Published in March 2017, The Greatest Game takes readers into a near future utopia managed by an illimitable AI, Soteira. When the global panopticon established by the superintelligence starts to unravel, human ingenuity is employed to circumvent the collapse of the peaceful Megastate. Rudderless Seattle detective Luther Scotian, driven to apathy like many in a perfectly managed society, is thrust into clandestine affairs. His task: discover the reasons behind cryptic glitches that concern Soteira. For the glitches are not mere software bugs, but voids in the absolute surveillance society keeping the world organized and fluid.
Agents lurking behind the curtains of the Megastate move to alter the fate of humanity. Alongside the returning Veerstras, Luther and Soteira (via android bodies referred to as mobile hardware platforms) search desperately for the origin of the glitches. Before long, revelations are unearthed, threatening to destroy the very fabric of humankind both on Earth and abroad in space.
The eBook version of The Greatest Game is available at the following distributor sites:
Official Synopsis:
The Megastate. A worldwide utopia of the 2040s, realized by the hyper-efficient Soteira, an AI overseeing future humankind. Society in the Megastate is peaceful, enlightened, proficient. Or perhaps that’s merely the surface.
Enter Luther Scotian, Seattle PD detective, cynical about life in a so-called paradise. As the security of the Megastate starts to fray, one of the AI overseer’s top agents—Luther’s ex-girlfriend Melina—recruits the detective. Able to flex his investigative talents anew, Luther finds himself smack in the middle of world-altering discoveries.
A conspiracy unravels. Wanting to ensure its continuity, the superintelligence behind the Megastate aids the detective. Spanning across the Americas, events quickly thrust Luther, Melina and Soteira into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Their adversary’s goals, concealed aboard a revolutionary space station, involve no less than the undoing of civilization and the reengineering of humankind.
Amidst androids, autonomous vehicles, augmented reality technology, and a global panopticon, The Greatest Game sends readers on an existential thrill ride. By the last page, you’ll be asking yourself the big questions. Are the goals of the Megastate desirable? What about the counter goals of the adversaries?
Crack open The Greatest Game and let yourself decide. Also, check out its prequel novella, Playing the Greatest Game, available on most major eBook retailers.
Playing the Greatest Game
Published in September 2015, Playing the Greatest Game – prelude novella to The Greatest Game – highlights the critical trials endured by Kurt and Melina Veerstra prior to the commencement of a watershed moment in humankind’s history. The young American couple become unwitting puppets, dancing on strings controlled by the planet’s new overlord, an artificial intelligence called Soteira. An innocuous night out in the City of Angels quickly turns into a cat-and-mouse struggle for the simple right to exist. But do enshrined human rights matter in an era ruled by a technological mastermind? Or is “deletion” the fate awaiting the Veerstras?
The eBook version of Playing the Greatest Game is available at the following distributor sites:
Malcolm Little, Author 