I write science fiction about work, technology and the people caught between them - what remains when machines change what it means to be useful, responsible or human.
Stories
Human assurance required
Every day, Kai reviews cargo manifests for shipments leaving Earth. From the same window, he watches the vehicles lift into the sky.
The work is routine. Predictable. Almost invisible.
Then one consignment gives him a decision to make.
Further design not recommended
Katie is the only designer at a multinational retailer. AI researches, creates and tests the work before she approves it.
The process is fast. Efficient. Almost effortless.
Then something reminds her why she became a designer.
Please remain inside the vehicle
Martin is travelling across the Moon when his autonomous vehicle unexpectedly stops.
The system assures him that everything is under control.
But as the delay stretches on, Martin begins to question what it really means to be safe.
I remember trying to get home
Two salvage workers discover a long-forgotten military machine buried in a forest. It has been lying there since the war, and much of its equipment may still be intact.
What begins as a routine recovery job soon becomes something neither man is prepared for.
Just make me some money
Adrian has just had his company's most profitable year. He decides his employees are an unnecessary expense and replaces them with AI.
The business is more efficient. The profits are his. The problems, however, haven't gone away.
If I told you this was the future
All five stories together plus the ideas, research, writing process and cover design behind the collection.
Available on kindle and paperback.
Writing the stories
I came to fiction through product design. For more than twenty years, my work has involved starting with an idea, exploring several ways it might work, testing assumptions and refining the result. I approach stories in much the same way.
Most ideas begin away from my desk, often while walking my dog. I usually return with a premise rather than a plot. From there, I test the logic, explore alternatives and work out where the human part of the story sits.
AI helps me research unfamiliar subjects, develop possibilities, draft scenes and read critically. It can produce alternatives quickly, but I rarely accept the first version. The process involves a lot of back and forth, editing and rejection. AI provides possibilities; I decide what the story is trying to say and what finally belongs.
Designing the covers
My design background also shapes the covers themselves. I wanted them to feel related without looking like conventional science-fiction covers, so I created a simple visual system based around left-aligned typography, a warm-black background and one white sculptural object connected to each story.
The exception is Further design not recommended, and it is probably my favourite of the covers. The story is about a designer wanting to make something of her own rather than simply follow the rules she has been given, so I wanted the cover to do the same. The title moves left and right, the spacing changes and the layout refuses to settle into the system used by the other books.
Author
Tony Goff-Yu is a product designer based in London, where he lives with his wife and dog.