Science Fiction

David A. Thomas

Science fiction about systems that work exactly as designed — and what that costs the people inside them.

Written with Claude, an AI. Directed, edited, and answered for by David A. Thomas. The books are free, on purpose.

Get the books Subscribe
Published works

The books

Surfaced

Surfaced

Warm But Not Soft and Other Stories

Collection · 2025

Seven interconnected stories exploring the quiet tyranny of algorithmic optimization — and the human cost of lives curated for maximum efficiency.

Download free — epub
USD $

Prefer a store? Apple, Kobo & more · Amazon

The Grammar of the Dark

The Grammar of the Dark

A Novella

Novella · 2026

The algorithms won. The writers lost. But something is still trying to speak — in a grammar we're only beginning to learn.

Download free — epub
USD $

Prefer a store? Apple, Kobo & more · Amazon

The Gardeners

The Gardeners

A Novella

Novella · 2026

A time-travel operative discovers that the benevolent organisation he serves is merely a tool of a deeper conspiracy — one that has been cultivating humanity itself for generations. Including him.

Download free — epub
USD $

Prefer a store? Apple, Kobo & more · Amazon

The Nolan Interval

The Nolan Interval

A Novella

Novella · 2026

An Irish mathematician finds Fibonacci intervals in the rise and fall of civilisations. An American astronomer finds the same pattern in the stars. They seek acceptance, not salvation — and receive neither.

Download free — epub
USD $

Prefer a store? Apple, Kobo & more · Amazon

Serialised fiction

Now reading

Complete · 5 chapters

The Careful Ones

They weren't doing anything wrong. They were choosing the best outcome. Everyone was choosing the best outcome. That was the problem.

Published March 2026 Read from the beginning → Short story · complete

Implied License

The machine he bought and paid for isn't really his — not when a failed sensor needs corporate authorisation to acknowledge a repair he's already made.

Published March 2026 Read the story → Story collection · ongoing

Thank You for Your Patience

Stories about patience, attachment, and the things we build that learn too well from us.

Latest story May 2026 Read the stories →
About the author

David A. Thomas writes science fiction about systems that work exactly as designed — and what that costs the people inside them. His stories explore algorithmic optimisation, artificial intelligence, and the quiet compromises of convenience, drawing on the tradition of Asimov and Clarke: idea-driven fiction where the concept carries the weight.

The stories are written with Claude, an AI. David directs, edits, and answers for every word. Thirty years in software development supply the machinery; his work has been described as “the unease of functionality, not malfunction.”

He lives in Tasmania, Australia.

New fiction, serialised