Midnight's Simulacra

My first novel, coming 2024-01-09!

A currentish draft of Part I is available, containing the first four chapters

It's a romp featuring plenty of hacking, clandestine chemistry, and even a spot of at-home uranium enrichment. Along the way, there's lots of science and philosophy of science, and some big questions. A partial bibliography is available at https://midnightssimulacra.com.

Blurb

The twenty-first century's primary path of socioeconomic mobility is engineering; scientists took over from the priests no later than the twentieth. America's most ambitious students these days compete for placement in STEM programs, as do some of her wiliest rogues.

Michael Luis Bolaño is the scion of Mexican oil wealth gone to rut in Texas. Sherman Spartacus Katz is the hyperliterate son of evangelical eccentrics from the North Georgia mountains. One hopes to restore what's been lost, the other to attain what never was. Together at an elite Institute of Technology they train as engineers. Together in the dark they study forbidden teachings. By graduation, they're formidably competent, audacious to a fault, and wholly ungovernable.

midnight's simulacra is a hysterical, scientifically rigorous, and fastpaced thriller, a modern picaresque, a portrait of the autist as a young man, and unlike any other novel you've read.

Formats

Hardback ($40): the intended format. 9x6"
Trade ($20): also good. Exact same text/paging as hardback. 8.5x5.5"
PDF ($0): free. No cover. Not the best format for some ereaders. 9.25x6.125"
- Should you like the book, it would be cool if you bought a copy, or at least spread the word.
Epub ($20): least faithful version, but most flexible on ereaders
- Available for preorder on Amazon, shipping 2024-01-23

In the future, I might release an annotated edition. This would likely only be available in hardback, but who knows? I might annotate all formats simply to cut down on annoyances. The likelihood of me doing this is directly related to reader response as seen in sales and reviews.