Duplicity: A Post-Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller

by Nathaniel Henderson

Nik is on the run from forces he barely understands, but he knows what they the Acorn, a cutting-edge piece of tech worth killing for. Without answers—i.e. leverage—he's a dead man. His search will take him to a faraway place just next door, where the graves are real but the bones are not.

Cyan Ivassa is the scion of an ambitious CEO, and to earn her place in the corporate empire she must revive a failing company. Also failing is the experimental brainware that's been keeping her alive since childhood. To keep her head, she'll have to confront her past and old bad memories more dangerous than any cut-throat competitor.

Facing corruption charges, Adasha is determined to prove her innocence and expose the real traitors before they silence her. With Maz and Rown busy chasing the Acorn, she'll have to look closer to home for help, putting her family in the crosshairs. But the risk is worth it, for if the agency falls, Naion falls, and the world falls with it.



Praise

"Nathaniel Henderson has fantastically realized cyberpunk island nation full of corporate intrigue as well as impoverished edgerunners." -C.T. Phipps, author of Space Academy Dropouts and The Supervillainy Saga

“This is cyberpunk at its finest—fast, tense, and relentlessly imaginative. The immersive, neon-drenched world pulses with detail, and the cast of characters will stay with you long after the last page.” -D.L. Young, author of the bestselling Cyberpunk City series

404 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2025

About the author

As a kid, my appetite for reading eclipsed even my love of deep-dish pizza. Books by authors including Michael Crichton, Ray Bradbury, and John Gresham all disappeared into the gullet of my imagination. This inspired my first attempts at writing, which involved way too many alien invasions: Aliens vs. The Muscle Car Gang, Aliens vs. The Roman Legion, Aliens vs. Logic.

When high school dragged its feet across the finish line, I sought universities as far afield as possible, landing in the postcard-worthy Santa Cruz, California, where I studied computer science among the trees. This major, while interesting, turned out to be a little too “hard sci-fi” for me, so I transferred to an art university in San Francisco.

San Fran was and is a consciousness-expanding city. The overflow of creativity, diversity (and even the overt homelessness) helped to shape me. Within this catalyzing environment, which was its own microcosmic melting pot, both socially and academically, I explored computer animation, art history, film editing, acting, and screenplay writing.

Life, however, rarely travels in a straight line. A series of zigzags propelled me to Tokyo, Japan, where I now teach English at schools, companies, and government agencies.

When not working or writing, I enjoy traveling (21 countries so far!), books, merry-making, gaming, sports, movies, and socializing.

Reviews

[Wes Hubert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series. I think it would be better to read the first one before getting into this because the jargon and the world is complicated and so you’ll take a while to catch on to things if you start with this one. As I said, the world is complex. It is impressive how the author has created the intricacies of it. Actually, I found the jargon a bit too much. There are so many new terms that sometimes I lost the meaning. The book is well written. It relies heavily on dialogue and messaging that is written similar to dialogue, but the action sequences in between the conversations are good. It starts slow but moves more later in the book. There are four or five main characters that are followed in the book. Each new chapter switches to a different character. This, I found hard to follow as my poor brain forgot a lot of what was happening to the character five chapters ago. The characters eventually connect which made it easier for me to follow then.