Author's Note from Nobody Part One

 

To Circulate Series readers - thank you for waiting this long until I published again.  ‘Nobody part one’ is the first ebook I’ve released since 2014, so that’s eight years of battling medical problems and writer’s block.  But I discovered the infamous ‘block’ was caused because I desperately needed a change from writing paranormal romance.  Writing about werewolves is all well and good, but I’ve been doing it for over a decade.  My brain just went “nuh uh” whenever I opened the chapters of ‘Alma’ and I wasn’t happy with what I was forcing out.  The book is 70% complete and I know how the story will end, but I need to let it rest a while and work on something else.

 

To everyone - I’ve had a lifelong fascination with artificial intelligence.  I own many movies and series about A.I. and a book I wrote a major essay on in my final year of high school was Isaac Asimov’s “I Robot”.  When I watch the “Terminator” films, I’m cheering on the humans AND ‘Skynet’; wishing the two would find a peaceful resolution.  I’m also a Trekkie and one of my favourite characters in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is Data, an android who often saves the day.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Swedish series “Real Humans” and their depiction of ‘Hubots’ in day-to-day life. There’s numerous sci-fi movies and series about A.I. (and even a movie by this name) but I won’t bring up all of them.

 

Also, I love to travel.  When I was little I travelled to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand thanks to my father being in the R.A.A.F.  Then in my twenties I did a Contiki tour of Europe.  For my fortieth birthday I did a P&O cruise to Fiji.  Lack of finances and then Covid prevented any further expeditions however I am now saving up to do a tour of the U.K. for my fiftieth birthday.  I live in Sydney and my family reside in Queensland, so I get to fly to the Sunshine State once a year, which is nice.  Oh how I love to fly…!

 

With my fascination for A.I. and my love of travelling, I thought why not incorporate both into a new story?  Back in 2018 I started writing this novel then I left it for a while when it headed in a direction I didn’t like. A year later I returned to it, putting the chapters I didn’t like into a ‘drafts’ folder and rewriting from chapter two onwards.  In the meantime a Hollywood movie called “Nobody” came out, which irked me.  I saw the preview and although our titles are the same, it in no way resembled my story, so I continued on.  Then another Hollywood movie “Superintelligence” was released and I watched it on Netflix.  It has similar ideas, but it doesn’t involve time travel and the main character doesn’t travel around the world in luxury.  

 

Researching the travelling involved in my story was a lot of fun!  Comparing different airlines which offered Business Class and First Class and deciding on which one to use has been my escapism.  When the lockdowns started in 2020, my travel plans were put on hold.  I lost money I couldn’t afford on flights that were cancelled.  This happened at Christmas and I ended up home alone and separated from my family.  So what did I do?  I watched travel vlogs of people sipping champagne and devouring delicious dinners on planes. 

 

I’d like to apologise now if I’ve gotten something wrong.  I combed websites, watched vlogs and read reviews, but I may have screwed up here and there.  I didn’t experience these flights and hotels and tours first hand, which is essentially what it comes down to.  However, I hope I have created a believable story you can escape to. I’ve made a list of websites and YouTube videos I found helpful in the References section.  Feel free to watch the travel vlogs, they’re the most entertaining!

(I have another blog that will be on Nobody which you can find here) 

https://deliriouslyhappybutslightlyinsane.blogspot.com/ 

Nobody Part One

 

Nobody Part One

 

Clarissa Downing considers herself to be a 'nobody', commuting to work on a daily basis to a call centre job she dreads until one fateful Monday afternoon her life abruptly changes. 

 

Starting with a mysterious text message from an unknown sender, she finds out her life is in danger and her political opinions have made her a target.  The mysterious text messages continue as the source known only as ‘Central’ promises to keep her safe. 

 

At first Clarissa finds Central’s methods exciting; paid a million dollars a month to travel the world as one of the jet-set and see amazing destinations and sample culinary delights.  But it eventually dawns on her that she must pick a side, humanity or A.I.

 

Drones are the downtrodden members of society with humans prepared to kill in order to keep it this way.  Clarissa has published her beliefs that drones should have equal rights.  But what lengths will Central go to achieve this?

Published March 2022

For more information visit https://deliriouslyhappybutslightlyinsane.blogspot.com/

KR Smith © 2022