Short stories about the quiet cost of staying in systems that were never built for humans. Sharp, honest, and never offering easy answers.
The other side of the desk. Stories from the people who built the systems everyone else is stuck in.
Systems that work as intended — and what that costs the people inside them. A novella collection where the horror is institutional, the damage is precise, and nothing breaks down. It just keeps running. Strange, exact, and quietly devastating.
Systems that work as intended and what that costs the people inside them. Some layers are meant to wait.
A novella collection by Vivian Sims
"She stayed. Then forgot herself."
Nora remembers everything. Her partner remembers nothing — and he is telling the truth. A novella about memory, erasure, and what it costs to be the only one who remembers.
For readers of psychological speculative fiction, literary speculative fiction, and emotionally driven science fiction.
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"A desire machine gives people what they ask for. Then it starts showing them what they meant."
Thea joined Calibros to help people close the gap between who they are and who they want to be. She never asked what the work was making of her. A novella about what happens when a precision instrument turns inward — and finds nothing wrong.
For readers of emotionally driven science fiction, literary speculative fiction, philosophical science fiction, and workplace speculative fiction.
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"He signed on to deliver. Then he became the delivery."
Marco hasn't heard a sound in years. Then the delivery app he rides for offers him the one thing he had stopped hoping for — and asks only that he keep riding. A novella about labor, the body, and what a system collects from the people who keep it running.
For readers of literary speculative fiction, quiet dystopian fiction, and workplace speculative fiction.
Pre-order on Amazon More details →The quiet cost of staying — told by the people still inside.
Eight chapters. One week. The quiet cost of staying too long. No grand epiphanies. No dramatic resignation. Just a week in someone's life that feels uncomfortably familiar.
Hidden chapters they'll pretend never happened — bonus content not available on Amazon.
The wrong flavor makes everything feel harder. A story about someone stuck in a loop — and the night he finally understood why.
Extended content with reflections on the loop — bonus material exclusive to this edition.
7 wonders behind the compensation. Short stories from a place where logic laid off empathy.
Stories from the other side of the desk — by the people who thought they were in control.
Everything was measured. Not everything counted. A short story from the people the scale couldn't read.
Coming October 24, 2026