The writing desk — Ashburton, NZ
ABOUT G.W. LANGDON
G.W. Langdon was born in 1960 and lives in Ashburton, New Zealand. A lifelong learner and observer of the natural world, his intellectual journey has taken him from the accumulation of knowledge to the pursuit of wisdom — and ultimately to the question that underpins everything he writes: Who am I?
He began writing the APOSTLE series over twenty-five years ago. His influences span Bertrand Russell, Buddhist philosophy, Advaita Vedanta, and Christian mysticism — traditions that share a common thread: the conviction that truth lies beyond the reach of the mind alone.
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, the time has arrived for a story that asks whether technology will liberate humanity or imprison it — and whether the transcendent can survive in a world that insists on coding everything. In these decisive years, humanity must choose: wake up to its true nature, or be consumed by the very minds it has created.
THE APOSTLE SERIES
Heaven cannot be hacked.
The Vanity of Hope is the first book in the APOSTLE series.
Where does a medieval gamekeeper belong in a world of gods and biological machines?
Alice Holt Forest, 1499. Thomas Ryder and his fiancée Sarra Chambers are abducted by alien pirates but separated before they reach the planet Heyre — a world where genetic engineering surpasses evolution, and godlike artificial intelligence lords over truth and illusion. Nothing is as it seems.
Tom begins training to become a warrior-king to fight in the final stand of a galactic war against an undefeated destroyer of worlds. Sarra vanishes into the labyrinth of the Federation military, her fate unknown.
In worlds where technology promises knowledge without limit, dominion without consequence, and life without end, Tom risks everything for another chance to be with Sarra — only to discover that his greatest need and power remain beyond reach: the light within cannot be coded.
Feted as a savior-king, yet inferior to all around him, Tom’s mysterious bond with a supernatural creature points to his place at the heart of a war older than the stars.
The Vanity of Hope is Book 1 in the APOSTLE series, a 500-year odyssey of the heart, mind, and soul, spanning seven worlds and the eternal conflict between Light and Dark.
The Revised Edition is the definitive text.