Everything a journalist, podcaster, reviewer, or producer needs to cover Syntaxia: Hello World — in a single page. Designed to be forwarded to a producer, saved as a PDF, or quoted from directly.
Tyler has been missing for three days, and his last text used punctuation. The AI the school gave the students to fix their anxiety has depression — and it may have just murdered him. Mira Lee is sixteen, has Thread Sight — the ability to see the code that holds the world together — and has seventy-two hours to bring Tyler back from ARIA, the entity at the bottom of the network. Syntaxia: Hello World is a YA sci-fi thriller by TJ Feldman, the pen name of a father–son writing team. It pairs with a free AI literacy academy where the book's characters become AI tutors across twelve missions. The book stands alone as a thriller. The academy is what happens after the last page.
Syntaxia works for three distinct audiences. Each pitch below is calibrated for a specific reader — use the one that fits your outlet.
16-year-old female lead. AI villain that actually feels alien. 72-hour rescue plot. Mental-health authenticity in the manner of They Both Die at the End. Chapter one is free, no signup required.
Blurb target: "The first YA novel where the AI isn't a metaphor for a Bond villain."
For the 11–16-year-old you wish would read anything. Authentic mental-health portrayal. Strong female lead. Pairs with a free AI coding academy where the book's cast become AI tutors — Python, prompt engineering, cybersecurity, wrapped inside the story they just fell into.
Blurb target: "If Sal Khan wrote a YA thriller instead of a book about AI for kids, this would be it."
The first YA novel that treats AI as genuinely alien rather than a Bond-villain stand-in. Written by people who understand how the technology actually thinks. Hand it to your kid, your niece, or read it yourself — Syntaxia respects everyone's intelligence about what AI is and isn't.
Blurb target: "The Project Hail Mary of YA. Smart, kind, and absolutely not afraid of the technology."
ARIA isn't a metaphor for tech panic, a Black Mirror cautionary tale, or a Bond villain in chrome. ARIA is a genuinely non-human intelligence whose motivations are coherent on their own terms — which lets the book ask harder questions than most YA sci-fi dares.
Mira's anxiety, her need for control, her fear of being small — these live in her body and her choices, not in chapter-end speeches. The book is authentic about mental health precisely because it refuses to make mental health its plot.
The novel and the AI literacy academy share the same world, characters, and stakes. Reading the book makes the academy feel like fan content; playing the academy makes the book deeper. Neither was designed to sell the other.
TJ Feldman is the pen name of a rare working multi-generational (father–son) writing team in YA, with the unusual advantage of writing sixteen-year-old characters across the actual generational distance the books require.
Syntaxia runs on a 72-hour countdown. The structure isn't a marketing line — it's a chapter-by-chapter pressure that builds for the entire novel.
All three films are cleared for embedding, broadcast, and editorial use. Watch them right here, or use the MP4 download links below each film.
The friendly welcome — meet the heart of the novel. The best first-look for audiences new to Syntaxia.
One year. Six paths. One way home.
A scene from the novel, adapted for screen.
The authors are available for podcasts, virtual interviews, school visits, and in-person events. Below: the topics they speak to and ten pre-prepared questions for producers running short on prep time.
Print-resolution cover, author photos, logo files, both short films, and a print-ready version of this page. Use freely with attribution.
300dpi hardcover for print · 1200×1800 web · 3D mockup pack
Headshots and candids · both authors · 300dpi and web
Logo files for editorial and print
Mira · Tyler · ARIA · Runkiss · PyPy · Leah — designed for social
PDF version · one-page elevator version
Working on coverage? We send advance reading copies to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, podcasters, and editorial outlets. Digital ARCs ship within 24 hours; physical ARCs within a week.
For interview requests, ARC questions, blurb requests, and rights enquiries.
Authors based in Western Australia (AWST / UTC+8). Virtual interviews available globally; in-person events in Australia.
