Episode 170: Thomas R. Weaver – Artificial Wisdom

A chat with successful startup and tech entrepreneur Thomas R. Weaver about his award-winning debut techno-thrillerl, Artificial Wisdom.

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thomasrweaver.com

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About the Book

In 2050, the earth’s climate is out of control. A heatwave has killed millions across the Persian Gulf, including the wife of journalist Marcus Tully. But he has a lead like no other: the heatwave was unnaturally diverted from hitting the USA thanks to geo-engineering.

The president who gave the order is now running for an even greater office: dictator of the nation states, with a short-term mandate to make the hard decisions the nations can’t in order to prevent a climate apocalypse. His final opponent is the world’s first AI politician, Solomon, governor of New Carthage, a floating, domed city-state protecting the elite. Solomon’s creator may have the evidence Tully needs to make his case to the world, but in the middle of the most important election in history, someone will do anything to stop the truth from coming out.

Praise for Artificial Wisdom

Winner of the 2024 Independent Press Award, Best Techno-Thriller

“In this timely novel, Weaver seizes upon big-picture concerns of the real-world moment—including global warming, ethically bankrupt leadership, and the disintegration of trustworthy news sources—to create a vision of a future worth fearing. [Readers] inclined toward futuristic narratives about present-day issues will find this novel hard to put down.”   Kirkus Reviews

“A cracking read that’s full of twists, turns and thought-provoking ideas. It’s the best debut to cross my desk by a long way.” – Mark Leggatt, McIlvanney Prize-Longlisted Author of Penitent

Artificial Wisdom is a jaw-dropping debut that feels like a blaring wake-up call for the audience to appreciate the potential dire consequences of climate change and Artificial Intelligence. At first both subject matters seem to have their own gravitas but it’s the brilliance with which Thomas R. Weaver has connected the two trending topics to create a narrative that may seem to be some decades into the future but whose seeds are very well planted as you read this review.” – Best Thriller Books

“With a noir-ish style of writing – clipped, to the point, and immediately arresting — this takes a page-turning murder mystery into fresh territory, with a future-world fans of political sci-fi will be totally drawn into, and of-the-moment ethical issues everyone can relate to. Add to that a universal character journey of a man set on finding out why his wife died, and you have a sparky story that’ll satisfy a range of reading tastes.” – LoveReading

About Thomas R. Weaver

Thomas R. Weaver

Thomas R. Weaver writes stories about tomorrow to help make sense of today.

Aside from writing, Thomas is a UK-based tech entrepreneur. His last startup was acquired by Just Eat Takeaway; his new one is still in stealth but backed by a major Silicon Valley tech accelerator. 

After successfully launching a tech startup in the restaurant hospitality space which transformed payment and ordering experiences he realized he had no more excuses not to do what he always wanted to do: write fiction. Despite swearing to friends and family (none of whom apparently believed him) that he’d never run another startup again, he recently started another one focussed on bringing some of the ideas in Artificial Wisdom, his debut novel, to life, specifically around communicating in augmented reality. 

In Thomas’s spare time, he is an avid cook, and loves drawing, painting, and chess. He usually writes immediately after a workout and spa session down his local gym. Thomas collects more books than he has time to read, especially if they have beautiful covers, like Folio editions. He’s a sucker for great covers.

Episode 160: Breakfield & Burkey – Enigma Tracer

A chat with the writing team of Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey about their long-running techno-thriller series, Enigma, and Enigma Tracer, first book in their new Enigma Heirs trilogy.

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enigmabookseries.com

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Amazon Links for Engima Tracer
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About the Book

The clock is ticking … can Gracie uncover the truth?

Phillip Pliant is the wealthy opportunist plastics dealer, and CEO of Pliant Industries. He’s also a master thief—creating a pervasive threat to the manufacturing infrastructure in the Caribbean islands. With the cartel as his stealth client, the naïve city leaders have been seduced, enabling the production of more than 3-dimensional building materials.

And set the stage for massive chaos and destruction.

Pliant has locked up contracts, assets, and control of any future expansion. His contacts and clients salivate over their probable financial reward—the expected profits are monstrous.

Is the R-Group, now led by Gracie and the family heirs, strong enough to win against this predator? Can JJ’s CATS (Cyber Assassin Technology Services) act on the root-cause analysis in time?

