NEOSYNTHESIS

by Bryan Chaffin, Rohan O'Duill, J.D. Robinson

These visions explore the myriad realms where humanity and technology intersect, taking readers to distant futures where human and machine exist in uneasy symbiosis, to worlds both grim and wondrous, where survival depends on getting the upper hand.

A woman’s passage into a digital afterlife where nothing, not even the self, remains fixed.
A hunted hacker in a surveillance-saturated future seeks revenge, only to find he’s the one being played.
Two stranded cyborg soldiers struggle to hold onto what’s left of their humanity.

Written by six independent voices in Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction—among them award winners and members of organizations such as SFWA, IASFA, BFA, and SFI—these compelling stories offer glimpses into all-too-plausible realities.

266 pages, ebook

Published December 1, 2025

Reviews

[Pete Aldin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride! I was lucky enough to pick this gem up in its Kickstarter campaign. And I was very glad I did. These stories often put the science back in science fiction without ever losing the thrill.

Every single story is a winner (no mean feat in an anthology). But every reader will have their pet loves...and the following stories appealed to mine (and really stood out):

Sands of Scintillia
One Thousand
Aldinda
The Nexpat
Level Up
Nova Domus.

Seriously, I'd have paid the price of the book for any TWO of those 6. Brilliant. Brilliant worlds, brilliant characterisations, loved the immersive storytelling in each.

Polished, edgy, wildly entertaining. With diverse topics and flavors, this collection will hook you with ideas and keep you turning pages for the sheer fun of it.

[Zilla Novikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book at the end of 2025, and the question of the year is "What does it mean to be human versus machine?" This anthology tackles the question in the most human way imaginable--through science fiction. We see humans fight self-aware machines, or become them. We see the good and evil in the artificial, and in the humanity that programmed it. And we see robots replicate the best and worst of us.

This anthology isn't a philosophy textbook. Most of the stories are packed with action, showing dynamic fights with lethal consequences. There's love here too--doomed romance and deep friendship. My favourite was The Lore of Seven, where the stories we tell about where we come from are what make us who we are--even for a gang enforcer.

[I. Merey · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you just want some good ol' fashioned meaty sci-fi. A very solid collection, and I enjoyed the different lengths of stories--some approaching novelette, some, a few pages. Stand-outs to me personally were Sands of Scintillia and the Nexpat by J.D. Robinson, One Thousand by Jes Deaver, Lore of Seven by Rohan O'Duill (extra note here that I really get a kick out of Rohan's writing and he has some great novellas too--he writes the People's Sci-Fi), and When We Were Human, by T.K. Toppin. But as always, collections are super subjective, and no story in here was weak. A good book to grab and get lost in.

[Cary Caffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of strange futures, and…unsettling possibilities!

This is the kind of science fiction that gets under your skin and lingers — the kind that makes you think about where we are now and where we might be headed. What does it even mean to be human when the boundaries between flesh and circuits start to blur? When identity itself becomes fluid in a digital afterlife?

I really loved the ideas in this collection.

The stories explore what it means to be human in an age where that word is becoming harder and harder to define. They wrestle with big questions about identity, control, and the future we’re building — bleak, strange, and often surprisingly tender.

It still has me thinking—and that's always a good sign.

[Rachel Ashera Rosen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inventive collection of mostly hard SF stories about the intersection of the human and the machine. A spaceship becomes a person as she tunnels through a planet. A man wrestles with the artificial afterlife granted to his dying wife. But the standout to me is Rohan O'Duill's "The Lore of Seven," which grounds a system-spanning corporate dystopia with giant mechs in the human, the personal, and the myths we tell ourselves about the past.

[Dale Stromberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

These sci-fi yarns explore the unintended consequences (rarely good) of humanity’s hankering for progress and technology, but these are not merely dour cautionary tales. This is a group of authors who put story front and centre: strap in for the plot first, ponder the implications after.