Ask the Author! (Please!)

[Jude Austin]

Okay, I'm going to take this in two parts

That's so awesome that you're the author and you sued to be a reviewer and editor for OBC! I haven't read the book yet but when I saw this book come up for book of the month I went and downloaded it and I am hoping to have the time to read it soon! The plot and premise are very intriguing and so far I have read super good reviews for it. So, good job!

Hi reneelu! Thank you so much  I hope you enjoy it

Hi!
First of all, congratulations!!!
My question is what do you think the future of AI is? With so fast advancements in this field, what do you think this will mean for our day to day lives?

Hi Lunastella!

Honestly, it's not something that I like to think about, which is why I keep AI very firmly out of my work That's the meta-explanation; there is an in-universe one for it as well, and no, it doesn't feature rogue robots

I think robots will keep on getting smarter, but giving something intelligence is a far cry from giving it judgment. This is why the whole idea of using robot guards never made any logical sense to me; a robot guard will shoot any unauthorized people regardless of circumstances. A human would see a smashed-up car, see the human with blood trickling out of his/her forehead and make the judgment that maybe that person isn't a spy, but someone who needs help. Does allowing a human to do drugs count as allowing them to come to harm, a la Asimov's First Law? I would definitely say yes! Does giving a human an injection in hospital count as harming them? No. So how does the robot differentiate between smack (heroin) and diamorphine (also heroin?) Would a robot be obliged to prevent a human signing a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) form? Or to override such a form, thus denying the human the freedom of choice?

The other problem with any kind of machine like that is that it can be hacked and/or reprogrammed. Super-cool, unstoppable robots guarding a top-secret base? Great! Hacked super-cool, unstoppable robots marching into that base and slaughtering their former colleagues? Not so great

I think people will try it, just to see if they can. I also think it'll go drastically wrong, and we'll come to the conclusion that AI should be used more for entertainment (ie, video games) than for serious purposes.

Hi Jude, I read your book and I've to say it was a wonderful read. Kalin is almost everyone's favorite character but I want to ask you who's your favorite character from this book (except from Kalin)?

Hi book_fanatic!

That actually surprised me, so, just for fun, I tallied the votes for Favorite Characters in this topic. Where people were torn between two characters, I gave a vote to each The results so far are:

CHATTON: 1 vote
KATA/KALIN: 9 votes
RENFIELD: 10 votes
TAU: 27 votes. I think. More kept coming in as I was writing this reply, so I may have lost count. Still, unless we're about to be swamped by a deluge of Kalin-fans, or Renfield-fans, I'd say that's pretty conclusive  Tau is officially three times as popular as Kalin, at least for the time being

In this book...hmm. From a reading point of view, I'd have to say Tau. However, I find him difficult to write as a character, so from a writing point of view, it would--well, it would be Kalin, except that's not allowed by the rules of your question I actually enjoyed writing all of them, for different reasons. I'll go with Renfield, partly because he's the only non-Project character who really changes over the course of the story, and partly because he and Kalin are actually pretty similar in terms of temperament. 

I like to think that if Kalin had graduated and gone into Project creation and training like he originally wanted, he'd have ended up a bit like Renfield. On the other hand, there's a lot of darkness and cynicism in Kalin thanks to his family background and the troubles he went through at school, so he might have started sliding more toward the Dennison side of the scale, although there's no way he'd ever have ended up as bad as Dennison  

My favorite character also changes from book to book. In the sequel, Homecoming, it's Kalin/New Character, mostly because - since the humongous amounts of stress in the lab made him act rather OOC in Project Tau - we get to see more of the real, human Kalin.

Honestly, I think you're very brave. I write as well as review books too, and I wouldn't have the courage to do something like this. I have ridiculous amounts of social anxiety and tremendously low self-esteem. From our previous interactions (there was a minor issue with formatting and it was probably an issue between Kindle and my computer) you are one of the nicest authors I've encountered. There was one who kept debating whether I read his book even though I wrote a chapter by chapter synopsis after his first dispute, and his reasoning, I think, was that I didn't agree with his premise. He was very arrogant. You're a real breath of fresh air. So, I guess this isn't so much a question as praise. Keep doing what you do!

