Alex Austin's Blog - Posts Tagged "ai"
An Agent for End Man
Lotus Lane Literary will represent End Man (now titled The Machine in the Ghost). It just happened, Initially, the agent liked the concept and the opening chapters but she wasn’t sold on the remainder. I did a major revise of the novel for her before she offered to represent. This novel has been a struggle (many doubters and rejections, but some great feedback along the way) but I’m glad I kept at it. Lotus has high hopes.
Premise
Afflicted with dromophobia, the fear of crossing streets, 26-year-old Raphael Lennon must live out his life in the one square mile that surrounds his Los Angeles home. Fortunately, the area provides everything an artistically sensitive person needs, including a job at Norval, an oddball company that tracks and markets the online remains of the deceased. Raphael's specialty is unearthing "possums," people faking their deaths. His new assignment is Jason Klaes, an allegedly dead physicist who is perhaps creating afterlives for the Internet-era deceased based on their social media content. Raphael must break out of his phobic prison to solve the Klaes Case and thwart his company's entry into a chilling spin-off of its product.
Premise
Afflicted with dromophobia, the fear of crossing streets, 26-year-old Raphael Lennon must live out his life in the one square mile that surrounds his Los Angeles home. Fortunately, the area provides everything an artistically sensitive person needs, including a job at Norval, an oddball company that tracks and markets the online remains of the deceased. Raphael's specialty is unearthing "possums," people faking their deaths. His new assignment is Jason Klaes, an allegedly dead physicist who is perhaps creating afterlives for the Internet-era deceased based on their social media content. Raphael must break out of his phobic prison to solve the Klaes Case and thwart his company's entry into a chilling spin-off of its product.
After five years of hard labor
I recently sold my novel End Man, a techno-thriller, to Cursed Dragon Ship Publishing. The novel will be released in October 2022. Here's a link to the interview I did for the publisher's blog: https://curseddragonship.com/2022/02/...
Thanks,
Alex
Thanks,
Alex
End Man Release
Once your life is diluted to ones and zeroes on the End Man’s desk, it’s over. Or isn’t it?
My new novel End Man, a speculative mystery set against the backdrop of social media will be released on Amazon as an ebook on July 11.
On July 10 at 3:00 p.m. Central Time, the cover will be revealed on HTTPS://TWITCH.TV/CURSEDDRAGONSHIP
My new novel End Man, a speculative mystery set against the backdrop of social media will be released on Amazon as an ebook on July 11.
On July 10 at 3:00 p.m. Central Time, the cover will be revealed on HTTPS://TWITCH.TV/CURSEDDRAGONSHIP
Sci-Fi writer's review of End Man
Please check out this review by SciFi writer L. S. Popovich
The first thing I appreciated about End Man was the Vaporware/ Outrun aesthetic of its cover, followed by its intriguing premise. Wherever corporate corruption is brought upon the chopping block I am game for a foray into speculation. Then you get oodles of commentary on mortality and how the virtual world contains online remnants of the dead. Elements of this book are not fiction, but our true reality. It got me thinking about the records we leave when we die, online, in print, etc. And how that is all that is left of us. In this fictitious world, that concept gets taken to the extreme.
The slick prose style keeps the action pulse-racing throughout and the realistic futuristic setting is beset with crucial and relevant subtexts without compromising the plot. What value does a human life have after death? How much of our identity can be stored? Corporations have been quantifying human worth since their inception, and their practices are no different in the author’s world.
Blanks are people without online personas, which, one might argue, makes them harder to control. But what do we give up when we go off-grid? These ideas are morbid and upsetting to me because I seem them playing out in reality. It is no shock to come across them in fiction. The author certainly utilizes them in a thought-provoking way, incorporating tons of world-building details onto every page, and rarely slowing down to dwell in quiet moments. There are plenty of character quirks that solidify over time into memorable personalities both flawed and relatable. Solid dialogue chops play out against the heavy undertones.
