Proliferation

Population centers have been leveled and society has regressed to a pre-industrialized state.

An advanced city rises from the ashes, enabling the rebirth of more such cities, each one subtly different, the result of an experiment in finding the best machine-governed utopia.

Sovereign forces mobilize to exploit their power, and others, to contain them.

At the heart of this struggle is an unlikely pair; a dejected anthropologist whose life's work has finally become useful, and a snarky pirate forced to serve a monastic cult.

To survive, they must not only navigate escalating conflict, but also understand the broader implications of the rising machine cities for all of humanity.

A stand-alone novel in the same world as DETONATION.