Richard W. Bown - writer, engineer

writer, software engineer

I write stories about what we build and what it costs. Personal tales about corporate games going wrong.

My debut novel, Human Software, explores what happens when ambition goes unchecked. In a tech-oriented world where data centres and AI are everyday commodities, how do decisions affect people living in a small coastal English town?

Human Software is where Office Space meets Local Hero. A dark Phoenix Project. As one reviewer put it, “freaked me out more than any Stephen King”.

My second book One More Island will be available in 2027.

When corporate wants you gone, who does the dirty work?

BETH WALTERS has kept Gerbach’s IT systems running through skill, stubbornness and too many sleepless nights. She works hard to support her family and community.

CHRISSIE HEGARTY is a new executive on a mission. She’s flown in from New York with a mandate, a deadline, and little patience for sentiment. She’s done this before. She knows how it ends.

They are not enemies. Not yet.