In The Puppy of Doom and my first couple of novels, most of the plots were based on my reaction to other people's plots -- clever idea but it doesn't work that way. This is what would really happen.  A friend thought that genetic engineering would lead to everybody being beautiful. The horror! I would argue back that it would never happen because the definition of beautiful is forever changing. Besides, there are people who don't want to look beautiful. What would the body-mod people do if they got their hands on gene-modification technology?  A-ha!  What would it be like if you could did you digitize somebody's mind? How could you actually do it?  It would suck being trapped in a computer. Why would you want to do it?  In World War II the Nazis in Japanese lost the war because...  A-ha!

In The Galactic Time Trap, I was pondering what it would be like to time travel using Reuters black hole theory. With the black cool being far away from earth, I was having a hard time figuring out how you would determine the date when you arrive at a new time. I couldn't solve it. The test pilot would early on get hopelessly lost. Ha ha! The stories about getting back home. Kind a like Robinson Crusoe.

In Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful, I was thinking, what would you do with a Hawking Time Machine if it was buildable? Zillions of petty things depending on who you are, I bet. The a-ha moment came when I was imagining everybody bumbling into each other as they competed and figured out how to use the time machine to make their old likes better.

In Adrift on the Sea of Stars, I wondered if we was could we build a craft that could make it to a nearby star with current technology? If so, where would we go? The sequel, Earth not Forgotten was about answering the big unanswered question that lingered at the end of Adrift.  Third book, The Tarden Agenda (Christmas 2016) will about exploring the big powerful aliens. Maybe they aren't so nice.  Can humanity coexist with them for the long term?  A-ha!

Hunting for a plot for the next novel.

We live in a different world than the 1970s. The Internet changed every aspect of life but not to the point where it is unrecognizable. Novels like Ready Player One and Daemon are adventures that could only happen in the now . In both, there is a realistic connection made between the digital world and physical. There a common themes like blurring the line between online video games in real life. Both are clever and plausible plots. One story is more brutal than the other.

Our society is expected to change over the next several decades. What will it be like living in a world where robots are everywhere?It will be an interesting place. Problems like DUI's may become a thing of the past if cars driving sales. Unemployment verse more leisure time. Boredom might be a problem if getting a job becomes optional. Bored people don't have to cause civil unrest if they have a home and enough food. Maybe there will be a big increase in hobby-jobs. Maybe a big increase in drug abuse. Without a clear purpose in life, maybe there would be a new hippie movement? Some neighborhoods could become dangerous ghettos as they are consumed by drugs, gangs and vandalism driven by boredom. Others might become wonderlands his neighbors try to outdo each other with elaborate backyards -- artistic landscaping and insanely fancy play areas for the kids.

Asimov did a couple of murder mysteries in this kind of setting. But you can have a murder mystery in any setting. I'd rather do a story that can only happen in this world. I'm not yet seeing any a-ha level of ramifications worthy of a plot.  Robots take all the jobs then everybody dies is a 1930's plot.  I don't want to do plantation story.  That would mean equating robots to slaves.  Equating my Roomba vacuum cleaner makes no sense.  Besides, it has been done many time already.  Yet some parallels are in avoidable.

As I continue imagine what this new world will be like to live in, I hope to find a lot worthy of Asimov's robot novels, Ready Player One and Daemon.