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Marius and Tess Steel, looking out a spaceship in the novel, A Corruption of Memory

Their memories were real. They just weren’t their own.

A father races to save his son from a genetic edit that's rewriting children's memories, only to discover the fault lies devastatingly close to home. A Corruption of Memory is a twisty science fiction suspense novel full of family secrets, corporate intrigue, and mind-bending tech set in a future hauntingly familiar to our own.

Author J.L. Thorpe

A Corruption of Memory

A Syndicate of Stars Novel

A genetic edit was meant to save humanity. Instead, it unleashed a nightmare.

Children across the settled stars are being flooded by memories that aren’t their own.

For Marius Steel, estranged son of the edit’s late creator, the horror turns personal when his young son begins to take on the personality of someone else. Marius’ twin sister, Tess, despairs as the family gene-editing company she now runs, teeters on the brink of collapse. Forced into an uneasy alliance, the twins race to undo the catastrophe.

But as they dig into their father’s archives, they come to the shocking realization he may have committed something far more sinister than a mistake. Now they must find a way to fix the corruption, before an entire generation is trapped in someone else's past.

A Corruption of Memory is the first book in the Syndicate of Stars series.

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A Corruption of Memory Ebook
Author J.L. Thorpe

This Book Is For You If You Love…

Gene editing gone wrong

A sci-fi puzzle-box mystery

Glittering galactic society; seedy underbelly

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Rival siblings forced to cooperate

Eccentric sidekicks, odious villains

Blake Crouch x John Scalzi

Author J.L. Thorpe
Author J.L. Thorpe

Excerpts

It was the haunting voice that filled Marius with dread, for as he replayed it in his mind, he became even more certain it was the voice of the only person he had ever truly loathed. He swallowed the last of his drink and set his cup down on is desk with a decisive click. There was an easy way to confirm his hunch...He climbed into his sensorcradle and blinked up one of the most harrowing days of his life.

- Marius -

3D image of A Corruption of Memory

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Author J.L. Thorpe
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About J.L. Thorpe

Jacqueline Thorpe grew up reading Asimov, Bradbury, Herbert and all the sci-fi greats in her father's library. She fell hard for cyberpunk and loves new authors such as Leckie, Jemisin and Muir. 

Her short stories have been published in Polar Borealis, one of which was nominated for an Aurora Award this year (snag a copy when you sign up to the Syndicate!). Another kicked off Emptiness, A One-Shot Anthology of Speculative Fiction.

Jacqueline spent years as a financial journalist, working for Bloomberg, the National Post, and Reuters, where she learned the best stories are often torn from the headlines.

 

She likes forests, streams, reading a book in front of a fire (or anywhere), and hanging with her family. She'd love it if you joined her on this new adventure!

Author J.L. Thorpe

Join the Syndicate!

Welcome to a world of cutting-edge gene-tech, quirky AIs and whimsical spaceships; frock coats and holograms; sensorspace and interstellar gates; glittering towers and heaving space hubs. Where tycoons, and family dynasties scheme, and guttersnipes and memory addicts scrabble to survive. Where Earth and the Otherworld planets in the Syndicate of Stars fight for an edge in the age-old quest for knowledge, fortune, and power. Where a mysterious affliction has been unleashed—and a terrible dread begun to thrum.

Sign up and get a copy of Jacqueline's Aurora Award-nominated short story, publication updates and more.

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J.L. Thorpe | Science fiction with a soul.

© 2026 J.L. Thorpe. All rights reserved.

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