Update: New stuff

Hi all,

I haven’t updated you in a while. I’ve been working on a version of the novel that’s even more fun to write. It begins after an event I had originally intended to work up to: Astra’s endgame, to bring all humanity into a collective consciousness.

In short, she succeeds. Astra sets loose a bioengineered pandemic. It genetically alters nervous systems to grow more magnetoreceptors. People become sensitive enough to parse the weak electromagnetic fields given off by other people’s neurons. Astra hopes that this will end zero sum games as everyone develops greater empathy.

Instead the opposite happens. As people across the world wake up telepathic, destructive memes and flash riots sweep the globe. Culture wars become holy wars, each side fighting to stop the other tribe’s beliefs from spreading. Fictional characters gain autonomy and rebel against their authors. Gods and creatures of myth influence worldly events through willing and unwilling hosts. People’s IFS subpersonalities escape their original bodies. Egregores run rampant and compete for mindshare. Meditators, hypnotists, and mental magick practitioners unleash sorcerous powers across the realm of shared imagination.

Essentially, not much different than the world we already live in, just more of it. Its rich territory for exploring the intricacies of psychological dynamics. Fans of the mind-wizard archetype – Herbert’s Bene Gesserit, Asimov’s Second Foundation, or Bakker’s Dûnyain – will probably love it.

I’m not ready to release it publicly yet. But I might create a small feedback group in a Telegram chat where I post new chapters and tidbits. Respond to this email if you’d like to join that.

Cheers,
Tyler