Books by Matthew Broyles

Thinky thoughts from the nerd lunchtable. Essays and small stories that explore the human condition in an uncommon age.

At the edge of the galaxy, shadows gather. The true dark, not merely the absence of light. At the vanguard of its advance, the youngest of a near-immortal race is flung into the fulcrum of cosmic history.In order to solve the mystery of the shadows, he must first unravel the riddle of his species' existence, a secret which has been well hidden for over 20,000 years. What he finds will change everything. From the author of Rewired comes an adventure into deep space, both without and within.

Total Psychology: the exact science of opinion and behavior molding. The promise of complete economic and political predictability, delivered by the Lifecast, direct-to-cortex.But from an audacious team of scientists, a deterrent arises: Rewiring, a detour in neural pathways to evade the Lifecast and its corporate masters. Outnumbered, a handful of Rewired enclaves survive, scattered amidst the global Wired civilization. And in these rebel strongholds, a mystery unfolds...the Vorn. Strange creatures visible only to a very few. The seers.Now fear and curiosity vie for supremacy as the architects of the Rewired Diaspora stir once again under a cloud of secrecy.Something moves in the darkness. And Harry Seldon, hapless son of a sociopathic war hero, embarks on a quest to find it.Whether he wants to or not.

2017, as recorded by the fine scribes on the internet's home for long-form expression. Every week, they received a title and wrote an essay to match it. Here may be found their scribblings, with all the attendant diversity of perspective and honest reflection that readers have come to expect of the Essay Club. A heck of a way to look back on one of the most pivotal years in modern American history, and to explore personal experiences you won't find anywhere else. So put away your phone for a while, and allow the forgotten pleasure of just reading to overtake you, guided by the unique writers represented herein. It's way more rewarding than following the Angry Creamsicle on the Twitters, if we do say so ourselves.

Publishing essays in the age of the tweet is a bit like selling buggywhips next to the car dealership. One would only expect such an activity to be pursued by old fuddy-duddies waving their canes at the kids on their lawns. We are actually huge proponents of social media. The restrictions of 140 characters have brought soul back to wit, and created surprisingly elegant moments of poignancy in the decade since first we tweeted. Still, sometimes, after consuming a cascade of snappy one-liners and cat gifs, one begins to feel as if one's brain hasn't really eaten anything. Like a salad with only salad in it. We crave mental meat. Intellectual protein, to fortify and nourish. We wonder what the incredibly smart and entertaining people we know online would say if they had more space to stretch out, and paid no heed to tl;dr conventions. Consider the songwriting clubs run by people like Matt the Electrician and Bob Schneider. Throw out a title, and by the end of the week, everyone on the list has to have written a song with that title. Why not do the same with prose? The 900-word limit of the essay form is ideal, both for management and digestion.And so, defying the times yet again, this book-form compilation endeavors to extend the lifespan of these compositions beyond their usual expiration date in the ephemerality of the digital ether. And given the momentous times we live in, we hope this may additionally serve as a kind of historical record, alerting future generations to the fact that not all of us who lived in 2016 were completely bugnuts insane.