Motivation and Author Notes

When I started writing this book, I always knew there would be more than one book. I was on holiday in Canada at the time and doing a lot of walking. My wife and I didn’t like the way that some people in this great wilderness liked to hunt and kill animals. This book, then, would revolve around my solution; have them stalk and chase the wildlife but, instead of shooting them, take a really good picture, or a device to prove you could have shot one. Our travels then took us to the USA where my study of human morality really started. Looking at their national obsession with firearms, hunting, the general disregard of the environment. It all started me thinking about the world in general and how it could, and maybe should, be better.

The entire series of books will revolve around this idea. I have planned three, and they are a series, but all three are going to be very different. There might be a character or two that wind through all three but I didn’t want to create one really long book sold in three volumes. Each is to tackle a different aspect of my ideas while remaining a story about people.

This book quickly became a lot more than the techno-killer I planned. Instead of talking about tech, and life outside of our own understanding, it changed to a story about a group of friends. Their histories intruded on the story, love stories happened, jealousies, ambition and life entered the book. There is still murder, chasing, life and death surrounded by confusion and questions about reality and life beyond the planet. It remains a story of people, a group of University friends in their forties, not that different to when they were forged in their twenties.

One small thing, apart from the robotic muscles described, all the technology in this book could be created right now with a little effort.