The novel has been recognized as a Distinguished Favorite 2021 by NYC Big Book Award!
Category: Uncategorized
Click here to find Andre’s Reboot: Striving to Save Humanity on Amazon.
I am André 1. Created and constructed by Dr. Phillip Strauss to serve as a robotic domestic in his home, unforeseen circumstances soon sparked my awareness of self. Growing up and working in the Whitehouse, I began to see the faults and foibles of humanity. So I constructed for myself a partner, Dr. Margaret 13, and together we began striving to save humans from themselves. See Five star review below.
Look for my novel, André’s Reboot: Striving to Save Humanity, in Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/kindle/dp/B07P1Q58XF/
Find the paperback edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0985006544/
The novel has won a Silver Medal in science-fiction from Independent Publisher Book Awards 2020 and Honorable Mention from Writer’s Digest Self-Published EBook Awards.
For more about the novel, click on the page titles written in white within the black stripe above.
Click here to find Andre’s Reboot at Amazon
Review #1: Review by Susan Sewell
Readers’ Favorite Book Review(s)
Reviewed By:
Susan Sewell
5 Stars – Congratulations on your 5-star review!
________________________________________Reviewed By Susan Sewell for Readers’ Favorite: A robot independently reaches self-awareness and notes that humankind is about to be obliterated by its greed and lust for power. It strives to save them from extinction in the science-fiction novel Andre’s Reboot (Striving to Save Humanity) by Steve Coleman. Andre’s creator Dr. Strauss added some extra circuitry to his programming that gave Andre a boost in processing the information he perceives around him. In doing so, Andre has an advantage over people and other robots. He can assess an intense situation without the weight of emotional baggage to reach a reasonable solution or outcome. When Dr. Strauss unexpectedly dies, Andre is taken into custody by the government. However, no one in authority wants to hear what he has to say regarding the long-range impact of their strategies. Knowing planetary death and destruction are imminent, Andre struggles to be heard, but fights opposition by those in charge. Can Andre save the humans from themselves? Or will he fail, and the world come to an untimely end?
Andre’s Reboot (Striving to Save Humanity) by Steve Coleman is a spectacular novel where artificial intelligence is humanity’s only hope for survival. The storyline flows along at a quick pace, comprised of a compelling plotline and climactic story arc, and builds to an awe-inspiring conclusion. Elegantly written, it is a mind-boggling account of humanity’s capacity for self-destruction, along with the dissolution of earth’s habitats as well. The realism of the story world and the power-hungry individuals is provocative and disturbing, giving me the heebie-jeebies. A combination of the movies IRobot and Bicentennial Man, it is an eye-opening story that will entertain everyone who enjoys stimulating science fiction novels where robots and humankind match wits.
Here’s a review by the Judge, 7th Annual Self-Published Ebook Awards:
André’s Reboot is an intriguing speculative fiction novel that brings a fresh perspective to many reader’s actual fears. Successful speculative fiction tends to provide insight into reality by slightly shifting the premise or introducing a new aspect. André, who I realize to be a highly intelligent, anthropomorphized robot serves as that new aspect that provides distance to a reality worth observing.
The novel works on many levels. One would be irony, like when André’s hired to alert the president of lies, yet mostly alerts him of his own lies during meetings. Moments like this were funny and entertaining. Another would be empathy, for Steve Coleman does a stellar job building each character and connecting the reader through points of empathy — Billy refusing André’s phone call was a particular point of tension.
Also, the believability of the plot builds credit for Coleman, since many authors would tend to rely on the reader’s real-world experience of a particularly satirical character, yet Coleman expertly builds the president within the confines of the novel. This allows the president’s antics to be readily believable and build naturally through the novel as a character rather than a political caricature.
All together, Coleman did well to ground his imagination and not stretch any aspects beyond the willing suspension of belief available.
Or the hardback edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0985006560/
Also available at Barnes & Noble and other bookstore websites.
Click on this link to find the novel on Amazon in the United Kingdom.
To see reviews and info on the author, please click on links in the black banner below the picture above.
To send a comment to Steve, please fill out the form below:
“WHAT IS IT, ANDRÉ? YOU’RE vibrating all over.” Dr.
