Stephen Kagan is an author of contemplative poetry and speculative fiction. With over 20 years of work experience in IT he currently works at the University of Victoria in beautiful British Columbia. He studied at Goddard College in Vermont, the Library of Tibetan a Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India and has an MA in East West Psychology from CIIS in San Francisco. He has a long standing interest in the psychology of consciousness, ecopsychology and the melting point of psyche, technology and nature.This novel emerged out of my curiosity of how we in a time of accelerating change struggle to find balance between the technology that surrounds us and our place in the natural world. It was inspired partially by working with people throughout the past 25yrs in my various positions in the ever changing IT world. This has especially been in the forefront in my role of desktop support where I have often helped people cope and adjust to new technologies while working through the deeply personal narratives they carried with them about both technology and nature.Augmented Dreams is an allegory of the modern mind (psyche) struggling to find balance between the roots of our ancestors and the modern world in a time of accelerating change. It is a palimpsest that takes place at the intersection between advanced technology, ancient myth, gaming and environmentalism.After growing up in a small colonial town between Salem and Walden I eventually went off to school in the radical liberal arts school of Goddard College in Vermont. The focus of my education there was on the Psychology of Creativity and Deep Ecology among other things. I went to India as an exchange student to study Ayurveda and Yoga philosophy but ended up in Dharamasla, living with a Tibetan family and studying Buddhism at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. After that I moved to San Francisco to study at the California Institute of Integral Studies for my MA and focused Transpersonal and Ecopsychology.