BOOKS
THE MOIRAE: REMAINS OF KHAOS
BOOK I
THE MOIRAE
The Moirae Trilogy follows the three Greek Fates in a sordid modern-day mythology of drugs, sex, and violence. Imagine new adult Percy Jackson infected by The Matrix.
The Moirae Conversations further explores the philosophical discussions glanced by the novel as Free PDFs below. Exploring the future we must create to rewind our grim fate.
This visceral twist of Greek mythology crashes against a growing, menacing darkness woven with familiar gods and philosophical questions.
THE MOIRAE CONVERSATIONS
VOLUME I
QUESTION
The first volume of nine that shifts between the intersecting threads of the three Fates of a modern Greek mythology.
QUESTION is woven with the popular gods that resort to violence and suduction to pursue purpose and power, the reason we exist, experience, and expire.
Klotho asks: "Why are we here?" to which Lakhesis answers with a case for epic meaning while Atopos unravels her argument to absurd chaos.
VOLUME II
The second volume, ADDICTION, evaluates the addiction of humanity to substances, control, and even concepts.
Klotho asks Atropos, "Why do you smoke all the time?" which illuminates the struggle with the idea of "everything in moderation."
In the world beyond the conversation, a wedding begins the war that the world will never recover from.
VOLUME III
EROSION
The third volume, EROSION, starts with the repercussions following the wedding from Addiction and ends with a violent end of another wedding.
Klotho asks, "How do you know when you are in love?" while her relationship grows with Eros, the god of love.
A complex conversation between the Fates with the spine of Plato's Symposium but underbelly of manipulation.
NOVELS
BOOK I
Malignant is a contemporary, new adult, dark humor novel laced with science and college shenanigans. Nathan is an undergrad about to discover the secrets of his childhood at the orphanage.
Broken into his four years at college, it exposes the audience to essential science concepts before rapidly drawing mind-bending conclusions as the intensity of events escalates.
Scattered with fragments of his life after Nathan learns the truth about his past, the entire book disregards linear time, both in format and content.
BOOK II
Tangents is a series of free essays that can be read as both a sequel to Malignant and as a personal reflection of the author's own years in the public education.
Divided into six units, Tangents offers a six final lectures addressing science to academia and parenting to politics. Being critical of the system and empowering students can come at the cost of your teaching career.
Follow this fictional reimagining of the authors' last days in the classroom and the tangental lectures he wishes he would have given his students.
BOOK III
Catalyst is the new adult novel that follows Tangents. Not only digging deeper into the minds of the other lives that glanced by Malignant, but considers the ramifications of a world that adopts the suggestions offered in Tangents.
Catalyst merges the intensity of Malignant with the refined research behind Tangents. It's the medicine for those that medicate others rather than admit the real plague they created.
The FREE STORIES below are six pieces of these 32 chapters that elaborate on the relationships and speak to the interwoven perspectives of the universe surrounding THE MOIRAE.
FREE SHORT STORIES
STORY 1
People. Watching.
I stare across the campus lawn at the bookstore. The window wall reflects a pathetic goodbye between a mother and son framed like a movie set.
Freshmen move across the street to the bus stop absorbed in headphones that make a musical from the mundane. A woman in black smokes at the corner also watching the sitcom of silence like a detail.
No laugh track. No applause sign. No obvious audience.
STORY 2
… ⎸… ⎸… ⎸
This is an experiment. This is an assignment. This is a prerequisite.
The world is burning. A disaster developed over generations of neglect and abuse. A ruin left in chicken bone dust and cigarette ash. A wasteland of monoculture dumpster fires.
… ⎸… ⎸… ⎸
The cursor blinked counting the seconds. I checked the time. “Dammit,” I closed my laptop.
STORY 3
The strobe lights turned the dance floor into a battlefield of epileptic jellyfish. Bass thumped through my ribcage, rattling my internal organs like dice in a cup.
Gregory, ever the connoisseur of chaos, was lost in the pulsating throng, a fly caught in a spiderweb of bodies.
Then, she appeared. A raven in human skin, draped in a black dress that clung to her like a second night. Her hair, the color of spilled ink, cascaded down her back.
STORY 4
Critical.
Thinking. Theory. Condition.
Beeeeeeeep.
Students lined up even though modern school bells don’t ring.
Operant conditioning was the way that we have run schools. Indian Bucks, slips of paper cut into dollar bills with a Native American framed in antlers, reinforced the “good.”
STORY 5
Copy. Paste.
control-c. control-v.
Fading popularity became a vacancy. The niche opened. The job took applications. The position was filled. Another picture took its place.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Plumes of colored powder paint the afternoon sky. Clouds erupt from cylinders set with charges at the bottom of a firework cake. They leave in a rainbow for the heavens.
STORY 6
Stop. Record.
“You’ll never—” he coughed, “—never get away.”
The trench filled as the torrent poured over the ridge. The surge overwhelmed the levee. It flowed into the dry cracks of the surface using them as tributaries. The thin streams of blood formed a red bead at the curved tip of the horizon.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
TANGENTS: ESSAYS
UNIT I
Silence Science is an argument for science to embrace the position politics has thrust upon it.
Undereducated Guesses considers the descriptive nature of science in the pursuit of truth. Unreasonable Doubt evaluates the predictive power of science and the possible pragmatic extension to be prescriptive. The power of legal laws has stifled the adoption of scientific theories.
Indifference to the scientific ignorance of others has similar consequences to indifference toward the well-being of others. Redefining science may help to continue the conversation beyond this essay and produce change.
UNIT II
Defund Education is a critique of the most ingrained assumptions about the school system.
Hidden Curriculum reveals the intentional and unintentional values and lessons school teaches. Transparent Equity reimagines ambitious approaches to creative and collaborative authentic learning.
The faults in the foundation are divergent and deeper than those proposed by the advocates of school choice. Defunding education exacerbates the exploitation, oppression, and indoctrination already in the heartland.
UNIT III
Burn Libraries is a drastic reimagining of education with students as the authors of future history books.
Crucible Schools builds on preceding chapters to explore the origin of creativity and rebellion in school. Graduated Cylinders extends the previous section to consider the application of innovation to the politics of the country.
As Plutarch stated: The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
UNIT IV
RAISE FAILURES
Raising Failures is a reflection on the reasons we give children, students, and ourselves for what constitutes "good" behavior.
Ideal Condition contrasts the positions of authority that justify arbitrary distinctions on morality and mentors that inductively co-construct ethics. Real Motivation presents a way to design these communities with gamification and real game theory to address toxicity in video games and companies.
For students to achieve autonomy, agency, and self-actualization, their needs and motivations must be met.
UNIT V
END TIMES
End Times is a reckoning with the reality that our actions both deliberately and unintentionally are resulting in a bleak future for our children.
Intentional Apocalypse presents the irreversible dystopian consequences of hollowing our heartland with ignorance, avoidance, and denial. Infinite Iterations prescribes bite-size solutions to bury the unaddressed elephants in the room.
Overwhelmed by the daunting task to save the planet, students ask, "Where do we begin?" Just begin.
UNIT VI
HIDE MONSTERS
Hide Monsters is a reveal of my personal struggles with mental health in a chemically and socially toxic environment.
Broken Minds ventures into the persistent stigmas against mood disorders and the lost mentors that give us reasons to address our internal monsters. Eternal Reminders directly cites the hero cycle to return with a paradigmatic shift on artificial intelligence to finally answer the last question.
Humans endlessly search for their personalized meaning of life, yet life, by definition, may contain a purpose beyond our perceptions.