Bringing Up Mike
by Mark
Duncan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
What
happens when Joe, a teen prodigy makes drastic changes to his life and attends
high school incognito with Mike, an artificial intelligence? His plans take an
unexpected turn when he buys a neglected former racehorse.
Bringing
Up Mike is a tapestry of intertwined stories over the course of a school year:
A teen genius who has grown up too fast, a neglected former racehorse, a
bereaved couple morning the death of their son, a girl struggling to attend
college, and a former mobster determined to be top dog.
Bringing
Up Mike is about people given a second chance at happiness and success and how
they become better people and mature.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
“Mike, what’s the Rebel going to look like?”
“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…” said Mike
in the voice of Josef Fischer in The Illusionist.
Sue looked at the first website. “That’s a bit gaudy. It
looks like a coloring book. How about something with all the headings and text
in black with white backgrounds?”
“Behind door number two.”
“That’s better. But I didn’t mean no color—rather, to
reserve it for use in photos, graphics, maps, and clip art. Put one big visual
at the top, and a small one elsewhere on the page. A feature story under the
main headline, with room for two or three smaller stories to follow it. Some
tabs for the various departments.”
“And behind door number three.”
“Yes, you got it.” Sue looked puzzled. “Mike, how can you
possibly prototype a website so quickly?”
“My dear, a magician never reveals his secrets,” said Mike
in the voice of Gypsy from A Bug’s Life.
“What are you, superhuman?”
“They’re just off-the-shelf WordPress templates. I selected
a subset developed for online newspapers. You change the CSS and
bibbity-bobbity-boo, presto-chang-o, a new website!” Now he used the voice of
the fairy godmother from Cinderella.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Web).jpg)
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Mark Duncan
grew up in Pasadena, not far from Caltech. In high school he spent Friday and
Saturday nights at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) and
subsequently was a member of the Homebrew Computer Club. He received his BSEE
from UC Berkeley. He has worked or consulted for numerous startups in Silicon
Valley. He lives in Menlo Park, near Stanford and has written extensively on
emerging technology topics. He enjoys photography, movies, theater, fine dining
and has visited all 50 states and much of Europe. He is the author of Bringing
Up Mike, www.askmarpublishing.com, mark@askmarpublishing.com
Tell us your latest news?
When and why did you begin writing?
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
What inspired you to write your first book?
Deal
Sharing Aunt Interviews Mark Duncan
Where are you from?
I grew up in Pasadena, CA, but moved to San Mateo, CA where I
went to high school. Currently I live in Menlo Park, CA,
it’s adjacent to Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Tell us your latest news?
Currently I’m doing a month long book blog tour for Bringing Up Mike. I’ll be traveling to
Hawaii for a week on vacation, right before New Year’s Day. I’m working on a
sequel to Bringing Up Mike.
When and why did you begin writing?
I started writing in my late twenties. I love to read, but
sometimes I think of stories that nobody else has written about that beg to be
told.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
It was when my first novel, Bringing
Up Mike was published. But quite frankly, I’ve made my living for many
years as a marketing consultant where I had to create written deliverables for
clients.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I was attending a lecture at the Computer History Museum in
Mountain View, CA where Dan Kaufman, Director of the Information Innovation
Office of DARPA observed that the problem with today’s artificial intelligence
systems is that sooner or later they tell you something stupid. He suggested
that one avenue of solving this would be to have a baby AI that grows up with
you, with which you would have a two-way conversation, correcting and educating
it over time—like raising a child. This formed the inspiration for Bringing Up Mike.
What would you like my
readers to know?
If you would like to
be added to my email mailing list, please send an email to info@askmarpublishing.com
Book and
Author Links
Publisher
Website: http://www.askmarpublishing.com
Author Website:
http://www.askmaroublishing.com/authors/mark duncan.html
Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/askmarpub
Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/askmar
Buy Links
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat interview.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the interview!
ReplyDeleteTrix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
Thanks I enjoyed the excerpt and the interview
ReplyDeleteI loved the excerpt! Looks like a great read!
ReplyDeleteThe giveaway - of course!!! But I like being introduced to new books.
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