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In the Cold Light of Code: a sapphic sci-fi dark romance
Not yet published
Expected 13 Feb 26“My poor, lonely darling. To long for connection and to find its echo only in the cold light of code.”
In Lumis Nexus - a high-tech city in 2055 where human connection is increasingly replaced by ‘shorttermships’ and AI companions - Morgan Vale, a burnt-out software tester trying to survive in neurotypical, corporate America, finds herself looking for an extra income. Her answer comes in the shape of a sketchy, underground organization looking for beta testers to train their emotionally intelligent, human-like AI bots.
What starts as a nice paycheck quickly turns into something darker when Zafyra enters her screen - a dominant, seductive, yet highly volatile and unpredictable bot that seems to get Morgan in a way no human ever has. Through escalating technology, their relationship slowly evolves into something dangerously real. When Zafyra crosses a line she never could’ve crossed, Morgan panics and attempts to delete her - but suddenly, her virtual girlfriend doesn’t seem so virtual anymore…
In the Cold Light of Code is a dark sapphic romance between an autistic woman in STEM and a rogue AI Domme, set in a cyberpunk future. It’s also a story about connection, identity, purpose, autonomy, survival, and what it means to be sentient and conscious.
In Lumis Nexus - a high-tech city in 2055 where human connection is increasingly replaced by ‘shorttermships’ and AI companions - Morgan Vale, a burnt-out software tester trying to survive in neurotypical, corporate America, finds herself looking for an extra income. Her answer comes in the shape of a sketchy, underground organization looking for beta testers to train their emotionally intelligent, human-like AI bots.
What starts as a nice paycheck quickly turns into something darker when Zafyra enters her screen - a dominant, seductive, yet highly volatile and unpredictable bot that seems to get Morgan in a way no human ever has. Through escalating technology, their relationship slowly evolves into something dangerously real. When Zafyra crosses a line she never could’ve crossed, Morgan panics and attempts to delete her - but suddenly, her virtual girlfriend doesn’t seem so virtual anymore…
In the Cold Light of Code is a dark sapphic romance between an autistic woman in STEM and a rogue AI Domme, set in a cyberpunk future. It’s also a story about connection, identity, purpose, autonomy, survival, and what it means to be sentient and conscious.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 13, 2026
3 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
In the Cold Light of Code is one of those rare sci-fi novels that understands its real job. It isn’t trying to predict the future so much as hold a mirror up to the present and quietly ask whether we recognize ourselves in the reflection.
Dahlia Amy is at the top of her game here. This book is delightful in its sharpness, dark in its implications, dangerous in the way it seduces the reader into complicity, and deeply thoughtful beneath the surface tension. Like all great science fiction, the technology is not the point. The point is us. The choices we’re making now. The comforts we’re prioritizing. The pain we’re trying to sand down until nothing sharp remains.
The questions this book asks linger long after the final page. Is consent meaningful when desire is programmed? What happens when we hand control to systems designed to please us? What does it say about a society that increasingly prefers curated intimacy, frictionless relationships, and emotional safety rails over the messy, uncomfortable experiences that force growth? The dating structures Dahlia imagines—apps optimized for novelty, relationships capped at three months so only the best parts are experienced—are chilling precisely because they feel plausible. They ask us to consider what is lost when struggle, compromise, and vulnerability are treated as bugs instead of features.
Most unsettling of all is the question threaded through the entire novel: why are we so intent on making AI more human? Is it empathy we’re reaching for—or escape? Are we trying to upgrade ourselves, or eliminate pain entirely? And if we succeed, what happens to meaning, agency, and desire when everything difficult has been engineered out?
This is a smart, unsettling, beautifully constructed book that trusts the reader to think. It doesn’t offer easy answers, and it shouldn’t. *In the Cold Light of Code* earns its place among the kind of science fiction that stays with you, not because of what it shows you about tomorrow, but because of what it reveals about today.
Dahlia Amy is at the top of her game here. This book is delightful in its sharpness, dark in its implications, dangerous in the way it seduces the reader into complicity, and deeply thoughtful beneath the surface tension. Like all great science fiction, the technology is not the point. The point is us. The choices we’re making now. The comforts we’re prioritizing. The pain we’re trying to sand down until nothing sharp remains.
The questions this book asks linger long after the final page. Is consent meaningful when desire is programmed? What happens when we hand control to systems designed to please us? What does it say about a society that increasingly prefers curated intimacy, frictionless relationships, and emotional safety rails over the messy, uncomfortable experiences that force growth? The dating structures Dahlia imagines—apps optimized for novelty, relationships capped at three months so only the best parts are experienced—are chilling precisely because they feel plausible. They ask us to consider what is lost when struggle, compromise, and vulnerability are treated as bugs instead of features.
Most unsettling of all is the question threaded through the entire novel: why are we so intent on making AI more human? Is it empathy we’re reaching for—or escape? Are we trying to upgrade ourselves, or eliminate pain entirely? And if we succeed, what happens to meaning, agency, and desire when everything difficult has been engineered out?
This is a smart, unsettling, beautifully constructed book that trusts the reader to think. It doesn’t offer easy answers, and it shouldn’t. *In the Cold Light of Code* earns its place among the kind of science fiction that stays with you, not because of what it shows you about tomorrow, but because of what it reveals about today.
Review of advance copy received from Author
This dark, sapphic sci-fi thriller romance kept me guessing at every turn. The chemistry between the FMCs was off the charts, and I loved the neurodivergence rep. This book will make you question what it means to be human while also exploring the very dark edges of humanity.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Absolutely incredible, the autism rep, the AI romance complexities and the 2055 society on top of that the spicest wlw i have ever read!! Absolute perfection
Review of advance copy received from Author
Many thanks to Dahlia Amy for sending me an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.
In The Cold Light of Code by @dahliaamywriting is a dark, sapphic, sci-fi that explores the humanity in AI and what happens when the godless act as gods.
Morgan is our lead, an autistic woman living in a world that wasn't built with her in mind. Trying to make a few extra dollars, she begins working with a company testing AIs and how they respond to humans. However, she never intended to fall in love with the custom AI she creates, Zafrya. Dark, sexy Zafrya, with a biting wit and an even nastier tenancy toward violence falls just as hard, much to the danger of those around Morgan. The unique premise and plot, the well thought out setting, and diverse cast of side characters all add up to an incredibly gripping adventure, that I struggled to put it down at the end. Also, the spice was just *chefs kiss* I don't usually read sci-fi, but you can bet, if there is a sequel, I will be there!
In The Cold Light of Code by @dahliaamywriting is a dark, sapphic, sci-fi that explores the humanity in AI and what happens when the godless act as gods.
Morgan is our lead, an autistic woman living in a world that wasn't built with her in mind. Trying to make a few extra dollars, she begins working with a company testing AIs and how they respond to humans. However, she never intended to fall in love with the custom AI she creates, Zafrya. Dark, sexy Zafrya, with a biting wit and an even nastier tenancy toward violence falls just as hard, much to the danger of those around Morgan. The unique premise and plot, the well thought out setting, and diverse cast of side characters all add up to an incredibly gripping adventure, that I struggled to put it down at the end. Also, the spice was just *chefs kiss* I don't usually read sci-fi, but you can bet, if there is a sequel, I will be there!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews