Novels by Rick Moss (Copy)
Long form fiction.
COMING! November 2025
A Genuine Rare Bird Book
Once a Man
Humanity survives, but with unimaginable results.
Aldrin is barely sixteen, yet manages on his own at a secluded compound set deep in the wilds of Idaho. For the first time, he ventures into the countryside in search of his father, who has been away without word for two years. He encounters locals scraping to survive in a society splintered by the impact of overreaching AI technology. Aldrin must navigate the threats of warring militia groups as he follows cryptic clues left by his father's employer, an AI developer named Acheron.
As Aldrin decodes the messages, the mysteries only deepen. Suddenly, he is confronted with the truth about his father and his own origins, but most shockingly, about a plan to burden him with duties more onerous than any mortal should bear.
Once a Man is a poetically-rendered, sweeping epic, featuring breath-stealing revelations, mythic battles, gender-fluid love, and critical questions about our fate as humans. At a time when we struggle with new technology that threatens to upend our careers and lives, Once a Man daringly explores both the most wondrous and most sinister prospects for AI.
Impossible Figures
“Kinetic, funny, disturbing, sexy, and achingly smart.”
Impossible Figures features illustrations by the author throughout.
“Setting its sights on nothing short of unraveling the time-warped nature of our very universe, this fast-paced, brilliantly wrought mind-game is populated by a cast of seriously juiced-up men and women you’ve likely never met before; and along the way, you’ll be challenged to ponder such knotty topics as the litmus-paper-thin border between science and art, the two-headed beast of love and obsession, the false equivalency of good versus evil — and the hard truth about the real power of a lemon wedge. If you think for a second that you have the plot figured out before landing on that final, maddeningly satisfying page, the joke’s on you.” – Bruce Kluger, author, journalist
“Impossibly GREAT! Starting with a wholly original premise, which in itself is a precious rarity, this story grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until the last word. Blending art and science in a way that highlights the creative source they both share, the various figures in this novel will take you for an impossible ride you will not soon forget.” – Dana Crowe, songwriter, artist
A darkly comic story of looping narratives, Impossible Figures offers a uniquely deviant angle on our human predicament.
Ranger, a once-celebrated conceptual artist desperate for a comeback, recruits Oscar Hiller, a self-destructive young physicist on the verge of a quantum theory breakthrough, to stage the most consequential art performance of all time and existence — and one that may very well unravel time and existence in the process.
Tellers
“A Matryoshka doll of a book — stories nesting inside stories nesting inside stories.” – Ryan Mathews, futurist, best-selling author
“In this highly unique and creative novel, we are thrust into the primeval dystopia of an underground world created by the disintegration of social structures and destructive symptoms of a civilization in collapse. Each person is both a listener to stories of others and a ‘teller’ of his or her own story. Here stories are not just biographical exercises, but the very essence of survival itself. They are the social bond of an alt-community, the mechanisms for coping and redemption, a path for finding meaning.” — John Rachel
“It is an unsettling work for unsettling times.” — Edward Brash, poet, editor
The Colony is in mourning. The residents of the Hudson Valley farming collective share a close-knit life and a vision for remaking urban neighborhoods with the skills they are learning. They have also shared a loss so devastating they fear the shock will undermine all their efforts.
In a scheme to unburden themselves, they turn to storytelling. Through their heartrending accounts, we view blighted American cities from society’s fringes — from the squatter homes of Detroit to the embattled streets of Philadelphia. We meet a veteran who returns home to find his neighborhood walled off into a ghetto, an architect who drafts blueprints from the dreams of the dispossessed, and take a hellish subway ride through a dystopian New York. In their tales, we witness the tug of war between blame and forgiveness and, ultimately, the cathartic power of storytelling.
Ebocloud
“After the atom bombs of the 1940s, the science fiction of the 1950s was filled with tales of societies fueled by nuclear power. Now that social networks have made their deep impacts on the globe, the next wave of sci-fi could trumpet civilizations based upon this new media. If so, Rick Moss could be among the first to help define a new branch of the genre.” – Aaron Saenz, Singularity Hub
“I’m not certain whether Ebocloud is science fiction, social commentary, a literary novel or a wonderful amalgamation of all. Some of my favourite things are in the book: art, jazz, subversive, satirical and philosophical thought on science, science fiction and family. Throw in a little society altering technology, a mysterious arsonist and you have a superbly fascinating novel.” – A. F. Stewart, Fantasy Writer, goodreads.com
To what length will we go to avoid loneliness? Facebook may once have been the one-word answer to that question, but for the hundreds of millions flocking to engage in ebocloud.com, “friending” seems frivolous by comparison. In the “great belonging” of the cloud, few stop to consider what sacrifices are being made as they work together with their “ebo cousins” to build a more loving society, under the leadership of ebocloud’s idealistic architect, Radu Cajal.
For New York artist Ellison Luber, however, the losses are not abstract — they are immediate and personal. While nearly oblivious to the ebocloud humanitarian movement, Ellie’s insular life is violently upended by an attack that takes the life of his neighbor and sends his girlfriend in flight from the police. And most astoundingly, this and other crimes he experiences are traceable to ebocloud, the same organization dedicated to the new humanitarian enlightenment of the world.