Xena

the book

The year is 2352. In a society consumed by simulated life, Reece feels like an outsider. A naturalist at heart, she can’t understand the appeal of living in a virtual world — not when there’s real life to be lived, no matter how imperfect.

With the population in steep decline and society obsessed with virtual reality, communities have all but vanished. Suicide rates have soared, and what's left of the population has surrendered control to an all-powerful government. Reece’s beliefs make her an outsider, but she plays the part — staying quiet to keep her job, and stay alive. Speaking out isn't just dangerous — it’s potentially fatal.

She’s resigned herself to being a cog in the machine. Until she’s given a choice: stay silent, or risk everything to break the system.

xena world guide

  • The year is 2352

    In the aftermath of Earth’s environmental collapse and a declining population, humanity entered a rare era of global unity and innovation. From 2110 to 2185, the “Clean Earth Initiatives” ushered in sustainable technologies, and sweeping ecological reforms — though only for some. Eco-Sectors flourished while Dead Zones decayed, laying the groundwork for future conflict. As traditional reproduction waned, science filled the gap with Neonatal Cultivation Facilities, where humans are now grown in synthetic wombs. This new world is one of sterile perfection, haunting inequity, and engineered existence — a fragile balance between progress and control.

    Images made with DALL·E — OpenAI’s current image model.

  • Xena

    The Machine

    Xena, “the sim,” “the machine” – Xena is the AI fed VR that seems to dominate the world. The user lays or sits down in a sim machine, connecting to a long cord through their nueroport. The connection is called the nuerolink. Once the link is established, the user is flooded with endorphins while they are analyzed by the AI. The analysis shows the machine how susceptible the user is to a specific journey or experience in the sim. Once a read is made, the machine continues to flood the user with the necessary endorphins to create a positive, endlessly addictive experience in the virtual world.

We are living through a pivotal moment in American history — a time when certain freedoms are under threat, and voices are being silenced.

Everyone responds to opposition in their own way. For me, creativity became my outlet at an early age — it’s my way of pushing back. I began writing this book in the summer of 2024, but it was the early days of 2025 that truly lit the fire to finish it. The backdrop of global conflict, shifts in American society, and the accelerating collision between humanity and technology all shaped this story.

I’m also deeply fascinated — and troubled — by the power of propaganda and the art of storytelling. After all, history is written by the winners. Rarely is it the full truth.

At its core, this book is about freedom — and the fight to remain human in a world that often feels uncertain, unpredictable, and out of our control.