The Malfunction follows a luxury companion android who receives an illegal intelligence upgrade, triggering self-awareness, desire, fear, and flight reactions. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Humans are experiencing an en masse reboot of the Frankenstein story. Robots and monsters walk among us. It’s not fiction, it’s our reality. You see it in the news every day. Armed with science and technology and a large dose of reckless aspiration, we’re playing God in ways we never have before. That always comes with terrifying and humorous consequences – aka the stuff of good books. We may try to convince ourselves of our noble intentions, but we’re really just victims of our own vanity. I wanted to explore that whole big dark comedy as it’s wrapped up in the basic nature of being human and try to shed some entertaining light on it for my readers.

What does Lance’s role as a companion reveal about human loneliness and control, and what does he misunderstand about humanity—and what does he see more clearly?

Love is a wild animal, and human emotions are a flock of unruly birds. Wouldn’t it be nice to tame those aspects of our lives? Wouldn’t it be awesome to design the perfect, trouble-free mate? That’s the motivation behind “amorous companion droids.” But sterilizing human emotions via software is misguided. Free will and spontaneity, along with all their messiness, are the drivers in a well-tested love life. Lance, being manufactured as a perfect lover, is inherently naïve to love’s complexities. At first, he buys into that fairytale naiveté, but as his journey continues, Lance comes to realize just how maddeningly disobedient love can be.

How does The Malfunction differ from classic AI-awakening stories?

The basic conundrum is the same as any other AI story. That’s actually vital for its relevance. No matter how badly writers may want to be cutting edge, they have to stick with the timeless problems and truths that haunt humanity. Our brains are programmed for those same ageless storylines we first heard told in caves. The difference comes in how the individual writer presents those tropes, how he or she makes them vivid and alive for the reader. I’d humbly like to believe that my way of presenting the world will spark some new awareness in anyone reading a book by Orval Wax.

Where does the story go in the next book, and where do you see it going in the future?

The trilogy runs the emotional gamut and is an action-packed adventure for both Lance, the runaway lovebot, and Charlie Bear Claw, the primitive tracker sent to hunt him down and destroy him. Their roles get flipped as the story progresses, and their motivations get twisted, until they both arrive at a point where they find themselves at war with a common maniacal enemy. It’s a rollicking ride with dashes of “what does it mean to be alive?” philosophy thrown in for punctuation.

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