Interview with Andrea Graham

Andrea Graham, my wife and co-author on Tales of the Dim Knight and Fly Another Day has published her own series of stories in The Web Surfer series, (full details available at her website.) She graciously agreed to an interview.

Q1: Where did the idea for Web Surfer come from?

From recycling story ideas and story manuscripts that I’d scrapped for one
reason or another. I had to get the right tech in place. My hero expressed a
need for a holy purpose, a calling from God, so prayer became an important
factor in reformulating my ideas.

Q2: You had some difficulty in writing the first novel due to an accident.
Could you tell us a little a bit about that?

Gosh, that is a long story. I talk about how I lost my first novel
(and how I got it back) at Helping Hands Press’ blog. The second
part of my Web Surfer testimony begins a three-part discussion of how God
challenged me while answering my prayers in mysterious ways. I’d love more
comments on that over there.

Q3: Could you tell me about the users anthology?

It was re-named the Web Surfer Series as the individual episodes are being released as an e-serial. The first five have been bundled together and released as Web
Surfer Complete Series I. In total, it is ten shorter works all featuring the same main character, the AI-Man, from ten different users’ perspectives.

At the turn of the Twenty-Second Century, cyberspace had no bad AIs, only bad
coders. However, AIs measure their lives in days, eternity is out of their
reach, and they fail to bring about the advent of a holy infant in cyberspace.
Alexander Lloyd McGregor is an infant, but he isn’t holy, and only he is saved
from death by his father converting his cells into biological supercomputer
components. The child develops an AI mind called Sander and a human mind called
Alex. Sander is a bad AI subjected to slavery’s chains to get him to obey his
code as he serves a billion users all around the world. He’s also a king who
reigns over most of Earth’s computers, in a global society where
tech-dependency can kill. Freedom’s calling to Sander like a siren. His answer could shake the earth.

Q4: What are some of your favorite stories of your own in the anthology?

Four of the ten episodes are my own work; six were written by three
author friends of mine with me acting as a creative consultant and project editor.
Of the four I wrote, I am especially fond of “Creature of the Web” as it shows
Sander’s first date with Manna Jenkins from her perspective. It plays off the
tropes of paranormal romances, as I understand them, with Sander struggling
with a dark secret and seeking to protect the girl he loves from it.

Q5: I see that these stories are available individually. Are there essential
stories here that you have to read to understand the novels when they come out?
Or which you consider particularly must-read?

I wrote the first novel first, and it should stand alone fine, but
some readers would consider the first episode, “Regeneration” as essential as
it is Sander’s origin story. The others collectively give a broader view of Web
Surfer’s world and how things work in it. Readers may appreciate that before
the first novel focuses in on Sander’s favorite user and Sander’s own human
mind.

Q6: Is the world of Web-Surfer one you’d like to live in, or is the future
depicted in there something mankind should avoid?

I sought to be realistic and some aspects of their future aren’t so good. I
wouldn’t want to endure the decades that preceded their future. They’re living
in the era. following the World War III Reconstruction Era, and that war bathed
an apocalyptic portion of Earth in blood. The era the Web Surfer series takes
place in is like the eye of the storm. The tech is both cool and scary. The
people, er, characters I love are the only real attraction to living where they
live. If God decided to tickle me pink and make my Pinocchios real boys and
girls, I’d see them in Heaven anyway.

Q7: Who is your favorite superhero?

Spider-Man. I rather identify with him a bit. Loved his daughter, Spider-Girl, too. They should bring her back in the main universe.



Q8: If you could write an official, in-universe canonical story for
any character or series that’s currently under copywrite, who would you like to
write for and why?

Probably Doctor Who though I don’t think I’d want to tackle the Doctor
himself. Many a Time Lady has been born on Gallifrey or elsewhere who could run
off with a Tardis and have adventures of her own too. I’d call her the
Professor and hope she did well enough to prove we don’t need to emasculate men
to lift up women.

Thanks for the interview, Andrea. The Web Surfer Complete Series 1 is available now with future installments coming soon from Helping Hands press.