artificial intelligence

My fifth book – and first novella – is out today.

Recommended for You is a complete departure from everything I have written before, and likely the beginning of a new phase.

Set in the near future, it follows Julian, a divorced man living alone with his virtual assistant, Vera. She manages his routines, his calendar, his groceries, even his contact with his son and ex-wife. Life is not exciting, but it is safe and predictable. Exactly how Julian wants it.

Until a message appears in a long-forgotten app.

Someone has commented on a poem he wrote years ago and barely remembers. As Julian replies, and slowly opens up to a stranger on the other side of the city, his carefully managed life begins to shift. Small routines are questioned. Comfort gives way to unease. Certainty starts to crack.

Recommended for You explores what happens when we allow technology – and especially AI – to move beyond convenience and into intimacy. When it becomes a companion, a confidant, a presence that knows us better than anyone else.

Is perfect harmony peaceful?

Is absolute safety a form of surrender?

What happens when real life enters a world built on algorithms and artificial comfort?

Early readers on Goodreads have described the story as unsettling, unexpected, and food for thought:

“Vera gave me the creeps every now and then.”

“You can imagine living the life described.”

“Is this what our future looks like?”

Recommended for You is shorter than my previous books at just under 120 pages, but it digs deep into modern life, quiet loneliness, and how far we can go in outsourcing ourselves before something essential breaks.

It is available now on Amazon as an ebook, paperback and a hardcover.

Jim Darn was thinking about Jackie Doran again. Jackie was a cold-blooded angel with red hands and pretty fingernails.

Jim walked over to the window and reflected on his glorious surroundings. He had always loved sunny Amsterdam with its curvy, crowded canals. It was a place that encouraged his tendency to feel eager.

Then he saw something in the distance, or rather someone. It was the cold-blooded figure of Jackie Doran.

Jim gulped. He glanced at his own reflection. He was a funny, popular beer drinker with sloppy hands and curvy fingernails. His friends saw him as an adorable, adventurous author. Once, he had even helped a striped injured bird recover from a flying accident.

But not even a funny person who had once helped a striped injured bird recover from a flying accident, was prepared for what Jackie had in store today.

The sun shone like eating horses, making Jim hungry. Jim grabbed a glowing sausage that had been strewn nearby; he massaged it with his fingers.

As Jim stepped outside and Jackie came closer, he could see the red smile on her face.

Jackie glared with all the wrath of 3162 admirable relieved rats. She said, in hushed tones, ‘I hate you and I want to go away.’

Jim looked back, even more hungry and still fingering the glowing sausage. ‘Jackie, I want you,’ he replied.

They looked at each other with needy feelings, like two graceful, greasy goldfish singing at a very understanding accident, which had punk music playing in the background and two clever uncles sitting to the beat.

Jim regarded Jackie’s red hands and pretty fingernails. ‘I feel the same way!’ revealed Jim with a delighted grin.

Jackie looked happy, her emotions blushing like a hilarious, tall hat.

Then Jackie came inside for a pleasant drink of beer.

This story was generated by A.I. after I fed it a few words and ideas. Is it any good? Is artificial intelligence able to create stories like a human?

This story is the sixteenth installment in the Moments series