Fourth Wall

by Andy Havens

Seeing is believing, they say. But so is feeling. In the near (quite near) future, a combination of hyper-realistic 3D imagery and seemingly human artificial intelligence will force us to ask questions about what it means to live, work and love in a world where our best friends may not be quite, well... human. You may need a graduate degree from MIT to understand today's most complex software questions... but that won't help you understand women. Someday, though... it might.

115 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 20, 2011

About the author

I've been writing speculative, fantasy and science fiction since I was eight. I write for a living as a marketing manager and still enjoy writing fiction and poetry on my own time. I've written at least 30% of five different novels but always stopped because they just weren't that interesting to me. Then the Side Ways came along, and I began writing with a new interest and energy for a fantasy world entirely of my own making.

I've always enjoyed being the game/dungeon master for live, pen-and-paper role playing games with friends. Having done that for 30+ years, I knew that one of my favorite parts was the detail work of creating entire cultures, histories and systems beyond simple characters. Because whenever I'd add a new character, the question always persisted: why do they do the things they do?

The Side Ways is an entirely alternate history, with the addition of seven magical Domains ruled by seven Houses that exist in parallel to the world you and I know. The power of the Reckoners within these Domains comes from the unique viewpoints of each House. The connections and conflicts between the the Houses reach back before the beginning of mankind.

Now... with every new chapter and character and scene, I get to think and take notes and write about that world, those Domains and their interaction with our view of history.

I'm having a lot of fun with it. I hope you enjoy reading. And let me know if you discover that you're allied with a particular House. I get that from a lot of my readers. ;-)