Paradox | A Novel

It is June 2010, in the town of Paradox, Washington.

May Emerson has just graduated high school, failed to impress her family, been cheated on, and lost her best friend. In that order. A strange man, seemingly misplaced in time, offers her an escape: her own corpse, perfectly rendered.

Penelope Materas, living in her parents' research laboratory and literally detached from anyone she could call a peer, has one lifeline left--a pen pal--before she is stuck there forever. She invites him to see the unveiling of her dad's latest and most revolutionary technology.

When Weiss Wakefield receives the invitation to meet his friend from the Labs across the Sound, he is reeling from the death of the girl he betrayed. When he decides to go, just to take his mind off things, he is unaware that he is being watched.

The thing watching him--watching all of them--wants suffering. 

This is a novel in progress. It is a fantasy romance--you might call it YA, I guess--set against the backdrop of 2010.  It is messy and melodramatic and not tremendously focused, but I hope you enjoy it.

You may read the published chapters at the links below, or, if you pay me at least a dollar, you can listen to me read it aloud, including chapters in the future. If you use a screen reader and would prefer to hear a human, please DM me on bluesky or Tumblr and I will hook you up.

read all of part 1 here!
read all of part 1.5 here!

bonus:

b1.beta matricide

Content Warning: Paradox contains depictions of violence, injury, and self-harm.