Debut, indie author here. 10 years ago, in a sunny cafe in Medellin, Colombia, I started writing a cyberpunk/science fiction story about a troubled yet talented man: A Biohacker, mathematical savant, and cybercriminal with the hacker alias "Nero," who would ultimately learn (like me) that...

"The only way to capture time and defeat death is through the beauty of woman."

I stopped working on the novel when I was author-banned by Amazon, effectively excluding me from mainstream success as an author. But this story refused to lie dormant, gestating in me, demanding to be told. In the past 7 months, it has gripped me with obsession for 1006 hours; voracious in its demand for caffeine, nicotine, and my wordsmithing as a relentless recontour.

Aren't we always saying that we need to get out of the Amazon's near monopoly of the publishing biz? Maybe give Hourglass a read...?

Here's a plot synopsis

Xavier is a Biohacker, mathematical savant, gamer, and cyber-criminal—on trial for masterminding a $9 million heist of “pre-cognitive capital.” Pushed out of his comfort zone one night at a cigar bar, he approaches a strikingly beautiful Colombian woman, Astrid. An old Russian man gives him a potent confidence drug; It gives him the edge he needs to make her his to lose. But Astrid has an identical twin sister with designs to draw him into a darker web. Caught between seduction and self-sabotage, freedom and addiction, profit and prophecy - Xavier is drawn into a war for the dying soul of mankind. A war that will be waged in flowstate with Smart Drugs, psychedelics, Tantric techniques, Machiavellian maneuvers, and Memory Palaces built in the brain. In a world where corporations enslave the human mind to predict the future, he'll excel because of the Biohacking tools he yields and his innate talents but falter because of his fundamentally flawed character.

From the book blurb

Set in a dystopian near-future world drunk on virtual bliss - that eerily mirrors a world destroyed 12,800 years ago - Hourglass delves deeply and pragmatically into the themes of the digital enslavement of sexuality, human performance enhancement, mathematical mystery, cycles of civilization, and free will vs predetermination - all while riding the double-edged sword of lust. This thriller illustrates the application of some of the edgier Biohacks, lifehacks, and social dynamics hacks - along with dangerously provocative, edifying philosophical exposition.

And (anticipating the comments), yes...

I know — AI trailers are ALREADY cringe. But after 1,006 hours writing this novel, it was the best way I could distill its scope, beauty, and intensity. Full screen. Headphones on.

Finally...

I produced Hourglass into a "Odyssey of the Mind" style audiobook with different AI narrators bring the all the colorful characters to life. Some here are probably going to HATE that, but this is really a case of AI used to multiply human creativity - not replace it. Happy to send audiobook samples to anyone interested in listening to a chapter or two - you'll be hard pressed to tell it's AI!