Two men cracked the world's grammar. Someone has to write it down.
In the aftermath of the Fracture, a catastrophic rupture in the fabric of language itself, Talla Vei is a state-raised census worker turned reluctant witness to the rise of Elion Vire — the reckless genius who broke the world and is busy making it mean something new. His partner Kierom watches from the edge of the growing cult of belief, asking himself the only question that matters: at what point does protecting the man you love become something worse than love?
The answer has two faces: the Null Choir, beings of precision without heart who exist outside of time and rewrite history, and the Mirrorstorm, a god of unrestrained passion and grief consuming what remains of civilization. Stopping them requires Elion and Kierom to unmake themselves. Talla documents it all — the only witness left in a world where meaning itself is under siege, which makes her the most dangerous person alive.
What kind of book
is this?THE HERETIC ENGINE is a literary speculative novel — the kind of book that asks serious questions about language, power, and what it costs to love someone past the point of wisdom, and answers them with fog, glyphs, a gentle giant with a mace, and a census worker who refuses to stop taking notes. It will appeal to readers of Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone's This Is How You Lose the Time War, N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season, and S.L. Huang's The Language of Liars.
"The world had a shape, and then it had a different shape, and the new shape had a hole in it that was precisely her size and his fault and forever."
"Every prophet is just a student with a louder echo."
"He believes what he says. This is the most dangerous thing about him."
"Building is how you tell the world you're finished breaking it."
The SeriesTHE HERETIC ENGINE is a standalone novel with a fully closed narrative arc. It is also the first book in a planned four-book series set in the same world — readers will find a complete and satisfying story here, with a wider world that continues to unfold in subsequent volumes.
Developmental Notes
Summer Webb's contribution to this novel runs deeper than any single title captures. She reviewed every draft, providing copyediting, formatting, and continuity feedback that caught what others missed. Her editorial judgment shaped the manuscript. Her encouragement kept it alive through the hard drafts. This book exists in its current form because of her partnership, and I am profoundly grateful for it.
THE HERETIC ENGINE is currently seeking representation.
If you are a literary agent interested in reviewing the manuscript, please use the contact page.