"But you obviously have thoughts, you have feelings!" Njorun shouted. "You have a heart. Why are they trying to kill you if you are just like me?"

It is the fall of 2074, and Lisa Perdita is in her twelfth year of school. She has a lot on her mind: keeping her grades up for university scholarships, spending time with her best friend Hayden Itagaki, and playing as Njorun, one of the most powerful player-personas in the Global Multiplayer Game, Kognition. Her routine is shattered when Njorun comes across a dying player called ‘Sarah’ in an area the girl cannot possibly belong. Between diving into the World Animus Link Network, the massive global neuro-network that has replaced the Internet, and playing Kognition, Lisa’s relationships with herself and those she loves become drastically altered.

Through the eyes of the memetic system that connects all users of the WoAnLiNe called ‘Neurolink,’ Njorun’s hunt for Sarah forces her to change in unexpected ways. Heavily influenced by Norse mythology and Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen epic opera, Kognition’s Midgard is an endlessly-evolving world of user created fields, sprawling dungeons, seamless player-versus-player combat, and fearsome monsters. As one of the ‘future children’ of a generation where the next evolution of the Internet is literally inside the heads of its users, can Lisa Perdita maneuver through the game and her own life in order to find the mysterious ‘Sarah’ without losing herself to obsession and angering the will of the corporation that runs it?

Kognition is a story in four parts. The Four Acts of the Kognition Cycle.

“As a fan of science fiction, video games, and simply good storytelling, I couldn't put this one down and gobbled it up in one sitting. If you're a fan of any of these three features, or are just looking for something interesting to read, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. I'm keeping my eye on Brandon Chinn. He has the potential to develop into a very prominent voice.”

-Myles Griffin, The More You Nerd podcast

“Darker and more personal, Second Stage is a more ambitious follow up to First Fragment…Building upon an already well constructed world, you get more and more answers here. Saturated with detail, Kognition makes for a very believable future. Dipping into the grey areas of the impact technology as on the world, there is a compelling tale of self discovery, one you will want to follow through to the end. Kognition does not want to rush through events that unfold...it wants you to breathe it, live it. And most importantly wants you to care for the characters as much as the writer does - of which is very clear. As many of the characters plug into the world of Kognition, a world of infinite possibilities, I eagerly await to dive back in as well. Good work Chinn.”

-Joey DiCamillo III, Amazon Five Star Review

“Brandon R. Chinn is a writer to keep an eye on! His stories bring you into a futuristic world of children with the internet implanted in their minds, and the video games they play. Gamers young and old will love the world of Kognition, and the mysteries waiting to be unlocked.”

-Crispin Young, Author of Heart of the Current: Tales from Tahldia

“I loved the second installment of Kognition. Second Stage really does just that, it takes the stage that was expertly crafted in the first novel and expands upon it infinitely. There were so many pieces to this novel it's hard to know where to start…Seeing how Brandon connected the two main characters of this story blew me away. I totally did not see that coming…This story was an epic feat in telling, but the pacing was excellent, the plot was perfectly refined, and the ending left me craving more! This was a story of survival that refuses to die, and I think could stand the test of time.”

-Coby Brubaker, Amazon Five Star Review

There Seldom Is A Single Wave.