[When Aubrey Watt alerted me to PARAGON, her new sci-fi romance about a neuroscientist who falls in love with the android she helped create, I was like "Where do I sign?!!" I love brainy heroines and android characters, so the combination is like catnip to me. I invited the author aboard to blog about science fiction romances she's enjoyed, particularly as they relate to PARAGON. Extra bonus: following the post is a giveaway!]
Hi everyone! I’m Aubrey Watt, and I want to thank The Galaxy Express for having me here! I just released my first full-length science fiction romance novel Paragon. I’m giving away one free copy to a lucky commenter on this site!
I was inspired to write Paragon
after reading the book Wired by
Douglas E. Richards and falling in love with the character of Kira. Although I
mostly write erotic romance, I wanted to tell an action story about a smart,
sexy protagonist. At the same time, I was waist-deep in philosophy, reading
about the hard problem of consciousness in cognitive science while taking
Stanford’s online class in artificial intelligence. From this unlikely combination
the character of Chal Davidson was born. She is a neuroscientist who helps to
create an android prototype at a secret military base. Alan (the prototype) must
learn everything from the beginning – how to talk, how to feel, and especially
how to love.
“If anything was universally accepted as the hallmark of
humanity, it was the insatiable curiosity at the heart of the species.” –
Douglas E. Richards, Wired
Another book that shares similar themes is Catherine Asaro’s
The Phoenix Code. My favorite part
of Asaro’s work has always been the underlying philosophical implications of
the worlds she builds. While I enjoyed the action thriller-style sequences, the
discussions about artificial intelligence were what kept me turning the pages. In
The Phoenix Code, Asaro shows us the
emotional ramifications of an android that becomes attracted to a human as he
grows self-aware. And I began to think: what if the robotics expert was the one
who fell in love with the android?
Although Paragon has
its share of action, the second half focuses on the budding romance between the
two main characters and the curiosity that drives both of them. This is a love
story about discovering passion, and as Alan learns how to love, Chal begins to
discover, albeit reluctantly, the passion that is hidden inside of herself. Her
academic curiosity has launched her career at the expense of her real world
relationships, but she has never been comfortable exploring her own emotions.
Alan forces her out of her shell and into the real world.
Science fiction, and science fiction romance in particular,
digs deep at the heart of human conflict and emotion. What does it truly mean
to be human? What does it truly mean to love? In this book, I hoped to get at
some of these major issues in philosophy and neuroscience while developing Alan
and Chal’s romance. I remember reading The Left Hand of Darkness for the first
time in high school and being blown away by Ursula K. Leguin’s portrayal of
sexuality and love in an alien world. In
a science fiction setting, authors can develop a completely different context
for human emotion.
At its very best, science fiction romance can change the way
we view the world and the humans who inhabit it. I only hope that Paragon can add in some small way to
the universe of new and strange love stories in this genre.
***
Here’s the summary for Paragon:
In the middle of the
Arizona desert, a hundred feet underground, the United States military is
illegally developing the first emotionally sentient android. Classified top secret,
the mission has failed to successfully awaken the first two androids created in
the lab.
When brilliant
neuroscientist Chal Davidson is called in to assist, the third android is just
hours from being awakened. By the time
she realizes the vast implications of her work, it’s too late to stop the
prototype’s development. Torn by her moral and scientific responsibilities,
Chal is even more confused by the emotional connection she is starting to feel
with the newly-created man. The only
hope she has is escape—for her and the android—and time is running out...
If you’d like a free copy of Paragon,
just leave your name and email in the comments within the next seven days from
this post for a chance to win. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I
enjoyed writing it! And if you’d like to keep up with my future work, you can
visit my website or join my mailing list for discounts and
freebies. Thanks, and happy reading!