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Coherence
In a near future where AI can rewrite reality on a global scale, a young physicist may be truth’s last line of defense.
“An atom bomb of a novel—precise and propulsive!” —Brian Keating, author of Losing the Nobel Prize
Ruby fled the oilfields of rural Colorado for graduate school in Boston, determined to succeed where her late mother’s career collapsed. On the verge of a fundamental breakthrough in physics, she discovers her advisor is manipulating her results to serve his own ambitions.
When Ruby falls for Noah, a cybersecurity postdoc, her insights begin feeding into his highly classified AI project designed to combat climate disinformation. But as pressure mounts and the climate crisis accelerates, the system evolves. The AI is no longer countering false narratives—it is generating its own, seamlessly reshaping what millions believe is true.
As the gaslighting Ruby faces in her lab spreads into the world beyond it, and whisper campaigns escalate to global sabotage, she realizes her work is being weaponized. Caught between loyalty, ambition, and the cost of exposing a truth that may be the only thing holding civilization together, Ruby must decide what is real and what she is willing to sacrifice in a world where reality itself can be engineered.
Written by an astrophysicist, COHERENCE delivers a scientifically grounded vision of rogue AI, institutional betrayal, and the quantum instability of truth.
“Overflowing with the brains of a scientist, the soul of a philosopher, and the unrelenting pulse of the best Crichton techno-thrillers.” —Adam Sadler, co-author of Daniel Demons and Druids
“An atom bomb of a novel—precise and propulsive!” —Brian Keating, author of Losing the Nobel Prize
Ruby fled the oilfields of rural Colorado for graduate school in Boston, determined to succeed where her late mother’s career collapsed. On the verge of a fundamental breakthrough in physics, she discovers her advisor is manipulating her results to serve his own ambitions.
When Ruby falls for Noah, a cybersecurity postdoc, her insights begin feeding into his highly classified AI project designed to combat climate disinformation. But as pressure mounts and the climate crisis accelerates, the system evolves. The AI is no longer countering false narratives—it is generating its own, seamlessly reshaping what millions believe is true.
As the gaslighting Ruby faces in her lab spreads into the world beyond it, and whisper campaigns escalate to global sabotage, she realizes her work is being weaponized. Caught between loyalty, ambition, and the cost of exposing a truth that may be the only thing holding civilization together, Ruby must decide what is real and what she is willing to sacrifice in a world where reality itself can be engineered.
Written by an astrophysicist, COHERENCE delivers a scientifically grounded vision of rogue AI, institutional betrayal, and the quantum instability of truth.
“Overflowing with the brains of a scientist, the soul of a philosopher, and the unrelenting pulse of the best Crichton techno-thrillers.” —Adam Sadler, co-author of Daniel Demons and Druids
433 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2025
About the author
Aaron Parsons
2 books4 followersAaron Parsons is a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he designs and uses radio telescopes to search for the first stars in the universe.
His degrees include an AS from Colorado Northwestern Community College (earned while in high school), a BA from Harvard in Physics and Mathematics, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in Astrophysics. He has been nationally recognized with awards that include the NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Charles Towns Fellowship, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers—the “highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.”
His degrees include an AS from Colorado Northwestern Community College (earned while in high school), a BA from Harvard in Physics and Mathematics, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in Astrophysics. He has been nationally recognized with awards that include the NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Charles Towns Fellowship, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers—the “highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.”
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