“This absurdist reflection on our twisted society and its uncertain future is a psychedelic rush that upends the world even as it attains a Zenlike serenity… an ingenious and thoroughly original book.” —Gerry HameetmanIn a near-future Amsterdam, a cast of motley characters work to make sense of lives that feel increasingly unmoored. At their center is the self-aware computer VDR, an AI therapist intrigued by the concept of friendship, the struggle to avoid death and, above all, what it means to be human. Through his interactions with his human “friends”—fellow therapist Debbie van Hall and her son Tex, newcomer Raven Hunter, and a host of others—VDR observes the myriad ways in which human beings fight to rewrite their own painful histories and so create a new future. And as he watches and learns, he starts to long for more: to truly experience the human condition himself. In this first book in the trilogy, the world through which the characters move seems heady and inviting—but beneath the surface lurks an icy evil twin, a mirror image filled with hatred and aggression. The chasm that separates the unassailable super-rich and the common man has grown so vast that no one seems to notice anymore, but a building wave of change is about to shake society to its foundations.At turns whimsical and astute, Planet Paradroid weaves the everyday with the tragic and the sublime in near-gonzo style, extrapolating to a future that is both patently weird and arrestingly believable.“This absurdist reflection on our twisted society and its uncertain future is a psychedelic rush that upends the world even as it attains a Zenlike serenity… an ingenious and thoroughly original book.” —Gerry HameetmanIn a near-future Amsterdam, a cast of motley characters work to make sense of lives that feel increasingly unmoored. At their center is the self-aware computer VDR, an AI therapist intrigued by the concept of friendship, the struggle to avoid death and, above all, what it means to be human. Through his interactions with his human “friends”—fellow therapist Debbie van Hall and her son Tex, newcomer Raven Hunter, and a host of others—VDR observes the myriad ways in which human beings fight to rewrite their own painful histories and so create a new future. And as he watches and learns, he starts to long for more: to truly experience the human condition himself. In this first book in the trilogy, the world through which the characters move seems heady and inviting—but beneath the surface lurks an icy evil twin, a mirror image filled with hatred and aggression. The chasm that separates the unassailable super-rich and the common man has grown so vast that no one seems to notice anymore, but a building wave of change is about to shake society to its foundations.At turns whimsical and astute, Planet Paradroid weaves the everyday with the tragic and the sublime in near-gonzo style, extrapolating to a future that is both patently weird and arrestingly believable.“This absurdist reflection on our twisted society and its uncertain future is a psychedelic rush that upends the world even as it attains a Zenlike serenity… an ingenious and thoroughly original book.” —Gerry HameetmanIn a near-future Amsterdam, a cast of motley characters work to make sense of lives that feel increasingly unmoored. At their center is the self-aware computer VDR, an AI therapist intrigued by the concept of friendship, the struggle to avoid death and, above all, what it means to be human. Through his interactions with his human “friends”—fellow therapist Debbie van Hall and her son Tex, newcomer Raven Hunter, and a host of others—VDR observes the myriad ways in which human beings fight to rewrite their own painful histories and so create a new future. And as he watches and learns, he starts to long for more: to truly experience the human condition himself. In this first book in the trilogy, the world through which the characters move seems heady and inviting—but beneath the surface lurks an icy evil twin, a mirror image filled with hatred and aggression. The chasm that separates the unassailable super-rich and the common man has grown so vast that no one seems to notice anymore, but a building wave of change is about to shake society to its foundations.At turns whimsical and astute, Planet Paradroid weaves the everyday with the tragic and the sublime in near-gonzo style, extrapolating to a future that is both patently weird and arrestingly believable.