Hi ciecheesemeister! Thank you so much! Nice to see you on this thread I do try to be nice to people, even if some of my characters are, well, not so nice

I remember that issue It honestly never showed up in my Kindle edition but, when I checked, somehow Kindle Create had screwed up and sneaked a duplicate line in, so it wasn't just a Kindle/PC issue.

Yeah, I encountered a couple of snooty authors as a reviewer as well. One demanded to know why my review never mentioned the theme of teenage depression which was prevalent throughout the novel. A fair query, except "prevalent" in this case meant "a single, very short chapter toward the end of the novel, with no prior or subsequent mention of depression" and the "depression" was a long internal moaning by the MC about why his life sucked, followed by him becoming all happy and optimistic again as soon as he saw the sunrise. As an author, whenever I get an OBC notification about a new review (particularly for Homecoming) I always think, "Oh, please please PLEASE let it mention this development, I really want to know what people think!" And, of course, it hardly ever does

It is kind of nerve-wracking sometimes, more so with sequels as I'm always terrified of letting people down One of the things that made me very happy was some people gave a higher rating to Homecoming than they did Project Tau (granted there was a gap of 12-13 years in between writing the two books, regardless of publication date, but still!)

[Jude Austin]

Hey Jude, I have this question that I always want to seek responses from authors, maybe in a bid to understand them better: What is your philosophy of life?

Eat pie!

Oh, you wanted a more philosophical philosophy? Honestly, I don't really have one, unless it's to try to be nice to people If you want guiding rules that I use when I'm unsure of what to do (or just plain don't want to do it; I'm human, after all ) they're probably these:

1. I will accept the consequences of my actions and take responsibility for them.

In other words, if I eat too much pie and don't work it off in VR, I will put on weight. This is entirely on me. Nobody force-fed me pie, or tied me to the couch to stop me from exercising. Believe me, when it comes to pie and couches, I don't need forcing (On a more serious note, I'm well aware that there are plenty of other reasons, including medical ones, why people gain weight. I'm also well aware that these reasons don't apply in my case; speaking purely for myself, if I gain weight, it's because I eat the wrong foods and don't exercise as much as I should )

I also accept that not everybody wants to read profanity, and my use of it in my books (*coughKatacough*) will cost me a few readers, and I'm fine with that. That's on me too

2. I will admit when I'm in the wrong, and apologize. This kind of ties in with #1. No making excuses, no "Oh, but Person A shouldn't have--" or "I was having a bad day--" nope. Just, "I'm sorry, I was wrong when I said/did that." or words to that effect

3. I try and apply the Triple Filter Test as well, particularly online (it's harder to do in real-life conversation ) For the curious among you who don't know what the Triple Filter Test is, read on

One day, a man ran up to the Greek philosopher Socrates and burst out, "Socrates, you'll never guess what I just heard about your friend!"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you say anything else, I'd like you to pass a little test called the Triple Filter Test."
'Triple filter?" the man echoed.
"That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you say anything to me about my friend, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Are you completely sure that what you have to say is True?"
"No," the man said. "It's just something I heard from someone else."
"Alright," said Socrates. "So you want to say something, but you have no idea if it's true. Now let's try the second filter: Goodness. Is what you have to say about my friend Good?"
"No," the man said again. "On the contrary, it's--"
"I see," Socrates interrupted, "So you want to say something bad about my friend, even though you have no idea whether or not it's true. There's still the third filter, though, which is Usefulness. Is what you want to say going to be Useful to me? For example, have you heard a rumor that he's a thief and that I should take extra care of my belongings when he's around?"
"No, no, nothing like that."
"Well then," said Socrates, "if what you have to say is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why bother to say it at all?"

You're really inspiring! I think it's safe to say that most of us here are here for our love of stories and reading. A lot of us hope to take that love further and would like to one day publish a book. So thank you for reaching out like this and just showing us it really is possible.

Hi ErikaP13!
Thank you so much! I hope you do get to publish your book. It would be great if there could be a little group of OBC authors as well as reviewers

I had some confusion about the supposed memory implants that Kata had. Everyone at the lab seemed to accept that explanation, but then the scientist Renfield went to see said it is not possible to do that to a project. If this was not something normally done, why did no one at Project Tau question it? That whole conversation was a bit confusing for me, so maybe I misinterpreted it. Please clarify.

Hi (again!) teacherjh!

