Welcome back to the Burning Salt – Jaka Cultural Exchange Archive. The previous entries focused on the history and institutions that shaped Jaka civilization. This entry turns toward a smaller problem that became unexpectedly important after first contact: what humans should call an individual Jaka. The Jaka did not lack a way to identify one another. Their system was far more precise than human naming conventions. The problem was that precision alone did not create familiarity, trust, or the…

Burning Salt Is Now Available Today is release day. After months of writing, editing, revisions, and far more worldbuilding than ever made it into the final manuscript, Burning Salt is officially available. This novel marks a departure from my previous books. Rather than memoir, Burning Salt is a work of science fiction built around first contact, alien civilizations, and the unintended consequences of exploring a universe that is far stranger than humanity ever imagined. Whether you prefer…

Welcome back to the Burning Salt – Jaka Cultural Exchange Archive. The previous entry explored why the Jaka continue to maintain what humans would call a monarch. This entry moves backward into their history and examines the crisis that created the Royal Caste. The conflict did not begin between unrelated civilizations or competing species. It began when one civilization adapted itself to two environments on the same world, only to discover that biological separation could eventually become…