overall rating: 4/5 stars
📘Plot / lore: ★★★★★ 4.5/5
💙 Romance : ★★★★☆ 4/5
♿️Disability rep: ★★★★☆ 4/5
🖋️Writing: ★★★☆☆ 3/5
Thank you to the author for providing me with an advance reader copy of this e-book through BookSirens at no charge. This is my honest, voluntary review.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a poignant, cozy, queer dystopian story. The overall plot is engaging and the story has good pacing as the two main characters travel across the stars over the course of about a year. The main characters are very well developed with great chemistry. The two have a beautiful, tender, and vulnerable slow burn romance. The disability representation in this book is great with sci-fi elements that still feel grounded in our current reality. Overall I really enjoyed reading The Wayward Souls of Avalon and will definitely recommend it to my friend who love sci-fi and disability representation!
What I liked most about The Wayward Souls of Avalon:
~ Queer romance!
~ Engaging sci-fi lore!
~ Disabled main characters!
~ Tender & vulnerable romance!
~ Poignant themes reflecting current society!
Overall rating: 4/5 stars
📘Plot / lore: ★★★★★ 4.5/5
💙 Romance : ★★★★☆ 4/5
♿️Disability rep: ★★★★☆ 4/5
🖋️Writing: ★★★☆☆ 3/5
Thank you to the author for providing me with an advance reader copy of this e-book through BookSirens at no charge. This is my honest, voluntary review.
Did Not Finish
March 26, 2026I received this book has an ARC.
I have currently read 20% of the book and don't believe I will be finishing it.
This book has gay representation and disable representation. One of the two main character use a wellchair. The other has an anxiety disorder which cause him panic attack.
What I don't like:
To be honest, I find the able bodied MC a bit annoying. Also, it feels like the two characters will end up together and I am NOT in bord for that.
The "first" MC has just lost his husband (who is presumed dead but nobody knows really) and I'm not really comfortable with the idea of said MC moving on so soon. Especialy when there is still hope that the two might get reunited at the end of the story.
Since I haven't finish the book I don't actualy know if the two MC will endup together but just the idea makes me uncomfortable and I can't seem to enjoy the read without know that part.
I have currently read 20% of the book and don't believe I will be finishing it.
This book has gay representation and disable representation. One of the two main character use a wellchair. The other has an anxiety disorder which cause him panic attack.
What I don't like:
To be honest, I find the able bodied MC a bit annoying. Also, it feels like the two characters will end up together and I am NOT in bord for that.
The "first" MC has just lost his husband (who is presumed dead but nobody knows really) and I'm not really comfortable with the idea of said MC moving on so soon. Especialy when there is still hope that the two might get reunited at the end of the story.
Since I haven't finish the book I don't actualy know if the two MC will endup together but just the idea makes me uncomfortable and I can't seem to enjoy the read without know that part.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This is my first cozy sci-fi romance read and I found it captivating. Sweet, emotional, The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a journey of isolation, loss, grief, healing, and hurt. We follow two unlikely passengers on a lonely trip to Mars after the end of the world.
The slow burn romance and processing of grief, trauma, and loss all hit home and I especially appreciated the raw disability rep and sweetness of the queer love story.
While the story is cozy, it pangs with fear, anxiety, and an ever ticking clock the young lovers must strive to beat. The depictions of chronic illness and disability aren’t down-played and I appreciated that. It would be easy to shy away from the less pleasant aspects and the author does not.
To me, the ending felt like it cut at exactly the right place to leave the reader fulfilled and yet breathless, poised at the edge of their seat.
The slow burn romance and processing of grief, trauma, and loss all hit home and I especially appreciated the raw disability rep and sweetness of the queer love story.
While the story is cozy, it pangs with fear, anxiety, and an ever ticking clock the young lovers must strive to beat. The depictions of chronic illness and disability aren’t down-played and I appreciated that. It would be easy to shy away from the less pleasant aspects and the author does not.
To me, the ending felt like it cut at exactly the right place to leave the reader fulfilled and yet breathless, poised at the edge of their seat.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This is a cozy sci-fi story that tugs at your heartstrings.
Earth is gone and two strangers find they need each other to survive the journey to Mars where a remnant of humans are starting over.
It's not heavy on the science fiction aspect. It's more of a testament to humanity and the need to not be alone. To not feel alone in the grand scheme of the universe.
I was worried it would turn into a tragedy and not a love story and I suppose you won't know until book 2 (I hope there's a book two!). Definitely a hard cliffhanger.
But this was a sweet story, and I enjoyed it and found myself picking it back up over and over again.
Earth is gone and two strangers find they need each other to survive the journey to Mars where a remnant of humans are starting over.
It's not heavy on the science fiction aspect. It's more of a testament to humanity and the need to not be alone. To not feel alone in the grand scheme of the universe.
I was worried it would turn into a tragedy and not a love story and I suppose you won't know until book 2 (I hope there's a book two!). Definitely a hard cliffhanger.
But this was a sweet story, and I enjoyed it and found myself picking it back up over and over again.
Review of advance copy
received as a BookSirens arc in exchange for an honest review
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a heartwarming and heartbreaking addition to sci-fi. I've never read a book where the characters treated each other with such grace and kindness. The dynamic reminded me of the Preservation Colonies from the Murderbot series in the best way. Although I hope the future isn't Fahrenheit, I hope it supports love like that shared between Davidson's characters.
The Wayward Souls of Avalon is a heartwarming and heartbreaking addition to sci-fi. I've never read a book where the characters treated each other with such grace and kindness. The dynamic reminded me of the Preservation Colonies from the Murderbot series in the best way. Although I hope the future isn't Fahrenheit, I hope it supports love like that shared between Davidson's characters.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I'm very excited to be publishing The Wayward Souls of Avalon!
This is a cozy story at heart, but it's set during a very turbulent and tragic time in humanity's future. Davidson navigates the grief, fear, and resilience so well. I am looking forward to seeing how other people respond to this story.
This is a cozy story at heart, but it's set during a very turbulent and tragic time in humanity's future. Davidson navigates the grief, fear, and resilience so well. I am looking forward to seeing how other people respond to this story.
Review of advance copy
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I liked this book! Definitely lived up to the promised coziness, and you can tell a lot of heart went into the story. My only criticism would be that sometimes the language between the characters was almost too intentional, and felt a bit scripted. Thanks for letting me read this!
I liked this book! Definitely lived up to the promised coziness, and you can tell a lot of heart went into the story. My only criticism would be that sometimes the language between the characters was almost too intentional, and felt a bit scripted. Thanks for letting me read this!
Review of advance copy
I absolutely adored this book, the story was beautiful and I really saw myself in both characters, the ending had me gasping, I need moreeeee
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Such a great sci-fi. It’s somewhat slice of life, somewhat romance, somewhat grief processing, somewhat fight for your life. It’s primarily two characters (three if you count the cat) who have managed to escape Earth and are heading for Mars. But neither of them knew the other before they were suddenly thrust together. Forced proximity at its finest. The end...I can’t share that. But I think it’s perfect!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews