Lavender Spike
$14.99-
“A truly unique dystopia.” — Jason Pargin, bestselling author of John Dies at the End and I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
“Mind-bending … hard to look away from.” — Publishers Weekly
“A speculative story of art as the basis of a future police state.” — Kirkus Reviews
In a shattered future where art is outlawed for some and weaponized by others, one underground painter is forced to choose: stay true to her craft, or survive.
Isobel “Izzy” Ker is one of the last Purist artists left.
She survives in the slums outside Mahl City, secretly selling illegal paintings in a world ruled by the New Art Government. They keep their citizens in line through Trigger Art, a powerful, addictive form of creation that overwhelms the senses and rewires the mind.
When her studio is raided, Izzy has nowhere to run.
She is forced to find safety with the Half-Light Rebels, a group of anti-art radicals and glorified thieves who are determined to tear the system down.
But rebellion comes at a cost, and her first mission with the rebels fails.
Izzy is captured.
The New Art Government gives her a choice: rot in the city’s infamous prison, or convert and become a Trigger Artist.
Izzy accepts and is thrust into the spotlight as a rising Trigger Artist, intoxicated by the luxury, the power, and the dangerous pull of creation at its most extreme … not to mention her enigmatic bodyguard, Rilke.
The wild, engrossing act of creating her first public piece almost makes her forget what life was like in the Dumps.
Almost.
While the system remakes her into its most powerful weapon, Izzy plays a deeper game.
She works in secret with the rebels and prepares to unveil her audacious debut piece.
Because the most dangerous creation is defiance.
Written by a rising star in science fiction, Lavender Spike is a bold, wholly original cyberpunk novel in which art is both drug and religion.
Available June 23, 2026. PRE-ORDER NOW!
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Rachel Tremblay is a painter, writer, and musician. A youth filled with guitar shredding, horror movies, skateboarding, and poetry led her to produce two music albums, study fine arts, and pen stories. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two adult children. Lavender Spike is her fifth novel.
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Published: June 2026
ISBN: 9781770418417
Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 in.
Pages: 384
Reviews
“Pain, passions, and violence are conveyed as agonizingly and earnestly here as they were in the Hunger Games and Handmaid’s Tale cycles. ... Cautious brush strokes help sell this speculative story of art as the basis of a future police state.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Lavender Spike is a speculative novel about the necessity of art and rebellion.” — Foreword Reviews
“Lavender Spike crackles with the spirit of power and creation. Rachel Tremblay's newest novel is a visceral and poignant examination of the purpose of art that poses the question, ‘Can art truly be a catalyst for change?’ Brimming with action, Lavender Spike will take readers on a journey that will inspire, enthrall, and excite the imagination.” — Karen McBride, author of Crow Winter
“A wild acid-trip dive into alleyways where art is both drug and religion — with all the vivid color and darkness that comes with both. A very I-need-a-cigarette-after-reading journey.” — Nathan Makaryk, actor and author of Nottingham
“There’s no denying [Lavender Spike’s] originality. Replete with mind-bending thrills and chills, this proves hard to look away from.” — Publishers Weekly
“Lavender Spike is that rarest thing in fiction: a truly unique dystopia, one that shuns simple allegory and plays by its own strange and fascinating set of rules. In a just world, everyone would be obsessed with this book and fans would already be having bitter arguments about who should be cast in the film.” — Jason Pargin, bestselling author of John Dies at the End and I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom
“Lavender Spike is a luminous adventure, delicate and poignant to the very end. You won’t want to miss it!” — Kayla Ancrum, award-winning author of The Wicker King and Icarus