It started three years ago…sometime in early 2022…

Doing things the hard way felt like it was working for me until one blustery day in spring 2022, a casual Google search yielded unnerving results. It started with a search for my website, ehughesbooks.com. I’d Google my name, “E. Hughes” and let Google’s algorithms take me where I wanted to go.

The ever-reliable search engine would faithfully display the results…my website landing right at the top. This was a website that I built in 2009. Earlier incarnations of my webpage looked like something out of 2001’s GeoCities or Angelfire. Yep. I’m that old.

As I scanned the results for information or updates that referenced my books, I noticed something peculiar. A web address eerily similar to mine sat at the bottom of the search results, except instead of “books” the word “poetry” was in its place. I saw my name but it wasn’t “me.” Keep in mind, I’ve been published and writing under my first initial and last name, “E. Hughes” for 20 years.

This wasn’t the first “E. Hughes” to emerge, so stumbling across another writer with the same name wasn’t usually a big deal.

Years ago, a different E. Hughes published books about brewing beer that seemed to find its way onto my bio and erroneously became part of my catalogue of books, where it had been attributed to me on various retail websites. Sometimes the retailer would remove them at my behest. Sometimes they didn’t. It was an annoyance, but since there was nothing I could do about it, I shrugged and moved on. It’s not uncommon to share a name with someone else, and that includes other authors. I didn’t mind because our identities were so clearly defined, it didn’t matter if they shared the same name.

But this particular website that had appeared in Google’s search results was unsettling. I saw a website and Twitter page bearing my name, except it wasn’t my twitter, my website, or likeness. A who-is search would later reveal that the website was registered only a year before. The difference between this E. Hughes and the other E. Hugheses that have come and gone, was that their identities were not closely aligned to mine. I’m a metaphysics author, writer, and poet with works of poetry that have been in publication since the mid-nineties. I have a catalogue that includes over twenty published books and poetry published to online journals that have come and gone since the early aughts.

Why would someone want to write under the name of an already established author? And write the same genre of literature? Wouldn’t this person want their own identity? It’s not like I’m hard to miss. I had a strong Google presence. It was peculiar. Unable to rationalize why this person was writing under the same name, and had even built a website with a eerily similar web address, I made a mental note of it, and moved on. People come and go. I chalked it up as coincidence.

Fast forward to May 2022 and the release of my philosophy chapbook, Time and the Multi-Universe: A philosophy of time and time travel. The book’s release felt surreal. Philosophy had always seemed to fall under a domain that belonged to men—in a space I didn’t seem to belong. In preparation of releasing my philosophy books, I spent years forging a gender-neutral identity as “E. Hughes,” managing to keep my photos publicly offline for several years. No one would know if I was male or female without significant research. Prior to this release, most of my books were nonfiction, fiction, mystery, suspense, or romance. Yet, I had never felt so complete as a writer, than when I was writing poetry or studying philosophy. With the chapbook’s release, I promptly announced Time and the Multi-Universe and my new title on my website, Twitter, and Facebook. I broadcasted the book to my entire network. Press releases went out, and media outlets were contacted. Though the philosophy chapbook was my way of testing the proverbial waters, I was proud to have finally dipped my big toe into the crystal clear waters of philosophy and metaphysics. My first metaphysics treatise was published digitally in 2007. In 2022, finally had the courage to release the work in print media, next to my name: E. Hughes.

The first thing I did after announcing the book’s release, was update my website to reflect my status: Philosopher. A title I had rightly earned through extensive studies in college where I majored in liberal arts with a focus on literature and philosophy. For the first two years, I attended a city college in Chicago, and upon completion moved on to a four year private Christian University, whose program matched my interests. I rarely mention this institution as people are inherently suspicious when a person writing philosophy or science-adjacent material has history with a religious institution. There is always fear of covert proselytizing, even if that person’s academic pursuit was secular. As a middle-aged woman some 30 years later, I no longer rely on my former studies or academic background; a foregone era of my life that had all but evaporated when I forged a path into the real world some 25+ years ago.

