Fictional Alignment is a satire by Mike French exploring a future in which androids control culture

DARTFORD, U.K. - Jan. 12, 2018 - PRLog -- Elsewhen Press, an independent UK publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, is delighted to announce the publication of a new book by Mike French. Fictional Alignment is a sequel to the ground-breaking An Android Awakes, a collaboration between Mike French and artist Karl Brown which was published at the end of 2015 by Elsewhen Press. In that book, Android Writer PD121928 is attempting to have a novel published, but is only allowed 42 failed submissions before he will be terminated. Despairing, as he waits to hear whether his final attempt has been accepted, he commits suicide; but it is accepted, so his successor, PD121929, passes himself off as the author. In Fictional Alignment we discover that, because fewer than a hundred copies of that novel were sold, PD121929 was himself terminated. The human Sapphira, who had been in love with PD121928, wrote a bestselling novel Humans (An Arrangement of Minor Defects) based on the stories he told her on the night they first met. It was marketed by the Altostratus publishing house as the first work of fiction by a human for over a hundred years. As a result, a handful of zealot androids massacred the senate and formed a new regime fuelled with a passion to eradicate the evil of fiction from android society. But however much they try, they are unable to remove the impact of Sapphira's novel. If fiction cannot be made to align with reality, then reality must be made to align with fiction. So, in a desperate move, they kidnap Sapphira and force her to work with an oddball team that travels back in time to enact the events of the stories in her book – thus ensuring that they are historical records rather than fiction. This is the ultimate implementation of fake news.

This message has been approved by The Bureau for Fictional Alignment

Fictional Alignment is a satire set in the fashionably-predicted future where Artificial Intelligence has replaced humans as the source of culture. But it is not the technology that is being lambasted here, rather it is the society that deploys it. Technology can be a weapon or a tool, but ideology chooses how to wield it. Whether adhering to human religion or android dogma, zealots write, rewrite and control culture; culture reflects society, yet society is shaped by culture. However, the tale of Sapphira and the alignment of reality to her fictional stories is by no means bleak. There is still love among the stars.

With a stunning cover designed by renowned artist Tony Allcock, and interior illustrations by Mike himself, Fictional Alignment is set to be as 'cool' and 'fascinating' as Starburst Magazine deemed An Android Awakes.

Fictional Alignment will be available on all popular eBook platforms from 2^nd February 2018, and can be pre-ordered now. It will be available in paperback on 2^nd April 2018.

Notes for Editors

About Mike French

Mike French was the owner and senior editor of the prestigious literary magazine The View From Here during its life from 2007 to 2014. Mike's debut novel, The Ascent of Isaac Steward, the first book of the Dandelion Trilogy, was published in 2011 and nominated for a Galaxy National Book Award, which presumably due to an unfortunate clerical error, was awarded to Dawn French. The rest of the trilogy, Blue Friday and Convergence, were published by Elsewhen Press in 2012 and 2013 respectively. An Android Awakes was published in 2015 by Elsewhen Press and launched on the main stage of the Brighton Film & Comic Con.

Born in Cornwall in 1967, Mike spent his childhood flipping between England and Scotland with a few years in between in Singapore. Mike is married with three children. He currently lives in Luton in the UK and when not writing watches Formula 1, eats Ben & Jerry's Phish Food and listens to Gorillaz.

Visit bit.ly/FictionalAlignment

Praise for An Android Awakes

"One of the coolest and most fascinating reads out there" – Starburst Magazine
"Intriguing, surreal and evocative" – Geeky Monkey Magazine
"A Blade Runner-esque future – different from anything else" – Sci-Fi Bulletin
"The questions of what makes us truly human and what life means isn't anything new within the genre, but the presentation of those timeless questions here is exemplary and fresh" – AMO Magazine
"One of the most pleasant surprises of the year" – Upcoming4Me
"A thoughtful creation which will inspire thought in its readership" – SFBook Reviews
"Smart, challenging and well worth any jaded fantasist's rapt attention" – Now Read This!
"Real depth and resonance: A ramified, knotted artefact, existing beyond the normal two dimensions of the page" – Blue Book Balloon
"Wizardry of character building – 2000AD meets LOBO" – Base5 Magazine
"Great imagination, telling wonderful tales" – Geek Native
"Entertaining, sexy, terrifying, and beautiful" – The Compulsive Reader
"Each story is extraordinary" – Geek Syndicate
"Had me totally hooked" – SF Crowsnest
"A cult feel" – Comics Anonymous

About Elsewhen Press

Elsewhen Press is an independent publisher of Speculative Fiction. Based in the UK, in the South East of England, Elsewhen Press publishes titles in English in digital and print editions, adopting a digital-first policy for most titles. Elsewhen Press is an imprint of Alnpete Limited.

Contact details:

Elsewhen Press, interviews etc. contact: Al Murray

Information about Elsewhen Press, authors, titles and retailers can be obtained online from http://elsewhen.co.uk

This and other press releases from Elsewhen Press can be obtained as pdf files from our website or can be viewed in our PRLog Pressroom at https://pressroom.prlog.org/elsewhen/