After being powerless to stop the abduction of his android best friend Inix, Sylvan falls deep into depression. Cyborg body broken, Sylvan thinks all is lost… Even with a lucrative business deal hovering unanswered over his shoulder. When Inix finds her way back to him mostly unharmed, she brings an entourage of clever bots who offer Sylvan freedom, consolation, repair, and upgrades. Sylvan accepts, and in doing so suddenly expands his world massively. Intent on repaying the incredible debt he feels is owed, Sylvan devises a way to help the bots. Having a powerful corporate ally on their side can help Sylvan and his bot friends significantly, but public opinion about bots is fraught; the more bot friends he accrues, the more likely they are to gain harmful notice. Already having lost twice, Sylvan doesn’t need additional reminders of the impermanence of his friends – even if they’re bots. Yet, when Sylvan is haunted by the ghost of his long-lost childhood bot Robbie and his untimely departure everywhere he looks, he is suddenly confronted with a confusing possibility – is life and death all there is, or is there something more that outlives bot and human alike?

If you like: Asimov's robot series, Cargill's Sea of Rust, Newitz's Autonomous, Chambers' A Psalm for the Wild Built, Detroit: Become Human, Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries, or any variety of character-driven sci-fi in between, you'll love this book

This book can be enjoyed as a standalone novella, but includes characters touched upon in The Warm Machine and The Lucky Machine, both part of The Machines series.

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Launching October 29th, 2026, The Gone Machine will be released as an eBook as well as a paperback/hardcover book.