I spent the past two and a half decades building a real-world identity as a writer and professional in the real-world, preferring that to the insulated protection of academia, becoming published, running a screenwriting magazine, working in the technology and software sector, with a brief two-year stint in the legal industry where I worked for an international trademark and patent litigation law firm, before ultimately daring to escape the icy landscape of corporate America for the nonprofit sector. I spent the last ten years in special education while simultaneously teaching my publishing class at a college for seven years. One of my final classes was at University of Wisconsin’s Annual Writer’s Institute before the program was canceled in 2020. After retiring from education in 2018 for medical reasons, and taking on the process of book editing full-time, I finally had time to reflect on my passion. Metaphysics philosophy, it was. Consciousness. Idealism. Materialism. Dualism. Concepts that not only intrigued me but had even made its way into my last fiction novel.

After updating the website to reflect my status as a philosopher, with much interest in the book from some of my most loyal readers, less than a week later, I Googled my website again and noticed something peculiar. My doppelganger had also updated their website to also reflect their new status as a “philosopher.” Same name. Similar web address. Both poets. Both philosophers. I was intrigued. Yet another uncanny “coincidence.”

For years, I chose not to have photos or images online, making it easy for some other “E. Hughes” to become me, without a photo to establish that we are in fact, two different people. This forced me to do the unthinkable…I was finally forced to upload my pictures to the internet and social media, something I had publicly refused to do for years as I wanted to maintain a gender neutral profile as a writer who had finally had the courage to release my philosophical works to the public. I felt, for many years I could not do this because I am a woman. I recall in high school (in the late 1980s) being told by a counselor to pursue something that I can do, like secretary work, when I informed him that I wanted to major in English and become a writer. It was a vocational high school. He then scheduled my vocational classes that included typing, shorthand, and other secretary-related classes. The slight was not lost on me, even at the age of 14. That was the world I lived in and had to survive to get to where I am today. The 2000s was better, but not easier. My second vocation in high school was 3 years of architectural drafting, a skill I acquired as a teen and still have to date. I often use those skills in some of my art. In college, when I shared the same decision about majoring in English to a college advisor, she politely steered me to liberal arts. This was in the early 1990s. She thought I would enjoy it more than English. She was right. Liberal arts encompassed a broad range of disciplines like the humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and natural sciences. Each discipline would play a pivotal role in my life and development. The humanities (literature, philosophy) would become a huge part of my background and career. Social sciences would become the backbone of some my professional work. Fine arts would inform my work as a still-life painter. Natural sciences like physics, mathematics, and astronomy would become instrumental in my philosophical writings. While I question the reason why my college advisor steered me away from pursuing an English degree, I am glad that she did. Because of my diverse academic training and output, I am often referred to as a polymath. My professional background is also a reflection of my education.

Over the next few weeks and ultimately, the next few months, the other E. Hughes was suddenly everywhere, posting feverishly on Twitter—postings that were picked up and displayed by Google next to my firmly established profile. Each time I Googled my name, the other E. Hughes emerged—as if in a competition to see who could win Google-and my long established name. She went from the bottom of the search engine to the top. Suddenly our websites and images were linked together at the top of every Google search. The more her identity aligned with mine (both poets, both now listed as philosophers) our websites and Twitter accounts, became entwined as if the algorithms were being manipulated to keep us entangled. Even my Google Knowledge grid held some of her images—and mine, almost as if we were the same person. In fact, it still does. Sometimes, even our tweets were the similar. I would tweet something about Donny Hathaway. Within a short span of time, they would do the same. Was this the multiverse? I chalked it up to a coincidence, but stopped tweeting as much. It was just too creepy. (Note: Donny Hathaway is one of three music artists I ever listed on my social media feeds. I found it odd that a person in their late 20s or early 30s is name-dropping a famed music artist, who died in 1978, well before they were born, and has not been in regular radio rotation for four decades. An artist who is favorite of a much older generation?)

