Popshot Magazine—a mag showcasing emerging writers—have published and illustrated my short story “The Motherhood Effect”. Woot!

Protected from the rising ocean by a fifty-foot sea-wall, the citizens of Promessa don’t notice the growing number of refugees flooding in from sinking islands. Immersed in the illusions of their Maya Augmented Reality Lens, the citizens see more of what they want to see and less of what they don’t.

When Maya propose using the Lens to turn the entire city into a mixed-reality environment based on a cult film, they convince disgraced lead actor, Henry Hoo, to sign over his image rights.

Desperate for a chance to reboot his career, Henry is immersed in the Lens’ seductive mixed-reality, where he’s spellbound by an activist who makes him feel like a fraud and followed by a refugee boy who may or may not be real. His sense of self blurs with who he thinks he is and what the Lens tries to show him, and he soon finds he must fight to regain his identity. If only he could be sure which one was the real him, because the fates of both the citizens and refugees alike may depend on it.