Author Description

anthophile<br/>noun<br/>1. an organism that visits flowers.<br/>2. a person who loves flowers.<br/><br/>Jonathan Sweety is a nobody, a bored and disgruntled hospitality worker living on a backwater mining asteroid known as A-Typical. As a hopeless VR junkie, he squanders what little credits he earns at the simulation vats, feeding his addiction to virtual reality adventures that offer an escape from mundane materiality. But when Jonathan meets Bud, a seven-foot cactus of the lab-grown race of plant people known as Agave, his everyday life soon becomes more exciting than even his wildest of fabricated realities. Friendship escalates to romance, and Jonathan discovers the wonder of botany… but it’s not all roses. When Bud reveals that Agave abductions have been linked to a drug called Ambrosia, Jonathan is thrown into a perilous effort to reveal the grim origins of a narcotic believed to have prophetic properties. Together, plant and human must navigate a sordid rock in space, a corrupt world where other lab-grown races wander, where dog men known as Wolfhounds rule with an iron paw, where politicians and prophets rise up to exercise their tyranny.<br/><br/>On the surface, Anthophile is a wild, comic, sci-fi romp told through the perspective of a disgruntled, sarcastic, horndog. Despite this, its narrative is laced with relevant, real world issues, examining notions of self worth and the challenges of sexual expression amid a culture and society entrenched with institutional classism, racial tension, addiction, and corrupt politics. What is delivered as lighthearted is a reflection of the protagonist’s constant reliance on humor, his defense mechanism against the bitter reality of a difficult and cruel world. Overall, despite its heavy themes, the tone of Anthophile remains playful and fun. The commentary that is present throughout its off-kilter misadventure never detracts from the narrative itself, yet it is there for those who wish to unearth a more meaningful elem