LAUNCH OFFER · 50% OFF · $9.99 → $4.99REGULAR $9.99 · LAUNCH PRICE $4.99“An existential crisis in a good way”16 illustrated pages from the hidden book

The Dark BuddhaToo Many Faces

A machine lets you live as someone else for an hour. The people who use it start waking up with memories, languages and grief that were never theirs.

A psychological tech thriller. Instant download, reads on Kindle, Apple Books or any device.
Launch price — regular $9.99

Seven centuries apartthe same story is being told

Venice

1346, carnival night

A black mask, a marriage proposal, a quiet walk into an alley. By dawn the city is screaming, and history will call it the Black Death.

New York

2025, ReAugmentEx

A company sells one hour inside someone else's life. Customers are asked not to talk about what they saw. Most of them don't.

Liber Mortis

The Book of Death

Said to be written by the angel of death and hidden by Hermes Trismegistus. Popes have hunted it. Whoever holds it unravels the nature of reality.

Whose faceis looking back at you?

Michael Drakem dropped out of MIT, disappeared into Tibet, and came back with the blueprint for the most advanced virtual reality ever built. Seven crystals, water, light and a sphere of mirrors. One hour, one other life. Within a year, AKrec is running in twenty countries.

Then the reports begin. Users wake up speaking languages they never studied and mourning people they never met. Stephanie, a medical student still grieving her father, refuses to try it: he went to ReAugmentEx days before he died. Her flatmate Katherine builds VR for a living, can't work out how the machine does what it does, and can't stop going back.

Somewhere between Venice and New York, two ancient destinies are moving toward each other. When they meet, the line between memory and identity will not survive.

Watch the trailerbefore you open the first page

Written for readerswho ask the uncomfortable questions

Ink drawing of two carnival masks

You wonder who you are without the mask

Identity, ego and the self you perform every day. The book keeps asking which of your faces is actually yours.

Ink drawing of a lotus beneath a crescent moon

Eastern philosophy speaks to you

Buddhism, karma, attachment and the illusion of a separate self, woven into a thriller instead of a sermon.

Ink drawing of the pyramids of Giza

You suspect history left things out

Hermes Trismegistus, a Venetian carnival, a pope's secret search. Ancient mysteries written as if they really happened.

Ink drawing of a mandala with an eye at its center

You think science and spirit might meet

Quantum physics, consciousness and technology pushed to the point where they start to look like the sacred.

If these stayed with you long after the credits, you'll recognize the feeling.

  • The Matrix
  • Inception
  • Dark
  • Black Mirror
  • mr robot

This book is for you if

  • You like stories that keep working on you after the last page.
  • You enjoy piecing together clues scattered across centuries.
  • You're fine with darkness, as long as it leads somewhere.

It's probably not for you if

  • You want a light, fast escape for the weekend.
  • You need every mystery solved by the final page. This is Series 1.
  • You prefer spirituality that promises endless happiness.

What readers saidafter they closed the book

★★★★★

An existential crisis in a good way

If you're looking for a thriller that doesn't just entertain but makes you question the very nature of reality, you've found it. I was hooked by the idea of quantum physics and spirituality colliding; it's a premise that's equal parts terrifying and fascinating.

★★★★★

A brutally honest take on spirituality

“The Dark Buddha” is a book for those seeking an alternative perspective on spirituality, far from the cliché of “eternal happiness.” It is ideal for readers who are unafraid to confront their shadows and prefer a more philosophical rather than practical approach.

★★★★★

A modern day da Vinci

Leonardo Camargo Forero has penned a modern day masterpiece, a literary classic that blends themes of science, futurism, and the spiritual. A must read for those that seek the answers to the questions of life.

★★★★★

Prepare for a cosmic reckoning

It blends metaphysical sci-fi, ancient forces and quantum science. A powerful device and a hidden book unlock secrets of reality. Technology and spirituality blur as destinies collide across time. This gripping thriller asks: are we living illusions, or awakening creators?

★★★★★

Surprising, thoughtful, challenging

The Dark Buddha is both a psychological and a metaphysical story wrapped in the skin of a sci-fi thriller. It can become a story for people to talk about, debate, and maybe even live by.

★★★★★

Mind bending

This book is a mind bending metaphysical thriller that fuses quantum sci-fi, spiritual awakening, and psychological suspense. Bold, poetic, and deeply unsettling, it's a visionary debut that lingers long after the final page. I highly recommend this.

★★★★★

Unlike anything I've read before

The Dark Buddha isn't just a story, it's an experience. It reads like a mirror for the mind, constantly shifting as you go deeper. The themes of illusion, technology, and awakening hit hard, especially in today's world.

★★★★★

My brain's still spinning

Went in thinking I was getting a sci-fi thriller, but halfway through I was having existential mini-crises every few pages. It's like if The Matrix, Inception, and some deep meditation retreat had a baby. Seriously trippy.

Look insidea novel with a hidden book inside it

Scattered through the story are pages from a secret book: diagrams, symbols and fragments drawn by Nicolás Camargo-Forero. They aren't decoration. Each one is a key to a deeper layer of the plot.

  • 452pages across Series 1: Discoveries, Michael and Karma
  • 16illustrated pages from the hidden book
  • 2formats included, EPUB and PDF, delivered instantly
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Plague doctor illustration from The Dark Buddha

Still deciding?Take a look behind the mask

Every mystery begins somewhere. Get an glimpse into The Dark Buddha, where memory, identity, and reality are not what they seem.

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Leonardo Camargo-Forero, author of The Dark Buddha
Leonardo Camargo-Forero

Why this book existsa note from the author

I've always been fascinated by dreams, illusions and the patterns underneath human behavior. Where do our thoughts come from? Why do we feel pulled toward certain paths? What lies beneath the stories we tell ourselves?

My working life has been spent in advanced computing, building systems for aeronautics, security and space. And the deeper I went into technology, the more it kept circling back to the question spiritual traditions have asked for thousands of years: what, exactly, is a self?

The Dark Buddha is where those two worlds collided. It isn't a book of answers. It's a mirror, and what you see in it is up to you.

Leonardo

Leonardo Camargo-Forero is a Colombian researcher, entrepreneur and storyteller. He holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Science and Technology, co-founded UbiHPC, and co-created GenM, a technology that turns genetic code into music. The Dark Buddha is his first novel.

Questionsbefore you step inside

Is this science fiction or a spiritual book?

It's a thriller first. The machine, the mysteries and the characters drive the story. The philosophy lives inside it, the way it does in The Matrix, rather than being explained to you.

Do I need to know anything about Buddhism?

No. Every idea you need is inside the story. If you already know the concepts, you'll catch extra layers.

Is it religious?

It explores religion, history and belief from many angles, but it doesn't preach any of them. Readers of every faith, and of none, have found something in it.

What do I get, and how do I read it?

You get the ebook in EPUB and PDF, downloaded instantly after checkout on Payhip. EPUB works with Kindle (through Send to Kindle), Apple Books, Google Play Books and most reading apps. PDF opens on any device.

Is it part of a series?

Yes. Too Many Faces is Series 1 of The Dark Buddha and contains three parts: Discoveries, Michael and Karma. It ends with a door wide open, and the universe continues.

Can I try it before buying?

Yes. Leave your email in the section above and we'll send you a free preview.

Split-face artwork from The Dark Buddha

When you look in the mirrorwhose face is really looking back?

The Dark Buddha: Too Many Faces, cover

The Dark Buddha

Too Many Faces. Series 1, ebook edition · 50% OFF

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  • EPUB and PDF, instant download
  • 452 pages with 16 illustrated pages
  • Reads on Kindle, Apple Books or any device
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