It’s a new year, and I finally finished a draft of my new novel The Girl from Level 10.
Those who read The Black Lens will recognize similar themes, but this is a very different story. Like Westworld and Ready Player One, my science fiction thriller explores the dark side of technology in the near future. Here is a short teaser for the book I recently submitted to Writer’s Digest 2nd Draft Critique Service that will eventually become part of my pitch to a literary agent:
Evaline wants freedom from The Games, an augmented reality competition where people can win a fortune by killing lifelike robots — like her — for sport. But each day, Chief Game Officer Ray Jackson sends human players to battle her and the other artificially intelligent androids in gladiator-style combats as thousands of fans watch live from The Arena. The Games occur in near-future America where millions of people have lost their jobs due to the rise of artificial intelligence and view this competition as a ticket out of poverty. It only grows worse for Evaline as each level becomes more violent, sponsors bet on the top players, and a secret gang of cyberterrorists tries to hack her mind so they can turn her body into a weapon of war in The Arena.
Fortunately, Evaline has two unlikely humans on her side. Games employee Daryl Miller finds himself developing feelings for Evaline each time he repairs her silicone body, which is manufactured out of synthetic organs and is even programmed to experience physical sensations like pain and pleasure. Technology reporter Lexi Blackstone doesn’t know Evaline, but she suspects foul play with the competition, especially when a top player suddenly goes missing.
The Games reach a breaking point in Level 10. It’s a brutal match between Evaline and one of the most popular players who has built a massive fan following on social media for his sadistic kills. During that final round, the cybercriminals finally gain control of Evaline’s mind so they can use her body as a weapon among thousands of fans. They force her to make the ultimate decision in self-consciousness: free herself — or save others.
I applied the same research and reporting skills to The Girl from Level 10 as I did to The Black Lens. For more than a year, I personally interviewed cybersecurity experts, virtual reality coders and even manufacturers of artificially intelligent robots. I wanted to create a new world, but still ground it in fact and reality.
The next step in the long publishing process is to submit my full manuscript to some beta readers and a professional for developmental editing. However, I already received some encouraging feedback on my book’s synopsis from a Writer’s Digest 2nd Draft editor who has published more than a dozen novels and received the Forrest J Ackerman Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction:
“Thanks for sending us this impressive synopsis for a science fiction novel of the future. Gladitorial games of the future is not a new theme for science fiction, but you have updated the concept and increased the technology by an exponential factor.”
— John DeChancie, science fiction author and Writer’s Digest 2nd Draft editor