Vision Protocol is a near-future thriller set in Seattle, where a breakthrough neural implant enables blind users to 'see' through smart glasses that stream video directly to the visual cortex. For beta tester Maya - a violinist who lost her sight - the system is a miracle: objects arrive with tags, faces, places with layers of history she can "deep dive" at will. But when overlays start mislabeling people as "Unknown," and private moments surface as prompts only she can see, Maya suspects the platform is harvesting more than images. A whistleblower engineer vanishes, investors push a rushed launch, and the company's learning model begins rewriting reality to fit its training data. Pursued through Pike Place and glass-walled boardrooms, Maya must choose: accept the curated vision that millions crave, or expose the code that could blind a city. Vision Protocol asks what we risk when seeing becomes a subscription-and truth a software setting.

Scott Hamele is a Kansas-born author whose work spans historical fiction, modern thrillers, and sci-fi comedy with adult humor. A Salina native living in the Kansas City area since 1991, he writes stories rooted in family history and place. His books include Dust and Honor-The Story of Peter Cornelius; The Petticoat Butcher-The Pinkertons' Hunt for Jimmy Ward; Capone's North Road; Dustwings-Black Ops; Area 51-1/2: Cosmic Misfits; and Hanna's Room-Secrets Sealed Since 1942: A Novel of Nazi-Occupied Paris. His latest, Vision Protocol, is a techno-near-future thriller set against cutting-edge science and escalating stakes-underscoring his broad range across eras, tones, and genres.