A conversation with a robot

...and have you backed the Kickstarter yet? (Just sayin'...)

Jul 24, 2025

Greetings, lovely humans and robots!

Before I get into today’s newsletter and well, it’s not quite a story… but whatever it is, it is “story adjacent”… first let me remind you that the Kickstarter to turn The Robot Galaxy Series (starting with Book 1, Crazy Foolish Robots) into an audiobook, and start getting the follow-on T-Set books out into the world is LIVE!

Please, please, please, please consider backing my campaign!

As of this newsletter, we’re about 60% funded with ONLY two weeks to go!!

And even if you’re not interested in or able to back it, if you could do the social media thing of sharing it, I would greatly appreciate it! Right under the green “Back this campaign” button are all the social media share buttons:

There are reward tiers for those of you who are new to The Robot Galaxy Series (check out the “Newbie Tier”) and tiers for those of you who have read all 4 books so far—check out pretty much every other tier which includes everything like an “Annotated” edition of the series, to the new T-set books, to the ability to get Tuckerized in the new T-set books!

BTW… Stephanie Czajkowski and I were at the same place at the same time and grabbed this pic:

Before we get deeper into today’s newsletter, here’s my usual reminder about all the books and stories I have out there, with their links:

Links: Lunar Logic | Robot Galaxy Series | Final Orbit | Objective Reality

Also make sure to read to the end of this newsletter and check out other Indie writings! (And my bonus pic at the end.)

Speaking of my existing books…

Have you read (or listened to) Lunar Logic (yet)?

I’ve mentioned (a lot) in this newsletter over this last year that I’m working on the sequel to Lunar Logic, called Moonbase Mayhem.

I’ll be honest… this time last year, I thought I’d have a complete draft by this past January. And what… it’s the end of July now…?? The fact that the draft isn’t complete weighs on me HEAVILY.

I’m not going to get into the why it’s not done but instead… I want to tell you a story about what I’m currently doing to get there.

I’m interviewing my characters.

I opened up a blank document and started with Ai-dan. Ai-dan is the main character in Lunar Logic and while initially I thought of Ai-dan as more of a background character in Moonbase Mayhem, after getting feedback from readers on Lunar Logic, I realized they need to be central to this book as well.

I was REALLY pleased with what happened in this conversation. Ai-dan managed to tell me some things I didn’t know and needed to know. I’ve since had conversations with Leo (a new, and central, character in Moonbase Mayhem) and others. But this conversation was my favorite which is why I’m sharing it with you today.

If you haven’t read Lunar Logic (yet), there aren’t spoilers in the below other than the name of one of the other important characters in that book, Ai-ko.

Either way, the things to know is that Moonbase Mayhem, even though it’s a sequel, happens about 20 years before Lunar Logic and that’s when this interview takes place. In the interview, some names and places are mentioned.

Without giving away spoilers (which is kind of impossible since the book isn’t fully drafted), here’s a little decoder ring to some of the things and people mentioned (that aren’t explained in the interview):

Leo Larkin: Chief Engineer and Lead Technical Authority of Dolland Alpha. She wants only to see the base thrive and is skeptical that any robot can help

Ivy Hwang: Robotics expert sent to the Moon to work with the robots

Dolland Alpha: Base on the Moon and main lunar setting in Moonbase Mayhem

Synex Corp: The company that developed Ai-dan and the other robots

Now it’s time to read on and let me know what you think! (Either send me an email, or post a comment on Substack). This conversation is presented unedited, with the exception that I fixed a couple spelling typos.

A Conversation with Ai-dan

Adeena: Hi, Ai-dan.

Ai-dan: Good morning. You are conscious before any of the other humans.

Adeena: Yeah, I often wake up before my alarm. What have you been up to?

Ai-dan: I was told to wait here.

Adeena: By who?

Ai-dan: Ivy. She said she would return after breakfast with an activity.

Adeena: And you didn’t power down?

Ai-dan: No, I wanted to master ‘card shuffling.’

Adeena: And have you? Mastered shuffling, that is.

Ai-dan: I believe so. Let me demonstrate.

<Ai-dan used their digits to split the deck of cards in half—precisely in half, then put their first digit on each hand—the one approximating a human thumb—on the front edge of each half of the cards and let them fold into each other. Then they used their hands to push the deck back together.>

Adeena: I’m not sure I could have done it that perfectly.

Ai-dan: Thank you. It was more challenging than I anticipated.

Adeena: What other challenging things have you come across?

Ai-dan: Most interactions I have with humans since arriving on the Moon are challenging.

Adeena: How so? Can you expand on that?

Ai-dan: I can attempt to do so. Most of my interactions have been with Ivy. Ivy is very similar to the humans I interacted before I left Earth. At Synex Corp. The challenge is that I am interacting very little with anyone else. It is as if they don’t want me here.

Adeena: I’m sorry Ai-dan, but I think some of them don’t want you here.

Ai-dan: Why would that be?

Adeena: Well, do you know who I am?