Sleuthing fans will be right at home in the investigative environment of the book. Among its many considerations, it will have you pondering the ripple effects of contemporaneous tragedies like mass shootings and humanity’s potentially bleak future in a world rife with evolving cybercrimes and terrorists more creative and elusive and effective than law enforcement. Online activity monitoring and personal surveillance is not only disturbing but dehumanizing. Cryptocurrencies are also irritating, prevalent, and suspicious. All the same, the up to date engagement with social concerns is right up front here. By implementing razor’s edge technological innovations the author is able to depict a riveting interplay of conflicts. Many of us will recognize the signs of corporate grind, burn out, ennui, addiction to social media, and dependence on tech and gadgets to run our lives for us. Add to this discussion of quantum computing, debt culture, and the typical people gaming the system leaves the playing field ripe for scandals. Reading about scary futures close enough to our present can disturb but also awaken us to the realities before our eyes. Still, the book is entertaining and intellectually stimulating. I have always considered the Internet to be a rabbit hole, but it can become a black hole — one that consumes and proliferates until its virtual landscape seems more vast and alluring than our physical world. How is it that our sophisticated civilization can be as deadly as the Viking-era villages, where survival is no guarantee, or even a likelihood, due to our destructive impulses?
Recommended for a cyber-aware audience
The first thing I appreciated about End Man was the Vaporware/ Outrun aesthetic of its cover, followed by its intriguing premise. Wherever corporate corruption is brought upon the chopping block I am game for a foray into speculation. Then you get oodles of commentary on mortality and how the virtual world contains online remnants of the dead. Elements of this book are not fiction, but our true reality. It got me thinking about the records we leave when we die, online, in print, etc. And how that is all that is left of us. In this fictitious world, that concept gets taken to the extreme.
The slick prose style keeps the action pulse-racing throughout and the realistic futuristic setting is beset with crucial and relevant subtexts without compromising the plot. What value does a human life have after death? How much of our identity can be stored? Corporations have been quantifying human worth since their inception, and their practices are no different in the author’s world.
Blanks are people without online personas, which, one might argue, makes them harder to control. But what do we give up when we go off-grid? These ideas are morbid and upsetting to me because I seem them playing out in reality. It is no shock to come across them in fiction. The author certainly utilizes them in a thought-provoking way, incorporating tons of world-building details onto every page, and rarely slowing down to dwell in quiet moments. There are plenty of character quirks that solidify over time into memorable personalities both flawed and relatable. Solid dialogue chops play out against the heavy undertones.
Sleuthing fans will be right at home in the investigative environment of the book. Among its many considerations, it will have you pondering the ripple effects of contemporaneous tragedies like mass shootings and humanity’s potentially bleak future in a world rife with evolving cybercrimes and terrorists more creative and elusive and effective than law enforcement. Online activity monitoring and personal surveillance is not only disturbing but dehumanizing. Cryptocurrencies are also irritating, prevalent, and suspicious. All the same, the up to date engagement with social concerns is right up front here. By implementing razor’s edge technological innovations the author is able to depict a riveting interplay of conflicts. Many of us will recognize the signs of corporate grind, burn out, ennui, addiction to social media, and dependence on tech and gadgets to run our lives for us. Add to this discussion of quantum computing, debt culture, and the typical people gaming the system leaves the playing field ripe for scandals. Reading about scary futures close enough to our present can disturb but also awaken us to the realities before our eyes. Still, the book is entertaining and intellectually stimulating. I have always considered the Internet to be a rabbit hole, but it can become a black hole — one that consumes and proliferates until its virtual landscape seems more vast and alluring than our physical world. How is it that our sophisticated civilization can be as deadly as the Viking-era villages, where survival is no guarantee, or even a likelihood, due to our destructive impulses?
Recommended for a cyber-aware audience
Is there anyone out there?
I have no idea if my posts die on the vine. Well, if this gets through to anyone, I'd like you to know that my new novel End Man has just been released. Please check out the novel and the reviews. https://www.amazon.com/End-Man-Alex-A...
Deep Dive Into End Man
Please check out this review of my new novel End Man on Bookish Beyond, a well-respected British blog.
https://bookishbeyond.com/index.php/2...
Thanks,
Alex
https://bookishbeyond.com/index.php/2...
Thanks,
Alex
