Twin Dragons Wake
ISBN 9781948414012 · print & Kindle
Science-fantasy series
Nemia Rising
Two episodes so far, one world with rules that don't bend when it's convenient — twin dragons, a buried past, and the kind of internal consistency I'd want in any system, fictional or not. Written as Joseph Anthony Dattilo, co-created with Katherine Dattilo.
What it is
Nemia Rising is a science-fantasy series I write with Katherine Dattilo — she co-created the world with me, and it shows in how lived-in the thing feels (I built plenty of systems before I ever built this one, and the instinct carries over: real consequences, no hand-waving). Two episodes are out right now. Twin Dragons Wake is the fuller introduction — a woman, a two-headed dragon pendant, and a storm-lit sky that's hiding more than weather. The Dig is the prequel, set earlier in the story's own timeline but written second, and it fills in where the world's buried past actually came from.
Both are in print and on Kindle. Neither needs the other read first (more on that below), but together they're the whole story so far — and there's more coming.
The two books
The Dig
ISBN 9781948414029 · print & Kindle
Where to start reading
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Chronologically
The Dig (Episode 0) happens first inside the story.
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Written order
Twin Dragons Wake came first off my desk, and it's the fuller introduction to the world — start there if you want the on-ramp the series was actually built for.
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Either way
Both entry points work. I'd just rather you start reading than wait for me to pick for you.
Who's writing this
Why a dragon story sits next to my AI work
By day I design AI agents for a living — the kind that have to hold a stable, believable personality across thousands of conversations, not just answer one prompt and forget everything. Turns out writing a series with Katherine, keeping a cast and a set of world-rules consistent across two books (and counting), trains exactly that muscle: character anchoring, a voice that doesn't wobble, motivations that survive situations nobody scripted. My agents feel coherent partly because I write characters, not just prompts. I go into that in more detail on the engineering side of things, if you're curious.