Query Letter

THE BOY WITH THE LAST SOUL is a 150,000-word fantasy novel with apocalyptic and sci-fi elements. Think Blade Runner meets Constantine. It is the first in a planned series.

In a world where souls are sold as currency, sixteen-year-old Ruin Gadiel holds the last.

On Eden, consciousness can be transferred into biological or fabricated humans called tainted, a miracle of science that grants a kind of immortality. The price is steep. Each transfer removes the soul, creating a population of empty vessels who still think they are human, never knowing the process has been quietly repeating for hundreds of years.

From thirteen on, Ruin has lived with the ghost of his father. The pureblood army’s celebrated general died in front of him, yet the man’s voice still follows Ruin through every quiet moment. His physician mother calls it grief, but Ruin fears the hallucinations are madness.

Then, in the dead of night, a coordinated assault ignites across every major city, and Eden cracks open. Winged warriors called Eidrel and fire-wielding Siraath Nalvek tear through the streets, hunting for something. Caught in the chaos with his family, Ruin learns the truth. He carries the last soul on Eden, and now the gods of Elyndria and Sheol want what only he has.

After Ruin's mother and sister are murdered by a merciless Fallen Eidrel, he learns he is the center of an ancient prophecy, one that speaks of a coming terror called the Black Seraph, a powerful being who is the harbinger of the Last Remnant War.

As Ruin’s own abilities flare awake, enemies close in, eager to control him before the prophecy can unfold. The dead chase him just as fiercely, his father's voice pushing him toward answers he is not ready to face.

Drawn into a war older than Eden, Ruin clings to a new family he finds: a battle-worn water Eidrel carrying his own unfinished sins, a soldier desperate for redemption, and a Dark Mender whose gifts blur the line between healing and harm. Together, they uncover the truth buried in Ruin’s past. In a childhood accident, it was Ruin who killed his father, the man whose voice has haunted him for years, and the hallucinations are tied to his growing power.

This revelation fractures him, and only this makeshift family keeps him from breaking beyond repair. Now Ruin must discover whether he is Eden's salvation or the weapon destined to end what little of his world still stands.

As a family physician in Charleston, SC, I’ve spent twenty years on the front lines of human vulnerability, where grief, guilt, and resilience intersect. I’ve watched people climb their way out of despair and rebuild their lives from ashes, and those moments have bled into the heart of every character I write. This story, at its core, is about the slow, powerful redemption only forgiveness can offer.

Prominent real-world thinkers have suggested that within the next twenty years, humanity may be able to upload consciousness into machine bodies. There has never been a more relevant moment for The Boy with the Last Soul, which explores the possible cost of that future.

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Thank you for your time and consideration,
Caisson Hogue, MD
843-991-6537
caissonhogue@yahoo.com

Caissonhogue.com

@BookishbyCaisson