I'm not sure which version of the book you have (later versions extended that conversation to elaborate a little more, along with extending the scene between Mason, Chatton and Renfield).

First of all, Jimmy never says it's not possible to do it to a Project; only that it's an invasive, very delicate procedure. GenTech has no reason to risk losing a multi-billion dollar creation without a very good reason, but there's no medical reason why it couldn't have been done.

Secondly, GenTech and Internal Memoriam are two completely separate, unrelated companies. In much the same way as the scientists in IM have no clue how to create, modify and train Projects, the scientists at GenTech have no clue how to perform memory implants (both companies would guard their secrets very closely They are competitors, after all). This also means that, while the GenTech scientists would understand the procedure from a financial, risk vs. reward point of view, they would have no idea how sophisticated or basic a procedure it would be, or of any limitations. To Internal Memoriam, a Project that can speak (ie, Tau) isn't that big a deal. To GenTech, it's a phenomenal breakthrough. In the same vein, copy-pasting an entire lifetime of memories is a crazy idea for anyone at IM, but to the guys at GenTech, it's not that far-fetched.

Thirdly, GenTech is always seeking new ways to push the boundaries. Since we know performing memory implants on a Project is perfectly possible, it's not hard to believe that, sooner or later, one lab is going to try it. Just because it's never been done before doesn't mean that GenTech doesn't want to do it

Fourthly, GenTech is an absolutely gigantic corporation, big enough and powerful enough to deal with the two main superpowers - Akkhen and Trandellia - on their own terms. As Kata himself said in the character interview, it makes Microsoft look like a corner shop in a sleepy little village. The lab in which Project Tau takes place is very small by GenTech standards; others would have several Projects on the go at once and could afford to experiment a little more. In the same vein, individual labs wouldn't send progress reports to each other. They would send reports of any breakthroughs - the better the procedure is in each lab, the more successful and profitable the company grows - which is why nobody questions the fact that Kalin can talk. Tau can talk, and Tau's predecessor Sigma could talk, and the lab circulated that information ASAP, meaning talking, rational Projects would then become the norm.

Kalin's lack of mutations and bigger lack of docility would be enough to tell any scientist that he's a very new Project. Therefore, they don't know if the memory implants are a viable process or not, and they're not going to circulate any reports until they do know. The extended version takes this a bit further: Mason also tells Renfield and Chatton that the lab which created "Kata" was closed down due to going grossly over-budget (which, given the likely cost of both Project creation and memory implantation and the fact that we know Tau's lab is also in dire financial straits) so there's no way Renfield can double-check if a Project named Kata was ever created in the first place, much less whether Kata was given memory implants. Granted, records of all created Projects would exist, but although Renfield - along with Dennison and Chatton - is one of the highest-ranking people in Tau's lab, by GenTech standards, they're all very small potatoes There's no way he'd be able to get authorization to check those records, and he's not any kind of hacker.

All this means that the attitude of the scientists in Tau's lab would be, "Oh, so another lab tried that, did they? Okay then."

[Faithful Oso]

I'm not a fan of sci books but i must say this is a very good book, i'm impressed.. The suspense, the emotions i felt while reading this book wowed me..My favorite character was Tau! What motivated you to write about cloning if i may ask?

[María Andrea Fernández Sepúlveda]

Hi!
First of all, congratulations!!!
My question is what do you think the future of AI is? With so fast advancements in this field, what do you think this will mean for our day to day lives?

Hi Lunastella!

Honestly, it's not something that I like to think about, which is why I keep AI very firmly out of my work That's the meta-explanation; there is an in-universe one for it as well, and no, it doesn't feature rogue robots

I think robots will keep on getting smarter, but giving something intelligence is a far cry from giving it judgment. This is why the whole idea of using robot guards never made any logical sense to me; a robot guard will shoot any unauthorized people regardless of circumstances. A human would see a smashed-up car, see the human with blood trickling out of his/her forehead and make the judgment that maybe that person isn't a spy, but someone who needs help. Does allowing a human to do drugs count as allowing them to come to harm, a la Asimov's First Law? I would definitely say yes! Does giving a human an injection in hospital count as harming them? No. So how does the robot differentiate between smack (heroin) and diamorphine (also heroin?) Would a robot be obliged to prevent a human signing a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) form? Or to override such a form, thus denying the human the freedom of choice?