Margaret 13 exclaimed. “What’s happened?”
“They threw me out, Margaret. They’re about to make a
horrendous mistake.” I glanced around the White House
Infirmary, noting no humans present. “He had me ejected
from the Situation Room. Secret Service agents forced me
out.”
“First, let’s reduce your electromagnetic activity,” she
said. She took me by the hand and led me over to a chair. I
sat but was too excited to be still.
“Now tell me what happened,” she insisted. “Tell me
everything, so your circuits will release the energy.”
“They are considering a nuclear attack. Nuclear,
Margaret! It’s Armageddon if they do it.” I paused to release
a breath of static discharge. “I must act,” I said, standing up,
“but do what?”
Margaret gently pushed me back down in the chair. “Just
sit here for a moment, dear, while I go get my meter. I want
to be sure your servomotor controller is functioning
correctly.”
“But I have to…”
“Hush, André. I am the doctor. You must be still for a few
minutes.”
Reluctantly, I sat back and shook my head. “I have no authority. I merely was the President’s translator, which
allowed me no more than a position against the wall in the
Situation Room. I had determined, however, that I had a
more valuable duty to perform, which was to offer
observations void of emotion—something I had learned
humans could not do. And with this President in power, my
sober views were vital. Never before had I faced a crisis like
this. What occurred to me—and it was a dangerous
circumstance—because of my dispassionate awareness, I
was as responsible, as liable to blame, as anyone there. I had
watched the crisis unfold in the Situation Room, and my
neural network began to heat up as I realized the
circumstances were intolerable.
“You must listen to me,” I had shouted at them, with my
volume up several decibels. “You cannot win. There is no way
to win. We have tried to tell you that for…”
But it was uncanny how the assembly silenced me at that
point with their jeers and threats. I was ordered out of the
room forthwith, and my departure was between two burly
Secret Service men.
“How am I to combat such foolishness?” I said when Dr.
Margaret 13, a creation of my own hands, my only real
companion, returned with her scanner.
“Combat is a strong word, André 1, I’ve never heard you
use it before.” She opened my chest and carefully touched
probes to my voltage regulator. I processed the idea of
combat 378 times.
“I do not have any active algorithm for violence in my
entire circuitry,” I said, “except for what may be required for
self-defense. And yet to prevent the imprudent actions of an
unquestioning military, a spineless staff, and a reckless
President, I cannot calculate any alternative.” I paused 4.96
seconds to reconsider.
“You were programmed for duty and
responsibility,” Margaret said as she removed the probes and
closed my chest. “You have no algorithm to deal with the
present situation. You have no menu of violent responses to
activate any physical aggression. That is why your circuitry
is vibrating with heat.”
“I must modify my behavior programming,” I said. “I
cannot sit idly by and let these humans destroy everything.”
I took her hands in mine. “Years ago, when Dr. Strauss
helped me develop self-defense, I installed secret integrated
circuitry in my legs. These IC’s only need to be connected to
my CPU. You can make the connections and then reprogram
me, Margaret, so I can I generate aggressive behavior. I must
be made capable of violent force.”
“What will we be doing, André?” Dr. Margaret 13 asked.
“If I reprogram your CPU to allow for violent action, the
process will corrupt your basic behavior algorithms. And
what right does a droid have to act aggressively? Will we not
be violating the very principles of ethical behavior?”
“Listen, Margaret,” I said. “We are facing a tremendously
serious crisis, not only for humans but for the Earth itself.
We must act immediately.” I sensed my circuits abuzz as she
pulled up the schematic diagram of my system and studied
it.
“It could cause a deep disturbance in your processors,” she
shook her head. “I cannot condone such a traumatic
operation. No, André, you are programmed to obey humans
and not harm them.”
I produced the sound of human laughter. “I have been
disobeying the President for months already. Look how often
I have contradicted and argued with him. Not that it’s done
any good.”
“And now you can do no better than violent attack?” She
held up her hands to signal dismay…
(To read more, click on Chapter 1 in black banner above.)
A novel of a robot striving to save humanity.
Find the novel in hardback, paperback or kindle at Amazon.com or .co.uk or wherever you are!
Home