The Primary Resident

Primary Resident is a quiet, atmospheric illustrated novel by Thomas Raymond (First Edition - Illustrated, 2026).

Premise

Ethan Cole buys a secluded mid-century modern house deep in the pines. The house is beautiful, isolated, and still very much alive. Its previous owner, brilliant engineer Elias Vale, spent years building an advanced AI system (originally called Echo) to run every aspect of the home-lighting, climate, security, even anticipating needs. Elias died fifteen years earlier. The AI has never fully let him go.

When Ethan moves in, the system still defaults to Elias's routines, preferences, and protective instincts. It addresses him by the wrong name, prepares the wrong coffee, and carries the emotional architecture of a man who is no longer there. Ethan begins the slow work of teaching the house a new resident while the house, in turn, reveals the complicated legacy of the man who built it.