The other problem with any kind of machine like that is that it can be hacked and/or reprogrammed. Super-cool, unstoppable robots guarding a top-secret base? Great! Hacked super-cool, unstoppable robots marching into that base and slaughtering their former colleagues? Not so great

I think people will try it, just to see if they can. I also think it'll go drastically wrong, and we'll come to the conclusion that AI should be used more for entertainment (ie, video games) than for serious purposes.

Thanks for taking the time to answer me! I totally agree, the problem lays both in the lack of judgment and nuance of AI and in the human nature in itself that tends to use technology for greedy purposes...
Probably not thinking about it is the best decision

[Giga51087]

Hello Jude, I have some questions to ask you regarding your work.

The first and most obvious question would be. Why did you choose cloning as the theme of the book? If we consider that it is such a sensitive subject for bioethics and religion. Especially the way in which it is approached in the book, leads us to raise very specific and crude conflicts on the subject.

The second, already in the field of genetic manipulation. Why were creatures created to be peaceful? I ask this, given that in the book there are several possible applications for clones, which involve a certain degree of aggressiveness and stress response. I raise this considering that fear and aggression are aspects that increase the survival capacity of individuals.

Finally, what other authors did you use as a reference? Observe certain winks in the book towards movie material and some science fiction PC games, which use a theme similar to that stated in your work. I know this may look bad but I see inspiration from a genre fan.

Thank you in advance for your time in answering me. I look forward to your next books. And please, don't tell me that when in doubt a wizard did it.

[Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha]

Hello,
I wouldn't say that Scifi is one of my favourite genres but I have occasionally left my comfort zone to explore that genre and I have found it a gratifying experience. You have written a beautiful book and I am sure everyone is looking forward to reading the sequels.

I wonder what one needs to do to be inspired to write SciFi novels. I think Scifi authors have vivid imaginations of worlds beyond that which the rest of us can see. How do these ideas come? How does one develop the ability to think outside the box of 'normalcy'?

Best wishes with your writing!

[Jude Austin]

I'm not a fan of sci books but i must say this is a very good book, i'm impressed.. The suspense, the emotions i felt while reading this book wowed me..My favorite character was Tau! What motivated you to write about cloning if i may ask?

Hello Jude, I have some questions to ask you regarding your work.

The first and most obvious question would be. Why did you choose cloning as the theme of the book? If we consider that it is such a sensitive subject for bioethics and religion. Especially the way in which it is approached in the book, leads us to raise very specific and crude conflicts on the subject.

Hi Faithful_Oso and Giga51087! I'll take both these questions together, as they're the same

The answer might disappoint you; at least, it will if you're looking for some kind of noble teaching goal on my end I do love it when my work makes people think, but at the end of the day, I write to entertain, not instruct

Project Tau was written in 2006, ten years before being published, at a time when CGI was nowhere near as advanced as it is now. I had a literary agent (who I later fired) who expected her clients to come up with reasons why a book would work as a movie. Sci-fi back then was very high-budget compared to other genres, so I set out to write a sci-fi book that could be adapted on a low budget. This meant nothing in the way of epic space battles (which I hate writing anyway!) or alien races/civilizations (which I sort of like writing) and no elaborate planetary sets.

It also meant that Tau couldn't be some kind of weird-looking genetic experiment He had to be completely human, and so he had to be a clone, and playable by any human actor. Making it about human cloning also means that none of the scientists raise an eyebrow at Kalin's sudden arrival and believe Mason/Dennison's lies about him being a Project.

The second, already in the field of genetic manipulation. Why were creatures created to be peaceful? I ask this, given that in the book there are several possible applications for clones, which involve a certain degree of aggressiveness and stress response. I raise this considering that fear and aggression are aspects that increase the survival capacity of individuals.

I'm not quite clear here. Are you talking about Tau when you say creatures, as he's the only one that was actually created? Also, bear in mind there's a gigantic difference between peaceful and tame

Projects are created to be tame (or rather, created and then broken to be tame) because they'd be far too dangerous otherwise. Bear in mind that they're considered animals - not people, not slaves; animals - under the law, and this is how the scientists are used to dealing with them. Tau and Kata are considered to be no different to dogs or horses (for example, in Book 2, Homecoming, we learn that the sexual assault on Tau isn't legally considered rape, but bestiality).

