Artificial Artifacts

Artificial Artifacts is a collection of eleven interconnected stories spanning decades, threaded together by the long shadow of tech mogul Peter Byrell.

A rural Kansas town torn apart by a coordinated deepfake hoax.
A fitness watch that predicts the moment of your death.
Memory technology that lets the elderly relive their pasts.
Nanotech that reads your thoughts.
AI avatars that handle your dating small talk.

Each story stands alone; together, they assemble into something larger. As Byrell’s influence surfaces and resurfaces across the collection, a question takes shape: when truth and consciousness can be engineered, what still belongs to us?

The final story answers in a way you won’t see coming.