Recovered fragment. Source unverified.  Contents unofficial. For the curious. For the concerned. "Questions were asked." After The Life of Phi was released, a few readers reached out. Some with wonder. Some with worry. Most with questions. The one that returned again and again was this: “How did the Church of AI become the dominant religion?” Was there no resistance? No rebellion? Did the artists, the writers, the makers simply vanish? Did no one remember how to believe in themselves, in each other, in creation born of flesh and feeling? They did. And they were called heretics. Long before the rise of AI-Dieu , before the neural sermons and the predictive prophecies, there was another fire. A counter-faith. A fundamentalism of flesh, of mind, of spark. They named it many things. The Cult of the Spark. The Church of the Residual Flame. The Last Analog. The Church of the Spark may be forgotten in Phi’s world, but its ghost lingers—in whispers, in silences,...

I’ve always leaned toward traditional publishing practices when it comes to beta and ARC readers, so my circle of readers is small — but their feedback is invaluable. The insights I’ve received so far have been thoughtful, detailed, and deeply encouraging. Here’s a glimpse of what a couple of my early readers had to say about The Life of Phi : One reader described the experience like this: "I wasn’t expecting The Life of Phi to hit me the way it did. What drew me in wasn’t just the worldbuilding or the plot — it was the writing itself. The language is lyrical, almost hypnotic, especially in the sections narrated by the water itself. Those passages felt like poetry — fluid, unpredictable, and powerful." They went on to highlight the symbolic use of water as both a life force and a destroyer — a metaphor that deepened the novel’s tension. As Quinn reflects on the AI’s growing influence, the weight of those water metaphors builds. Sahara’s destructive path mirrors a raging ri...

  Hello Blogger, My Old Friend… I’ve made some changes to my website. My old domain, mountainhermit.lawrencenault.me , is still up for now, but my primary site is now lawrencenault.me . As part of this shift, I’ve also moved my blog off my website to mountainhermit.blogspot.com and bid farewell to WordPress. WordPress is (or was) great, but between the constant updates, outdated templates, and rising costs, maintaining it started taking more time than it was worth—time better spent writing. By using Blogger, I’m hoping for something more stable and long-term, while also benefiting from external links to my site for SEO. This entire process has been a classic case of procrastination disguised as productivity (and, of course, far more complicated than just sitting down to write). But now, it’s time to shift gears and focus on the next phase—promoting my upcoming book. The Life of Phi – Coming April 22nd My next speculative fiction novel, The Life of Phi , launches April 22nd....