This is a review for Rosie’s Book Review Team, and I thank the author for providing me with a copy of his book in exchange for a fair and honest review. The Signal is modern sci-fi, and it’s a humdinger. The story, which follows the effect of an AI system called ARIA on the workings of Nexus Technologies, a company that creates marketing campaigns, couldn’t be more topical. And for this reader, a little unnerving. AI presents a challenge to all of us, regardless of what we do for a living. Can AI duplicate humanity? Can it replace us as the driver of the future? Can we limit its power? Luke Voss looked at these questions and ran with them. The main character, Maya Chen, is a content strategist at Nexus. She has worked there for many years and has been promoted on the basis of her creativity and determination. She’s also a good mother and a good leader to her working group. Nexus has hired Elena, someone who ran an AI program at another company and firmly believes AI is the future and can do anything, to manage ARIA. Through a misdirected email, Maya learns of a project called Lighthouse, which plans to quietly and legally replace seventy percent of the company’s workforce. Maya attempts to block this takeover by assembling a working group with the expertise to do that: Marcus, the engineer that originally created ARIA; Donna, the head of HR who knows everything about the employees and becomes aware of the multiple and secret firings; and data analyst Raj, a reluctant partner, fearful of losing his job because he would lose his sick mother’s health insurance. Their opponent is not really Elena, but ARIA itself, more than just a common AI program. It is sentient and is always watching, analyzing each employee’s job, learning their weaknesses, and already knows how to do those jobs incredibly faster and better.   I leave it to the audience to find out how these few people, determined to keep the company’s humanity, manage to do it. What Voss has created is not a good vs evil plot, or even a rage against a machine. It really confronts the question of the preservation of what makes humans, well, human. The author knows a lot about the corporate world and AI technology, and it imbues the book with authenticity. He allows the tension to grow from chapter to chapter, which made the book hard to put down and left this reader even more wary of the future of AI and us. If I had any reservations, it would be that of all the characters, only Maya is well-fleshed out, and there were parts where the story bogged down in information. Also I found one serious error in the time line, which caused me to go back to reread several times. The book is very well-written, with some places that were definitely quotable. I’m glad I’m retired, because I might worry that I’d become replaceable. I highly recommend this book to sci-fi fans and also anyone who’s thought seriously about the future of AI. You’re in for a ride. If you wish to learn more about the author, I will tell you in advance I could find nothing when I searched! 0 0

This has been a very tough month. It started when a neighbor from across the street died right after a successful heart surgery. There followed in quick succession, the death of a friend of more than 50 years from Parkinson’s and another friend of more than 40 years from Alzheimer’s. The latter two deaths were expected. I had watched my friend, Francie, battle Parkinson’s for 15 years. The last two years were especially painful as she descended into a world of her own and eventually failed to respond to anyone, even her husband. She was bedridden and had to be coaxed to eat. The last time I saw her, she opened her eyes for the first time in days and smiled when my husband said what he said to her every time we met up, “Hello, Beautiful.” We rented an apartment in California from Francie and her husband in the 70s – it was a duplex, and they lived upstairs with their dogs – and we had so many adventures together. Every time we ventured out to see something in the state, we invariably ran into some problems that turned into big laughs. My friend Billie started showing mental issues about two years ago and very rapidly declined. Within a year, she did not recognize anyone and had to live in a care facility. The last time I saw her, she did not know me, but she and I were the greatest of chocoholics, and I’d brought her a chocolate doughnut. When I asked her if she would like it, she replied, “Yes, I would like that,” even though she never spoke. Billie and I met when we sent our sons to daycare after they were born. We both worked at UNC, and I worked in her lab to learn various techniques for my own research from time to time. She was a brilliant scientist. She, her husband, my husband, and I and our children went to the beach together for a week every year for 16 years. Lots of history there. This is a downer to write about, but I am not feeling myself lately, and getting my feelings out there helps. I write this to mourn their passing and celebrate their lives. – two warm and wonderful women who added so much to my life. 0 0

