QSFer Trevor Barton has a new MM sci fi book out:
“adorable [and] horrifying” – Geek Syndicate
You’re a robot man living in 2060’s America. You’re off on a hot date. Forget fake news and flying saucers. What’s the one thing you should’ve packed?
Josh could be forgiven for being a little forgetful. In his world, the problem isn’t with AI. It’s with humans. (Some of them, at least.)
A threat is looming, and with it an ultimatum. Brobots like Josh can rise up. Or they can face extinction. Josh has decisions to make. But where will they leave a post-singularity world?
Part two of the Brobots trilogy.
Geek Syndicate Review:
“Clearly…a response to the political situation we find ourselves in come 2017. …[A]t its heart it is a character piece and a romance in the best way; the pairing in it is adorable [and has] great little character moments. [But it’s n]ot all light and fluffy. Quite often it can be dark [or] horrifying, but in a way to make you feel for those involved. …[I]nteresting sequel, combining politics with heart…builds nicely…”
Giveaway
Trevor is giving away a copy of the first book, “Brobots”, over at Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/252000-brobots
Excerpt
Susan nodded. ‘I don’t have any radio equipment that works at appropriate frequencies. Begging is quicker than building. It’s also preferable to stealing.’
Jared fired up his adopted computer console. ‘Dark Web. Forum lists. Put out a call. Say it involves Mars for some bait. I’m sure it’s OK to mention which State we’re in? Then we take a pod and invite them to come see some Brobots.’
Jason nodded. ‘Right. Just don’t mention the part where they’re all taking naps. Otherwise they might want to up and leave before we’ve so much as said “hello Mars.”
‘Well what would you have us do, Jason? Swan into a hardware store without any cash and say “give us your best rack or we’ll set the adorable button-nosed robots on you for bunny-boiler death by cuddling?”
Susan took up the lead. ‘Edward? Perhaps you could help Jared with that part? Jason? Would you like to work with me? I’m thinking that if we can’t find weak points to follow in behind the signal hack, perhaps we can cause disruption of our own. Render the DroneSky unusable.’
Jason, about to fire back at Jared, cooled a little. He let it go. ‘Old-fashioned D-DoS, you mean?’
‘Maybe?’ Susan nodded.
‘I want no part in that,’ Jared mumbled, searching now for dark web versions of web-based forums: the anti-matter of everyday social media. ‘I’ve hacked one too many times already. No more Keanu moments for me. Not even if it’s for MilitariMacch soldiers to sing like the Mary Poppins.’
Author Bio
Trevor Barton was born on the south coast of England to a biker and a supermarket attendant (whose brother was a trucker). He got sent to Air Training Corps for toughening up. His curious local town was into line dancing and hard-line Baptist theology (making it closer in vibe perhaps to a southern US State than to South East England).
“Myth of the Cyborg: The Perpetuation of a Cultural Fantasy” was the title of his M.A. Dissertation in 1998. Part of this involved studying the philosophy of artificial intelligence with Ray Monk and looking at issues in representation with Deniz Göktürk (now at Berkeley).
There not being many jobs in Cyborgology, Trevor took the editorial helm of a U.K. search engine (because Google U.K. had not been heard of then). His tie-in magazine had distribution throughout the U.K. and the actor who plays Blackadder’s Baldric was the advertising voice.
With later jobs involving a great deal of U.S. business travel he’s published globally recognized websites, bar-crawled around Nashville and taken sidewalks with alligators in Florida. He’s also slept rough (for charity), established a peace center, helped save four lives, been ordained as a Buddhist and cleaned satellite dishes with a mop and bucket.
Trevor has lived experience with mental health. His mother died when he was 16 and his father was disabled. Trevor lives in the U.K. with his husbear. Nothing is too serious now.