Writing

Original writing

Novels, essays, and long-form work. Books are free to download as PDF or EPUB.

Series

Contemporary Problems

Two novels set in the same city, exploring the same event from different distances. Book One follows one scientist racing her own decline. Book Two follows a city of 180,000 discovering what enhanced intelligence actually does to institutions, relationships, and the ordinary machinery of daily life.

Book 1

What the Water Carried

A neuroscientist becomes especially brilliant then races her own cognitive decline.

Something got into the water and made everyone in town brilliant. It's wearing off. One woman has a narrowing window to make sure something survives the collapse. Every day she's less certain she'd recognize a mistake.

~77,000 words 30 chapters Gainesville, Florida
cognitive science AI alignment trust identity

Book 2

What the City Carried

A city of 180,000 enhanced minds discovers that intelligence without wisdom is not an upgrade.

A college town wakes up smarter than it went to sleep. The hospitals, courts, and city offices weren't designed for this. Four people doing ordinary jobs try to hold the seams together while 180,000 enhanced minds pull in every direction at once.

~78,000 words 45 chapters Gainesville, Florida
collective intelligence institutional stress public health consequences

Standalone

What the Darkness Kept

A demon runs from his past.

He was built to destroy. That was a long time ago. Now he grows pears and settles neighbors' arguments. Then someone from the capital starts asking questions about this district, and the answers point to something that shouldn't exist.

~75,000 words 22 chapters Secondary-world Roman Empire
redemption shame forgiveness identity

Why writing on a security architect's site?

Building systems and writing use the same muscle: holding a complex structure in your head, finding the load-bearing joints, and testing whether the thing holds under pressure. The tools are different. The discipline is the same.