About the Book
A troubled, twenty-something, female genius with a sexual kink tries to solve a mystery and discovers a tech that could destroy humanity. Cassie is an artist celebrated across the two planets. She was born into a world that has seen climate catastrophe, unstable governments, giant quantum computers, and routine space travel. From that crucible of change, a new culture with the delicacy of a spider web has risen. Cassie’s tech genius mother, Ada, was responsible for creating much of that new balance. She built the software needed to connect people at a level primitive 21st-century social networks could only fantasize about. When Cassie is 17, Ada disappears, and Cassie drowns herself in a world of brilliant artistic projects and sexual adventure. As a twenty-something, Cassie is driven to find out what happened to her mother. As she pokes at the mystery, she disturbs the delicate web that holds together humanity. Enemies emerge from the shadows to twist her mind at every turn. She is faced with a choice: let it go or risk humanity itself!
About the Author
G.M. Steenrod studies at the knee of the universe and has a peculiar fascination with human nature. He is also a recovering academic with 4 different degrees, a former computer programmer, entrepreneur, and an expert martial artist.
He has successfully written non-fiction for decades with a focus on making hard things approachable and useful in daily life. Periodically, he has successfully reversed this process.
Currently, he lives in the high mountain desert of Arizona so his mind has room to spread out. Also, his cats insist on it for some reason.
Qn 1: Can you tell us more about your book What is it about?
The main character is Cassie, a 20 something artistic genius. She creates these highly popular virtual worlds that play on screens–part of the tech that replaces our current social media. At the open of the book, she is a bit of a reclusive celebrity. We find her a bit bored and dissatisfied with her life. The reasons for that dissatisfaction is apparent to the reader but is unknown to her–and is something she must come become aware of through her own growth.
The world that the book is set in is one in which the world is recovering from a massive climate and social collapse–an apocalypse, but not the meteor type. It is an apocalypse that we see in the rearview mirror so that we can focus on the life lived by Cassie.
Cassie’s family, both her parents and grandparents, were movers of society both during the apocalypse and the recovery. She had been living a life independent of that family history, but she finds the mystery of her mother’s death, and her personal dissatisfaction with her own life drawing her into the drama of her family.
As she delves into that drama, she makes a discovery that could ultimately result in the unravelling of the post-apocalypse balance.
Qn 2: Who do you think would be interested in this book, is it directed at any particular market?
This is a hard sci-fi novel, and fits solidly within the futurist genre, as Arthur C. Clarke used it. It’s a likely projection of the future.
This story is the story of a strong woman and her relationships that have been formed by interaction with technology. I have found so far those female readers very much enjoy the characters and their struggles.
Qn 3: Out of all the books in the world, and all the authors, which are your favourite and why?
I’m an avid reader, so that does not seem like an easy answer. I am a fan of classics, and I’ve studied Shakespeare extensively. You can see that influence in my writing with ideas of character design and structure, and his desire to combine art with having a good time. Storytelling is entertainment after all.
Scifi-wise, I’ve been re-reading Asimov and the Foundation series. I admire his ability to paint a picture of humanity in broad strokes eons, while also focusing on the details you need to build character. I was also surprised on this re-read at his ability to write solid-driving action. He’d be fine writing the next Transformers movie.
I also like Clarke and his use of futurism to define likely possibilities of the future. It is amazing how many of today’s inventions he predicted in his works. In my own writing, I explore likely extensions of tech and humanity. I believe that dreaming of the future is critical to the development of humanity.
Qn 4: What guidance would you offer to someone new, or trying to enhance their writing?
Writing is basically three skill sets–technical, content, and market.
Study the fundamentals of writing well enough to be able to assemble a good piece. Once you have achieved sufficient command, break those rules intelligently to achieve your intended effect.
In the academic world, I met plenty of people with an MFA with technical command, but that lacked anything worth saying. They had no great stories because they had no meat in their lives. We draw on our lives and the lives of those we interact with when writing. We come to understand the human condition through it. Go live.
Market–An eye needs to be kept to the audience and the selling of work to live. Unfortunately, I did a bit of genre-mixing with this book, which makes it harder to sell in the short term. You will sell more of anything initially if you work with only a slight change of what is currently popular in a category. History will forget you quickly, but you’ll have some green. Big hits always come from disruption but so does risk. The market must always be considered, but it must be considered as a risk calculation.
Qn 5: Where can our readers find out more about you, do you have a website, or a way to be contacted?
Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/tomorrowlovetroubles
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gm_steenrod/
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