After a while, the situation was no longer peculiar. I felt violated. My name meant something to me; 16 hour-long days writing poetry, philosophy, short stories, and novels, networking, investing, interacting with the public and sending updates via my newsletter. The years-long drudgery of public events and selling books. My name was personal to me. It represented decades of hard work, and suddenly someone was riding my coattails without investing the time or effort it took to build the catalogue of books and presence that belonged to my body of work as “E. Hughes.” It felt like the person was doing it on purpose. Like they were trying to match my digital footprint in order to confuse algorithms. I’ve coexisted peacefully with other people who shared the same name. But the updates were increasing at a fevered pitch in tandem with my updates, as if the person was trying to prove that my name and efforts suddenly belonged to them and I didn’t have the right to my own identity. Later, I announced that my book was short-listed. Suddenly this person was announcing that their work was long-listed. I win an award, suddenly that person wins an award. It suddenly became a competition to win a name that I had rightfully built. There are other E. Hugheses out there. Including two other people who are also writers. Because they are not aligning themselves specifically as poets and philosophers, their profiles are not entangled with mine. We are all unique. A simple middle initial on the part of the other E. Hughes would have sorted this out.

At first—I was in fear of identity theft. Then I felt searing anger. Was this person aligning our identities to mislead people? I’m not Stephen King or Anne Rice. Short answer—I didn’t think I was important enough for that as a midlist author. So I asked a younger relative about it, and she casually said, “Oh, people in my generation copy everything.” This unnerved me even more after our talk about TikTok and how creators sometimes steal each other’s trends.

Nevertheless, I tried shrugging it off as a coincidence. After all, this person seems credible, educated, and dedicated to their craft. I see passion and talent there. Even so, it didn’t hurt them to share the name of someone who had already built a credible background. The doppelganger had their works published in various online journals, just as I had done some twenty years ago when I was a student. This person is young, a student…and more importantly, a human being. By the end of 2022, the other E. Hughes announced that they were pursuing a PhD in philosophy, and was entering a doctorate program. Why would a person who is educated and talented in their own right, not feel adverse to writing under a pen name that was already strongly in use? It’s not like this is their own name—they were actively choosing to write under the same name as someone who had already successfully built a career as an author. Would it be normal if someone started writing under the pen name “Stephen King” when there’s already a Stephen King out there prominently selling books?

“Nah…” I started to think that this was a bit ludicrous on my part. It had to be a coincidence. But there were too many contradictions pointing in the other direction. This was a person who criticized white male philosophers as not being “aware” and did not fool them, but had suddenly decided to pursue a doctorate in philosophy studying those very western philosophers they decried and denounced on Twitter. Continental philosophy is the study of 18th and 19th century European philosophers. This focus seemed directly opposed to their poetic works, which had been centered around Blackness and black aesthetics. Meanwhile, I had openly and in print referenced western philosophers like 17th century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes among other western philosophers.

I set out to prove my fears wrong. This was a person who just happened to share the same name and career. With some Google and Twitter searches, I discovered that not only did we share a first and last name, but that our birth dates were only a couple of days apart. Which was also peculiar. I use a fake birthdate on social media to prevent identity theft. This person’s birthdate is the same date as the fake one I used, which is only a few days apart from my actual birthdate. Was this also a coincidence? If so, it’s so eerie. Why didn’t the other E. Hughes distinguish herself with a middle initial or write under a different pen name? I’m no Stephen King, but I’m also pretty hard to miss. I have a strong digital footprint. Even with some of my earlier publications disappearing as journals and publishers faded over time. Decades as a writer has given me a strong enough presence. I arrived at the conclusion that having the same name as someone else, meant less to this person than it did to me.

