Void Star

A billionaire seeks immortality in a near-future dystopia of climate crisis and AI supremacy in this “richly rewarding blend of noir thriller and sci-fi” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

The seas have risen and the central latitudes are emptying, but it’s still a good time to be rich in San Francisco, where armed drones patrol the skies to keep out the multitudinous poor. Irina isn’t rich, but she does have an artificial memory that gives her perfect recall. And she has a good gig—acting as a medium between her various employers and their complex, powerful AIs.

Kern is one of the many refugees on the city’s sprawling periphery. He lives like a monk, training relentlessly in martial arts, scraping by as a thief and an enforcer. Thales is from a different world entirely—the mathematically inclined scion of a Brazilian political clan, he’s fled to L.A. after the attack that left him crippled and his father dead.

Their stories being to intertwine when a ragged stranger accosts Thales and demands to know how much he can remember. Kern flees for his life after robbing the wrong mark. Irina finds a secret in the reflection of a laptop’s screen in her employer’s eyeglasses. None are safe as they’re pushed together by subtle forces that stay just out of sight.