  • Will the R-Group and CATS sabotage Pliant’s plan before it’s too late?
  • Can Jeff and Keith use their covert skills to put the bad guys away for good?
  • Will Gracie be able to squash Pliant and the cartels?

Can the chain of islands survive the underhanded tactics and threats? 

Gracie never considered their lives would hang in the balance between winning and losing. Will the devious plot be uncovered in time? The clock is ticking. Five … four … three …

About Breakfield & Burkey

Charles Breakfield works for a high-tech manufacturer as a solution architect, functioning in hybrid data/telecom environments. He considers himself a long-time technology geek, who also enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. Charles’s love of wine tastings, cooking, and Harley riding has found its way into the stories. As a child, he moved often because of his father’s military career, which even helps him with the various character perspectives he brings to life in the series. He continues to try to teach Burkey
humor.


Rox Burkey works as a business architect who builds solutions for customers on a good technology foundation. As a child, she helped to lead the kids with exciting new adventures built on make-believe characters, was a Girl Scout until high school, and contributed to the community as a young member of a Head Start program. Rox enjoys family, learning, listening to people, travel, outdoor activities, sewing, cooking, and thinking about diversifying the series.

Together, they started writing non-fictional papers and books, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as writing fictional stories. They found it interesting to use the aspects of technology people are incorporating into their daily lives more and more as a perfect way to create a good guy/bad guy story, with elements of travel to the various places they have visited either professionally and personally, humour, romance, intrigue, and suspense, and a spirited way to remember people who have crossed paths with them. They love to talk about their stories with private and public book readings.

Burkey also conducts regular interviews with Texas authors, which she finds very interesting. Her first interview was, wait for it, Breakfield. You can often find them at local book fairs or other family-oriented events.

Episode 159: Steve Truitt – The Mindset Chronicles

A chat with author and former television host Steve Truitt about his new science fiction novel series, The Mindset Chronicles.

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stevetruitt.com

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@AuthorSteveTruitt

Amazon Links for The Deletion
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Steve Truitt’s Amazon Page

About the Book

In a world where artificial intelligence has become an integral part of daily life, the sudden death of all AI sends society into a tailspin – a disconnected, surreal post-AI period known as The Deletion. As the world struggles to come to terms with the loss, bad boy genius, Peter Eriksson, has invented a new form of interconnection called MindSet to reconnect the world in this strange new time. Conceived from a century-old concept, “Crowd Wisdom,” this revolutionary device links the minds of all of those who possess the necessary implants, becoming the only hope for humanity to rebuild and recover from the loss of AI.

But Bethany Okoyé—Peter’s part-time lover/part-time rival—remains leery of Peter’s devices and isn’t shy about making her opinion known.

It is only when humanity encounters a global challenge unlike any other, that the two must find a way to work together to address a threat that could endanger the very nature of reality itself.

With action, suspense, and thought-provoking themes, this science fiction novel explores the dangers of our reliance on technology and the possible consequences of a world without it, while also delving into the potential benefits and dangers of a mind-connected society.

About Steve Truitt

Steve Truitt has been hooked on science, science fiction, and the future since he was three years old and his mother sat him down in front of the TV to watch the launch of Apollo 11. An avid space enthusiast, NASA history buff, and flown-in-space memorabilia collector, he’s a proud member of the National Space Society and the Planetary Society and boast the impressive fact of having met five moonwalkers.

Steve has served as a Los Angeles TV news anchor and hosted such acclaimed science & technology programs as National Geographic’s The Human Edge and Discovery Channel’s Cool Stuff: How It Works. He’s also hosted Dream DecodersGround Rules!, and Sony Playstation’s annual coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). He co-created and co-produced the renowned Discovery series Born Schizophrenic, which earned him and his team the CINE Foundation’s Golden Eagle Award for Excellence in documentary television. 

An avid Star Trek fan, he is also the co-creator and co-host of “Energize! A Star Trek Podcast,” which breaks down episodes of current Star Trek series. He even (after a determined letter-writing campaign) made a one-line appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise (Season 3, Episode 21).

Now a successful coach, trainer, and motivational speaker, Steve was awarded with the Reader Views Prize for Best Motivational Book of the Year for Stop Waiting For Permission!

His bestselling first novel, The Deletion, which examines life in a post-artificial intelligence world where a disconnected society scrambles for a solution thorough new form of interconnection called MindSet, came out last February. Book 2, The Spill,comes out this May.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four daughters.