A visionary debut collection of interconnected short stories explores the rise of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, revealing their profound impacts on human existence.This is not your typical sci-fi, but an intricate puzzle. Can you solve the mystery that is Peter Byrell?From a small rural American town subjected to horrors brought by an elaborate deep-fake hoax, to Black Mirror-esque fables about technology dependency, age extension, and psychological invasions, Artificial Artifacts invites readers on a journey where the boundaries between human and machine blur, and the consequences of our creations become chillingly profound.The stories include a number of fascinating speculative technological concepts, including a fitness watch that predicts your death, nanotech that can read your thoughts, AI avatars that mimic your personality and handle small talk for you on dating websites, immersive VR/AR domes where you can do yoga in the cosmos, and movies that adapt in real-time based on your mood and subconscious thoughts.As enigmatic tech mogul Peter Byrell's fascinating story unfolds, so does the tapestry of our digital age, leaving us to ponder: in a world where truth is malleable and consciousness is encoded, what does it truly mean to be human?