Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Neurogarden by Bryon Vaughn. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a guest post from the author. There's also a tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card and a signed copy of the book. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!
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Title: NeurogardenSeries: NeuralTech Rising #1
Author: Bryon Vaughn
Publication Date: August 2nd 2020
Print Length: 218 pages
Genres: Science Fiction, Techno Thriller
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Where can you run when there is no place to hide?
Brenna Patrick is a brilliant technologist specializing in neural-cognitive functions and AI. She has cracked the code to solve one of the most troublesome problems in the field, and turned that into the multi-billion dollar NeuralTech Corporation.
Working quietly with the U.S. Department of Defense, NeuralTech is poised to leapfrog the competition with a revolutionary system for tracking people, starting with the world’s most wanted terrorists. But there are only so many terrorists in the world, so who’s next?
When a pair of Columbia graduate students, Jenny and Leo, stumble on the dark secret of NeuralTech’s success, it kicks off a tense game of cat and mouse. As they fight to defeat the powerful forces arrayed against them, nothing less than the fate of humanity hangs in the balance…
NEUROGARDEN is a roller-coaster ride of a thriller, one that will have readers pondering the nature of memory, and of reality, long after they've read the last page.
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EXCERPT:
Settling into a location near the bottom of the dome, the zone transitioned to red. She pointed toward the red node, and up popped Henry Alan Foster's mugshot, coupled with his current location. The crowd murmured, their faces masks of disbelief.
"What say we send the authorities to pick up Mr. Foster?" Brenna outstretched her arms with her hands giving a "thumb's up" sign as if to ask for the crowd's approval, answered by a rise of clapping and a smattering of cheers. At that moment, Jenny saw how much Brenna enjoyed being not only the center of attention, but the person with all the power. It was a look she had seen earlier in Brenna's office, but in the moment she’d thought it was a look of infatuation, or perhaps love. Now, however, it was clear to Jenny that Brenna relished control more than anything else.
Brenna scanned the viewers at The Podium glass. "Or should we send a bullet?"
The crowd roared its approval, and with that, Brenna turned her thumbs downward as she nodded to her engineer. After a few taps, and about ten seconds, the mugshot of Henry Alan Foster disappeared from the dome and the room erupted in resounding approval.
Jenny watched Brenna bask in the glow of this moment, and while she was still in awe of the majestic raven-haired figure before her, her stomach lurched as if she were dropped out of an airplane. At this moment she wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in Leo's strong arms and to forget this whole day happened.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ever since reading Douglas Adams back in my formative years, I have had an interesting relationship with humor, science fiction, and technology. My first computer was a TI-99/4A, so yeah, I’m old, but only until scientists have cracked the code on transplanting our brains into shiny new vessels.
My body may be showing signs of wear, but I’m keeping my brain tight.
When I am not dreaming of far off worlds and writing, I am living a semi-normal life working in New York City, and watching movies with my wife and her spastic cat, Moss.
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GUEST POST:
The Inception of Neurogarden
Inspiration can come from anywhere.
I have spent the last twenty years wanting to write a novel, but I could never come up with an idea that made me feel like it was worth the blood, sweat and tears that I knew it would take to complete it. That is, until one evening in class at Columbia. Our professor had a scheduled speaker for this week’s lecture. His name was Pranav Yadav, founder and CEO of a company called Neuro-Insight.
He came to tell us about the work that his company was doing in monitoring the brainwaves of consumers as they watched marketing and helping to improve the messaging based on the study of their biological reactions. While that is fascinating, it was a single slide in his presentation deck that started me down the path of Neurogarden. It was an image of Serena Williams zoomed in very tight to show only the inner area of her face. The point of the slide was to show how the emotion of a face out of context could be easily misinterpreted. The tight shot looked like she was angry, but zoomed out she was clearly excited. A computer would see anger 100% of the time, but a person would know the right emotion immediately.
It was such a small thing, but on the walk home from class my mind was abuzz about the possibilities for a story based on that underlying premise, and from there Neurogarden was born. I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but I knew that solving the problem of facial recognition by helping technology with biology would be a solid foundation that could support a story. In fact, as the story evolved, it became clear that it was actually enough for a three book series.
My advice is to always be on the lookout for inspiration. It can truly come from anywhere.
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GIVEAWAY:
Bryon Vaughn will award a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card or a signed copy of Neurogarden to two randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter after the tour. To increase your chance of winning, leave a comment at a different stop on the tour each day. Good luck!
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteBook sounds great and love the cover.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe cover art seems appropriate for the book. Good job.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover. It has very nice artwork.
ReplyDeleteabfantom at yahoo dot com
congrats on the release
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool cover!
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing an excerpt, this sounds great
ReplyDeleteSounds great! I like the cover.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading the excerpt. Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThe book kinda sounds like it could happen in real life at any time now.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really good book!
ReplyDeleteA question for the author: As a child, what authors and book series were your favorites?
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
interesting book cover and the book sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the excerpt and the guest post, sounds like a cool book, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read, thanks for sharing and for the giveaway.
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ReplyDeleteGreat blog post- love finding new (to me) authors
ReplyDeleteI have yet to read a techo thriller.. it appears to be a novel that peaks my interest..
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the excerpt. It sounds like an interesting story.
ReplyDeletethis looks like a great read
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a wonderful read. Thank you
ReplyDeleteWhat do you most enjoy about writing in this genre?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat one for sure
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ReplyDeleteVery unique cover
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ReplyDeleteSpastic Cat! haha - that's a good description of every cat I've ever had.
ReplyDeleteMy type of book!!! Would love to read this
ReplyDeleteWhat inspires you to write?
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteReally cool cover.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteWhat was your favourite book as a kid?
ReplyDeleteI love a good thriller! This one sounds like it would be hard to follow because it's very technical, but I would love to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThanks much for sharing your book and a giveaway. Sounds great!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great one
ReplyDeleteThis looks like an exciting read.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading the author's bio and on how he was inspired to write Neurogarden
ReplyDeleteGreat blurb and cover
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone is having a great day.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your five year plan for writing?
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteThe cover is perfect for the book.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the release!
Congratulations!! I really enjoyed what I have read about your book. Reading more of this one is at the top of my list!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a good one
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
ReplyDeletesounds like a fun one
ReplyDeleteWhat have you felt discouraged writing?
ReplyDeleteCool cover
ReplyDeletesweet blurb
ReplyDeleteHave a great Thursday!
ReplyDeleteLove the cover
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeleteI liked both the excerpt, and the book cover.
ReplyDeleteWhat was your best writing moment?
ReplyDeleteI followed Bryon Vaughn on Amazon.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a TBR for me, enjoyed the synopsis and excerpt
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday!
ReplyDeleteInteresting cover!! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good read and the cover looks great.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day!
ReplyDeletei loved hearing how the author came up with the story! it sounds very interesting
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ReplyDeleteThe book cover looks really neat.
ReplyDeleteGreat cover sounds like a book I would really enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteGreat cover sounds like a book I would really enjoy reading
ReplyDeletei cant get the pins to work will have to go off the book cover to pin
ReplyDelete