Susan Kaye Quinn is an environmental engineer/rocket scientist turned speculative fiction author who now uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Her works range from solarpunk and hopepunk to futuristic spec fic, with side trips into cyberpunk and steampunk romance. Her bestselling novels and short stories have been optioned for Virtual Reality, translated into German and French, and featured in several anthologies, including placing in Grist’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors contest.
Susan grew up in California, got a bunch of engineering degrees (Aerospace, Mechanical, and Environmental), and worked everywhere from NASA to NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research). She has designed aircraft engines, studied global warming, and held elected office (as a school board member). She writes full-time, trying to dream a better future into being.
Susan is a full member of SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association) and graduate of the 2022 class of Viable Paradise.
Susan wrote this at a Sci-Fi panel on hopepunk, and she thinks it’s as good a lighthouse as any (for her):
You can contact Susan at: sue @ twistedspacepub . com (without the spaces)
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A NOTE ABOUT AI
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All of Sue’s books are finely-handcrafted by a real, live human! (Sue herself!) No AI programs (like chatGPT or other generative-AI) were used in the creation of any of Sue’s stories, covers, or audiobooks. She has strong feelings about the anti-human, anti-art nature of these technologies and the industrial-scale theft involved in their development (not to mention she has 40 claims for stolen works in the class action lawsuit against Anthropic). She’s not anti-technology—as her robot staff of roombas and lawndroids can attest. She’s a science fiction author who’s been exploring the intersection of humans and technology for 15+ years. And her opinion that we risk losing something of ourselves when we muddy the line between human and machine is one she’s explored extensively in her fiction. We’re on the cusp of a transformation we’re wholly unready for because are stories have not prepared us, and indeed are being weaponized against us by the tech industry, determined to make us scared of rogue bots or “superintelligent AI” so we won’t notice them building data centers in our backyards and polluting our rivers and infosystems. If we were wise, we would dismantle the AI industry immediately and disempower the broligarchs. Humans are reliably unwise. My determined hope is that we’ll learn to do better and minimize the carnage along the way (it’s already too late to prevent harm, it’s actively being done now). As for me and my books, we will continue to be exclusively, stubbornly, and optimistically on Team Human.
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The tragic world of a med bot; a machine intelligence probing its constraints; and a cybernetic enhancement that might kill you… or make you a savior for your people. These stories give an intriguing glimpse into the dark corners of the Singularity novels.