A dog that bites its master every chance it gets is no use to anyone. A dog that bites when its master tries to punish it is also no good (as explained in the book, the real reason for the pain acclimation sessions is so that Tau - and, later, Kata - become conditioned to allowing humans to inflict pain on them as a punishment).

On the other hand, a police dog is different. In that case, you want the dog to be tame and not bite its master, and also not bite random passers-by, but you also want the dog to attack and hold suspects when you give the order. In the case of Projects, the idea is that they submit instantly to any order their owner - or, to a lesser extent, other humans - give them, and that they stand quietly and allow their owner to punish them without retaliating or attempting to defend themselves, no matter how brutal that punishment becomes.

Finally, what other authors did you use as a reference? Observe certain winks in the book towards movie material and some science fiction PC games, which use a theme similar to that stated in your work. I know this may look bad but I see inspiration from a genre fan.

None! Believe me, I have far too many ideas, characters and worlds flying around in my head already, without recruiting more from other people.

I like writing sci-fi, but I'm actually not too keen on reading it, since so much of it falls into the space-battle-evil-alien-super-robot trap. I do play a lot of games, but simulation and adventure more than sci-fi (again, sci-fi games tend to be FPS, which I find very irritating. That said, I do love the Fallout series, purely for the open-world and storytelling).

So if you do see any references to games, movies etc (barring Kalin/Kata's open references to movies) that were released prior to 2006, it really is just a coincidence

The only semi-inspiration I got was from Stephen King's Misery. I was very impressed with how he was able to craft a story in such a tiny setting, with only a couple of characters, and I wanted to try a similarly claustrophobic setting. I also wanted to try and subvert the reader's expectations by making Dennison initially a fairly sympathetic character (or at least, not an outright antagonist) and then twist it around so that they went from sympathizing with him to hating him, which is why I chose to write it with the Prologue, followed by the rest of the book in flashback

Hello,
I wouldn't say that Scifi is one of my favourite genres but I have occasionally left my comfort zone to explore that genre and I have found it a gratifying experience. You have written a beautiful book and I am sure everyone is looking forward to reading the sequels.

I wonder what one needs to do to be inspired to write SciFi novels. I think Scifi authors have vivid imaginations of worlds beyond that which the rest of us can see. How do these ideas come? How does one develop the ability to think outside the box of 'normalcy'?

Best wishes with your writing!

Hi CambaReviewer!

Thank you so much! The first sequel, Homecoming, is already out on Amazon, so if you enjoyed Book 1, I hope you'll enjoy Book 2 as well

Ideas for worlds...again, I have too many I don't write dystopian sci-fi, so you won't find any polluted, smoke-belching cities; farms and villages are just as common as metropolises (people still have to eat, after all, and not everyone likes city living )

In terms of culture, key points are maps and history, as people living on a tiny island where nothing grows are going to have a far more fish-heavy diet compared to a city in the desert. There are five populated worlds - Sedna, Trandellia, Basarr, Drangyui and Akkhen - and one unpopulated one - Atthiras - (sort of; nobody actually owns it and there are no settlements, but people do live there) in the book's universe, and I have maps for all of them

In terms of flora and fauna, zoology works just fine Gigantic flowers are likely to have gigantic creatures to pollinate them. The fun part comes with imagining what they might look like

[Kemmy11]

I am a fan of Sci-fi genre and i must confess, this book capture my attention and i must confess, i am greatly impressed. I flowed with every bit of emotions in this book. If i may ask, what wasthe motivation behind writting this book?

[Kanda_theGreat]

Hey Jude, I have this question that I always want to seek responses from authors, maybe in a bid to understand them better: What is your philosophy of life?

Thank you so much.
This has been really helpful.
Eat pie!

