The Systemic Series
The world's problems have all been solved. Are you sure?
A speculative fiction trilogy spanning centuries — from the golden age of an all-knowing AI, through the collapse of everything it built, to the strange new world growing in its wake.
"Delivery." The single word resonated from every surface in Maik's flat; not loud, but unavoidable. It was the first time he'd ever heard his flat speak the word, and the shock of it made him queasy.
— Systemic, Chapter One
Book One
Systemic
For generations, a benevolent AI has dedicated itself to curing humanity's ills. It is a time of social equality, ecological recovery, and material comfort. It should be a golden age. Instead, humanity has fallen into social isolation, lethargy, and depression.
Now Eryn, a moral-ecologist; Lem, a security expert; and Maik, an unemployed drifter, are traveling across the sagelands to the seemingly innocuous town of Prower. The more they learn about their pasts, the more the flaws in their idyllic world begin to show, and they must decide between happiness or solving humanity's most intractable problem.
"Thus, lying became the first human art to die."
— The System
Book Two
Host
It's been three centuries since the artificial intelligence that once ran the world was shut down. Now, all that remains of the System are a book of arcane knowledge and the traditions of the professors who control it.
Reyan is a scruffy thirteen-year-old who thinks too much, understands too little, and is overwhelmed by everything. When her benefactor dies, leaving her with no family or future, her fate becomes tied to a group of visiting professors and the System's power and potential.
The snow arrived before the professors that year. In all of Reyan's thirteen years, it had gone the other way round. But two days ago, the air had grown unseasonably cold. A shin-deep blanket of snow had rolled down from the craggy peaks of the surrounding mountains and covered the small town of Orloton.
— Host, Chapter One
Interface
Three hundred years after the fall of the System, a new sort of superintelligence has taken root in the bio-amplified forest surrounding Prower. The town's citizens have grown dependent upon the forest's gifts, but now an incurable blight is killing it.
Across the Western Desert, the technophobic city of Seal Tooth faces its own catastrophe. When old adversaries are forced together, they must choose between resurrecting a questionable past, surrendering to nature's whims, or forging a new and uncertain future — and hope that will not prove the worst of all possible options.
Mari tore her hand away from the gnarled hunk of wood as though she'd touched an ember. Her breath came in tiny jerks and sips as her lungs struggled to keep up with the beating of her frantic heart. As soon as she'd severed the interface, the dull veil of reality came down, shutting out the wonderous hyper-real world she'd been inhabiting.
— Interface, Prologue
Get Notified on ReleaseWhat Readers Are Saying
"A well-crafted and well-written book, absorbing, and spell-binding. Lodwig immerses the reader in the Systemic world and the realistically flawed people who populate it. His is a rare talent indeed."
— Dr. Geoff, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer
"You won't see the end coming. It hits you in the face and leaves you breathless."
— Dr. Geoff, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer
"A captivating and refreshing take on our not-so-implausible dystopian future. Reyan is a unique protagonist whom I was rooting for from page one!"
— Ashley Powell
"A very human look at a traumatized society restructuring itself around entrenched traditions, tribalism, and faith in clerics who are a shadow of the old System."
— Ashley Nathan Feniello
"Reading Systemic is like watching an episode of Black Mirror without having to drink yourself to sleep."
— Reader Review
"Intriguing, foreboding, bleakly optimistic, phenomenal!"
— Reader Review
About the Author
Father of daughter, husband of wife, writer of books
Chris Lodwig lives in Seattle with his wife, daughter, and two dogs. He spent his younger years playing music, throwing art parties and parades, and clandestinely installing monoliths and soldiers in local parks.
Thirty years in the tech industry and degrees in Comparative History of Ideas and Communications from the University of Washington give him a singular lens on AI, humanity, and the spaces where they collide.
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Podcast
No "i" in Writing
Chris and Christina Scheuer (his editor) talk about creative collaboration — the messy, rewarding, sometimes maddening process of turning a draft into a book.
"It's amazing how even the worst food tastes like a miracle when you're good and hungry."
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