The Alpha Upgrade of HD Heathers – Book of Glads Volume 1

Cover of The Alpha Upgrade of HD Heathers by Todd Glider

Know this: Getting a genetic upgrade and becoming a famous gladiator will not help you outgrow childhood trauma!

Initially released in 2023, The Alpha Upgrade of HD Heathers is volume 1 in the science fiction saga The Book of Glads. 

Experience a world in which nation states have fallen by the wayside, giving way to The Mega-City System and The Alpha Upgrade Program. While The System acknowledges, and even caters to the shortcomings of all citizens, The Program’s genetic engineering gives everyone the opportunity to have the strength, dexterity or endurance of a superhero, and the fame that comes with it. The one catch is that you must agree to participate in the most popular form of entertainment—Gladiatorial Combat—sometimes to the death.

HD Heathers opted for a strength upgrade fresh out of high school. Now, 15 years later, she’s the hero of millions, having gained wealth, prestige, and stardom. 

Follow the #4 Glad in Mega-City Philadelphia as she navigates celebrity, loneliness, and the creeping feeling that the world is not as utopian as she’d been led to believe.

Bullshit to Low Earth Orbit – Book of Glads Volume 2

Cover of Bullshit to Low Earth Orbit by Todd Glider

Know this: Brawn HD Heathers has been in the hospital since her last Arena Battle, and gladiatorial combat isn’t what put her there!

Welcome back to the Mega-City System, home of the Alpha Upgrade Program. It’s April 24, 2370. Brawn HD Heathers is now the #2 Glad in Mega-City Philadelphia. She’s a living legend! A hero to millions! So why is she thinking of hanging it all up?

Meanwhile, as HD contemplates retirement, groups within the Mega-City System are attempting to leverage her influence—with or without her knowing it. There’s a faction seeking to, at once, end gladiatorial combat and make genetic modification mandatory. There’s an off-planet club that sees political expedience in separating from the Mega-City System. And there’s even an underground movement with designs on exterminating an entire class of genetically modified people.

Bullshit to Low Earth Orbit returns readers to 24th century Earth, a place where capitalism, content and community are king. You can even be a true patriot and get superpowers. 

The only catch is that gladiatorial combat comes with it—sometimes to the death.