Interview with S.E. Sasaki

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Today we have S.E. Sasaki talking with us about her Series The Grace Lord Series
1) Welcome to the Madhouse
2) Bud by the Grace of God
3) Amazing Grace (soon to be launched)
4) Genesis (Prequel to Welcome to the Madhouse)

What was the most surprising thing you found out while researching/writing your latest book?

How close researchers already are to creating the simplest forms of artificial intelligence. I think everyone has read about the Facebook computers talking to each other in their own language. Everyone has seen the very human-like android models now being created. Artificial Intelligence may be just around the corner. The question is, are we ready for it?

Why did you choose this setting?

I work in the operating room. I chose a medical space station and wanted to look at the issues and problems faced by medical practitioners of the future. This is why I chose a medical space station. I do not want to believe that all medicine will be provided by machines in the future. I feel that humans will still want to care for other humans and patients will still want the empathy of a human doctor for their care. Call me old-fashioned. I think autodocs will be too terrifying for most.

What’s unique about your world?

The space marines are genetically modified, animal-adapted, boosted combat fighters – both male and female. Most battles involve one type of species. For example, on a polar world, the fighters would be polar bear modified or wolf modified, depending on the geography. In a rain-forest world, the marines are more likely to be tiger adaptations or ape-modifications like gorilla or orang-utan. Strength, speed, hearing, eyesight, balance, are enhanced in these soldiers. When injured, they are sent to the Nelson Mandela medical space station where the doctors try and put them back together. The story is about the medical space station’s doctors and their military patients.

How real do you think the science is in your book?

I think the medicine is very accurate. I hope the ability to record people’s minds and personalities is in the not too distant future.
What was the most mundane item that you used that really has cool tech behind it? What is the tech? Data recording cubes. People’s minds or memories are memprinted or recorded onto these data cubes. These cubes have vast memory storage because of their unique liquid crystal data matrix design.

What did you include that you wish was real today?

Mind-linking Therapy. In Welcome to the Madhouse, there is a psychotherapy technique that allows a physician to link minds with a patient in order to try and understand a patient’s trauma. The goal is to help the patient cope with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by sharing the event or possibly modifying or even erasing the traumatic event so the patient can recover.

What technology or science do you think will most affect the world of tomorrow? I

do worry about artificial intelligence. Machines are based on logic. How does one program empathy for the human race into these machines. When these machines start to control everything, will they conclude that humans with their foibles and emotions and irrationalities and destructiveness need to be eradicated?

Anything else our readers might like to know?

The third book in the series, Amazing Grace, will be out very soon. It picks up where Bud by the Grace of God finishes. It has received a very good Kirkus Review as has the first two books and can be read at this link: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/se-sasaki/amazing-grace2/