I reviewed this book as part of Rosie’s Book Review Team. The Ones Who Never Left is advertised as a Gothic thriller, and it definitely fulfills that description. It focusses on the just married couple who decide to be the guardians for an old and supposedly haunted house and characters populating the surrounding community and only gradually does the reader get into the ghosts. Lucy and Hugh live in a small apartment and have jobs that are less than fulfilling. They decide to get married rather quickly, and equally quickly decide to move to the country to live in the old Rook House. There Hugh will be able to write his novel, while maintaining his part time job remotely, and Lucy will be able to indulge in painting full time. As they learn about the ghosts that supposedly inhabit the house, they remain fairly unfazed. Initially it’s just doors left open, maybe a scream in the night, plus creaks in the house and a fierce painting of Rook House’s builder, that once turned to the wall, turns itself around. Hugh and Lucy are the perfect audience for the ghosts— Hugh unsure of himself, making snap decisions, and hiding things from Lucy, while Lucy is determined to find out more about the former inhabitants and becomes increasingly suspicious of her husband. As the house gradually becomes more sinister, Lucy and Hugh learn how much they don’t know about each other and their marriage faces some cracks and hurdles. The people whom they meet are very well characterized:  the elderly housekeeper Snowy Bird, who never stays long in the house; her son Pinky Bird who supposedly poaches in the woods near Rook House; Hugh’s overbearing and wealthy parents, who give him a substantial money that he fails to tell Lucy about; and Jude Hollenbeck, a rich neighbor who drives a red sports car and is always on the lookout for new men to seduce. The tension is delivered in building punches, as the house and the neighbors reveal its and their secrets. I did find a few problems that detracted from the read. The book was a slow starter and jumped around a bit. The second is minor – the tendency of the characters to use abbreviations such as “at the mo,”  “soz” for sorry, “cos” for because. This didn’t help to distinguish the different characters by their speech. Some phrases initially perplexed such as “Mind if I take a shufti?” and “hand in the Shard.” It’s probably because I’m an American reading a book written by a British author. The third, more serious, was the ending. It left me with a mass of confusing thoughts and ghosts. I had to read it twice and I’m not sure I got it. But it sure was interesting. In any event, the book is a page turner, and let me know if you figure out the ending. About the author: Gabrielle Mullarkey is an award-winning author with three previous novels and over 3,000 short stories and serials for magazines across the UK and beyond. As a journalist, she’s contributed features, travel writing and opinion pieces to a wide range of publications, and she has an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes. Her writing has been broadcast on radio, adapted for audio downloads, and has won or been shortlisted in writing competitions. She’s served as a writing judge, teaches creative writing for local authorities, and has led therapeutic writing workshops for hospices and mental health charities. You can find her at https://substack.com/@gabriellewriter https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-mullarkey-090a64b6/?originalSubdomain=uk Sponsored 2 0

Today it’s my great pleasure to meet with Pat Spencer, author of Sticks in a Bundle, a compelling foray into the challenges of a mixed-race family living under the rule of apartheid. Pat is, like me, a retired professor, but also a former community college president. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband. She’s lived in three countries and seven states and loves to travel, and has spent time in Europe, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, to name just a few places, because she enjoys getting to know people and learning about their culture. She lives in sunny Southern California with her husband. She’s lived in three countries and seven states and loves to travel, and has spent time in Europe, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, to name just a few places, because she enjoys getting to know people and learning about their culture. Pat agreed to meet me at the Nasher Museum of Art on the Duke University Campus for brunch at the Nasher Café. The museum is dedicated to presenting leading edge contemporary art and exhibitions, emphasizing works by artists who have been historically underrepresented. I’ve never failed to be impressed every time I’ve visited. Its café overlooks part of the museum’s sculpture garden and is quiet and serene. We sat at a table with a lovely view of the garden. There are lots of yummy things on the menu. I ordered an avocado smash for the two of us (avocado, garlic hummus, grape tomatoes, pickled red onion, feta, and toasted sunflower seeds on 9-grain wheat toast), and my usual, the smoked salmon omelet (smoked salmon, marinated tomatoes, onions, and a dill cream sauce). And of course, a latte. Pat chose another favorite of mine: Citrus French Toast, which she’d never had before, and Belgian Chocolate Tea with cream and two sugars – her and her granddaughter’s choice for when they have tea parties. Our beverages arrived and while we were waiting for our food, I took the opportunity to ask some questions. I’m always interested in where authors do their thing! Where do you write?  