Code, Control and Consequence: A Q&A with Richard Peall, Author of The Binary Butterfly

The Binary Butterfly is a dystopian cyber-thriller that masterfully explores the tension between humanity and technology in a future where wealth disparity, corporate dominance, and AI surveillance define existence. With vivid, often haunting imagery and intricate character relationships, the novel immerses readers in a world where the line between hero and villain is dangerously thin.

Richard Peall’s work presents a compelling blend of high-stakes action, moral dilemmas, and thought-provoking themes about technology’s role in human survival. The layered plot, rich in atmosphere, keeps readers engaged through cliffhangers and mysteries, culminating in a powerful and unsettling conclusion.

In this Q&A, Richard opens up about the origins of The Binary Butterfly, the philosophical undercurrents behind its tech-heavy surface, and the future of its unpredictable characters.

What was the original spark that led you to write The Binary Butterfly - did it begin with a character, a concept or a question?

The origin of the entire story was a thought. I have for the longest time been creatively engaged as a storyteller in the medium and form of the social role of 'Games Master' for games like Dungeons & Dragons; the idea to shift paradigm came at a whim: I was exploring different fantasy concepts, and, perhaps drawn by the likes of Blade Runner and other cinematic pieces, the world of cyberpunk had always been an interest, but one I'd not explored.

I set about writing out a very rough frame of how a story might work in such a world and set about the motions of writing what I hoped would be a unique and interesting adventure in which my friends and I could play. The story that came from that, the events, and the characters are all born of imagination and shared excitement erupted into a full narrative, one that I eagerly wanted to express in a deeper way than the scrawled notes from a GM running a role-playing game...

The world of the book feels disturbingly close to reality. Were there real-world technologies or events that helped shape this dystopian future?

It is shockingly close to the things we see and experience in our world today, not intentionally so, but perhaps my subconscious train of thought could not escape them—perhaps idealising the often daily traumas of modern life into something a little more removed and a little less threatening… It's no surprise that within stories of this ilk it may feel like a portent of woe. Stories like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Equilibrium, or V for Vendetta—they all touch on the question of what happens if... we aren't paying attention? What is a future of apathy?

My story pushes this to an extreme, a mirror of humanity failing to see itself rotting. I can only say that this story became what it is because of the real people involved in its undertaking—so perhaps it feels too close to reality because it is a part of our reality?

Your characters walk a very thin line between heroism and villainy. How did you approach writing morally grey protagonists?

It's often easy to point at those in society and claim they carry with them true malice, and it may be just as easy to spotlight those that bring grace, but the human condition exists in the grey. And to the concept of life in a world of daily oppression and zero growth opportunity, of sensory placations and numbing sedations, what do people do? Is crime always wrong? When? Why? From what perspective? Whose perspective? Is persecution or systemic judgement valid? The worlds of cyberpunk always approach this plateau of seeing humanity stretched thin and pushed to breaking. People can be good, maybe even for bad reasons.

The tension between human emotion and machine logic runs throughout the novel. What drew you to explore this relationship?

Even though this story was birthed before the rise of the now popular LLM artificial intelligence systems that are now rife and widespread (and met with both joy and sorrow), I think computers were always going to be a paradigm shift for our collective path forward. The very root of my story raises a question that now so many millions are asking: Do we need this, and if we do, how can it be used without causing a collapse of what we consider society? I fear this is a very close question right now; at the time, I was thinking of this as merely hypothetical, perhaps with some recognition of the potency of technology.

The book feels cinematic in scope, from chase sequences to cityscapes. Did you visualise it that way while writing and do you have a background in visual storytelling or gaming?

Everything that happens in the story is a moment of gaming that happened between myself and the players of my game - the visions of a reality in the safe boundaries of role-playing. As the designer, I had ideas of the marks I wished to strike (much like the director of a stage play), but the moment-to-moment beats of the story itself are all retellings of things that happened at the table, among friends.

It's cinematic because, as the host of such games, I find myself giving descriptive and vivid descriptions so that my players might truly picture the scene - to experience depth in the game, even immersion, to be in their moment in that world, absorbed in the fantasy, the escapism, and the oldest tradition of our species: the sharing of stories.

If you could step into one moment or setting from The Binary Butterfly, just as a silent observer, where would you go and why?

I have a personal fascination with the character 'Davie' - perhaps because, out of all of the characters, he is the one that was crafted from nothing, with no player to power him, and yet he is tangible: he smells, he grimaces. I would love to watch him engaged in whatever he's up to and just see him being. I think I would have quite a lot to contemplate from seeing him just being who he is.

Were I to pick an alternate to gaze upon, it would perhaps be the quiet moments that surround Garro - he too is a fascinating character, for very different reasons. I'm quite pleasantly surprised at how vivid these personas have become!

Without giving away spoilers, the ending is bold and open-ended. Did you always envision this as part of a larger arc or possible series?

The ending was never planned. The story that came to be was as much a surprise to me as it was to my players - from the moments that built it, that brought us to that point… I certainly never had any intention of exploring this narrative in other directions, mostly because I had never planned to fully explore this one!

The atmosphere is so vivid - gritty, neon-lit, and tense. What helped you build such an immersive setting?

Although this may sound trite, and perhaps not nearly as inspired as the words that build the book out, mostly I just like thinking and daydreaming, and when I realise I have a basis of something, I begin writing. For this one, I unironically used LLM AI to help me iterate, reshape, contemplate my descriptors, and tinker with the flow of grammar to shape the ideas I had. I would bumble around a set moment, writing and reading it, editing and reading it, cutting and adding until what I read finally matched what was in my head, in a way that felt like I was able to feel the story from the words and it married happily to what I envisioned from my mind.

Outside of writing, what inspires you creatively - any surprising influences that have shaped how you think or create?

This is certainly the most difficult question. I have always been creative, always a daydreamer. When younger I read a lot of books, though, oddly, nothing akin to this work. I have always enjoyed immersing myself in the fantasy of other places and other times and the empathy of the lives of others in those fantasy places. Our real world is a bit boring and frustrating and enough to drive you mad! Healthy escapism gives me a place to relax, to unwind and enjoy being. I am a voracious enthusiast of computer games, as well as being quite a heavy consumer of film media and a wide gamut of what most would call comic books (but some may more politely refer to as graphic novels).

Outside of that, I am nearly always driven to be making something, a large part of which includes the role-playing games I already mentioned, but I also enjoy graphic design and 3D modelling. I cannot think there is anything particularly unusual about the things in my life that have influenced me. I've been fortunate enough to travel quite widely and driven enough to embrace a desire to think and understand, but I rather think it is my own internal daydreamer that drives a lot of my creativity.

How can readers follow your work or connect with you online?

The easiest way of catching what little online presence I have is via my Bluesky @RichPeall.bsky.social. I also try to put some of my other efforts on my hobby-focused website at www.afour.games, which is more of a blog than anything official or serious.