Michael Swartz
Author-Scientist
Debut Novel: SPLIT
Published by Koehler Books
Publish Date: August 29, 2025
ISBN 979-8-88824-816-4
"It's who we are."
That's what Ethan Rivers has been told by his mother since he was a small child. It's her answer to why there's not enough money for a new couch, why his father gets angry, and why Ethan has two different colored eyes.
But there is a scientific reason Ethan has two different colored eyes. Ethan learns that he is a chimera, the real but rare in-utero fusion of fraternal twins into a single child; but he is Split. The traits on his left side resemble his father, and the traits on the right side resemble his mother. When Ethan's father becomes violent, Ethan wonders whose traits and which side will be responsible for the person he will become.
Read Chapter One
Reviews
Michael Swartz has written a painfully beautiful story that moves with the speed of a racing heart. SPLIT is a masterclass in complex family drama, reminiscent of Pat Conroy and Wally Lamb."—Ron DeChristoforo, author of This Way Out
A fast-paced tale of the struggles between light and darkness, Split takes the reader on a climactic ride from love and security to betrayal and its consequences. The future… chosen or pre-determined? You decide.—Jim Gulledge, author of Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea
Split is a gripping novel that will keep you turning pages—and questioning the boundaries of identity—until the very last word.—Deborah Jeanne Weitzman, author of The Sinking of the Leonardo da Vinci
