{"id":749,"date":"2022-02-11T16:15:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T21:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/?page_id=749"},"modified":"2026-02-09T17:22:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:22:46","slug":"conscious-designs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/novellas\/conscious-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"Conscious Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-normal-font-size\">NATHANIAL WHITE<br><br>2023 COLORADO BOOK AWARD<br>2021 NOVELLA PRIZE SELECTED BY KEITH BANNER<br>MAY 2022. ISBN 9781881163701<br>$17.00 <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/books\/conscious-designs\/9781881163701\">Bookshop<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Conscious-Designs-Nathanial-White\/dp\/1881163709\">Amazon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/pathwaybookservice.com\/products\/conscious-designs\">Pathway<\/a><br><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eugene, a wealthy paraplegic, must decide whether to preserve his consciousness forever in a digital utopia or suffer the pain tormenting his existence. Yet the more he learns about digital replication, the more deeply he understands personhood, empathy, and the value of suffering.<br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-normal-font-size\">Reviews &amp; Such<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;The journey we take with Eugene is, ultimately, as poignant as it is discomfiting. Using the storytelling tools of SFF, White captures the creeping sense of unreality that makes it so painful to be alive today.&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/non-fiction\/conscious-designs-by-nathanial-white\/\"><em>Strange Horizons<\/em> review by Seamus Sullivan, 3\/13\/2023<\/a><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Is Pain an Essential Part of the Human Experience?<br><a href=\"https:\/\/lithub.com\/nathanial-white-is-pain-an-essential-part-of-the-human-experience\/\">Conversation with Mitzi Rapkin, <em>First Draft Podcast<\/em>, 6\/27\/2022<\/a><br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disturbing the Comfortable: On Writing Disability in Science Fiction <br>\u2013Essay by Nathanial White published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tor.com\/2022\/06\/15\/disturbing-the-comfortable-on-writing-disability-in-science-fiction\/\">Tor.com 6\/15\/2022<\/a><br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Much of White\u2019s lived experience with rehabilitation, technology and the love it takes to come through a devastating accident inform the backbone of this book.&#8221;<br><a href=\"https:\/\/soprissun.com\/2022\/05\/25\/telling-truth-with-fiction\/\"><em>The Supris Sun<\/em>, 5\/25\/2022<\/a><br><br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;A thoughtful exploration of technology and disability&#8221;<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.publishersweekly.com\/978-1-881163-70-1\">Publishers Weekly 03\/03\/2022<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This novella is a marvel: a vision of a not-so-distant future in which our bodies are virtually obsolete and our consciousnesses immortal. Into an otherwise nihilistic world, Nathanial White encodes a kind of tragic beauty suffused with longing. Reading&nbsp;<em>Conscious Designs<\/em>&nbsp;made me want to download the author\u2019s brain, harness its powers of imagination, and wrestle with the questions he so intelligently dramatizes in these pages.&nbsp;<strong><br>\u2014Christopher Castellani<\/strong><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nathanial&nbsp;White brings his lived experience&nbsp;of paralysis and recovery&nbsp;to&nbsp;<em>Conscious Designs. <\/em>What follows is a journey&nbsp;into ethics, morality, and the philosophy of being and personhood. Each time I thought I knew where the story was going, it surprised me, and drew me deeper. The prose&nbsp;is&nbsp;reminiscent&nbsp;of classic science fiction greats such as&nbsp;Asimov or Aldiss who played with ideas like colors on a canvas.<br><strong>\u2014Marie Vibbert<\/strong><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Conscious Designs<\/em>&nbsp;knows what it&nbsp;is\u2014which is&nbsp;more than its characters can say for themselves. Nathanial White\u2019s fiction has its mind on human consciousness and artificial intelligence and an exoskeletal boot planted firmly on story. If you find yourself returning to the&nbsp;sci-fi&nbsp;of Philip K. Dick and the philosophical provocations of Brian Evenson,&nbsp;<em>Conscious Designs<\/em>&nbsp;is for you\u2014at least,&nbsp;the&nbsp;version of yourself&nbsp;you call&nbsp;&#8220;you.&#8221;&nbsp;<strong><br>\u2014 Christopher David Rosales<\/strong><br><br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-normal-font-size\">About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nathanialwhite.com\/\">Nathanial White<\/a> grew up in Maine and has lived in Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador. His speculative fiction explores the human psyche, physical disability, culture, technology and consumerism. He currently teaches high school English in the Rocky Mountains of Western Colorado.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"731\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/files\/2022\/02\/Conscious-Designs-Cover-731x1024.png\" alt=\"Conscious Designs cover\" class=\"wp-image-741\" style=\"width:450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/books\/conscious-designs\/9781881163701\">Bookshop<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Conscious-Designs-Nathanial-White\/dp\/1881163709\">Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"894\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/files\/2021\/12\/White.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-707\" style=\"width:300px;height:447px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/files\/2021\/12\/White.jpg 600w, https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/files\/2021\/12\/White-201x300.jpg 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NATHANIAL WHITE 2023 COLORADO BOOK AWARD2021 NOVELLA PRIZE SELECTED BY KEITH BANNERMAY 2022. ISBN 9781881163701$17.00 Bookshop | Amazon, Pathway Eugene, a wealthy paraplegic, must decide whether to preserve his consciousness forever in a digital utopia or suffer the pain tormenting his existence. Yet the more he learns about digital replication, the more deeply he understands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":995,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-749","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/995"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/749\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/miami-university-press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}