Hubris Rising

Nineteen years after humanity's last hope took root on DaVinci, Phoebe Makinde lives in the shadow of her mother's legend. Genetically engineered to survive the alien Bloom, Phoebe should embody the colony's future. Instead, she's plagued by migraines, seizures, and a gnawing sense she'll never measure up.

While her peers choose careers and partners, Phoebe drifts between jobs, befriending the Hyperionites, outcast descendants of a failed colony who have spliced alien DNA into their blood. To the rest of humanity, they're abominations. To Phoebe, they're the only ones who understand what it means to be different.

Everything changes when she meets Atlas, a boy from the anti-science Naturalist domes. He should be her enemy. His people condemn genetic modification as heresy. Yet Atlas carries a rare mutation that lets him survive outside the domes without alteration, a "Divine Blueprint" his leaders claim proves their purity. Drawn together by forbidden attraction, Phoebe and Atlas uncover a truth both their peoples have buried in lies.

But the past won't stay buried. Survivors of DaVinci's first, failed settlement emerge from hiding, and bring with them a brain-ravaging plague that pushes colonists into madness and violence. As fear spreads and factions turn on each other, Phoebe discovers her mother may be secretly working with the very zealots who want her kind erased.

With time running out and her own body betraying her, Phoebe must decide where her loyalty lies: with the mother who created her, the boy who should be her enemy, or a fractured humanity racing toward extinction.

For fans of Neal Stephenson, Blake Crouch, and Gattaca, Hubris Rising is a sweeping tale of forbidden love, genetic destiny, and the battle to define what it means to be human.

Titus is a scientist, strategist, and storyteller working at the edge of technology, where humanity itself is the experiment. Through his novels, he explores how science reshapes not only our tools, but our values, choices, and future as a species. His career spans biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and global innovation, giving his fiction both authenticity and urgency. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Maggie, where he writes, builds, and ventures into the wild. Connect with Titus via website, Connected Ideas Project, LinkedIn, and BlueSky.

Sean Platt has always been an entrepreneur but knew he'd rather tell stories. When his wife bought him a laptop for his birthday in 2007, he dropped everything to start writing fiction.Since making the leap, Sean has written hundreds of novels (including the international best-sellers Yesterday's Gone and Invasion), penned dozens of scripts, and founded the IP Incubator Sterling & Stone, where more than thirty storytellers work together to create world-changing IP. Sterling & Stone's stable of writers come to Sean for ideas, mentorship, and "better words."Originally from Long Beach, California, Sean now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and dog, Fisher.