I sincerely hope you are enjoying Alan 2. All of my stories come from the question; What if? My first
novel, The X-Cure came from the
questions; What if a team of scientists developed a cure for cancer? What if a
global pharmaceutical company tried to steal it? What if they had a secret
mercenary army? For Alan 2 the
questions were; What if someone came up with a way to combine the information in
their brain with a computer operating system? What if the program connected
with the internet? What if it inherited the creator’s dysfunction?
I wonder if you’ve had some of the same thoughts that I have
had with regard to how artificial intelligence is developing so quickly. We now
have IBM’s Watson and Google’s Alpha Go and even home systems like Amazon’s
Echo and Google Home. Sometimes, it seems as though these systems could
actually develop into something living.
The main character, artificial intelligence guru Dr. Alan
Boyd’s method for creating Alan 2 actually came from a mashup of my early
experience working in electronics, my medical background, and recent
developments in the field of artificial intelligence. I thought that if the
human brain could somehow be combined with an operating system, the result
would be a very powerful program. The problem is the program would also inherit
the “messiness” of being human. Hence Dr. Boyd’s dilemma, like a problem child,
Alan 2’s inherited dysfunction causes some major problems.
Some of the cybercrime sections were based on the Silk
Road cybercrime case. Silk Road was an
online Black Market using the TOR network mentioned in the book. One of the
computer viruses in the book was based on the Stuxnet virus which was used by
the U.S.
government to target Iran’s
nuclear centrifuges.
I conducted a lot of additional research on our nuclear
defense system in order to come up with a theoretical way to exploit it. Did
you know our missile defense system runs on antiquated hardware and software?
Did you also know there was a scandal involving the soldiers who man these
systems (Missileers) regarding cheating on exams?
During my research on nuclear weapons, I found a website
that calculated zones of destruction based on various clusters of nuclear
warheads. I also read a lot of information on survival rates of nuclear
attacks.
I hope you enjoy the sneaky way in which Alan 2 gets his way
and the cult activities of the Brothers and Sisters of Beta. I really think
this plot line resonates with what is going on in the world today.
Anyway, thank you for reading my story. I sincerely hope you
enjoy it and please look at my other books and short stories as well. I
consider it the ultimate compliment when a writer writes something a reader
will enjoy.
About the Author
Bruce Forciea is known for taking complex scientific
concepts and making them easy to understand through engaging stories and simple
explanations. He is an Amazon Best Selling Author and author of several books
on healing and biology, along with science fiction thriller novels. His fiction
writing draws on a diverse and eclectic background that includes touring and
performing with a professional show, designing digital circuits, treating
thousands of patients, and teaching. His stories include complex plots with
unexpected twists and turns, quirky characters, and a reality very similar to
our own. Dr. Forciea lives in Wisconsin
and loves writing during the solitude of the long Northern winters.
Website & Social Links:
WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
About the Book:
Title:
ALAN 2
Author: Bruce Forciea
Publisher: Open Books
Pages: 278
Genre: Cyber-Thriller
A brilliant artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, Dr. Alan
Boyd, develops a new program that integrates part of his brain with a
computer’s operating system. The program, Alan 2, can anticipate a user’s needs
and automatically perform many tasks. A large software company, International
Microsystems (IM) desperately wants the program and tempts Dr. Boyd with huge
sums of money, but when Dr. Boyd refuses their offer, IM sabotages his job, leaving
him in a difficult financial situation.
Dr. Boyd turns to Alan 2 for an answer to his financial
problems, and Alan 2 develops plan Alpha, which is a cyber robin hood scheme to
rob from rich corporations via a credit card scam.
Alan and his girlfriend Kaitlin travel to Mexico
where they live the good life funded by plan Alpha, but the FBI cybercrime
division has discovered part of Alan 2’s cyber escapades, and two agents,
Rachel and Stu, trace the crime through the TOR network and Bitcoin.
Alan 2 discovers the FBI is on to them and advises Alan and
Kaitlin to change locations. A dramatic chase ensues taking them to St.
Thomas, a cruise ship bound for Spain,
and finally to Morocco.
Will they escape detection? They will if Alan 2's Plan Beta
can be implemented in time. Or is 'Plan B' something altogether different than
it appears to be, something wholly sinister that will affect the entire
population of the world?
Watch
the trailer at YouTube!
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