Zero Dark Thirty meets The Social Network in this science fiction thriller that explores labor rights, AI, and the future of work in a near future dominated by the gig economy.
We’re excited to share the cover to S.B. Divya’s Machinehood, publishing in March 2021 with Saga Press.
It’s 2095. Humanity is entirely dependent on pills that not only help them stay alive, but allow them to compete with artificial intelligence in an increasingly competitive gig economy. Daily doses protect against designer diseases, flow enhances focus, zips and buffs enhance physical strength and speed, and juvers speed the healing process.
All that changes when Welga Ramirez—executive bodyguard and ex-special forces—witnesses the murder of her client, killed by a new and mysterious terrorist group that has simultaneously attacked several major pill funders. It’s known as The Machinehood.
The Machinehood operatives seem to be part human, part machine, something the world has never seen. They issue an ultimatum: stop all pill production in one week.
Global panic ensues as pill production slows and many become ill. Thousands destroy their bots in fear of a strong AI takeover. But the US government believes the Machinehood is a cover for an old enemy. One that Welga is uniquely qualified to fight.
Welga, determined to take down the Machinehood, is pulled back into intelligence work by the government that betrayed her. But who are the Machinehood and what do they really want?
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Machinehood
S.B. Divya is a lover of science, math, fiction, and the Oxford comma. She is the Hugo and Nebula nominated author of Runtime and co-editor of Escape Pod, with Mur Lafferty. Her short stories have been published at various magazines, and her short story collection, Contingency Plans For the Apocalypse and Other Situations, is out now from Hachette India. Find her on Twitter @divyastweets or at her website.
