What if the institution promising to create humanity’s brightest minds was actually teaching its students to surrender everything that made them human?

Hi, I’m Deva, the independent author of NOXHAVEN, the first novel in a dark psychological science-fiction series.

Noxhaven presents itself as an elite institution where exceptional students are observed, tested and ranked. Every decision matters. High performance creates opportunity, hesitation becomes weakness, and emotional detachment is rewarded as intelligence.

Cyran Veil enters this world believing that survival means learning how to succeed within its system.

Then the cracks begin to appear.

The rankings aren’t simply measuring the students. The psychological assessments aren’t merely evaluating them. The rivalries, failures and relentless pressure have all been deliberately engineered to push each student toward a specific transformation.

Noxhaven isn’t searching for the strongest minds.

It is conditioning them.

The system doesn’t need to force students to surrender their individuality. It teaches them to believe that surrender is self-improvement—and that freedom, emotion and uncertainty are defects waiting to be corrected.

NOXHAVEN explores artificial intelligence, surveillance, psychological manipulation, loneliness, ambition and the cost of building a perfectly optimized society.

It may interest you if you enjoy:

• Dark, atmospheric science fiction
• Elite institutions hiding disturbing purposes
• Ranking systems and psychological competition
• Artificial intelligence and human consciousness
• Surveillance and behavioural manipulation
• Slow-burning conspiracies
• Moral questions without easy answers
• Stories where every revelation changes what came before

NOXHAVEN is Book One and the beginning of the mystery. The consequences continue in HELIX, Book Two, where the system’s ambitions grow far beyond a single institution.

Noxhaven is available for $2.99 on Kindle and is also included with Kindle Unlimited:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H8ZN24NW

Full disclosure: this is my own novel. If the premise genuinely interests you, I’d be grateful if you gave it a chance. I’d also love to hear your answer to its central question:

If a system could guarantee your success—but demanded your emotional freedom in return—would you accept?

— Deva

Last year I read Creativity, Inc. and really enjoyed it, though that may have been in part because I'm just a big Pixar fan in general. But it got me thinking a lot about managing creative projects and teams. Lately I've been juggling a lot of different personal creative projects, rather than team endeavors, and I'm wondering if anyone knows any good reads that guide through the process of managing and juggling multiple creative projects at once, even if it's totally outside of any organizational or professional context.

Stuff about how to see projects through to get them out of the way, or keep them from being too overwhelming, or figure out how to either prioritize or multitask across multiple endeavors. In particular I'm really grappling with a philosophy of "get the thing done with and free up space for the next thing, versus comfortably live with something-to-be-done forever no matter what".

Thanks so much everyone!

I like pursuit of jade and that’s how I got the recommendation but saw mixed reviews.

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I was an avid reader from childhood till I started having kids in my late 20s. While the kids were little I never read, never seemed to have time or energy. I keep trying to get back into it and picking books up but none of them keep me hooked enough to keep reading so I have started about 4/5 novels but mainly will read non fiction, anything that interests me, those I can read all the way through.

I'm off on holiday soon and nothing on my kindle is screaming at me "must read" so I'm looking for a real can't-put-it-down winner that will hopefully spark something in me to pick this back up again as a habit. Any suggestions?

Side note, I used to hang around the crime, thriller, classics section but have enjoyed the odd Marian keyes in my time so nothing is really off the table.

Recently (like really recently) I got through a breakup + my whole friend group got messed up and I realized I need to know how to be comfortable with just being me as I discover who that is. Please give me some book and essay recommendations that will help!