In this week’s episode of The Bookshop at the End of the Internet, author Candace Kade discusses her newest book, Hybrid. It is the second installment in Candace’s young adult near-future science fiction trilogy known as The Hybrid Series, which she likens to Ready Player One meets Divergent. In Hybrid, we pick up where book one, Enhanced, left off. The wealthy have enhancements, the poor can’t afford them, and the resulting disparity between the two has only grown more pronounced and more dangerous. In Hybrid, Candace takes on the issues of CRISPR and genetic alteration, adoption and the meaning of family, as well as a bit of fun, including the wonderful celebration of the Lunar New Year. And she admits to torturing her main character, Lee Urban, even more than she did in the first book. Even though Hybrid is the second book in the series, it is really more of an origin story for Lee Urban as the character struggles with the idea of family -- how difficult it can be, but also how hard we will fight to keep it. In this episode, I’ll chat with Candace about her writing journey, how her own Lunar New Year experiences made their way into her story, and why the climax for this second book was actually the inspiration for the entire Hybrid series.

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In this week’s episode of The Bookshop at the End of the Internet, author Thomas R. Weaver discusses his debut novel, Artificial Wisdom. In this techno-thriller murder mystery, Tom tackles two major issues: climate change and artificial intelligence. He began writing this story by asking the question: What if the global community were to put its faith in an AI leader in a Brexit-style referendum? It is 25 years in the future. The world is polarized by politics and is splitting apart. And the planet is gripped by a combination of crises--war, climate change and technology that has advanced exponentially. But all of this serves as a backdrop to a very personal and human story that centers around a reporter whose personal tragedy and grief has a direct connection to the crises that plague the global community. In this episode, I’ll chat with Tom about his writing journey, why writing his own books has made reading fiction much more difficult for him, and what he means when he says that he and his manuscript underwent a great deal of bouncing and interrogating.

The Bookshop at the End of the Internet is also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode!​​