When Stars Go Out

Publisher: Defiance Press

The dawning of a new order casts a shadow across a whole nation. GRO, the government’s Great Reorganization Operation, is turning American society upside down as it seizes teenagers and throws them into compounds across the country. Behind the speeches and programs, a darkness stirs. Reed can feel it. Taken from his home and dropped into the compound of “The Hill” in central Virginia, he can’t escape the feeling that evil hangs over him night and day, watching his every move. Something is preying upon the teenagers of the Hill. An entire city lies paralyzed under the iron fist of a shadowy government agency and its cruel police force. Spies lurk among the crowds of frightened teens, ready to pounce at the first sign of dissidence. Fear keeps a choking hold on every soul—almost.

When he makes a new friend, Reed begins asking questions and stumbles upon a different side of this dark reality—a world of secrets where the light still lingers and hope burns in the hearts of a few. It’s a strange world where everyday teens are fugitives playing a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse with the secret police. But it’s fascinating, thrilling, and it all seems to revolve around a single figure—one man—who ties Reed’s parallel lives together. Though dangerous to be around, this man seems to hold the answers Reed needs to make sense of the insanity around him. But he is being hunted, and the secrets in his past may be darker than anything else that haunts the Hill.

Caught in a crossfire of warring ideals, Reed faces an agonizing choice and a single path of escape—but is it worth what it will cost him?

Born and raised in Lufkin, Texas, Ransom Grey learned the love of literature from an early age. Though always an avid reader, he began writing in middle school and won his first state-wide writing competition at 13. He began working on his first novel at the age of 15 and quickly developed a love for writing fiction. At 18, Grey won the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Competition and enrolled in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Liberty University. Grey graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Liberty University Honors Program with a degree in graphic design and is currently pursuing his Master of Business Administration in Marketing with the Liberty University Graduate School. In addition to writing, Grey is an avid photographer, designer, and coffee drinker.