Stories
Dak Ackerthefifth and the Ethics of Heroism
A novel

At its core, “Dak” is a book about inflection points - since inflection points are how all stories, including our own, are written.
While Dak is aspiring to be the hero, he continually struggles with the decisions he makes (or doesn’t make) when fate calls, and explores the pitfalls that many of us are subject to at those times. As Dak puts it: “Me, Dak Ackerthefifth, always trying my best to figure out exactly what I was, repeatedly drawing aspirational lines of my silhouette often just in order to exist, I was repeatedly taken aback by Esther’s willingness, eagerness even, to erase the lines that outlined her being.”
Esther, Dak’s beloved, struggles within her own inflection points, especially around the chasm between her aspirations and the reasons therein. Esther’s brother Abe, successful and deeply discontented, faces inflection points that place his own goals, against goals of his family, against goals of having a positive impact on the world. Read the story behind the story
“Brave. Unapologetic. Compelling.”
—Goodreads Review