The Infinite Lawman -- Speedrunning, Simulations, and Free Copies!

[Em]

Hi! My second novel, The Infinite Lawman, comes out October 1st, and I would love to talk about the book or simulation narratives in general or just see how you are all doing! There is currently a giveaway going on, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, just take your clicky finger and feel free to clicky-enter. Or not, it's completely up to you.

About myself, I am a professor at a university in Georgia and I like to write about the intersection of man and simulations. My first book, 2014's Kickaround Nixon, dealt with this topic, too (as well as Moby-Dick and Pac-Man).

Anyway, in short, book one in this series (I, Speedrunner) deals with a future where simulations are used as prisons. In particular the books are centered in one way or another around the "speedrunner," which you videogame fans may recognize--a speedrunner, in our world, is a person who (often) utilizes glitches in a game's programming to beat that game quickly. My book imagines a future where, instead of beating a game, "envirts" inside a simulation use glitches for fame and fortune. In this first book, the sim-prison in question is one that is modeled after the American frontier circa 1891, a choice that is thematically linked to the reader's perspective in the series.

Here's a cool little problem you can help me with: two and a half years ago when I started this first book, few people (including myself) were aware that HBO was planning on bringing back Crichton's Westworld (which granted deals with a real-world theme park and robots, but still).... Now I feel this looming anxiety that, no matter what I do, people will see this book as a ripoff of that one. Maybe that's another reason why I'm posting, to be honest.... I have worked hard to craft an overarching narrative that people will enjoy, and now I worry that before it can get off the ground I will be dismissed. I mean, I've been dismissed/critiqued before, no problems there--my worry is simply that I won't get a chance to be dismissed (or recognized) for the quality of my storytelling itself, which is of course my goal.

Man, now I'm just rambling. Okay: in summation: here's a book about a future where prisoners are sent not into dungeons but into simulations, and the people who fight tooth and claw to survive in them.

Thank you for your time, and I would be more than happy to answer any and all questions :)