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Cortex
Contact Binary
The clock is ticking on a man’s life. Will she choose devotion or duty?
New York City, 2056. Sarah is torn between love and a dangerous lie. When she attempts an illegal biotech heist with her hacker crew, they’re ambushed in a police sting. On the run with one accomplice dead and her boyfriend wounded, she’s forced to search for a black-market answer before he bleeds out.
With the cops hot on their heels, Sarah tracks down a dubious informant for aid. But it’ll take a desperate deal with an insane half-human machine to save her lover’s life. And if they find out who she is, they’ll both be permanently deleted.
Can Sarah restore the man she loves and keep her deadly secret from coming to light?
Contact Binary is a breathless cyberpunk science fiction novella set in the gritty Cortex series. If you like surprise twists, dangerous affairs, and terrifying AI, then you’ll love this exclusive electrifying tale.
New York City, 2056. Sarah is torn between love and a dangerous lie. When she attempts an illegal biotech heist with her hacker crew, they’re ambushed in a police sting. On the run with one accomplice dead and her boyfriend wounded, she’s forced to search for a black-market answer before he bleeds out.
With the cops hot on their heels, Sarah tracks down a dubious informant for aid. But it’ll take a desperate deal with an insane half-human machine to save her lover’s life. And if they find out who she is, they’ll both be permanently deleted.
Can Sarah restore the man she loves and keep her deadly secret from coming to light?
Contact Binary is a breathless cyberpunk science fiction novella set in the gritty Cortex series. If you like surprise twists, dangerous affairs, and terrifying AI, then you’ll love this exclusive electrifying tale.
36 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2020
22 people want to read
About the author
Jim Keen
4 books11 followersI write books about the people who fascinate me in worlds that amaze me. What is humanity’s future post AI? What happens when automation consumes the workforce? What will colonies look like on the Moon, Mars, and Europa? What if X happens?
I love crime, thrillers, and stories about people with secrets. If there’s not a big twist along the way, I’d never write the first word.
My own story has had its own share of curves and surprises. I’ve been writing about intelligent machines, spaceships and desperate heroes since my childhood, but that happened while I pursued a twenty-year career as an architect. After working and winning awards in London, Sydney, and New York, I left that profession behind to become a full-time author.
The international bestselling Alice Yu series takes place forty years from now, in a world transformed by mechanical intelligences—AI’s big brother. Yu is a loner cop atoning for past sins. Through the series she discovers what it is to be human, while becoming something much more in the process. If you like the steely future noir of William Gibson, James S. A. Corey, and Martha Wells, you’ll love these sci-fi thrillers.
Alongside the Alice Yu trilogy, I’ve written four free novellas, plus drawn hundreds of illustrations and designs from the future. You can get all of those for free at https://jimkeen.com.
I hope you like the Alice Yu series, its inhabitants and settings. I love hearing from readers, so drop me an email anytime at jim@jimkeen.com and let’s chat.
I love crime, thrillers, and stories about people with secrets. If there’s not a big twist along the way, I’d never write the first word.
My own story has had its own share of curves and surprises. I’ve been writing about intelligent machines, spaceships and desperate heroes since my childhood, but that happened while I pursued a twenty-year career as an architect. After working and winning awards in London, Sydney, and New York, I left that profession behind to become a full-time author.
The international bestselling Alice Yu series takes place forty years from now, in a world transformed by mechanical intelligences—AI’s big brother. Yu is a loner cop atoning for past sins. Through the series she discovers what it is to be human, while becoming something much more in the process. If you like the steely future noir of William Gibson, James S. A. Corey, and Martha Wells, you’ll love these sci-fi thrillers.
Alongside the Alice Yu trilogy, I’ve written four free novellas, plus drawn hundreds of illustrations and designs from the future. You can get all of those for free at https://jimkeen.com.
I hope you like the Alice Yu series, its inhabitants and settings. I love hearing from readers, so drop me an email anytime at jim@jimkeen.com and let’s chat.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 30, 2020
This extremely short novella adds a lot to Keen's unique New York and to the story told in the first book of his Cortex series. What stood out most to me was that the world building continued with strong emphasis on how it impacts the characters. The situations and terrifying nature in which they casually approach them made the story feel even more realistic. Keen, I will keep coming back for more! Keep it up.
Displaying 1 of 1 review