My story is Alpha Redemption, published by Splashdown Books on September 1st, 2010. It follows Brett Denton as he takes part in a prototype speed-of-light mission to Alpha Centauri. Having lost his family in a tragic accident (for which he blames himself), he hopes to escape his misery by travelling to a new world. On the journey his only company is a learning-capable computer he nicknames Jay. At first Brett finds Jay’s questions annoying, but they soon become friends of sorts, and it is through Jay that Brett rediscovers his faith in God and finds a reason to live.
The plot came to me quite quickly and I wrote the first draft in about three months. The original idea was inspired by my experiences on various Christian forums where atheists would insist that faith in God is illogical. I wondered what a purely logical being would make of God. I had this image in my mind of a man and a computer sitting together, debating the existence of God. It would have made some sense to have the man trying to persuade the computer that God is real, but I opted to go the other way. Instead, I saw the computer trying to persuade the man. I saw the man as broken and desperate. All I needed was a setting in which a man and a computer could be alone for an extended period of time. It needed to be a scenario like in the film Castaway with Tom Hanks talking to a football, but somewhere where a sentient computer would make sense. What better place than an epic voyage to our nearest neigbouring star system?
Thank you for stopping by to share your story, Paul!
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