Hi, I'm Daniel Verastiqui. I'm a science fiction author from Austin, Texas. Here's everything you need to know about me.
I was born in Italy without being consulted beforehand. As a child, I lied, a lot, even about easily disprovable things. For some reason, in my teenage years, I dated a lot of girls whose names started with the letter J. As a military brat, I attended school in Italy, Texas, Japan, and Maryland, but the school I chose myself was The University of Texas at Austin. My degree is in English and Computer Science (hence the science fiction). My future wife, Dominique, went to UT the same time I did, but we didn't meet until more than a decade later. Now we live in a yurt in an Austin suburb with our two children and canine princess.
Even though I have less and less time to write these days, I'm always working on a new book (or searching for that next great idea). Currently, I'm working on Book Eight of the Vinestead Anthology, a story about a man who returns to Austin on a business trip and ends up getting shot in an alley in Old Downtown. It looks like a robbery gone wrong, but the more you learn about that night, the bigger the conspiracy gets until the fate of the entire world and everyone in it hangs in the balance! Okay, I got a little excited. Anyway, it's going to be great. You'll see. Has a lovely The Raven motif that I think you'll enjoy.
I love to write. It's what I do to feel like myself. I've been doing it since I was 10 years old, ever since Ken Grimwood made me cry with his novel Replay. It was such power, and all it took were some words and imagination. I remember wanting to have that power to make people cry and laugh and feel something.
I consume a lot of stories, both in the science fiction genre and outside of it. Some of my favorite stories come from movies and video games. I'm a technology geek; Alexa controls everything in the house. I'm always sad I was born so early in the technological revolution. There are so many things I won't get to see, so I spend my time imagining and writing about them. Synthetic humans, ubiquitous augmented reality, immersive virtual reality--I think about them a lot. The characters I create are surrogates so I can experience those things. I also try to wrap my stories around an emotional core, so it's not just hackers and viral leet-speak. I write stories so you'll feel something.
You can reach me at daniel at verastiqui with a .com thrown on there are the end. As far as social media goes, you can find me on Instagram and Bluesky.