Rust in Peace: How Tech Has Dated My Stories
Out sick. Unexpected winter. Peleos snippet. Humorous look at how tech has dated my stories. Upcoming book events this year.
I took a quick jaunt down to San Francisco for a work trip last week only to catch a cold 3 days in. I drove back to Eureka the second I felt symptoms and was at least able to ride the rest of the miserable illness out in the comfort of my own home—which is currently covered in white hail. On the plus side, this is the only day maybe of the whole year that will feel like proper winter. =]
Peleos (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 3) continues to move at a slow but steady pace. In fact, I was so in-the-zone last week that I triumphantly finished an exciting chapter only to realize after that I'd completely gone off plot and would need to re-write the second half of that chapter from scratch, all because I want the rest of the book to be even more cohesive and exciting. #WorthIt! Here's a tiny snippet to give you an idea:
And in no universe would Seg allow it.
BBNYA 2026 has just opened, to which I'll be submitting Holtondome (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 1). The book didn't make it very far in SPSFC, but who knows? Regardless, the BBNYA folks are a fine bunch of people running a wonderful program, so I'm happy to support them.
Got a huge list of book events for you below, covering most of the year. Hope it's helpful.
Lastly, this month's feature is a fun look at how progressing technology has dated my stories in sometimes unexpected ways. Enjoy!
In this newsletter
- Rust in Peace — How Technology Has Dated My Stories
- Book Sales and Events
- Currently Reading
Rust in Peace – How Technology Has Dated My Stories
The biggest problem with writing contemporary science fiction is how quickly it becomes historical fiction. Gadgets that seemed cool and innovative at the time of writing lose their punch when future readers have the same or even cooler devices in their pockets. Dick Tracy's Two-Way Wrist Radio doesn't get a lot of ooo's and ahh's in the age of smart watches—and yes, I would have killed for a radio watch as a kid.
My first book was originally published in 2017, and its age is starting to show throughout the entire series. New readers may take one look at the protagonist's conundrum and wonder, "Why is this a problem?" because the solution has since become commonplace.
So let's dive head-first into that pain cave, shall we? Starting with the most glaring, in my opinion…
Once Upon a Nightwalker
The protagonist's primary hurdle, aside from being a vampire in an office full of tasty humans, is that she needs to collate a truckload of marketing data from disparate sources for a big client presentation the following morning. Ellen has to bend the rules and call favors to get it done, because doing it herself in such a short period of time just isn't feasible, especially since her mind is still groggy from day-brain.
How do I know it wasn't feasible? One of my very first tech jobs included doing exactly that. One particular founder loved throwing data sets at me that needed to be processed "tomorrow," and let me tell you, the files were a mess. Some may have been assembled by actual monkeys. Each file required creating its own custom program to import. I don't think I ever reused a single script.
Today, however, Ellen (or me) could have solved that problem in five minutes flat, day-brain or not. LLMs (Large Language Models, aka "AI") would have eaten those data sets as a light snack and spat them out in any format she liked, neatly bypassing 80% of my already short novelette. Oof.
Angels in the Mist
Being much larger than Once Upon a Nightwalker, Angels in the Mist has enough non-tech plots and subplots to keep it afloat despite several direct hits. The biggest hit, unfortunately, ties into the core of the series: Artificial Intelligence. I 100% blame Sam Altman for this for misusing and rebranding the term as marketing hype for LLMs, which are NOT Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and probably never will be. Instead of calling them what they are, Altman rebranded them as "artificial intelligence" because it was more marketable and attractive to investors.
While I could write an entire paper on why LLMs may be useful tools, but are NOT intelligent, the perception damage is already done. Nobody wants to read fiction about true Artificial General Intelligence (or artificial lifeforms) today because so-called "AI" has been shoved down everyone's throat for years, and the general public is rightly sick of it.
Well, guess what The Z-Tech Chronicles revolves around? Not LLMs, but truly sentient machines who experience the world the same way humans do—and, most importantly, they feel and have their own personalities, ambitions, preferences, pet peeves, and other things that make them relatable, while still having quirks that lend a certain "otherness" to them.
Of course, LLMs weren't a big thing when I wrote the series, so what really stands out in the stories is the lack of comparison between these artificial lifeforms and the more common "AI" chatbots of today.
AI isn't the only sore tech-thumb in the story. The protagonist receives a pair of augmented reality glasses that give her an edge in a few situations. At the time, these flat-out didn't exist. Today, you can take your pick from several brands, so the "wow" effect is completely gone.
Electric cars are also not a thing in the story. Z-Tech is supposed to be the world's technology leader, but their vehicles still run on gas, which seems ludicrous today.
Last is Anne's "antiquated" flip phone. In the story, it was meant to be a jibe about how tech-averse she is, but flip phones are now so dated that they've begun to come back into style, which could mean the opposite of what I intended. I laugh about this every time I think about it.
Will I ever fix them?
I don't know if I can—or, more importantly, if I should. The fun part about reading older science fiction is seeing how right or wrong the authors got it. The only "fixing" I might do is to make clear in which year the books occur to properly set expectations. (If you're curious, the Angels in the Mist story begins on December 12, 2014, and Once Upon a Nightwalker on May 17, 2022).
Fortunately, the tech in my other science fiction books has held up better, but for how long is anyone's guess.
Book Sales and Events
Quite a few events for you this month, mostly conventions through the end of the year, primarily in California because that's where my publisher is located. You'll find my books at all of the events, even if you don't find me. I'm still figuring out which ones I can attend. I may hit the Sacramento Book Festival in April, and will let you know in upcoming newsletters when I confirm.
- April 4, 12-4pm — Rinconada Book Fair. Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium. Join a host of authors, plus Steven Radecki talking about Small Publishing in a Big Universe.
- April 19 — Sacramento Book Festival. One of the Water Dragon Publishing authors is on the committee, so I'm eager to see how this one pans out. I will attend this one in person, if I can.
- May 9-10 — Oakland ComicCon. A brand-new event Water Dragon is trying out. Fingers crossed!
- May 31 — Bay Area Book Festival. Last year's festival was very successful for Water Dragon, and this year looks to be the same. Doubt I'll make it to this one, but if you're in the area, there are usually a lot of book stalls to peruse and authors to chat with.
- July 4-5 — BayCon. The Bay Area's premiere science fiction convention. Always worth stopping by for sci-fi fans.
- August 27-31 — WorldCon. World's biggest science fiction convention, this year in the Anaheim Convention Center. I may attend this one.
- October 22-25 — World Fantasy Convention. Another Oakland event. Lots of them there this year, it seems.
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