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Books cover reveals

Check Out the Covers for Adam Christopher’s Upcoming Ray Electromatic Books!

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Published on September 15, 2016

Everyone’s favorite robot detective is back with two new stories arriving in 2017! Adam Christopher’s L.A. Trilogy imagines what a treasure trove of lost science fiction stories by Raymond Chandler might look like, and features a tough, fast-talking metallic P.I. named Ray Electromatic. Ray first appeared in the Tor.com original novelette “Brisk Money,” followed by the novel Made to Kill—you can get a feel for the series with this perfectly retro book trailer.

We’re excited to show off the covers for Standard Hollywood Depravity, a novella arriving from Tor.com Publishing in March, and Killing is My Business, the next novel from the series, out from Tor Books next summer. See both covers, designed by Will Staehle, below!

Here’s Adam himself on what’s next for the series:

The L.A. Trilogy is a loosely-connected series, so while Killing Is My Business isn’t quite a direct sequel to Made to Kill, events of the previous book have an impact on Ray—even if, with his 24-hour memory, he doesn’t know it. But there’s something going on in this version of Hollywood, 1965, and once again Ray finds himself the star attraction. It’s almost as if being the last robot in the world is something of a liability… especially when reclusive crime lord Zeus Falzarano comes out of retirement only to recruit Ray into his new organisation. Falzarano is keeping a secret locked away in his hillside mansion – a secret that, once discovered, gives Ray doubts about the motive behind his current assignment, to kill Falzarano himself, and, more importantly, who might have taken out the contract. Ray’s computer boss Ada says she doesn’t know, but as a former PI, Ray’s electromatic detective skills start to tingle the closer he gets to the truth…

I’m excited about Killing Is My Business—if Made to Kill was Chandler’s The Big Sleep, then this is more like The Long Goodbye. Secrets, lies, and betrayal in the seedy heart of Hollywood.

And speaking of the seedy heart of Hollywood, Standard Hollywood Depravity is a standalone novella set between Made to Kill and Killing is My Business. In a dark corner of a noisy nightclub, Ray patiently cases the joint, preparing to take out his latest target, a go-go dancer known only as Honey. But Ray isn’t alone. The club is being watched by others—lots of others, gangsters one and all, who have gathered for an underworld auction. And when Honey reveals to Ray that she’s been expecting him, he finds himself an unwitting accomplice in a criminal enterprise.

As with the original novelette, Brisk Money, and the first novel, Made to Kill, there is a thread that links Standard Hollywood Depravity to Killing is My Business, but it’s really a separate, fun little novella.

And the covers! Oh boy, the covers. Will has done it again. Ray is one lucky robot…

 

New Adam Christopher RD 1

Standard Hollywood Depravity arrives March 7, 2017 from Tor.com Publishing. From the catalog copy:

The moment Raymond Electromatic set eyes on her, he knew she was the dame marked in his optics, the woman that his boss had warned him about.

Honey.

As the band shook the hair out of their British faces, stomping and strumming, the go-go dancer’s cage swung, and the events of that otherwise average night were set in motion. A shot, under the cover of darkness, a body bleeding out in a corner, and most of Los Angeles’ population of hired guns hulking, sour-faced over un-drunk whiskey sours at the bar.

But as Ray tries to track down the package he was dispatched to the club to retrieve, his own programming might be working against him, sending him down a long hall and straight into a mobster’s paradise. Is Honey still the goal—or was she merely bait for a bigger catch?

Just your standard bit of Hollywood depravity, as tracked by the memory tapes of a less-than-standard robot hitman.

 

Killing is my Business X

 

Killing is My Business publishes Summer 2017 with Tor Books.

Another golden morning in a seedy town, and a new memory tape for intrepid PI-turned-hitman—and last robot left in working order—Raymond Electromatic. When his comrade-in-electronic-arms, Ada, assigns a new morning roster of clientele, Ray heads out into the LA sun, only to find that his skills might be a bit rustier than he expected….

 

RayElectromatic-series

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