The Chemicals

Chemical Affair is a near-future sci-fi novella that takes place in a world grappling with the ethics of biotechnology. The story follows Cassia Vincent, a grieving, middle-aged bio-lab technician working in the isolated depths of Primia, a research facility that engineers Homo delineae, a newly fabricated, “delineated” species of human. Primia’s work is too classified, deline research too controversial, and Cassia’s heart too conflicted for what happens next.

Jude, a prototypical deline, reaches out for her. The line between custodian and companion blurs as they detect hidden depths to their shared humanity. Their forbidden bond is discovered, then exploited.

As sabotage, abduction, and betrayal rip through the facility, Cassia must measure her own morals, motives, and maternal instincts. From clandestine escapes to ethical reckoning, Chemical Affair is a high-stakes exploration of love, control, and what it means to be, or to become, human.

The author, Karianne Hutchinson writes with the vivid sensory awareness of a synesthete—someone whose sensory world naturally intertwines—allowing emotions, sounds, tastes, smells, and touch to overlap as color, texture, shape, and movement.

Growing up with the rare but very real neurological trait, synesthesia, she developed a deep connection to the nuanced ways humans experience the world. Karianne's storytelling blends her heightened, complex, and nearly indescribable sensory perspective with unfiltered creativity and philosophical debate.

In addition to writing, Karianne is also an illustrator and designer, channeling her neurodivergence into layered, emotionally resonant art.