The book updates now. Twenty years ago, this post couldn't exist.

Into Alignment has settled — and if you bought the print edition, email me a photo of it and I'll send you the new one. On the deal, the ebook, and how publishing changed.

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Notes from the Shore

A few pages at the back of the book. Page 4

Notes from Timothy O’Brien.

Occasional notes about writing Into Alignment — where the book came from, what the reporting got right, and the questions a novel can hold open that a report has to close.

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A dark open-plan office at night seen from inside: rows of desks all dark except one glowing amber monitor, and beyond the window wall a deep indigo coastal night with a blood-orange eclipse moon low over foggy water

October 8, 2026 · Notes from the Shore · 02

Nirvana, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Into Alignment

Why Nirvana belongs in a novel about AI, why Gilbert and Sullivan surprised me, and why the Pacific Northwest coast never quite relaxes me.

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The view from the driver's seat at night: a dark dashboard with a small glowing radio dial, a black coastal road under a midnight sky, and a blood-orange eclipse moon low over the ocean

October 7, 2026 · Notes from the Shore · 01

The radio humanized the agents. So did my novel. Go figure.

Frustrated by how human The Daily made the Hugging Face agents sound, I went home that Friday night and started a novel. It took two weeks. The drive, the irony, and the ending. Spoilers for the end of the book, clearly marked.

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The book updates now. Twenty years ago, this post couldn't exist.

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A few pages at the back of the book. Page 4

Nirvana, Gilbert and Sullivan, and Into Alignment

The radio humanized the agents. So did my novel. Go figure.