Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist currently employed as a patent examiner; he also has five patents of his own for Internet and telecom inventions. He has published over 50 short stories in such magazines as Nature, PodCastle, and The New Haven Review. His novel The Shadow Minister (fantasy, Water Dragon, 2025) was just published, and his novella  Pâtissier et Étranger (science fiction/baking romance/spy thriller, Brigid's Gate, 2025) was recently published. Laurence is a member of Codex and SFWA. He attended the Viable Paradise workshop. Check out his many other books and stories at https://laurencebrothers.com/bibliography Pronouns: he/him.