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null: $cat /dev/null_
Follow three nameless, entirely undescribed characters as they mope their way through a cyberpunk dystopia while grappling with nothing more than their personal demons and the nature of reality. This PKDian, Borgesian, Serial Experiments Lainian novel is packed full of so many oblique cultural references and jokes even the author has forgotten what most of them are.
null is a novel woven from fragments of real lives broken by technology, drowning in a recursive ocean of oblique references to the real and unreal, to ephemeral memes and the future of the time in which it was written. This darkly humorous work of cyberpunk-styled magical surrealism is not easy to read – little is explained, the reader must do much of the work. It is not expected to sell, be popular or entertaining. It would be confined to a dusty HDD and never exposed to the public except for that null exists because of the Internet. So here, Internet. I put it in your hands. This is your problem now. Take it. Make of it what you will. Deal with it. This is your fault too.
null is a novel woven from fragments of real lives broken by technology, drowning in a recursive ocean of oblique references to the real and unreal, to ephemeral memes and the future of the time in which it was written. This darkly humorous work of cyberpunk-styled magical surrealism is not easy to read – little is explained, the reader must do much of the work. It is not expected to sell, be popular or entertaining. It would be confined to a dusty HDD and never exposed to the public except for that null exists because of the Internet. So here, Internet. I put it in your hands. This is your problem now. Take it. Make of it what you will. Deal with it. This is your fault too.
248 pages, Paperback
Published July 25, 2025
5 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 13, 2024
(Disclaimer: an advance reader copy was provided for free)
The bad: I am not in this book's target audience. The good: I can see and feel the quality and mental investment that was put in it, anyways.
This book is not for you if you want a coherent and face-value plot with trendy story beats; a named cast; or a novel that runs on a trivially comprehensible path from inciting events to thematic conclusions.
Instead, approach this as a book of IRC-punk poetry. Of nightmares both dreamt and half-forgotten in the time it takes to drink the morning coffee you know you shouldn't drink. Of faceless dialogues between strangers who are apathetically unaware of eachother's agenda. Of events that happen, but when?
Reading the sample first is strongly recommended. This book doesn't deserve to be left unfinished, nor zero-starred, by someone who was told to expect "Cyberpunk" and decided that meant something on the straight line from "Jonny Mnemonic" to "Edgerunners".
The bad: I am not in this book's target audience. The good: I can see and feel the quality and mental investment that was put in it, anyways.
This book is not for you if you want a coherent and face-value plot with trendy story beats; a named cast; or a novel that runs on a trivially comprehensible path from inciting events to thematic conclusions.
Instead, approach this as a book of IRC-punk poetry. Of nightmares both dreamt and half-forgotten in the time it takes to drink the morning coffee you know you shouldn't drink. Of faceless dialogues between strangers who are apathetically unaware of eachother's agenda. Of events that happen, but when?
Reading the sample first is strongly recommended. This book doesn't deserve to be left unfinished, nor zero-starred, by someone who was told to expect "Cyberpunk" and decided that meant something on the straight line from "Jonny Mnemonic" to "Edgerunners".
September 22, 2024
Null is not structured quite like your typical story. You may find yourself confused and winding like bad cable management, but once you grasp the idea it just begins to flow. I did have a slow start at first, but quickly began to enjoy it. Plenty of humor if you're familiar with the IT/Tech/CyberSec fields but not so much that its distracting, multiple styles of writing as well. It touches on so many interesting themes from questions of perception to living in today's age where everything is merely a click away. Null can be both odd and something you recognize in daily life at the same time.
Null also does not tidy everything up for you by the end which to me is oddly comforting. Seeing all these winding threads and getting to come up with my own endings was a nice way to let me think it all out and make it my own a way. I very much enjoyed thinking my way through and enjoyed having to use my thinky-meat a little more than usual.
-Note
I was granted an Advanced Reading Copy, that said.
I will be purchasing Null, I found myself going back a few times just to enjoy it from the start more than once on my first read and will probably be re-reading it many times in the future as well. A huge thanks for the opportunity to enjoy Null early!
Null also does not tidy everything up for you by the end which to me is oddly comforting. Seeing all these winding threads and getting to come up with my own endings was a nice way to let me think it all out and make it my own a way. I very much enjoyed thinking my way through and enjoyed having to use my thinky-meat a little more than usual.
-Note
I was granted an Advanced Reading Copy, that said.
I will be purchasing Null, I found myself going back a few times just to enjoy it from the start more than once on my first read and will probably be re-reading it many times in the future as well. A huge thanks for the opportunity to enjoy Null early!
September 15, 2024
Null is an interesting and challenging read. That is a not great adjective typically for books, but there is something that keeps pulling you along each chapter. It's an idea more than a story.
Think new wave jazz fusion. You know the instruments but don't understand the sounds or melody's, but slowly you feel your foot tap, and ear worms set in.
This is not as others have said just a Shadowrun novel. Its a idea of what written language can do beside what you are use to reading.
All that said. It is a good book, the niche audience is not very large but the more you read ,and if you're an online person, you will really start the appreciate the nuance bits and humor. The characters are unique and both relatable and not. Cat, null, and Dev are fleshed out but a bit obtuse which make the "pull" of story strong. There were a few times i had to stop reading to just absorb what i read, think about, contextualize it(sometimes i couldn't) and then keep going.
