Life for Sale by Linda Nightingale

Welcome, Linda!

Thanks for having me, Jean. Today I am chatting about humanoid androids and how they play a role in my current book…

(Be sure to enter

the giveaway below!)

Obviously having written two books about them, I’m interested in the developing humanoid androids. I found a couple of movies and two TV series on the subject.  In case you missed Humans, Better Than Us, Westworld, Ex Machina, and Blade Runner, of course, they feature humanoid androids with feelings and intelligence.

This technology is proceeding so fast that by now I may be wrong in saying that we are not there yet. The closest my research has uncovered is Sophia, but this blog isn’t about this very real-looking humanoid android.  I discuss Sophia and her cousins in another blog.

Let’s talk movies and TV.

Here are the published teasers and trailer links for the TV series.

Better Than Us:   Imdb classifies the TV series as a Drama, Sci-fi.  The series ran from 2018-2019. The original title was Luchise, chem lyundi. The series is described as:

Teaser: A family on the brink of splitting up becomes the owners of a cutting-edge robot being sought by a corporation, homicide investigators, and terrorists. Stars Paulina Adreeva, Kirill Karon, and Aleksandr Ustyugov. Creator: Alexander Kessel.

Here is the Trailer.  The show has 16 episodes and is available on Netflix.

Humans: (My fave) – TV series (2015-2018), stars Katherine Parkinson, Gemma Chan, Lucy Carless, and Emily Barrington.

British writers:  Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley

Teaser: In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a “Synth”, a highly-developed robotic servant that’s so similar to a real human it’s transforming the way we live. (That doesn’t seem to be a complete sentence to me but who am I to judge?)

I loved this show.  Gemma Chan as Mia does a wonderful job as a Synth with good intentions played against Emily Barrington as Niska, a rebellious droid who thinks all the Synths should be made sentient and is determined to carry out that goal. Niska is a sympathetic villain/hero.

Here is the Trailer. Enjoy this show on Amazon Prime.  It was originally aired on AMC.

Ex Machina: (Movie)

Ex Machina is a 2014 science fiction psychological thriller. The film was written and directed by Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonovy Mizuno, and Oscar Isaac star.

Teaser: The story follows a programmer who is invited by his CEO to administer the Turing test to an intelligent humanoid robot.

Here is the Trailer.                  

I didn’t mention Westworld and Blade Runner because most people have seen or heard of them. No personal review is included. I didn’t have room in this short blog. Instead, I’ve given a link to the trailer. Wouldn’t you prefer to see the characters in action?

Westworld Trailer ~ Blade Runner Trailer (the classic) or the 2017 version

I hope I’ve introduced you to a new show or movie you haven’t seen and will enjoy.

My new sci-fi romance stars sentient androids in a different blend—love and danger. Life for Sale is now on pre-order. The book is the sequel to Love For Sale, both from The Wild Rose Press.

Though Life for Sale is a standalone, Love For Sale is available in print, audio, and eBook. The narrator is British, and her voice works very well with this book.  Listen to the sample here:  Audible

Mayfair Electronics has created life.

But four of their Special Editions—sentient androids indistinguishable from human—have escaped. Rebel, Christian Aguillard and his owner, March, are on the run, but they have a bigger problem than his creator's plan to destroy him. They've discovered that one of the renegades has suffered a dangerous malfunction, threatening them with more than just exposure.

Trapped on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic, March and Christian must stop the insane robot before someone else dies. All the evidence points to March being the killer's next victim.

BUY LINKS: Life for Sale ~ Love For Sale

Life for Sale Excerpt:

March shivered again, rested her face on his chest. “Hold me until I stop trembling.” Tears she didn’t want him to see welled in her eyes. The whole ghastly business had to be hard on a man encoded to protect not harm humans.

Her AI angel stroked her hair, and a sob broke through her control. She squeezed her eyes shut, battling tears.

“Shush, dear. It’s over now,” but he didn’t sound confident. The thing buried in the backyard could tear them apart or worse.  Any slight misstep, and they both faced Death in all his chilling glory.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He brushed a kiss to her lips and pulled held her closer.

For some time, they stood. taking comfort from holding each other and simply being, then, hand-in-hand, they walked, when they wanted to run, to the house. Christian had switched on the overhead light in the anteroom. In the brilliance, it was possible to pretend the past few minutes hadn’t occurred. Again the tears threatened, and he held her until she’d regained control. She straightened, gazing into his eyes. Battered emotions stained them darker blue. Mayfair hadn’t missed even that small detail. He cradled her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly, his lips soft and his body close. In a lifetime of searching, she’d never have found anyone like him. If she were to lose him…she couldn’t imagine living without him.

Once, Mayfair had taken him away.  They could do it again—and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The golden ring on the third finger of his left hand should protect Christian from Mayfair, but who’d investigate a missing robot, or even believe her in the first place?

With almost religious ferver, she and Christian had adhered to Mayfair’s first commandment. Above all, the company demanded secrecy. The Special Editions passed for human, and no one was ever to know that Mayfair had engendered life, but at any moment Aguillard, the wild card for whom the Christian line was named, might renege on the freedom he’d grudgingly bestowed.

Her cell rang, ending their moment of respite.

Giveaway below! Win the first book in the series, Love for Sale.

