What if the world we perceive as real is just what we've decided is real? In all of the great leaps of science and technology we've made, what if it's still in its early infancy? What if there's a much wider universe we still don't know about?

After all, if you were to spend an equal amount of time on every estimated planet in the observable universe since the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, you'd spend about 4 milliseconds on each planet. Even with as much as we know about our planet, we know more about the depths of space than we know our own ocean. There is still so much humanity does not know, and it's infinitely amazing to me to see what we might discover later, whether it's tomorrow, a year from now, a decade, a century, or even far in the future when the way we look at humanity has completely changed. How will our descendants look upon their ancestors? With awe, or with a sense of barbarism?

Hello everyone, this is my first ever real author blog post! For those who don't know me, I'm Dustin, and I'm a fiction author. I have many interests, such as social studies, astronomy, chemistry, computer science, and much more, which I write about! I don't just write about it like any academic essay; however, I write through the pretense of a story. I aspire to write beauty through many of the real-world elements, but also to play off of what could be, or what may be, and even what might not be. 

Realistically, I've been writing since I was a little kid. I remember creating a play with my friends back when I was in 5th grade about two friends who got stranded in the Sahara Desert after a plane crash, attempting to get home. I wish I had kept it! Maybe one day I too will write about that as well. However, that is irrelevant to my upcoming debut novel.

When I was 13, I got extremely into geography and history, which has only strengthened exponentially; thus, my geographical aptitude helped me when making custom maps and understanding the topography of different locations worldwide. My historical knowledge on why maps and geography look a particular way also helped, and so it turned from a hobby of exercise to one that helped me learn so much, and it's a passion I hope to install to everyone else. This further culminated during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 2020, June 14, I created the very world that cemented the groundwork for my wider universe. On that day, I listened to a song by one of my favorite bands, Pendulum, called "The Other Side" on their "In Silico" album. The depth of the lyrics and the style of the song inspired me to create the world you'll soon read. Little did my 16-year-old self know that I was not only a passionate writer when creating my own world and characters, but I had an innate sense of worldbuilding that compounded as I grew older.

Despite not much happening at the time of the pandemic, it wasn't until a few years later, in 2023, May, that I played a game that would forever change the way I saw writing and world creation at large. NieR: Automata was that game; I was addicted for weeks! In 15 days, I 100%ed that game and thought, 'Alright, now what?' That was the most beautiful game from a story element that I have ever played. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the game, the writer & creative director, Yoko Taro, wrote a story about humanity using non-human characters (androids in this case), and the depth of the topic explores what it means to be human. Is it blood, sinew, consciousness? Or is there a level of depth that has yet to be seen? Could it be argued that humanity is a construct, or is it by biology alone that makes us human? That game revolutionized the way I saw narratives and overall writing, and to this day, Yoko Taro is by far my biggest writing inspiration for that reason.

Unfortunately, we live in an era of mass-AI getting forced down our throats, and so everyone is fatigued with the lack of human elements. Through and through, I wrote day and night, edited until I went crazy, drew my own maps, and from 2024, November 24 to 2026, February 23, my full bulwark of work was completed. My first draft I wrote in three months, but there was much editing to be done. There was still so much I had to learn about the process, and often, I felt overwhelmed, but because I love writing so much, I kept going, and kept going, and that's where we stand today with the final product. 

I've learned much about myself and even more about the world we live in as I've studied day and night for novel research. I like the idea that real science still applies, even in a fantasy or sci-fi novel. The idea that "Hey, if I used Francium, what would actually happen?" is heavy with me, and I do my best to research any topic I put into my writing. You could consider my writing style to be a fusion; I'm a rulebreaker in a good way. For some, genres are constraints, limits, but not for me. I write based on what makes sense for the story; sometimes that's sci-fi, supernatural, fantasy, western, or anything else. My goal is to create a universe that has just as much richness and depth to its history as a library has stories.

In six months, on October 24, if all goes according to plan, my debut novel, Torn In Two, should be available to buy on Amazon and at your local bookstore. I will continue to work on these elements and keep you up to date. From a nearly six-year journey, we've come far. The first book is the hardest to make, and I'm of course writing more every day, all the time, to make something I'm truly proud of. My wider universe is just starting, I'm only getting started, and I hope to see you there along the ride with me.

So, if you like that I do all my own work AI-free (I edit using only ProWritingAid; 100% of my book is human-written with a human beta reader) and you're still reading, why not join me for this journey?

Until we meet again, 

Dustin