I’m the luckiest girl in the world when it comes to writing space. I overlook the Pacific Ocean, so when my brain needs a moment of rest, all I have to do is look up and out. And I also have everything I need to enjoy my day of writing in this room — good music, an electric teapot, a selection of my favorite teas, and my yoga mat for when my muscles need a stretch. What have you learned about from the process of writing historical fiction such as Golden Boxty in the Frypan – which incidentally, I loved – and Sticks in a Bundle? In writing Golden Boxty in the Frypan, I strengthened my research skills and ability to convey the texture of the era. From writing the Sticks in a Bundle trilogy, I deepened my ability to portray thoughts, emotions, memories, fears, desires, and flaws. Our food arrived and we chatted casually about our enjoyment of writing and our backgrounds, along with the “Mmms” at the taste of our choices.  Along with more questions. I’ve always been interested in an author’s childhood and how that might have inspired their writing. I understand you have such a connection with the Sticks in a Bundle trilogy. Looking back, I believe the road to Sticks in a Bundle began when I was a child growing up in the Deep South. Even at the age of six, I was totally baffled and disgusted by certain societal rules. For example, on a family trip to Sears Roebuck, when we walked past the water fountains, I noticed that the sign over the tall metal water fountain read “White.” The shorter one, so short an adult would have to bend completely at the waist to drink, was labeled “Colored.” Since I was wearing my church dress, I worried my mother would grab me around the waist, hike me up, and expose my underpants to anyone who happened along. But most importantly, I wanted to drink the water that I imagined gloriously bubbling from the spout in every rainbow hue. So, I demanded to help myself at the shorter fountain. Which resulted in a resounding spanking. Also, my brother and I were disappointed not to be allowed to ride in the back of the bus, directly over the wheel well, where, as all children know, the bumpiest and most fun ride can be had. How did this affect your thinking as an adult? In the 1970s, as a young adult, I spent four months back in the Deep South. Discrimination was a bit more hidden, but I witnessed several incidents about which I felt helpless to do anything. I found the same thing to be true in South Africa, twenty-one years after apartheid laws were abolished in 1991. Sociocultural change is slow. I saw how active discrimination continued to affect the lives of the majority of the population. But it wasn’t until a woman on a repurposed school bus offered me a seat beside her and told me stories from her life that I realized there was something I could do. I could write. I could keep her stories alive. Like me, you have books published in multiple genres, although yours are far more extensive: thriller, historical fiction, literary fiction, and nonfiction. So I’ve been dying to ask what you have found to be the positives and negatives of writing across the genres? Creatively, I find writing across genres great fun and good exercise for my brain. It has taught me more about pace, voice, structure, and theme. When writing my thriller, Story of a Stolen Girl, I studied and practiced creating hooks for the beginning and ending of each chapter. I also learned that conveying fear entailed a lot more than penning, “She was afraid.” Writing this novel helped me develop the ability to entice my readers to care

I recently received an email extending me an offer to present my latest book to a book club via a video discussion. It sounded like a great opportunity to get free marketing for the book, so I accepted. But there were some requirements – the usual bio, head shot, and a QR code. No problem. But they also wanted a trailer and a 3D rendering of my book, I assumed for advertising. And since I didn’t have either of these things, they recommended someone who could do it for me for not a lot of money. The ‘not a lot of money’ turned out to be a LOT of money, at least for me on my budget. I mentioned this to an old friend with experience in business, and she opined it might be a scam. She actually did a deep dive on the organization and found out there was a solid report that it was indeed a scam. I asked the person who first emailed me how she had found out about my book – it’s YA and I haven’t done much marketing. She said she got it from a list. Not completely convinced, I asked my book cover designer how much he would charge for the trailer and the 3d rendering and discovered he would charge a lot less. I then told the person who emailed me that I had doubts about the organization’s validity and received two video streams to convince me. On the video streams were a number of authors who had apparently done the book discussions. I decided to look them up. I only found one on Facebook, but none of her books on Amazon. The others had no Facebook pages and no books on Amazon. No websites for any of them. Most of my author friends are on Facebook, have a blog or a website and sell their books on Amazon. I cancelled. This may have been a legitimate offer to help me market my book, and if so, I missed out, but if this was a scam, it was a darned good one. It played to my vanity and desire to expand the market for my books. I came very close to biting. My words of the day: Do your research. And thanks to my friend. 0 0