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Be sure to enter the giveaway above for a chance to win an e-book copy of Love for Sale, or use this link.

You can find Linda at:

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Windmills by Lyndi Alexander

Welcome, Lyndi!

Let’s talk about your book and its relevance to today and tomorrow…

Authors often agonize over whether their books will remain relevant, especially those who write young adult stories and others that use a particular setting or set of jargon to make their points. Even as I wrote the Color of Fear series, critique mates would point out the use of SoCal cadence in Valery Paz’s “Valley Girl speak,” and pop culture references in the banter of electrogeek Eddie Garrick. (It’s true, though–you can’t stop the signal.)

The series tells the story of a world hit by terrorism, and the apocalyptic plague that has wiped out most of the Caucasian population of the world. Mixed blood has saved some whites, but the majority of the survivors, especially in the hard-hit United States, are people of color. Blacks. Native Americans. Asians. Hispanics.

While those people are trying to recover and pull together the remains of the shattered nation, from out of a concrete bunker in the northwest comes Bernard Ellison, the self-styled Gabriel, a ideological brother-son of the Posse Comitatus, the American Vanguard and other white nationalists. Gabriel commandeers an abandoned radio station and broadcasts to the faithful:

A trip to the wild west for inspiration.

“How long, my friends, have those terrorists been watching and listening to our communications, so that they knew precisely when to strike? Bin Laden and his people clearly read our country’s weakness. The Universal Jihad Front that launched the Second Holocaust, they, too, understood how far our leaders had left us vulnerable. Listen to this.”  He played the government spokesman’s clip Eddie had played on his show a few days before. “Does that sound like a government that can protect you, my friends? I think not!

   “Without a strong, healthy government to keep those foreign devils off American ground, do you believe they just stayed home and played in the sand? How do we know they didn’t take advantage of the apocalypse to begin landing ships on our unprotected shores, spilling thousands of them out to take your wives and daughters? Will they recruit those of color who survived in this land? They are banding together, taking aim at the real Americans who are left.”

   The propaganda-filled diatribe paused for a moment, then continued, “My friends discovered a nest of potential murderers right here in our heartland just last night. We’d tried to contact these rebels, to show them the truth, but instead, they returned threats and violence. They ruined a major highway!”

   A note of stricken sadness came into his voice. “Now crossing our great land will be so much more difficult. Why do these people insist on destroying the world?”

At about the same time in the story, a small band of people trying to get to St. Louis, where the new capital is forming, have this conversation with a ham radio operator who’s keeping them informed of the state of the nation:

Inspiration for Kwan.

  “KC-five-NXS, KC-five-NXS, this is K-two-JJB. Hang, are you there? What’s going on?”

   “KC-five-NXS, yes, I’m here.” Hang settled onto the floor in front of the radio as the others gathered around. “Thanks for getting back to me. I wanted to let you know we’re going to be delayed—”

   “What? I don’t think you can wait any longer, son. Word came down this morning that Gabriel’s on the move. His people set off explosives all along the stretch of I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln, knocking out the road. It’s impassable.”

   “Cabron,” Valery hissed.

   San eyed Charlie, his worst fears coming to life. “We need a map,” he said.

   “I got one in the truck,” Terry said, and he hurried out.

   “Why would he do that?” Hang asked. “Don’t his people need to get around, too?”

   “Word has it that some groups in the two cities planned to set up a blockade, aiming to take Gabriel out. Apparently he just got the jump on them. He’s celebrating on his damned station, claiming the other side was the attacker. I’m not sure how much of what he says you can believe, but we’ve got confirmation from our men on the ground that there are plenty of dead, and they aren’t Gabe’s people.”

   “Whoa.” Deflated, Hang leaned back against the bookshelf where the radio sat.

   “How many dead?” Marie asked.

   “Reports range from just a few to hundreds, depending on who’s telling the story.”

   Terry came back with the map, and they spread it out on the table. Mere inches separated Lincoln from their intended route on Interstate 70, inches that translated into only one hundred and seventy miles. And they still had three states to cross moving east.

Sound familiar? Does it sound like “Many sides” are at fault? How much more relevant can you get?

Bio-terrorists release a plague in the United States that spreads to kill most of the world’s Caucasian population. As the deadly virus mutates, Tzu Shin, a renowned medical doctor and biologist, defects from China to help develop a cure. His only daughter, Lin Kwan, is left behind in Hong Kong with her aunt.

Then Kwan’s father summons her from across the sea to bring him Chinese medicinal herbs he needs to develop a cure. Lonely and missing her parents, she accepts the challenge, traveling with her sensei Li Zhong to the New World.

But a Chinese assassin is on her trail, determined to kill her and Li Zhong, and when Kwan discovers her father has disappeared, she sets out on a journey to find him and deliver her precious cargo, a quest that she may not survive.

Find it on: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

Find it online:

Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble

Any new projects on the horizon?

DESTINATIONS, the second book in the series, is already out, and ADVERSARIES, the final book, is just finishing up at the publisher and should be out later this year. It’s been a long journey, but this is the book (series) of my heart, and I have worked hard to share it with the world.

Check out the Book series trailer:

In the aftermath of a terrorist bio-attack that has wiped out most Caucasians in America, and around the world, survivors struggle to work together to establ...

Lyndi Alexander always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.

Website ~ Bookbub ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon Author Page