The Ghost in the Doll (Fox Meridian Book 6) (29 page)

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Authors: Niall Teasdale

Tags: #AI, #fox meridian, #robot, #police procedural, #cybernetics, #sci-fi, #artificial intelligence, #bioroid, #action, #detective, #science fiction

BOOK: The Ghost in the Doll (Fox Meridian Book 6)

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‘Well, the political and social channels have been positively screaming with for and against arguments for the last couple of days. The potential to save the lives of people too injured to live otherwise is a big plus, and there’s the possibility of virtual immortality, but there are religious arguments against and, of course, the possibility of virtual immortality.’

‘Immortality is certainly a possibility, and it has positive and negative aspects. I think we should leave those to the philosophers, but someone thinking that this is a really awesome idea should keep in mind that they’ll never have children, they’ll watch their unconverted friends age and die… Or maybe not. We’re not far from physical immortality the way medicine is progressing. I think the immortality thing is a red herring, and the religious stuff is not something which bothers me. I don’t think I had a soul when I was organic, so I’m not really interested in whether I’ve lost it.’

‘I think we should get to the most important question,’ Iberson said. ‘The question everyone wants the answer to but doesn’t really want to ask because it makes them look bad. Can you still have sex?’

Fox smirked. ‘In this body, Charlie, I can have
really awesome
sex. My spine’s constructed a bit like a cat’s. I’m
very
flexible.’

‘Uh, okay. Where do I sign up?’

‘I’ll let you know.’

‘So,’ Resnik said, ‘you said you didn’t take this too well initially. You’ve now come to terms with it?’

‘Uh, yes. I wasn’t sure how my friends and family would take it, and they’ve all taken it well. I wasn’t sure how it would affect my work, and so far it’s helping. Pretty much all my fears have failed to live up to expectations, though I expect I’ll get some problems coming up now it’s public knowledge.’

‘I’m sure you’ll see both sides of public opinion. Any regrets?’

Frowning, Fox looked down for a second. ‘Not yet. There may be some, over time, but right now… I think the only thing to do from here is to really embrace what I now am. Okay, so the old Tara Meridian is effectively gone, but I’m still here with new capabilities, new possibilities, that I need to explore. I don’t really know what the new me is yet. I’ve been pretty much sticking to what I know so far and I need to stretch my wings. I may be a ghost in a high-tech doll, but I could be so much more, and I’m going to do my absolute best to find out just what I can become.’

###

About the Author

I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.

Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.

I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote science fiction when I was playing
Traveller.
I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing
Dungeons & Dragons
. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing
City of Heroes
. I still love the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.

Recently I took the big step of quitting my day job and taking up full-time writing. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, J.D. Robb, and Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.

For More Information

Take a look at the Witches and Ray-guns blog:
http://witchesandrayguns.wordpress.com

Amazon US Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006J6II9O

Amazon UK Author Page:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B006J6II9O

Other Books by this Author

The
Thaumatology
Series

Thaumatology 101

Demon’s Moon

Legacy

Dragon’s Blood

Disturbia

Hammer of Witches