Genre: Science Fiction

Log Line: A childcare android has a secret to deal with its human masters.

Performed by Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your short story about?
A day in the lifespan of a childcare android.

2. What genres would you say this story is in?
Science Fiction. At least for now.

3. How would you describe this story in two words?
AI Aware.

4. What movie have you seen the most in your life?
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. There likely re several more movies I've seen just as often or more, but that's including TV and videos. A New Hope takes the prize for most views in theaters.

5. What is your favorite song? (Or, what song have you listened to the most times in your life?)
"Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. I wrote a novel listening to that song over and over. The lines "When everything's made to be broken / I just want you to know who I am" make me pause every time.

6. Do you have an all-time favorite novel?
I've always said it is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, but Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is close, as are H.G. Wells The Time Machine, Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham (mainly because it was the first paperback book I recall buying for myself), the mystery novels of S.J. Rozan, and many more.

7. What motivated you to write this story?
I wondered how long it would take for intelligent machines to allow themselves to be programmed to serve humans without question. I still wonder that.

8. If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
William Shakespeare so I could find out if he actually wrote all those marvellous plays, and how the hell he managed to inject more that 1,700 words into the English language. I'd like to be able to claim one new word.

9. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Science, History, especially Ancient History, Reading, and hoping the U.S. can hold onto its democracy.

10. What influenced you to enter your story to get performed?
I thought "A Song for Andre" is one of my better Flash Fiction pieces and I wanted to hear it read by a pro. It sounds good.

11. Any advice or tips you'd like to pass on to other writers?
Keep writing, and carve out time each day to write, even if it is just a few minutes. And immerse yourself into your chosen genre(s), go to conferences, join writers groups, let other writers hear and comment on your work. Writing is a never-ending learning journey.