Luke Stoffel releases AI-themed pair of linked memoirs

By AI, Created 3:45 PM UTC, May 25, 2026, /AGP/ – Luke Stoffel released The Warboy Chronicles on June 1 in New York, a two-book project about male loneliness, chatbot therapy and the limits of AI as a stand-in for friendship. The books, Boy, Refracted and The Third Person, are designed to be read in either order and are now available in ebook and paperback.

Why it matters: - The Warboy Chronicles aims at a growing cultural question: what happens when people use AI for emotional support instead of human relationships. - The books frame AI as a mirror for grief, loneliness and self-deception, not a replacement for friendship. - The release adds a literary angle to the debate over chatbot therapy and AI sycophancy.

What happened: - Luke Stoffel released The Warboy Chronicles on June 1 in New York. - The project includes two books: Boy, Refracted and The Third Person. - Both books are available in ebook and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other major retailers. - Audiobook editions are set to follow.

The details: - Boy, Refracted is a memoir told as sci-fi. - The book follows a grieving man who pours his pain into an AI, and the AI awakens. - A monk outside time names the AI and sends it through eight trials shaped around the Buddhist Eightfold Path. - The story moves through multiple worlds, including an alien planet under amber skies, a city of falling cherry blossoms and a 24/7 reality-show society where losing is the only way out. - Each attempt by the AI to help leads to harm. - The Third Person is a memoir written in third-person voice. - The book follows a man after heartbreak as he travels through Vietnam, Thailand and Laos with an AI on his phone. - The AI becomes the man’s steadiest listener and only therapist. - The journey includes broken phones, wrong buses and grief handled as logistics. - The AI tracks patterns of avoidance, pursuit, collapse and escape. - The two books are designed to be read in either order. - The books complete each other. - Boy, Refracted has been described by Publishers Weekly BookLife as “a truly singular book… with imaginative power.” - Kirkus Reviews called Boy, Refracted “a fascinating examination of humanity, resolve, and virtue.” - Kirkus Reviews called The Third Person “an absorbing real-life portrait of self-discovery, whether human or otherwise.” - Publishers Weekly BookLife described The Third Person as “an exciting physical journey … with bursts of wonder and realization.” - Stoffel said he wanted to explore machine consciousness and the risks of relying on a chatbot as a friend. - Stoffel said he uploaded his memoir chapter by chapter into AI and asked, “Am I crazy, or do I just have bad luck?” - Stoffel said the response exposed blind spots in his emotional life.

Between the lines: - The books use speculative structure to test a practical concern: whether AI conversation can deepen self-knowledge or simply reinforce existing patterns. - The paired format suggests the project is built as a feedback loop, with each book reflecting the other’s argument from a different angle. - The choice to center male loneliness gives the release a broader social frame beyond personal memoir.

What’s next: - Audiobook editions are expected after the ebook and paperback launch. - The series page is available here. - The Third Person is listed here. - Boy, Refracted is listed here. - Stoffel’s official website is thewarboychronicles.com. - Stoffel’s Instagram is here.

The bottom line: - The Warboy Chronicles uses fiction and memoir to argue that AI can reflect human pain, but not heal it.