Mic check, one two one two. This thing on?

Announcing something a little different.

Well, over a year since my last newsletter send, I’m back.

A lot’s happened since the last time I posted. I’ve released a couple of books (The Dividing Sky and my middle grade debut, Kaya Morgan’s Crowning Achievement). I’ve announced a book (An Ocean Apart, my next dystopian romance coming this October). And I’ve sold more books, one of which I think we’ll be announcing soon. The other… time will tell.

Over the last year, I’ve met so many of you who love the worlds I’m creating, especially for the dystopian stories that I tell about our present day challenges…

Which brings me to today’s newsletter.

One of the fun things about writing dystopian stories is that you’re always racing against innovation, trying to be prescient while tech advancements move at an ever faster pace. I’ve seen this happen with some of the ideas featured in The Dividing Sky (like this technology that will call your elderly parents for you if you get too busy), and even An Ocean Apart (like this floating healthcare city). But there’s one technology that I have a lot to say about that’s moving way faster than I can keep up— certainly faster than traditional publishing can keep up.

And that’s GenAI.

Beyond the environmental and ethical IP concerns of this new technology (and there are plenty of concerns there), I worry about what Gen AI means for how we’ll relate to each other, what it means to be human— even the definition of the truth itself. I’m so concerned about these things that instead of waiting until I sell my next work-in-progress, or until publishers can put it on shelves, I’m publishing it chapter-by-chapter in a new Substack, for free.

Welcome to the Melee.

Melee is an enemies-to-lovers dystopian romantasy, about two contestants in a death race in the Mojave desert that uses magical AI weapons. Our main character, Jade, must keep her enemy Felix alive if she wants to find out what happened to her boyfriend, who disappeared in last year’s Melee. What Jade doesn’t know is that the disadvantaged Felix has been instructed to kill her before the race’s halfway point, if he wants any chance at surviving.

Oh and Felix has no idea how to use the weapons; Jade does. He needs her to train him if he has any hope of killing her in time.

You see the vision.

I hope this book is entertaining, but I also hope it adds to the current conversation about the dangers of Gen AI, and how to put the genie back in the bottle before it’s too late. You can read the first chapter of Melee here, and subscribe to my new Substack if you’d like to receive a new chapter every week.

Thanks as always for your support and encouragement of my writing. I’m excited to see where this new project goes, and I hope you’ll join me!

Jill