Ascend
Read ExcerptLissa Page-McCutchion has the perfect life: a brilliant coder husband, a beautiful daughter, and another baby on the way. But perfection is a fragile illusion, and it shatters the moment Dwight doesn’t call to check in and misses his flight home from Atlanta. What begins as a husband’s unexplained absence spirals into a waking nightmare. Driven by a desperate, maternal instinct, Lissa flies into the heart of a transformed Atlanta — a city pulsing with a strange, levitating joy and a shimmering cosmic energy known as Meta 4.
Lissa’s search for her husband turns into a terrifying descent into a new reality where the rules no longer apply. Guided by cryptic clues and help from her brother-in-law, who has his own secrets, Lissa navigates a foreign world that is both wondrous and dangerous, where Black people float in golden orbs and the very fabric of time is unraveling. Ascend is a mind-bending work of speculative fiction that blends high-concept sci-fi with a raw psychological thriller — a story about the painful depths a mother will go to protect her family, and the profound, gut-wrenching moment when she must choose between the man she loves and the child she carries.
DESI Gravitational Wave Bulletin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DESI Collaboration Reports Anomalous Gravitational Wave Signal from Distant Planetary System
Researchers working with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) announced the detection of highly unusual gravitational wave patterns originating from a distant planetary system — designated Meta 4 — and are classifying the anomaly as a potentially earth-changing event. Current assessments indicate no immediate threat to Earth. The detected waves are extremely weak by the time they reach our planet. However, scientists are studying whether they could have secondary effects on sensitive instruments, animal navigation, and, under rare conditions, human perception and consciousness.
Public Guidance
Out of an abundance of caution, researchers recommend that members of the public remain calm but report any unusual or unexplained phenomena — such as persistent low-frequency vibrations, unexplained electronic interference, anomalous environmental effects in the sky, or feelings of weightlessness — to local authorities.
Imagine Lost meets The Leftovers, with the high-stakes, cerebral energy of Westworld, set in the gritty urban landscape of hot Atlanta. Ascend is built on a high-concept premise that is both visually stunning and emotionally devastating — more than a deceptively simple mystery about a woman suspecting her husband is having an affair. He’s now missing, but this is no ordinary disappearance; it’s the gateway to a simmering cosmic horror story.
Ascend is about a paradigm shift in human consciousness, a cultural revolution in Atlanta, and the deeply personal story of a family caught in the eye of the storm. Lissa grows into a powerful female protagonist, navigating shocking twists on the fly and facing the heartbreaking truth for a new audience.