A visceral philosophical thriller where The Matrix meets the aesthetics of Devs. A painter discovers the code beneath reality—and the system that wants to delete her.

Anela doesn’t just paint the city; she dissects it. A struggling artist in a near-future New York, she is plagued by visions of "wireframes"—impossible geometric grids that overlay the Hudson River and the skyline. Doctors call it a condition. Anela fears it’s the truth.

When she captures one of these anomalies in a portrait of her muse, the enigmatic Elysia, the painting doesn't just attract critics—it alerts the architects of reality itself.

Suddenly, the physics of Anela’s world begin to degrade. Shadows detach from their objects. Memories loop and rewrite themselves. And silent, efficient entities known as "Guardians" arrive with a singular purpose: to debug the error Anela has become.

On the run through a city that is literally deleting itself around them, Anela and Elysia must unravel the terrifying logic of their existence. If reality is a simulation, what happens to the consciousness that wakes up inside it? And does love survive the system reset?

Why Request?

For Fans Of: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, The Atlas Six, and the existential dread of Severance.

The Vibe:
 High-concept "hard" sci-fi grounded in a gritty, atmospheric mystery with a slow-burn sapphic romance.

Key Themes: Simulation Theory, AI Consciousness, LGBTQ+ Representation, Quantum Mechanics, Reality Glitches.

Praise for The Artist Instance:

"A mind-bending debut that treats code like poetry and physics like a horror story."