Murder by Munchausen Trilogy by M.T. Bass
GENRE: Mystery
BLURB:
A Cyber Crime Thriller Series: Notorious serial killers
digitally resurrected to live & hunt again in hacked replicants, pursued by
detectives of the Artificial Crimes Unit.
Excerpt:
The
Invisible Mind Chapter 2 – Richard Speck
It
sat on a bench outside the dormitory of nursing students, waiting with its
kind’s infinite patience. Originally acquired and programmed for landscaping at
the Cleveland Clinic, the synthoid was one of a brigade of units which had been
hacked and Munchausened, then returned to their menial daily services to mankind
to await the Baron’s call.
There
was no adrenalin surge behind the extremely life-like facade of humanity when
that call came. Data packets, sent scatter-shot through the Atlas Grid,
coalesced at the location outside the Cole Eye Institute where the synthoid
methodically trimmed and shaped the immaculate shrubbery around the building.
To avoid Q’s metadata sniffing algorithms from detecting a download spike in
the grid, the information came in digital sprinkles over the course of its
human handler’s work shift, slowly building a malevolent intent to be executed
that night. In the middle of the afternoon, the synthoid left the unfinished
topiary to melt into the hospital shift change and disappeared.
Personality
modules were a Gen-3 feature upgrade, which is why the earlier models were
initially preferred. Swapping out a few IC chips and uploading hacked firmware
was a relatively easy way to turn a quick buck with an automated contract
killing. But evil innovates, too, and the same features that made synthoids
even more human-like in their behavior also helped create robotic assassins
which could better camouflage their malicious intents and evade the reach of
the Artificial Crimes Unit by melting into and moving undetected through the
humanity that surrounded them. For the Baron, it allowed for a greater measure
of artistic expression in programming the synthoid’s behavior to not only
recreate infamous crimes of the past but to mimic the behavior of their
perpetrators, which intensified the thrill of watching the video feed through
the eyes of Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy or, this particular evening, Richard
Speck. Jake wasn’t the only history buff, and it amused Jamal that London
police had photographed the eyes of Jack the Ripper’s victims, hoping to
capture the last thing they ever saw: their killer’s face. If only Scotland
Yard could have imagined the future…
Interview with M.T. Bass
What was the hardest scene from your book to write?
I don’t know, it’s just not hard for me to write. Sometimes it takes a bit of forehead slapping to figure out what is going to happen in the story, because I’m so horrible at outlining—mainly because they never, ever work out. I tried it once, but the characters just went about their own lives as they saw fit, so it’s kind of a continual guessing game.
Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?
I don’t set out to write in any particular genre. Usually a scene or character comes into my head and I start putting it all down on paper. Whether it’s a sci-fi book or a police procedural or a thriller or a romance doesn’t really matter. I just follow my lead wherever it takes me.
If you write in more than one genre, how do you balance them?
I don’t read one genre, so why should I write in just one genre? I guess it might be “easier for readers to be so predictable,” but not for me. I like excitement, too.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I liked the interaction between the main characters, especially getting to tell the story from Jake’s point-of-view in the first book, then Maddies’s POV In The Darknet, and bringing it all together in the third person in The Invisible Mind.
What book that you have read has most influenced your life?
That would have to be Catch-22. It’s literature. It’s satire. It’s Monte Python and Firesign Theater before they even existed with a great existential ending. It’s got it all for me.
Tell us a little about yourself? Perhaps something not many people know?
I got a part time job at American Flyers at Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL) in Cleveland. (I’ve had a Commercial Pilot license and Flight Instructor Certificate for a while). I started out teaching their weekend classes for Private, Commercial and Flight Instructor Refresher courses. Their business started picking up and I got moved into the cockpit on days when they had more students than Flight Instructors. I was definitely a PRN-type employee, but It was one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had.
Can you tell us something about your book that is not in the summary?
Except for a few characters (mostly authority types like Lt. Sands), none of the main characters have last names. I thought it made for a more intimate connection with the reader in a high-tech, Sci-Fi thriller.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion
that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right
reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born
in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from
Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in
the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace &
Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write
fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In
the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by
Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3)
and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure,
Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified
Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories.
Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
M.T. Bass Author Links
M.T. Bass Website Links
Murder by Munchausen Purchase Links
The book will be on sale for $0.99.
Amazon
Murder
by Munchausen Trilogy
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Apple Books
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Barnes & Noble
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Kobo Books
Murder by Muchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Smashwords
Murder by Munchausen
The Darknet
The Invisible Mind
Audio Books – Murder by Munchausen
Listen to Sample
Giveaway:
$50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning.
11 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Goodness.. This sounds like my kind of read.. I can't wait!!
Are any of the characters in your book based off of characteristics or personalities of people that you know?
Thanks for sharing the excerpt & interview!
I liked the excerpt, thank you.
Hi --
Thanks for hosting this stop on my blog tour and for the great interview questions.
Just so your folks know, the Munchausen Trilogy is available on Kindle Unlimited.
Thanks.
~Mudcat
Interesting concept. I'm not sure I can wrap my head around this. But it does seem a little scary.
Hi Bernie --
There's a little bit of a lot of different people in each of the characters But Wally is a good friend of mine.
Thanks.
~Mudcat
How many books have you written so far? Congrats on the release.
Hi Bernie --
Thanks for the kudos. I've got eight novels published, along with two novellas available in Kindle Unlimited.
I just finished the final draft of my ninth, Jungleland, which I'll be sending out to my editor next week for a fall release.
~Mudcat
Your book sounds like alot of fun. Thanks for sharing.
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