Oh, you wanted a more philosophical philosophy? Honestly, I don't really have one, unless it's to try to be nice to people If you want guiding rules that I use when I'm unsure of what to do (or just plain don't want to do it; I'm human, after all ) they're probably these:

1. I will accept the consequences of my actions and take responsibility for them.

In other words, if I eat too much pie and don't work it off in VR, I will put on weight. This is entirely on me. Nobody force-fed me pie, or tied me to the couch to stop me from exercising. Believe me, when it comes to pie and couches, I don't need forcing (On a more serious note, I'm well aware that there are plenty of other reasons, including medical ones, why people gain weight. I'm also well aware that these reasons don't apply in my case; speaking purely for myself, if I gain weight, it's because I eat the wrong foods and don't exercise as much as I should )

I also accept that not everybody wants to read profanity, and my use of it in my books (*coughKatacough*) will cost me a few readers, and I'm fine with that. That's on me too

2. I will admit when I'm in the wrong, and apologize. This kind of ties in with #1. No making excuses, no "Oh, but Person A shouldn't have--" or "I was having a bad day--" nope. Just, "I'm sorry, I was wrong when I said/did that." or words to that effect

3. I try and apply the Triple Filter Test as well, particularly online (it's harder to do in real-life conversation ) For the curious among you who don't know what the Triple Filter Test is, read on

One day, a man ran up to the Greek philosopher Socrates and burst out, "Socrates, you'll never guess what I just heard about your friend!"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you say anything else, I'd like you to pass a little test called the Triple Filter Test."
'Triple filter?" the man echoed.
"That's right," Socrates continued, "Before you say anything to me about my friend, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Are you completely sure that what you have to say is True?"
"No," the man said. "It's just something I heard from someone else."
"Alright," said Socrates. "So you want to say something, but you have no idea if it's true. Now let's try the second filter: Goodness. Is what you have to say about my friend Good?"
"No," the man said again. "On the contrary, it's--"
"I see," Socrates interrupted, "So you want to say something bad about my friend, even though you have no idea whether or not it's true. There's still the third filter, though, which is Usefulness. Is what you want to say going to be Useful to me? For example, have you heard a rumor that he's a thief and that I should take extra care of my belongings when he's around?"
"No, no, nothing like that."
"Well then," said Socrates, "if what you have to say is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why bother to say it at all?"

You're really inspiring! I think it's safe to say that most of us here are here for our love of stories and reading. A lot of us hope to take that love further and would like to one day publish a book. So thank you for reaching out like this and just showing us it really is possible.

Hi ErikaP13!
Thank you so much! I hope you do get to publish your book. It would be great if there could be a little group of OBC authors as well as reviewers

I had some confusion about the supposed memory implants that Kata had. Everyone at the lab seemed to accept that explanation, but then the scientist Renfield went to see said it is not possible to do that to a project. If this was not something normally done, why did no one at Project Tau question it? That whole conversation was a bit confusing for me, so maybe I misinterpreted it. Please clarify.

Hi (again!) teacherjh!

I'm not sure which version of the book you have (later versions extended that conversation to elaborate a little more, along with extending the scene between Mason, Chatton and Renfield).

First of all, Jimmy never says it's not possible to do it to a Project; only that it's an invasive, very delicate procedure. GenTech has no reason to risk losing a multi-billion dollar creation without a very good reason, but there's no medical reason why it couldn't have been done.

Secondly, GenTech and Internal Memoriam are two completely separate, unrelated companies. In much the same way as the scientists in IM have no clue how to create, modify and train Projects, the scientists at GenTech have no clue how to perform memory implants (both companies would guard their secrets very closely They are competitors, after all). This also means that, while the GenTech scientists would understand the procedure from a financial, risk vs. reward point of view, they would have no idea how sophisticated or basic a procedure it would be, or of any limitations. To Internal Memoriam, a Project that can speak (ie, Tau) isn't that big a deal. To GenTech, it's a phenomenal breakthrough. In the same vein, copy-pasting an entire lifetime of memories is a crazy idea for anyone at IM, but to the guys at GenTech, it's not that far-fetched.

Thirdly, GenTech is always seeking new ways to push the boundaries. Since we know performing memory implants on a Project is perfectly possible, it's not hard to believe that, sooner or later, one lab is going to try it. Just because it's never been done before doesn't mean that GenTech doesn't want to do it

Fourthly, GenTech is an absolutely gigantic corporation, big enough and powerful enough to deal with the two main superpowers - Akkhen and Trandellia - on their own terms. As Kata himself said in the character interview, it makes Microsoft look like a corner shop in a sleepy little village. The lab in which Project Tau takes place is very small by GenTech standards; others would have several Projects on the go at once and could afford to experiment a little more. In the same vein, individual labs wouldn't send progress reports to each other. They would send reports of any breakthroughs - the better the procedure is in each lab, the more successful and profitable the company grows - which is why nobody questions the fact that Kalin can talk. Tau can talk, and Tau's predecessor Sigma could talk, and the lab circulated that information ASAP, meaning talking, rational Projects would then become the norm.

