Awards, Press & Interests

Echo of Forking Paths

Juan Manuel González's story begins nine months after a devastating fire incinerated his home and took the lives of his wife and two young daughters. Obsessed with the concept of fate, Juan is tormented by the belief that a single, different choice on the day of the fire—such as not attending his boss's sister’s funeral or simply staying home as his wife suggested for a "family sick day"—could have altered their fate. He views his survival not as luck, but as a condemnation to live without meaning. In his attempts to cope, Juan seeks counsel, though without success, from his cousin Ezekiel and from a local priest, who happens to mention the controversial, best-selling philosophical novel, Kismet Wants a Do Over, noting that some want it banned because it raises difficult questions about free will. Juan's neighbor, Mrs. Han, who has offered steady, unflinching advice on carrying grief, later gives him a copy of the book, hoping it will give him "perspective". The external plot is driven by corporate pressure: Juan, a project coordinator at Vector-Dynamics Consulting, receives a disappointing performance review, partially attributed by his CEO, Julian Croft, to his extended family leave. Croft, who views life as a random "Big Wheel" and urges staff to take control, tasks Juan with a morally "delicate" new assignment for Apex Pharma. Juan's job is to analyze the production of the vital diabetes drug, Glumexitide, and provide a Yield Analysis Report that identifies areas to introduce inefficiencies, suggesting discretionary quality checks or modifying output to reduce supply. The objective is explicitly to accelerate demand, reduce supply, and thereby raise the drug's price to boost Apex's profits. Despite his intellectual horror over compromising his integrity, Juan accepts the assignment, rationalizing it as a necessary act of survival against the void, even feeling "alive again" in embracing the scheme. At Apex, Juan immediately encounters a bureaucratic nightmare. Juan soon finds that generating ways to create poor outcomes "came naturally", successfully implementing stricter thresholds and increasing machine downtime. Throughout this external struggle, Juan reads Kismet Wants a Do Over, where the Archivist guides Kismet through philosophical "Challenges" that mirror Juan's identity crisis. Despite Mrs. Han’s firm warning against skipping ahead, Juan, restless for a verdict, turns directly to the final challenge: The Tavern. The scene is a verbatim account of the conversation Juan had with a stranger in a bar on the day of the fire. Kismet enters a tavern identical to The Trolley Stop and successfully persuades the man (Juan) to go to the funeral alone. Kismet rejoices, believing he saved one life. However, the Archivist then reveals the devastating truth: the three lives lost as a result of the man’s choice to go alone were his wife and two children. Juan realizes that his single, most regretted choice was not a free act, but was predetermined and scripted in the book. Overwhelmed and convinced the book is "evil" or the "work of the devil", Juan attempts to destroy the book by setting it on fire in his sink. He rushes out of his apartment and races toward Mrs. Han’s house, clutching the burnt novel against his chest. When he arrives, he discovers a devastating connection between his special assignment and Mrs. Han’s great niece. Echo of Forking Paths is a haunting literary novel that questions whether our greatest tragedies are determined by destiny, or simply by the heartless indifference of the infinite consequences resulting from the choices we make.