Press
This is the official press page for the Rhys Maren novels by Cecil Atley. Here you will find author information, book summaries, media resources and contact details for journalists, reviewers, bloggers and podcast hosts.
About the Rhys Maren Series
The Rhys Maren series follows investigations that begin with an apparently impossible piece of evidence. A forgotten photograph, a damaged recording, a handwritten letter or a digital file raises questions that cannot be answered at first glance.
As Rhys follows the evidence, each investigation uncovers the people, history and technology connected to it, revealing how ordinary lives continue to shape the present. The mystery provides the structure. The story is always about the people behind the evidence.
Combining fictional investigations with carefully researched history, modern technology and authentic investigative methods, every story blends fact and fiction into a single narrative. Alongside each investigation, readers discover the real ideas, historical events and technological developments that inspired it.
About the Author
Cecil Atley is the author of the Rhys Maren novels, a series of literary investigations exploring the place where people, evidence and technology meet.
Rather than looking to the future, the novels are rooted in the world as it exists today. Artificial intelligence, digital records and automated systems form part of everyday life, leaving behind new kinds of evidence that can outlast the moments that created them.
Each investigation follows the evidence to reconstruct what happened, examining questions of memory, provenance, identity and accountability in a world where understanding the record has become as important as preserving it.
The Novels
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Archives of Ash
When a teenager is accused of murder after a recorded confession appears to prove his guilt, Rhys Maren is asked to examine the evidence. The investigation uncovers synthetic voices, forgotten wartime research and a family history hidden for generations.
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The Welsh Archive
When an impossible photograph leads Rhys Maren to a forgotten private archive in North Wales, he discovers a lifetime of images that challenge accepted history and reveal the hidden lives preserved behind the camera.
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The Transmission
When a forgotten BBC recording is discovered inside the wall of a demolished broadcasting centre, Rhys Maren is asked to determine whether it is simply an overlooked archive or evidence of a secret Cold War operation that was never meant to survive.
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Forget Me Not
When an unexplained act of remembrance at a village war memorial leads Rhys Maren to a forgotten wartime story, he uncovers the quiet determination of one woman to ensure that a life history almost overlooked would never truly be forgotten.
At a Glance
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
- Setting:North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Oxfordshire and Cheshire
- Series: Standalone novels featuring Rhys Maren
- Themes:Artificial intelligence, automated decisions, algorithmic harm, digital memory, evidence, family history and truth
- Formats: Paperback, Hardback and eBook
Interview Topics
Rhys Maren is available to discuss:
- Artificial intelligence and automated decisions in contemporary fiction
- Algorithmic harm and what happens when systems disappear
- Digital memory, grief and identity
- Why ordinary lives make compelling investigations
- Writing literary fiction about technology
- The relationship between evidence, truth and the people left behind
Review Copies
Digital review copies are available for reviewers, journalists, bloggers and podcast hosts upon request.
Images
High-resolution cover artwork, author photographs and promotional images are available for editorial use.
Contact
For review copies, interviews, speaking enquiries or other media requests, please use the contact details provided on this website.
Short Description (50 words)
The Rhys Maren novels are literary investigations exploring evidence, memory and the growing relationship between people and technology. Each story follows independent investigator Rhys Maren as he reconstructs events from the records left behind, asking what can genuinely be proved when certainty has already given way to assumption.
One-Sentence Description
Every Rhys Maren story begins with an apparently impossible piece of evidence and becomes an investigation into the people, history and technology behind it.