Draft:The Archive of Unwritten Futures
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| File:The Archive of Unwritten Futures cover.jpg First edition cover | |
| Author | Kaustubh Sen |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, Philosophical thriller |
| Publisher | Kindle Direct Publishing |
Publication date | April 2025 |
| Publication place | India |
| Pages | 85 |
| ISBN | 9798285528791 |
| Website | https://kaustubh-sen.vercel.app/ |
The Archive of Unwritten Futures is a 2025 Indian science fiction and philosophical thriller novel by Kaustubh Sen, a teenage author and artificial intelligence student. The novel was independently published via Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing and explores speculative metaphysics, parallel timelines, and the burden of free will through an emotional and cerebral lens.
Written at the age of 17, Sen’s debut is a rare example of youth-authored speculative fiction that attempts to bridge hard science fiction with philosophical introspection. The book stands as a reflection of both its creator’s intellectual curiosity and his difficult journey as an independent author navigating the limitations of the publishing world without institutional support.
Plot
[edit]Set in the year 2142, the story centers on **Eira Malkov**, a cognitively enhanced librarian who is part of a rare genetic anomaly known as a "Mirror" — individuals who dream of timelines that were never chosen. These dreams are not figments of imagination but **windows into alternate realities**, often haunting, sometimes prophetic.
Eira serves as a custodian in a hidden facility known as **The Archive**, a metaphysical repository that collects decision-paths the world never took. As the story unfolds, she discovers the existence of a dimension called the **Forkscape**, a plane of possibility that is born from untaken choices — every regret, every what-if, every road not taken.
Through the Forkscape, Eira is pulled into an invisible war between two factions: the **Archivists**, who seek to preserve reality by studying discarded futures, and the **Alters**, who believe the timeline must be rewritten. As she moves between versions of herself in alternate realities — one a revolutionary, another a mother, yet another erased entirely — she must confront the central paradox of her gift: *is knowing what could have been worth the cost of never truly living?*
Background
[edit]Kaustubh Sen, born in Jabalpur, India, began working on *The Archive of Unwritten Futures* during his first year as a B.Tech student in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. While many of his peers were focused on placements or internships, Sen found himself drawn to questions larger than code — about destiny, human choice, and memory.
He began writing without formal mentorship, industry contacts, or access to a literary agent. Over several months, while juggling academic responsibilities, technical projects, and hackathons, he drafted what would become his first novel. Facing rejection from several traditional publishers who demanded large payments or doubted his youth, he chose to self-publish via Kindle Direct Publishing.
In interviews and personal blogs, Sen has reflected on the emotional toll of trying to break into publishing alone. “They saw my age, not my pages,” he wrote once. “Everyone talks about discovering talent, but most gatekeepers wait for money before they recognize merit.”
Themes
[edit]The novel combines speculative science fiction with deeply philosophical questions. It draws on: - **Multiverse theory and parallel timelines** - **The illusion of free will in deterministic systems** - **The weight of memory and regret** - **Loneliness and selfhood in hyper-technological futures**
Critics and early readers have drawn parallels to works by Philip K. Dick, Jorge Luis Borges, and Blake Crouch — not in scope, but in ambition.
Reception
[edit]While *The Archive of Unwritten Futures* did not receive mainstream critical attention, it resonated within niche online communities in India and among young sci-fi readers. Reviewers on independent blogs and platforms like Goodreads praised its originality and poetic tone, especially considering the author’s age and context.
As a debut indie work, it became a modest success through word of mouth, shared among Indian youth fascinated by philosophy, AI, and speculative literature.
Publication
[edit]The book was published on Amazon KDP in April 2025. It is available in both paperback and hardcover. Distribution platforms include Amazon India and Saxo (Denmark).
- ISBN (Paperback): 9798285528791
- ISBN (Hardcover): 9798285537793
Author
[edit]Kaustubh Sen (b. 2007) is an Indian author, coder, and AI student at Gyan Ganga Institute of Technology and Sciences, Jabalpur. He is also the Chief Strategy Officer of **AIALCHEMIST**, a government-recognized student innovation body. Sen has participated in multiple national hackathons, winning 1st runner-up for his AI-based visualizer tool in his first semester.
In addition to writing, he builds AI tools and ethical hacking systems. *The Archive of Unwritten Futures* is his first published literary work. His official portfolio can be found at kaustubh-sen.vercel.app.
Legacy
[edit]Though early in his writing career, Sen's novel has become a symbol of youth resilience in self-publishing. The book is often cited in student-led literary circles and innovation platforms in India as an example of cross-domain creativity — bridging engineering and storytelling.
External links
[edit]Category:2025 novels Category:Indian science fiction novels Category:Self-published books Category:Philosophical novels Category:Alternate history novels Category:Debut novels
References
[edit]- ^ "Teen AI Student Publishes Sci-Fi Novel About Alternate Realities". Medium. June 2025. Retrieved 2025-06-06.