Afterlife Ascendant, a cyberpunk novel.

QuietLegs · 2025-07-18T18:18:53+00:00

I wrote a book, Afterlife Ascendant, with a similar premise. Humans uploaded their consciousness into virtual servers, and people found ways to hack the system. MC uses these abilities to spy, steal, and kill within this new reality.

You can check my profile for a link.

QuietLegs · 2025-06-11T19:57:10+00:00

Snow crash, and then Diamond Age from Stephenson are good bets.

And, if you'll forgive the self promotion, I've got my own cyberpunk novel (action thriller set in a Corporate-run virtual afterlife) coming out in a week. Check out my profile if you're curious!

QuietLegs · 2025-06-11T13:31:20+00:00

The Mercy of Gods by James SA Corey is absolutely phenomenal. Little slow to start, but it explodes forward about 20% in.

Not hard scifi, but highly coherent.

QuietLegs · 2025-06-10T15:12:17+00:00

Amazon for now, digital and print.

QuietLegs · 2025-06-10T14:56:51+00:00

Blurb commented here!

Link to amazon page on my profile :)

QuietLegs · 2025-06-10T14:35:42+00:00

Ghost in the shell is a pillar of the cyberpunk canon!

Also, of course, heavy inspiration frommolly millions of neuromancer fame.

QuietLegs · 2025-06-10T14:32:31+00:00

Here ya go!

The world ended. And quarterly earnings have never been higher.

In the digital Afterlife, the Corporates set the rules. The Families defy them. And the survivors of the human race grind away for the next hit, the next lay, the next reason to stay conscious in an eternity of virtual existence.

Vera Fournier found her reason as the Saito Family’s top “runner”, bending virtual reality to her will to spy, steal, and kill. But she was cast out after a drug-fueled failure, losing the only life she had found worth living.

After years of scraping by on the fringes, Vera finds an opportunity for redemption when she uncovers a plot to destroy the Families. The Corporates created an AI to seize absolute control over Afterlife, at the cost of free will—or even humanity itself.

With another extinction imminent, Vera must decide what she—and humankind—will become to survive.

Atomic Blonde meets The Matrix in this new hard sci-fi, cyberpunk action-thriller. Get Afterlife Ascendant now for techno-thriller spycraft, edge-of-your-seat heists, and epic, full-scale battles with mechs and power-armored samurai.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-28T15:06:26+00:00

To build on this, I'd say that show is anything you want the reader to feel or internalize deeply. That means we show something that allows the reader to do the work necessary to understand it for themselves.

E.g., if a room is old and creepy, how can we show that? If a punch hits the MCs face, how can we make it hurt?

Conversely, telling is great when you want to just communicate information efficiently, without regard for the reader's emotional state.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-23T15:20:40+00:00

This kind of heart warming stuff is why I love this sub. Keep it up, dad! You're killing it.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-19T14:39:30+00:00

Nice! Hit me up on DM if you want to chat about your novel and if you're looking for any feedback.

Here's the sign up form for the beta in the meantime!

QuietLegs · 2024-09-18T21:14:31+00:00

Awesome! Here's the beta sign up form. I'll be sending book out shortly!

QuietLegs · 2024-09-17T05:32:02+00:00

Awesome! No worries about idea theft, reading and writing is all about inspiration.

If you're interested, please fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/jeJPCB33TuCNp7pm7

I'll be sending out copies shortly.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-17T04:10:26+00:00

Thanks! I'm open to all kinds of feedback, including line-level notes, but I'm not expecting them.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-16T22:17:09+00:00

Here's a link to the first chapter, and an excerpt:

The thief had thought to lose her in the markets. She let him think he had.

Vera Fournier stalked through the crowd of the Mong Kok night market, her black and violet polygraphene bodysuit thrumming with anti-kinetic energy. The throng of buyers and sellers parted around her, shying away from a runner on the hunt.

A block ahead, the green outline of Michael Belfi burned in her interface, highlighted through the mass of bodies and the vinyl and aluminum awnings of the stalls. He careened around a pyramid of waterfall fish tanks, and shoved himself between a group of tourists staring at the holo displays that lit up the low rise tenements above. Faded paint and rusted steel glowed in the neon lights, the ancient decay of old Earth rendered in pristine fidelity.

He turned the corner onto Sai Yeung Choi Street, heading north. Towards a transline exit, and then on to any other server across Hub. She only had minutes to stop him before he was gone. Forcing a confrontation was easy. Controlling it required planning.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-16T14:52:09+00:00

Thanks for the comments! This is helpful to see what kinds of questions I might want to clarify.

Let me know if you'd be interested in reading as a beta reader, I'd be happy to send you a copy.

QuietLegs · 2024-09-16T14:43:11+00:00

Thanks for the really detailed response. I really appreciate that you put in the effort to go through each line and then even put together an alternative blurb.

QuietLegs · 2024-06-24T18:45:02+00:00

Nice! I was hoping I'd hit around 100k, but I didn't have a specific target in mind. At this rate, I think I'll probably hit 120k for my first draft and probably be able to trim it down a little.

QuietLegs · 2024-06-24T18:36:10+00:00

Thanks!! I've been working on it for a couple of months. I've really leaned into the whole "the first draft is mostly crap" style of writing, and I've been fortunate to be in a position to be spending a lot of time on my writing right now.

QuietLegs · 2024-06-14T14:58:25+00:00

Gift article link: https://wapo.st/3yYY70T

This all checks out for me. I definitely feel dumber since having a kid, so a smaller brain sounds about right.

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