if ever you know again

Abstract

if ever you know again is a near-future speculative novel about memory, systemic harm, erasure, and inheritance. The story follows Veridan, a young VR engineer whose life is shaped by the same state-sanctioned wellness systems that have made her professionally successful. When she finds a letter in the basement of her grandparents’ home, a letter never meant for her to read, she is forced to confront the weight of a secret she does not yet know how to hold. Through speculative fiction, archival fragments, and lyrical prose, if ever you know again asks who gets to tell the story, who decides which memories should remain buried, and what is lost when wellness becomes a tool of erasure. At its center, the novel is an exploration of Black interiority, queer survival, intergenerational memory, and the truths that refuse to be buried.