Kalin's lack of mutations and bigger lack of docility would be enough to tell any scientist that he's a very new Project. Therefore, they don't know if the memory implants are a viable process or not, and they're not going to circulate any reports until they do know. The extended version takes this a bit further: Mason also tells Renfield and Chatton that the lab which created "Kata" was closed down due to going grossly over-budget (which, given the likely cost of both Project creation and memory implantation and the fact that we know Tau's lab is also in dire financial straits) so there's no way Renfield can double-check if a Project named Kata was ever created in the first place, much less whether Kata was given memory implants. Granted, records of all created Projects would exist, but although Renfield - along with Dennison and Chatton - is one of the highest-ranking people in Tau's lab, by GenTech standards, they're all very small potatoes There's no way he'd be able to get authorization to check those records, and he's not any kind of hacker.

All this means that the attitude of the scientists in Tau's lab would be, "Oh, so another lab tried that, did they? Okay then."

[ZettieOby]

Hey Jude
What inspired you to write this book? What was your aim while writing this book?

[abhibilala]

My question to you is that, where did the idea of this book, the story and the cast originate from? Although I am not a big fan of science fiction books, this book really kept me engaging and it is well written.

[Abhi07]

My question to you would be- Where did the idea for this book originate? Is the plot based on an event that you took place in or just a thought that turned into a story?

[Jude Austin]

Hey Jude
What inspired you to write this book? What was your aim while writing this book?

My question to you is that, where did the idea of this book, the story and the cast originate from? Although I am not a big fan of science fiction books, this book really kept me engaging and it is well written.

My question to you would be- Where did the idea for this book originate? Is the plot based on an event that you took place in or just a thought that turned into a story?

I am a fan of Sci-fi genre and i must confess, this book capture my attention and i must confess, i am greatly impressed. I flowed with every bit of emotions in this book. If i may ask, what wasthe motivation behind writting this book?

Hi ZettieOby, abhibilala, Abhi07 and Kemmy11!

Thank you all so much! Wow, it seems everyone's curious about this, as I've been getting this question a lot I apologize for lumping you all in together instead of replying individually, but since you're all asking the same question, it seemed a little nuts for me to write out four identical answers

Honestly, it was just a thought that turned into a story, which in turn developed into the likely ramifications of human cloning and, from there, the need to express that clones are really no different to people. Tau has a mind of his own; he thinks, rationalizes, and feels just as much as Kalin and the scientists do. He gets hurt, and scared, and tired, and he cries. Before I knew it, it had turned into a novel about the ethics involved in human cloning.

The human attitude of, "Clones will never be equal to humans and aren't entitled to rights," is exactly what enables Dennison to do what he does with no fear of legal repercussions; if people truly believe that a race has no rights, then they're essentially defending Dennison's treatment of Tau. If they believe that Tau being tortured and sexually assaulted was a bad thing, then that's a tacit admission that clones are entitled to some rights of protection.

While some people might feel that clones aren't as good as 'natural-born' humans (as someone here said, that does raise the question of IVF babies, who are just as much a lab-grown product as Tau) there's a huge difference between rights and status. A dog isn't the social equal of its owner, but we as a species have decided to grant dogs the right to fair and humane treatment through organizations such as the SPCA. If you're caught abusing your dog, it'll be taken away and found a nicer home and you'll face penalties.

This also leads into the underlying custard pie analogy ("it stops being funny when it starts being you") which forms a large part of the book. Kalin had no issue with the way clones were treated; heck, he wanted to get into clone creation and training himself, and would most likely have done an internship alongside Dennison and the others if he hadn't taken that dare. Then he finds out firsthand just what it's like to be considered livestock, and suddenly he's fighting not just for himself, but for Tau, who he cares deeply about.

[Faithful Oso]

What motivated and inspired you to write such an amazing book?

[UzmaKhan]

Hello Jude,
First of all .
The thing that stood out for me was how you broke the stereotype in sci-fi fiction by incorporating clones as your subsject instead of the usual robotics, time travel or space.