All in all i recommend null, and while the author did provide me a copy, I wouldn't be unhappy with a purchase. It is a great book to read and discuss with another reader of it.
Think new wave jazz fusion. You know the instruments but don't understand the sounds or melody's, but slowly you feel your foot tap, and ear worms set in.
This is not as others have said just a Shadowrun novel. Its a idea of what written language can do beside what you are use to reading.
All that said. It is a good book, the niche audience is not very large but the more you read ,and if you're an online person, you will really start the appreciate the nuance bits and humor. The characters are unique and both relatable and not. Cat, null, and Dev are fleshed out but a bit obtuse which make the "pull" of story strong. There were a few times i had to stop reading to just absorb what i read, think about, contextualize it(sometimes i couldn't) and then keep going.
All in all i recommend null, and while the author did provide me a copy, I wouldn't be unhappy with a purchase. It is a great book to read and discuss with another reader of it.
September 19, 2024
Disclaimer: I was provided a free copy in exchange for a (good or bad) review.
TL;DR - Null is a strange book but a captivating one nonetheless. I'd recommend it. ~275 pages long.
Null is not a book that holds your hand. It's written with multiple different styles, from the view of multiple different characters, at multiple different times. There's IRC logs, blog posts, psuedo-interviews, etc. There are times where I was wondering how this all fits together, and to be honest I'm still not entirely sure. But I have my theories. By the end, everything is not neatly wrapped up but rather leaves it up to the reader to ruminate. I know that may sound bad but it seemed clear to me that this wasn't in a plot-holes-and-unfinished kind of way, but a deliberate, designed to make you think kind of way. I enjoyed it.
TL;DR - Null is a strange book but a captivating one nonetheless. I'd recommend it. ~275 pages long.
Null is not a book that holds your hand. It's written with multiple different styles, from the view of multiple different characters, at multiple different times. There's IRC logs, blog posts, psuedo-interviews, etc. There are times where I was wondering how this all fits together, and to be honest I'm still not entirely sure. But I have my theories. By the end, everything is not neatly wrapped up but rather leaves it up to the reader to ruminate. I know that may sound bad but it seemed clear to me that this wasn't in a plot-holes-and-unfinished kind of way, but a deliberate, designed to make you think kind of way. I enjoyed it.
September 12, 2024
Borges for a wired (or wireless?) age.
Null follows three personalities - *null*, cat and dev - as they navigate a world that is by turns weird, relatable and weirdly relatable.
The cat chapters consist of blog posts which show the highs and lows of having an online presence (fittingly they are an uncomfortable read); while dev, offering the clearest narrative throughline, leans into the cyberpunk setting, exploring tech, anonymity and lost futures. It is insightful, humourous and, if you're anything like me, many of these scenes will remain with you. Lastly there are the chapters featuring the titular null: these are quite simply mind-bending. Taking the reader on a journey through, well, seemingly everywhere, the author's inspirations here really come to the fore, being labyrinthian in the best way possible way. It's great.
This is a book that gets one thinking -- *requires* that one thinks, piecing together clues and its disparate parts. But it is certainly worth the "work", as the book's description somewhat unfairly puts it, being an altogether a memorable and fun contribution to the genre.
(In the interest of disclosure my copy of null was provided by the author.)
Null follows three personalities - *null*, cat and dev - as they navigate a world that is by turns weird, relatable and weirdly relatable.
The cat chapters consist of blog posts which show the highs and lows of having an online presence (fittingly they are an uncomfortable read); while dev, offering the clearest narrative throughline, leans into the cyberpunk setting, exploring tech, anonymity and lost futures. It is insightful, humourous and, if you're anything like me, many of these scenes will remain with you. Lastly there are the chapters featuring the titular null: these are quite simply mind-bending. Taking the reader on a journey through, well, seemingly everywhere, the author's inspirations here really come to the fore, being labyrinthian in the best way possible way. It's great.
This is a book that gets one thinking -- *requires* that one thinks, piecing together clues and its disparate parts. But it is certainly worth the "work", as the book's description somewhat unfairly puts it, being an altogether a memorable and fun contribution to the genre.
(In the interest of disclosure my copy of null was provided by the author.)
August 19, 2025
This is a not a novel, it’s a meditation, a philosophical essay on community, sense of self, past and present, technology and so much more. This is also a book that not everyone will get. I’m not sure if I fully got it. Probably not.
I already knew I like the author’s prose from reading their previous book “Principals”. The poetic writing is what kept me going even when my mind drifted from time to time.
I think this book has more to offer than may seem at a first glance. The story feels like a sort of a maze and will you find a way out?
Do what you wish with this information.
I already knew I like the author’s prose from reading their previous book “Principals”. The poetic writing is what kept me going even when my mind drifted from time to time.
I think this book has more to offer than may seem at a first glance. The story feels like a sort of a maze and will you find a way out?
Do what you wish with this information.
September 10, 2024
I was interested in the idea/concept but the I found the format difficult to get into. After a few chapters I started skipping some sections and did enjoy what I did read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews