Hi, I'm Nathan Nightshade.
Architecture of a Cage comes from the first time I ever seriously sat down and tried to write a story. I had never written fiction before this, so a lot of what you're reading is also me learning what kind of writer I want to become.
English isn't my native language. I mention that as context, not as an excuse. I want the writing to stand on its own, and one of the reasons I'm putting my work here is to keep improving.
So feedback genuinely matters to me.
If something works, tell me why. If something doesn't, tell me that too. Characters, dialogue, pacing, prose, confusing moments, things you predicted, things that surprised you-I want to hear it. I'm treating publishing here as part of the practice rather than pretending I've already figured everything out.
And this isn't the only story I've written since starting.
I have other stories and volumes already completed or in development, spread across very different worlds and genres.
There is one strange constant between them:
Nico Nightshade.
He isn't always this Nico.
Different world. Different life. Different personality. Different abilities. Sometimes even a very different kind of person.
I use Nico as a recurring author persona-a version of myself that I can throw into completely different worlds and rebuild from the ground up to see what kind of character emerges.
The Nico you meet in Architecture of a Cage is only one of them.
And definitely not the safest one to meet first.
- Nathan Nightshade