GENRE: Mystery
BLURB:
A Cyber Crime Thriller Series: Notorious serial killers digitally resurrected to live & hunt again in hacked replicants, pursued by detectives of the Artificial Crimes Unit.
Excerpt
The Invisible Mind Chapter 2 – Richard Speck
It sat on a bench outside the dormitory of nursing students, waiting with its kind’s infinite patience. Originally acquired and programmed for landscaping at the Cleveland Clinic, the synthoid was one of a brigade of units which had been hacked and Munchausened, then returned to their menial daily services to mankind to await the Baron’s call.
There was no adrenalin surge behind the extremely life-like facade of humanity when that call came. Data packets, sent scatter-shot through the Atlas Grid, coalesced at the location outside the Cole Eye Institute where the synthoid methodically trimmed and shaped the immaculate shrubbery around the building. To avoid Q’s metadata sniffing algorithms from detecting a download spike in the grid, the information came in digital sprinkles over the course of its human handler’s work shift, slowly building a malevolent intent to be executed that night. In the middle of the afternoon, the synthoid left the unfinished topiary to melt into the hospital shift change and disappeared.
Personality modules were a Gen-3 feature upgrade, which is why the earlier models were initially preferred. Swapping out a few IC chips and uploading hacked firmware was a relatively easy way to turn a quick buck with an automated contract killing. But evil innovates, too, and the same features that made synthoids even more human-like in their behavior also helped create robotic assassins which could better camouflage their malicious intents and evade the reach of the Artificial Crimes Unit by melting into and moving undetected through the humanity that surrounded them. For the Baron, it allowed for a greater measure of artistic expression in programming the synthoid’s behavior to not only recreate infamous crimes of the past but to mimic the behavior of their perpetrators, which intensified the thrill of watching the video feed through the eyes of Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy or, this particular evening, Richard Speck. Jake wasn’t the only history buff, and it amused Jamal that London police had photographed the eyes of Jack the Ripper’s victims, hoping to capture the last thing they ever saw: their killer’s face. If only Scotland Yard could have imagined the future…
Guest Post
I have tried outlining…once. I was halfway through writing In the Black and trying like hell to
figure out what was going to happen with all of the stupid characters I found
myself within the book who were spread out over three generations located
everywhere from San Fransisco to Washington DC. Somehow, I came across a picture of Joseph
Heller’s outline from Catch-22, which is what you see above.
I was inspired. It’s my all-time favorite novel and no question the inspiration
for my satire of the Sixties.
Looking over Heller’s character and
timeline grid, I broke out Excel and went to work. I dutifully filled out all
the important events from 1965 through the end of 1969. I listed all the characters out along the top
and started filling in the little boxes.
I must have worked on it for a few months and when it was all done, I
sat back and admired all the neatly filled out squares. And it was good.
And now, it’s easy, right? Just, you know, scribble it all out. So I
went to work.
But there was just one problem: fitting
“round” characters into the “square” holes of my spreadsheet. None of them—not one of them—would do
what they were supposed to do. It was like they all had minds of their own.
I fought it for a while, pointing to the
spreadsheet and begging them all to behave. See? It’s right there. In black-and-white. No such
luck.
So I finished the book without ever
looking back at the outline and I think it all worked out for the better.
Working without a net is sometimes kind
of scary—being up high with a bunch of characters and plotline events and not
really knowing what’s going to happen. I
was damn near the end of Somethin’ for Nothin’ and didn’t have a clue how I was going
to finish it all up. Then, the Epilogue
came to me and I was able to wrap it all up in just 102 words. Perfect.
I didn't really know who the villain was
going to be in the Murder by Munchausen Trilogy until I started The Darknet.
See, it all just works out.
So, the bottom-line is that I am always
surprised whenever I start a new story. And actually that’s kind of nice. It keeps things interesting for me, too.
“No tears in the writer, no tears in the
reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
M.T. Bass Author Links
M.T. Bass Website Links
The Darknet Page: https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/scribblings/the-darknet-murder-by-munchausen-mysteries-2/
The Invisible Mind Page: https://mtbassauthor.wordpress.com/scribblings/the-invisible-mind-murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mystery-3/
Murder by Munchausen Purchase Links
The book will be on sale for $0.99.
Amazon
Apple Books
Apple Books – Murdery by Munchausen: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mysteries-book-1/id1265577038?mt=11
Apple Books – The Darknet: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/darknet-murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mystery-book/id1308636037?mt=11
Apple Books – The Invisible Mind: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/invisible-mind-murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mystery/id1347259796?mt=11
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble – Murder by Munchausen: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mysteries-mt-bass/1126893450?ean=2940154482971
Barnes & Noble – The Invisible Mind: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-invisible-mind-mt-bass/1127943545
Kobo Books
Kobo Books – Murder by Muchausen: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mysteries-book-1-1
Kobo Books – The Darknet: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-darknet-murder-by-munchausen-future-crimes-mysteries-book-2
Kobo Books – The Invisible Mind: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-invisible-mind-murder-by-munchausen-future-crime-mysteries-book-3
Smashwords
Audio Books – Murder by Munchausen
Listen to Sample: https://soundcloud.com/user-228147948/murder-by-munchausen-by-mt-bass-audiobook-sample
Audiobooks.com: https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/murder-by-munchausen-a-sci-fi-police-procedural-techno-thriller/387085
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/M_T_Bass_Murder_by_Munchausen?id=AQAAAEAs9li2ZM
M.T. Bass will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
8 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
This sounds very creative, not the usual. Wow!
Great post, thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a good book.
Hi Elisha --
Thanks for being part of my blog tour. Great to be aboard and I appreciate the chance to post my guest blog.
Thanks again.
~Mudcat
Who would be a writer? Sounds very interesting.
Manchausen Syndrome as a nurse is pretty scary. This is a different take on the subject of people making someone sick and pretending. Cybercrimes are very sneaky and murder is even taking it to the max.
I remember reading about some of these crimes back when they were happening.
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