Ian Patterson's Blog, page 4
April 25, 2025
Spring Poems
I don’t know what it means to write poetry, but I pretend that I do sometimes. Especially when I’m riding my bike, or stuck in commuter traffic. I run the lines over in my head, and jot them down on my phone afterwards. And maybe they’re too angsty and maybe they’re immature, but maybe that’s okay too. I hope you enjoy the brief break from my normal fiction.
I Saw A Hawk
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedI saw a great hawkon the edge of the subur...
April 4, 2025
Transition Chapters 17 & 18
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Micah—Chapter 2: Not Micah—Chapter 3: Micah
Chapter 4: Not Micah—Chapter 5: Micah—Chapter 6: Not Micah
Chapter 7: Micah—Chapter 8: Not Micah—Chapter 9: Micah
Chapter 10: Not Micah—Chapter 11: Micah—Chapter 12: Not Micah
Chapter 13: Micah—Chapter 14: Not Micah—Chapter 15: Micah
Chapter 16—Not Micah—Chapter 17: Micah—Chapter 18: Not Micah
Chapter 17: MicahIs it any surprise that I finally wind up with a man in my arms at exactly the wrong moment to do anything ab...
Transcendence Cover Reveal
I am so thrilled to reveal the cover for Transcendence, Book #2 of The Narrator Cycle. This completes the primary duology that I envisioned from the start, and I cannot wait to share it with everyone. I worked with the wonderful Barış Şehri again for this one, and I love what we came up with. Pre-orders are coming online currently from all major retailers, and the book will launch on May 20th!
Nicholas, Charon, and Dorothy are separated, and stranded in a cosmos they don’t understand. Behind is a...
March 31, 2025
Pharmakos
I submitted this to the inaugural Dread Literary Review run by , and it was accepted for the first Monday Micro! Originally, I wrote this for our local open mic night for the prompt “Be the Sunflower Seed.”
Photo by Todd Trapani on Unsplash
Pharmakos
“A seed is a promise, or a wish. Like the hanging potential of a guillotine, its success bisects possible futures. Life, or death. Cast off from its mother, dehusked, it carries all the potentials of new worlds, new bloom, but if thrown in...
March 28, 2025
Transition Chapters 15 & 16
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Micah—Chapter 2: Not Micah—Chapter 3: Micah
Chapter 4: Not Micah—Chapter 5: Micah—Chapter 6: Not Micah
Chapter 7: Micah—Chapter 8: Not Micah—Chapter 9: Micah
Chapter 10: Not Micah—Chapter 11: Micah—Chapter 12: Not Micah
Chapter 13: Micah—Chapter 14: Not Micah—Chapter 15: Micah
Chapter 15: Micah“What happens now?”
Bambi stares up at me, either considering my question or considering ignoring it. Two bowls of nutri-paste sit between us. Mine ha...
March 21, 2025
Transition: Chapters 13 & 14
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Micah—Chapter 2: Not Micah—Chapter 3: Micah
Chapter 4: Not Micah—Chapter 5: Micah—Chapter 6: Not Micah
Chapter 7: Micah—Chapter 8: Not Micah—Chapter 9: Micah
Chapter 10: Not Micah—Chapter 11: Micah—Chapter 12: Not Micah
Chapter 13: Micah—Chapter 14: Not Micah
Chapter 13: Micah“Micah, it’s great to see you again. I’m glad you came back.”
I stare across the small room into Dr. West’s eyes, thinking yet again that they have entirely too much contrast to be real. I...
March 14, 2025
Transition: Chapters 11 & 12
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Micah—Chapter 2: Not Micah—Chapter 3: Micah
Chapter 4: Not Micah—Chapter 5: Micah—Chapter 6: Not Micah
Chapter 7: Micah—Chapter 8: Not Micah—Chapter 9: Micah
Chapter 10: Not Micah—Chapter 11: Micah—Chapter 12: Not Micah
Chapter 11: MicahI expect that my return to the lab will be difficult. The other technicians will surely want to discuss the death of the, I assume, much loved Dr. Williams. Almost certainly, Dr. Klein will assemble us and make a grand speech....
March 7, 2025
Transition: Chapter 9 & 10
Table of Contents
Chapter 9: Micah
Chapter 10: Not Micah
Chapter 9: MicahThere is a moment, after you’ve experienced trauma, when you wake into a world that has moved on, that doesn’t recognize your grief, pain, anger, or confusion. It can make you feel off-balanced, unhinged, to watch everything proceeding around you as normal when your mind i...
March 4, 2025
The Mountain in the Sea
At the base of The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler is a question. What is consciousness, and who decides what gets that label? The novel is an exploration of these concepts, intertwined with themes of isolation, connection, and identity, that is set in a near-future world decimated by late-stage capitalism. It is at times profound, philosophical, and deeply moving. There’s very little that I would critique about it, and if you enjoy fiction that deals with heady topics, I’d heavily recommend i...
February 28, 2025
Transition: Chapter 8
Table of Contents
Chapter 8: Not MicahThey scanned them all. Not just the workers, who thought they performed a routine physical, but the military, the scientists, the animals. They scanned them all, at every site, and they fed me. I ate their memories, their hopes and desires. I ate that complex set of neural wiring that they called a person...
