Upon the Mirror Sea
镜海之上
In a dingy basement clinic at Shanghai's top university, Mona Xu is about to soak her mind in psychedelics, wire it to a supercomputer, and enter a patient's mind to remove the debris left behind by an algorithm he stole. The scary part is what her advisor, Dr. Deng, is going to say about all of this tomorrow.
Deng wants Mona to do research, to write a dissertation, and to graduate. Mona wants to know why the debris she's finding in her patients' minds fits together like building blocks — and what that has to do with the other Shanghai, the place that only the cameras can see, the world on the other side of the lens.
Upon the Mirror Sea is a complete science fiction novel by @phaseborn, about psychedelics, surveillance, and first contact with ourselves. It was longlisted for the 2025 Andromeda Award. You can read the entire thing for free here.