JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Frank Fiore, author of Cyberkill
(TrapDoor Books)

A brilliant programmer, Travis Cole, inadvertently creates “Dorian,” an artificial intelligence that lives on the Internet. After Cole attempts to terminate his creation, Dorian stalks his young daughter through cyberspace in an attempt to reach Cole to seek revenge even if he has to destroy all of humanity to do it.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Cyberkill?

Frank Fiore: Many years ago I read an article in Time magazine about a young artificial intelligence (AI) programmer. He had created a series of AI agents and sent them out over the internet to see if they would evolve.

I thought to myself, what if the programmer terminated his experiment? If the Artificial Intelligence evolved into a real intelligence, would they take his act of shutting down the experiment as attempted murder?

From there, I thought “How far would an artificial intelligence go for revenge?” The end result was CyberKill. (http://cyberkill.frankfiore.com/)

JP: What sets Cyberkill apart from other novels in its genre?

FF: I really describe it as speculative fiction with a science bent. That means the technology, the geographic locations, government and military installations and organizations, information warfare scenarios, artificial intelligence, robots, and the information and communications technology in this book all exist.

As for SIRUS, pieces of the technology are either in existence or in the research and development stage. Now, according to the Department of Defense, it doesn’t exist. But the Fars News Agency of Iran reported otherwise last year.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to Cyberkill getting out to the public?

FF: What is a literary artist but an entrepreneur? He or she has to sell his works and his or her self to the public. That means an author must market his or her self like any entrepreneur. It’s up to them to the marketing whether they are self-published or published through a traditional publisher.

Of course, once you build up a following like Clancy, Cusler, Brown, etc, then your works are eagerly looked for. That is why the idea of creating and maintaining an author platform is so important. I am creating what is called an author platform to reach my targeted readers and stay in touch with them primarily through social media like Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, my Blog and my book sites.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Cyberkill?

FF: The book was 10 years in the writing. Being a technology book and wanting to be exact as possible, I had to read technical manuals, papers, web sites and R&D proposals then stretch what I had read into a plausible scenario.

JP: What’s next for Frank Fiore?

FF: I am currently working on a new character series called The Chronicles of Jeremy Nash. The Chronicles of Jeremy Nash is a new thriller series about a noted debunker and skeptic of conspiracy theories, urban legends and myths.

Jeremy Nash is pressed into pursuing them by threats to himself, family and reputation. The Chronicles of Jeremy Nash capitalizes on the continuing interest of the reading public in conspiracy theories, unsolved mysteries, urban myths, New Age beliefs and paranormal events.

It also feeds the growing appetite of the public for ‘puzzle stories’ in the vein of National Treasure and Indiana Jones with a little of the X-Files thrown in. The formula of the chronicles consists of a conspiracy theory, unsolved mystery, urban myth, New Age belief or paranormal practice that Nash is forced to pursue; combined with an underlying real world event, organization or persons that is somehow connected to what he is pursuing. This provides the thriller aspect of the stories. The web site is http://www.jeremynashonline.com/

http://cyberklill.frankfiore.com/
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http://www.trapdoorbooks.com/

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