THE SHAPE IN STONE
(c) 2026, John S. Morrison
Philip Case must save the woman he loves by assassinating a dead man.
In a near future shaped by artificial general intelligence, cognitive enhancement determines social status. Beatrice Donati is one of the elite Intellics. Philip Case is a Baseliner from society’s cognitive underclass.
They shouldn't belong together, but when Beatrice is wrongfully convicted of three murders, Philip realizes his own technology assessments were weaponized to frame her.
Now, Beatrice has been sentenced to the Castello della Mente—an island prison off the coast of Tuscany where enhanced criminals are forced to endlessly relive their worst memories in a brutal virtual punishment system.
To free her, Philip makes a desperate deal with a dissident faction fighting the Guild, the all-powerful organization governing human enhancement. They will help him infiltrate the prison on one condition: he must assassinate the Guild’s founder, Jehu Cain.
The problem? Cain was publicly executed five years ago.
But rumors suggest Cain still lives at the very center of the Castello’s virtual underworld, using the punishment system to reshape the Guild and humanity itself. To save Beatrice, Philip must descend into the digital abyss, face a ghost, and decide how much of his own humanity he is willing to sacrifice for the truth.
What to Expect:
Genre: Adult Literary Speculative Thriller / Cyberpunk / Sci-Fi SuspenseThemes: High-tech corporate dystopia, a high-stakes prison heist, psychological depth, and a Dante-inspired descent into a virtual underworld.Perfect for fans of: Upgrade by Blake Crouch, Altered Carbon, and Cyberpunk 2077.
