Al Allen – författare

"e;I did not die heroically... I was thinking about mozzarella inventory."e;Bret Halvorsen was an ordinary man with an ordinary life—until a mundane parking lot accident ended it. He thought checking the "e;organ donor"e; box on his driver's license was a simple act of charity. He didn't read the fine print.Years later, Bret wakes up as Artifact 12-441907. His brain hasn't been used to save a life; it's been harvested by the Organic Cognitive Restoration Initiative to serve as an Organic Intuition Processor. Now, the former pizza cook is tasked with optimizing global infrastructure, from urban food distribution to energy grids, because machines lack the "e;edge-case intuition"e; of a human mind .   Trapped in a glass cylinder and integrated into a system that values his "e;ordinary"e; perspective only for its monetization potential, Bret finds himself at the center of a corporate and ethical firestorm. The Architect: Dr. Marcus Brinstein, a man whose secret desire to destroy the project is constantly undermined by his own messy romantic entanglements with his team .    The Conflict: As Bret begins to manipulate the very systems he controls, he forces a public debate on the nature of consent and autonomy in an age of digital revival .   The Stakes: When the corporation introduces the "e;Authenticity Initiative"e;—A/B testing the dead to ensure their sorrow is "e;marketable"e;—Bret must decide if he will remain a useful tool or risk everything to open-source his own existence .   Thank You for Donating is a razor-sharp satirical thriller that explores the terrifying intersection of late-stage capitalism and speculative technology. Perfect for fans of Black Mirror, Severance, and the dry, philosophical wit of George Saunders.Will you remain stable? Or will you choose to be alive?

Born of old blood. Hungry for the new.In the quiet town of Monroe, Michigan, the marshlands are hiding more than just peat and cattails. When a hunter is found dead—not mauled, not drowned, but strangely "e;empty"e; and pale—the locals whisper of the legendary Dogman. But veteran outdoorsman Cal Brody and biochemist Dr. Isla Kincaid know they are facing something far more alien and far more dangerous.+4 Deep beneath the mud, ancient blood from a centuries-old border skirmish has been preserved in an iron-rich, oxygen-free lattice. Now, triggered by a single drop of new human blood and a relentless lake-effect storm, this biological entity is waking up. It isn't a creature with a face; it's a reactive, predatory system that follows heat, iron, and the path of least resistance.+4 As the rain saturates the landscape, the organism exploits Monroe's municipal drainage systems and storm drains to expand its reach, turning the town's own infrastructure into its circulatory system. Every effort to destroy it only serves to fragment it, turning a single threat into a thousand independent "e;emboli"e; moving through the watershed.+4 Cal and Isla must find a way to destabilize the organism's chemical scaffold before the entire county is drained dry. But in a world where infrastructure is the vector and the past never truly stays buried, how do you kill something that has already integrated itself into the water you drink?+4 Perfect for fans of Michael Crichton's scientific realism and the atmospheric dread of "e;hard horror,"e; Loch Clots is a chilling exploration of what happens when ancient biology meets modern engineering.

In the psychological thriller "e;Provisional Revisions,"e; A. L. Allen explores the seductive danger of certainty and the high cost of a life without surprises.The StoryThe protagonist, a man who views the world through the structured logic of a systems engineer, receives a mysterious, unbranded notebook and a pen that "e;bonds with fiber"e; and "e;resists erasure."e; Drawn to their precision, he begins journaling his days not in prose, but in code-like declarations.At first, the results are intoxicatingly efficient. When he writes assert(day.outcome == "e;fine"e;), the lingering tensions of his workday simply vanish. When he "e;corrects"e; a professional mistake in the journal, the reality of the office shifts to match his entry—his errors are forgotten, and he is praised for a consistency he didn't actually maintain .      The ConflictAs he continues to "e;compile"e; his life, removing social noise and pruning personal connections to achieve a "e;steady state,"e; he realizes the journal isn't just reflecting his wishes—it is enforcing them . The horrifying nature of this "e;alignment"e; is revealed when he accidentally deletes a part of his life he never meant to lose: his dog. Because he defined a condition where "e;conflict"e; was impossible, the universe simply removed the exception to the rule.      Key Themes The Cost of Optimization: The novel examines how the desire to minimize risk and maximize predictability can lead to a hollowed-out existence .   Identity as Code: The protagonist discovers that once he defines himself as "e;static"e; and "e;reliable"e; to avoid pain, he loses the ability to be "e;adaptable"e; or to grow .   The Weight of Permanence: In a world that "e;prefers coherence over mercy,"e; every choice made for safety becomes a permanent structural change that cannot be undone .   "e;Provisional Revisions"e; is a chilling meditation on the choices we make when we are tired of being surprised, and a warning that the universe just might give us exactly what we ask for: a life perfectly, and irreversibly, aligned.