My searches also yielded other results. I used the Way Back Machine to determine what their website looked like before the doppelganger decided to become a “philosopher.” In January of 2022, the person’s website read, “Poet. Writer. Scholar. After the philosopher update to my website, the doppelganger updated their website to read, “Poet | Philosopher.” Yep…another timed coincidence. Shortly after, I updated so that my website was more specific about the type of philosophy: Metaphysics philosopher. Any change similar to that would be blatant. Naturally, my doppelganger eventually updated their status to mention their connection to “Black Metaphysics.” this was paired with a symbol that reminded me of the logo for the Olympics, except with three rings instead of six. Even that wasn’t original. They’re called Borromean Rings, and they are used in mathematics. In fact, the image was right out of Wikipedia but was presented as I’m guessing a Twitter art installation. Paired with an image, Google broadcasted the “tweet” from Twitter (now X) in search results. Using and tweeting words like “metaphysics” shortly after I updated my profile to specifically mention metaphysics, would keep our profiles in lockstep, confusing algorithms into treating us like the same person or entity. Not sure if that was the intent, but it sure seemed like it was. If this wasn’t the intent, this is the downside of sharing a name. If these are coincidences, having her own name and identity would have prevented this situation from becoming an issue.

Then I saw something that changed my mind about everything…what I felt was the smoking gun. It was a tweet that started with, “I’m no philosopher but…” only two years before. This led me to conclude that perhaps I was influencing or inspiring some aspects of this person’s identity or decisions. That at some point there was some cosplaying of my identity, which was the public’s own mistake if they thought we were the same person. Perhaps that led to the other E. Hughes trying to prove themselves when my photos emerged, showing that we were in fact, two different people.

In the redacted screenshot, it’s clear that the other E. Hughes (who uses the pronouns they/them) never considered themselves an actual philosopher until I announced my status as a philosopher on my website and Twitter in 2022. Their update to “philosopher” followed almost immediately after my announcement. I took screenshots because I was unsure at the time if it was or could become identity theft. It was unsettling.

At what point is imitation no longer flattery, but a form of dishonesty or lack of originality? Do I have a right to find it off-putting that a random stranger is wholly committed to entangling our identities?

My daughter thought I’d taken it too personally, until she discovered the existence of multiple A.Js, which annoyed her. Fortunately for my daughter, the other parties were fairly distinct, with one of them even clarifying her identity so she was not in danger of the other A.J.s. She made immediate moves to make her profile more distinct. The other A.J. was a football player so it was easy.

In 2023, I politely moved on from the situation, focusing on research for my new philosophical treatise.

However, the situation would emerge again early 2025, when I received an offer for a laureate position at a notable local nonprofit. After a brief discussion, I had worked out with the organizers that I would fly in for the ceremony, until I realized that the laureate position was in California, and must have been meant for the other E. Hughes. I’m in the Midwest. I canceled my participation and informed the organizers that they may have meant this opportunity for the other E. Hughes as this person is part of their local community. I would not accept an opportunity or appearance intended for another writer, a much younger writer who is trying to build a career as a writer. For the first time, I finally reached out to the other E. Hughes, and informed them about the error for the laureate offer, and mentioned that they would be contacted by the organization as I had politely forwarded her information and website. I also pointed out how writing under another author’s already established name could negatively impact us both and cause confusion like this to happen again in the future and that they should do the right thing. It made me wonder, how many offers intended for me, may have ended up in their inbox? I did not receive a response. Perhaps they couldn’t muster up the courage to respond.

While I believe that some of these incidents are intentional, I believe other incidents may be coincidence. However, had it been the other way around, and that person was the original author and namesake, I would have did everything in my power to disentangle us. That’s something any responsible writer would do.

There’s a part of me that feels sorry for the other E. Hughes. Whatever these coincidences are, I hope in time they are willing to sort through them to come up with an original identity that they can feel proud of, as a writer and an author.

updated: 2026

E. Hughes (the author)