Tyler Knox

In New Chicago, immortality is a service - and souls are just data. Kaelen Riker is a washed-up detective with a cybernetic arm, a talent for pissing off corporations, and no patience for promises of digital paradise. When a powerful client's Echo - his digital consciousness backup - vanishes inside the Continuum, Kael uncovers a truth far darker than a technical glitch. Elysian Dynamics claims the Continuum offers eternal life. What it really offers is consumption. As Kael dives into a city where neon rain masks corporate crimes and rogue AIs whisper from beneath reality, he discovers that Echoes aren't preserved - they're harvested. And something ancient, hungry, and intelligent is growing at the center of it all. Hunted by Inquisitors, betrayed by systems he once trusted, and forced to ally with ghosts - both human and digital - Kael must decide how much of his own soul he's willing to risk to stop a machine that feeds on eternity. Static Soul is a gritty cyberpunk thriller about identity, autonomy, and what it means to survive when even death has terms of service.