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“He never asked to become a monster. He chose to stay a father.”
AUTHOR · AUSTIN, TEXASBOOK · AVAILABLE NOWPRESS SIGNAL · OPEN
MEDIA COORDINATE / 01
AVAILABLE NOW · FICTION DIMENSION
WILLPOWER:
THE INFECTION
An infected former MMA champion fights mutation, hunger, and doubt to protect his little girl across a deadly, collapsed America.
Adult post-apocalyptic bio-punk body horror / dystopian survival thriller. Independently published in 2026 by Ryan King in Austin, Texas.
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Quick book facts
- TITLE
- WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION
- AUTHOR
- Ryan King
- AUDIENCE
- Adult
- FULL GENRE
- Adult post-apocalyptic bio-punk body horror / dystopian survival thriller
- PUBLICATION
- Independently published in 2026
- AVAILABILITY
- Available now
- AUTHOR LOCATION
- Austin, Texas
- TAGLINE
- He never asked to become a monster. He chose to stay a father.
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“WILLPOWER follows a man who can no longer trust his own body, yet chooses to endure the agony it inflicts to keep his daughter safe,” King said. “He battles mutation, screaming hunger, and constant self-doubt while every act of protection costs him another piece of his humanity. By choosing against what his new biology demands, he proves that free will defines humanity.”
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Author biographies
Ryan King is an independent author based in Austin, Texas. He is the author of WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION, an adult post-apocalyptic bio-punk body horror / dystopian survival thriller.
Ryan King is an independent author based in Austin, Texas. His 2026 novel, WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION, follows an infected former MMA champion fighting mutation, hunger, and doubt to protect his little girl across a collapsed America. Through the novel, King explores fatherhood, survival, restraint, identity, grief, and the conflict between conscious choice and biological instinct.
Conversation starters
Suggested interview topics
- Why fatherhood sits at the center of the horror
- Why the protagonist is a former MMA champion—and why strength alone is not enough
- How body horror can dramatize identity, appetite, and loss of control
- How restraint and choice function as forms of heroism
- What ‘refusing the natural order’ means within the novel
- The creative and practical process of independent publishing
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Read the full press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Austin Author Ryan King Pits Fatherhood Against Mutation in WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION
An infected former MMA champion fights mutation, hunger, and doubt to protect his little girl across a deadly, collapsed America.
AUSTIN, Texas — July 16, 2026 — In WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION, now available, an infected former MMA champion must fight mutation, hunger, and doubt while protecting his little girl across a deadly, collapsed America. The adult novel by Austin-based independent author Ryan King combines post-apocalyptic survival, bio-punk transformation, and body horror with an intimate test of fatherhood.
The fighter’s past prepared him to survive violence, but not to control a body he can no longer trust. As the infection changes him, physical strength alone is no longer enough. He must rely on restraint and choice while facing a brutal question: can he remain a protector when his own body may make him dangerous to the person he is trying to save?
He never asked to become a monster. He chose to stay a father.
Rather than treating infection only as an external threat, WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION places the central horror inside its protector. The novel explores fatherhood, survival, restraint, identity, grief, and the psychological cost of refusing the natural order. Its core conflict is not simply whether the father can survive, but whether he can keep choosing who he is while mutation, hunger, and doubt press him toward something else.
“WILLPOWER follows a man who can no longer trust his own body, yet chooses to endure the agony it inflicts to keep his daughter safe,” King said. “He battles mutation, screaming hunger, and constant self-doubt while every act of protection costs him another piece of his humanity. By choosing against what his new biology demands, he proves that free will defines humanity.”
WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION is available now through Amazon, Books2Read, and Google Play Books.
About Ryan King
Ryan King is an independent author based in Austin, Texas. His 2026 novel, WILLPOWER: THE INFECTION, is an adult post-apocalyptic bio-punk body horror / dystopian survival thriller. Through the novel, King explores fatherhood, survival, restraint, identity, grief, and the conflict between conscious choice and biological instinct.
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