Seth Haddon is the queer Australian author of Volatile Memory and The World of Reforged series. Armed with a degree in Ancient History, his previous life included wrangling cats and crafting worlds as a narrative designer and producer for video games. He lives with a toothless rescue cat affectionately known as Gumilla. Some of his adventures include exploring Pompeii with a famous archaeologist and being chased through a train station by a nun.

His novel Reclaimed was nominated for four Indie Ink Awards in 2024.Volatile Memory was shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards 2026 and the Lambda Literary Awards 2026.

Reclaimed by Seth Haddon

Saba Vasili, a scholar of the astral sea, faces a harrowing accusation: an arcane device he designed has malfunctioned and an entire district of the city has been obliterated and a foreign dignitary has been killed. Charged with murder, Saba is incarcerated on the orders of Byrengrad's ruling council, the Triad.

Ambassador Luan Zek of the Rezwyn Empire is dispatched to take custody of the alleged murderer of his countryman. But seeing Saba's pathetic state, Zek questions whether Saba is truly guilty or only the Triad's scapegoat.

With Byrengrad's fate in the balance, Saba and Zek must uncover the truth behind the arcane catastrophe and stop the malfunctioning device that is jeopardizing the fabric of their whole world.

Can one act of compassion save the world?

CURATOR'S NOTE

Two damaged men, one the scholar accused of causing an arcane disaster, the other the ambassador expected to punish him, must work together to find the real culprit and untangle a dangerous political web. High tension and high stakes grounded in a brilliant exploration of trans identity. – Catherine Lundoff and Melissa Scott

 

REVIEWS

  • "A sweetly compelling queer romance…"

    – Foz Meadows, author of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

  • "…a powerful, passionate, visceral story, full of so much raw honesty, ugliness, and humanness and bizarre truths that make it so very real and right... I loved the characters and intricate magic and even the horrors of it all and the so very wholesome, wholly deserved ending."

    – sfjessii, The StoryGraph

  • "A deliciously slow slow burn, an interesting MC, a vivid world with a unique magic system, a fantastic cast of characters and a beautiful and intriguing dive into the struggles of a brilliant trans MMC that was deeply affecting and emotional, without pulling me away from the story."

    – wowbowbow, The StoryGraph
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

The thing about the astral sea—that nebulous, elusive, maddening plane of existence just beyond the veil—was that no one really knew anything about it. Not in any way that was tangible. Or provable. And this meant, if one was a bit of a desperate or eccentric fellow, that one could dedicate one's whole life to answering this question: what the fuck even is the astral sea?

Discovering the nature of the astral sea had been the first exquisite obsession Saba Vasili had dedicated himself to. But the next thing he'd wanted—desperately—was to become a paragon.

In a country like Zvensia which lauded excellence in everything, exceptional people were elevated to

"the rank of paragon. Exalted and feted, you would be raised out of mortality, made something different by the ritual. All you had to do was be the best.

From the outside this seemed very formulaic and very achievable, but apparently it was not as straightforward as Saba Vasili had expected. You had to be the best and also not be anything but of pure Zvensian blood—no Rezwyn mother, no Uslethian great-grand-uncle, and certainly in no part grubby refugee from the vanquished state of Kerinsk.