Hello, dreamers.  Sorry this is so late.  I’ve been somewhat preoccupied by news of Hurricane Irma, as my sister lives in Orlando.  I have been assured, however, that she is safe, and now I wait and hope.  Perhaps writing out my weekly posts will help take my mind off of things.  After all, there is perhaps no better means to escape reality than through writing.

I am 1

This Sunday, and indeed for the past several days, I’ve been playing around with an existing manuscript.

I am 1 was originally titled The Impostor.  The story revolves around “Will”, an android posing as a human while working in an office.  The original story left something to be desired, I decided.  Though it started off well, I felt that as the story went on it grew campy, almost obnoxious, and I really missed an opportunity to give this work a deeper impact.

Thus, I’ve found a new idea and I’m running with it.  As the story has been rewritten, the scenes in which Will comments on human nature by observing his coworkers are interspersed with both greater detail regarding his search for other androids, and expanded background explaining his origins.  The core message of the work now carries themes of personal rights, and indeed personhood itself, and invites the reader to consider how we might treat artificial intelligence that becomes self-aware.

Ultimately, the new climax of the story will involve Will being captured by a police detective, who turns out to be one of the androids Will escaped with years earlier, now hunting his own kind to protect his identity.

Submissions

Rather than tossing out large gluts of work at a time, I plan to begin submitting more frequently, in smaller numbers.  Currently, I’m preparing to submit Presence to Strange Horizons tomorrow, with further submissions to come following a few minor rewrites.

That’s all for this week, dreamers.  Until next Sunday…