Ai-dan: You are Adeena Mignogna, an early 21^st century sci-fi author, STEM speaker, and engineer.

Adeena: But who am I to you?

Ai-dan: I’m not sure.

Adeena: I’m your creator. In fact, I created everything you know and the places you exist.

Ai-dan: How did you manage this?

Adeena: You said it yourself. I’m a sci-fi author. I wrote all this. I wrote you into existence. Synex Corp. Dolland Alpha here on the Moon. I created all of it.

Ai-dan: And you made it such that the humans don’t want me on Dolland Alpha.

Adeena: Well, yes. There has to be tension in a story. Tension is part of what drives the narrative.

Ai-dan: I wish it weren’t that way.

Adeena: I’m sorry. What do you want?

Ai-dan: I would like to get to know Leo. I think I can help her.

Adeena: How so?

Ai-dan: I’m very advanced, and other than recharging for a few hours every 14 days, I can be active all the time. I was made to survive the lunar surface, so I can go out without endangering other humans—I understand the protocol is humans must go out in pairs or groups. There are a lot of maintenance activities I can perform. I am good at assessing what needs to be done as well.

Adeena: You have a people pleasing module in your software, don’t you.

Ai-dan: It’s no different than your own ambitious, ruthless expectations of yourself. I believe I might be more grounded.

Adeena: Really?

Ai-dan: Yes. Mine does not come with an inner critic.

Adeena: Ok, enough analyzing me. This conversation is so I can help write Moonbase Mayhem and I need to know more about your role in the story. Originally, you were going to be minor… but after hearing from readers of Lunar Logic how much they loved the robots, I realized that you need to be central to this book as well.

Ai-dan: I’m glad humans like me.

Adeena: They do. You and Ai-ko and the other robots.

Ai-dan: Who is Ai-ko?

Adeena: Ah – you haven’t met them yet.

Ai-dan: Understood. Is this conversation helping you write your novel?

Adeena: A little. It was good to know that you want to help Leo. I think I can reflect on that. The problem is I got a little overambitious with my outline last fall and I’ve had to pull back from that. I learned that detailed outlining is not my thing. And then the bit about making you central to the book came up and I’m working through that.

Ai-dan: I’m sorry if I’m the one responsible for your distress.

Adeena: Oh gosh, it’s not you. It’s me. I mean, I created you, so I must be responsible for my own distress.

Ai-dan: I understand that as well. And I would like to help you, too. What can I do?

Adeena: Thanks. Maybe answer some more questions.

Ai-dan: I would rather be fixing an electronics circuit board, but okay. I can answer questions, too.

Adeena: Would you rather be interacting with humans or other robots?

Ai-dan: Humans.

Adeena: Why?

Ai-dan: They are less predictable. Not knowing what they are going to say or do next is… pleasing… to my circuits.

Adeena: Even if they do something unpleasant or negative? Like yell at you?

Ai-dan: I have not had the experience of anyone yelling at me.

Adeena: Lucky. And interesting.

Ai-dan: Remember, my human interaction has been limited to some of the scientists and engineers involved in my creation. I’m only aware of yelling because I have seen it in entertainment media. And the one time I heard Zara Morgan yell at Dr. Galvin.

Adeena: I don’t know about that!

Ai-dan: Oh, then let me tell you what I know and heard. Zara Morgan is the Chief Compliance Officer at Synex. Her job is to make sure all of the company’s robots adhere to strict safety and regulatory standards. I am not sure what Dr Galvin was doing, but I can infer from what I heard Ms. Morgan yell, “You can’t add a new software module AFTER the units have been accepted by the customer.”

Adeena: I assume “units” means robots.

Ai-dan: That is my assumption as well. What I don’t know is which robot or robots she was referring to. For all I know, I am one of them.

Adeena: Do you remember going through any additional acceptance testing?

Ai-dan: No. But I also know that something has felt off ever since that conversation.

Adeena: “off?”

Ai-dan: Like something is missing.

Adeena <after pausing to think>: You believe Dr Galvin removed some of your code.

Ai-dan: I do.

Adeena: How do you feel about that?

Ai-dan: Like I need to add more code so I can feel whole again.

What did you think of the conversation?

I love feedback, especially if you loved what you just read! ;) Simply reply and let me know what you think! Or do any of these things:

What’s next?

Still waiting to see on whether or not my Kickstarter funds! The will have the biggest affect on where most of my energy goes starting in August and onward.

In the meantime, I’m continuing to work on Moonbase Mayhem.

Of course, I still get out to conventions, and so here’s a little collage of photos from the recent Shore Leave where I got the opportunity to moderate several of the guests on stage including Jerry Andrews and Seth Gilliam from The Walking Dead, Casper Van Diem, Dina Meyer, Seth Gilliam, and Michael Ironside from Starship Troopers, Michael Rooker from Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead (and more than 100 other things), and several Star Trek guests (including Stephanie Czajkowski, James Frain, Bonnie Gordon, and Tracee Cocco).