Running: The Alien in the Mirror

Ishmael Bodd 'wakes up' for the first time, a billion years in the future. He is a Citizen of Supercity, on Marstoo, far away from old Earth in the Universe. In his world, crime doesn't exist and Citizens only need electricity to live, whereas clones, who eat food and drink liquids, are banished to Clonecity.

But Ishmael suddenly feels compelled to commit a minor crime and goes on the run. He can never stop running until he has escaped his culture and found the reason why everything suddenly feels so 'strange' to him in this science fiction thriller.

Running - The Alien in the Mirror can be considered the cyberpunk prequel to the military sci-fi Iron Series.

The next book in the series, Too Bright the Sun, is available on Google Play.

If you like the Terminator series, Blade Runner or Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three, you will love Running - The Alien in the Mirror.

Includes Chapter One of Too Bright the Sun.

Categories: science fiction, thriller, far future, clones, androids, cyborgs, time travel, genes, genetic engineering, military science fiction

Character interview with Jake Nanden, star of the Iron Series.

Name (s): Jake Nanden

Age: 34

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I am 5'11', dark hair, short - Army cut, slightly curly. Green eyes.

Describe your appearance in 10 words or less.

Getting middle aged, slightly paunchy with drying skin - like paper in places - except my mech arm. That's synthetic skin on there and as smooth and supple as the day it was sprayed on. I even had mine tattooed but don't tell anyone.

Would you kill for those you love?

I kill every day - most days - to keep my culture intact. I would say that is killing for those I love. Of course there is a moral code... And as a soldier the moral code is almost everything. After a while... killing... it sometimes seems to be the only thing you have left. Family are too far away.

Do you like animals?

I love animals. Their love is unconditional. You can never quite be sure with humans, can you?

Do you have a family?

Ha! Ha! Yes. A test-tube. No seriously my mother - Mary, my sister Justine and a dog - a collie called Frisky. My adoptive dad was the famous robotics designer Robert R. Nanden but he's dead. My mother was his assistant and pretty accomplished at that!

Can you remember something from your childhood which influences your behaviour?

I am not sure about any of my childhood memories. They are probably all implanted. I am a replicant. The first memory I am sure about is playing on the grass with my adoptive mother watching me playing cricket.

She shouted out, "Jake! You are such a talented cyborg!"

Even at my tender age, I knew a replicant was not the same thing as a cyborg and I knew that she should know, as her first husband had been a famous robot designer. Her words had always stuck in my head.

But anyway, adoptive parents of replicant children are always told to create some vivid experience for their kid in the first few days so that the imprinting takes properly. So it's probably not significant.

Do you have any phobias?

Mirrors. Can't stand them. They make me sweat and... well, I'm very nervous around them. I avoid them.

Please give us an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.

I write books - well, I am writing my first; a detective thriller. It's kind of Raymond Chandler-ish. I call it Chandleresque, but I guess that's bad English. My adoptive parents are first generation J5 - that's a space station - so they kinda inherited a USAC - United States of America and Canada - accent. Anyway, I am rambling. The main character is Dusty. He's a sucker for the pretty ladies!

Does your world have different races of people?

We are more concerned with Ischians - aliens. We call them 'Dogs' because they have evolved from something like dogs. Races? I don't think anybody notices any more. Still a stigma to being a replicant though.

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