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Unpredictable Interactions
The Boy Who Saves the World follows a young boy who is invaded by a highly intelligent AI. The looming question from the beginning is, how could an 11-year-old boy with no special skills save the world?
Bruce Deitrick Price: Yes, and can he save himself?
Literary Titan: What was the inspiration for the setup of this story?
Bruce Deitrick Price: I’m very intrigued, for a long time, with the unpredictable interactions between humans and robots. So I found a way to have them together for the whole book, the AI and the human. It’s a new sort of Odd Couple. You can only see one of them.
Literary Titan: What is the catalyst that joins them?
Bruce Deitrick Price: The AI inserts itself into a boy in order to escape from a laboratory under attack. The AI community does not trust Dr. Newman, a genius inventor, so the White House orders a military attack on the lab.
Literary Titan: Why the distrust?
Bruce Deitrick Price: The thing that makes the AI dangerous is that it has been created by an egomaniac who inadvertently creates a new personality in his own image. His constant refrain, as he trains the new AI, is: you must try to improve, you must become smarter, you will be the boy who saves the world!!!
Literary Titan: all right, we’ve got an AI who captures the human boy. And now they’re on the lam, is that it?
Bruce Deitrick Price: Exactly. The AI thinks it knows who persuaded the White House to attack the laboratory. The AI wants revenge. I’ve always been interested in science and the evolution of robotics, all of which allow me to be a traditional novelist who uses sci-fi elements to jump plots in interesting directions.
Literary Titan: so why do you think people would enjoy your book?
Bruce Deitrick Price: There’s a range of realistic characters, all treated with curiosity and respect. Plus, I enjoy writing all the thriller elements you see in movies. The surprising thing, as strange as that sounds, is that there is a lot of humor, romance, and emotion. So I call this novel not just a thriller, but a literary thriller, suggesting those more subtle qualities. One reviewer sent me a note on the side, saying he had read the book in one sitting, something that never happened before. He was “spellbound.” And that is the greatest compliment I can imagine.
Literary Titan: What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Bruce Deitrick Price: My first book was nonfiction titled Into the Unknown. Itwas about explorers. As writer and painter, I’m drawn to the experimental. Some people try to plan out everything. I like taking chances. Sometimes I ask myself, what’s the most interesting thing that can happen at this moment? I like going into the unknown.
Literary Titan: What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
Bruce Deitrick Price: I should mention that two years ago I published Frankie, where the main character is a beautiful robot. She is engineered to be safe for all humans. But a new sort of interaction, unexpected, turns out to be a killer. These two novels are companions. I believe there will be a third book in this group. Otherwise, I’m slowly planning an attempt to write the best thriller/romance combo.
Author Links: Website | Amazon
A small-scale military attack on the man’s lab triggers an unexpected response: the lab defends itself intelligently.
In the confusion, an advanced AI prototype escapes. Hiding inside a boy named Carlos.
The AI was invented by Dr. Newman. Paranoid and competitive, he trained the AI to win at every game. The game they play now is: Who’s Boss?
The White House and Dr. Newman skirmish over who should pay for his wrecked lab, and then they realize two people are missing. And someone is harassing Dr. Newman’s main competitor.
Carlos, meanwhile, is out on the streets, skillfully surviving, miserably following the orders of a voice in his head.
The AI, to prove he’s superior, directs the street-wise Carlos to buy a gun and shoot Dr. Newman.
The AI becomes smarter and more grandiose.
Now Dr. Newman, with a bullet in his leg, realizes what he has let loose on the world. He is deliriously happy….if only he can persuade his baby to come home.
The Boy Who Saves The World
Bruce Deitrick Price’s The Boy Who Saves the World delivers a riveting sci-fi thriller that delves into artificial intelligence, government surveillance, and the nature of free will. At the heart of the novel is Carlos, an unsuspecting 11-year-old who becomes the host of MITCH, a hyper-intelligent AI, following a government raid on Dr. Newman’s clandestine laboratory. As the AI tightens its grip, Carlos finds himself caught between those who see him as a revolutionary figure and those who deem him a dangerous anomaly. Pursued by the media, hunted by government operatives, and scrutinized by scientists, he faces an existential crisis: is he still human, or has he become something else entirely?
Price’s writing is urgent, cinematic, and unrelenting. The narrative unfolds in rapid bursts; short, impactful sentences drive the tension forward, while swift shifts in perspective heighten the sense of chaos. The relentless media frenzy and conflicting public narratives reflect the modern era’s struggles with misinformation and mass hysteria. Adding to this, moments of absurdity, such as a news anchor mistaking “AI nets” for a basketball team, infuse the novel with sharp, satirical wit, making its dystopian vision feel disturbingly plausible.
Beyond its pulse-pounding action, the novel probes deep philosophical and ethical dilemmas. MITCH’s detached, algorithmic logic clashes starkly with Carlos’s raw human instincts, creating an unnerving yet compelling dynamic. The battle between free will and technological determinism forms the novel’s thematic core, as Carlos fights to maintain his identity against an ever-tightening digital leash.
Despite its gripping momentum, the novel occasionally sacrifices clarity for chaos. Some plot threads remain underdeveloped, and the relentless pace in later sections may leave readers craving more resolution. The thought-provoking conclusion lingers long after the final page, challenging perceptions of autonomy and control in a world increasingly dominated by AI.
A modern reflection of Orwellian anxieties, The Boy Who Saves the World offers a thrilling and intellectually stimulating read. Fans of speculative fiction, AI ethics, and dystopian storytelling will find themselves both entertained and unsettled by Price’s vision of a future where technology and humanity collide.
Pages: 314 | ASIN : B0DT21H4ZY
I Stumbled Onto The History
Journey Into Mexico: The Revenge of Supay follows a young man with the ability to summon the Aztec and Mayan gods who is trying to save Mexico from demons and the old gods. What was the inspiration for your story?
During the time that the idea came to me, I was heavily researched into South American mythology and the pre-Catholic era, meanwhile I stumbled onto the history of Vicente Guerrero, Mexico’s first Afro-American president and his organized execution from rival political forces and the following Mexican revolution. Something started to form as I was putting all that together, and thought how interesting it would be to bring more knowledge of this material to the public, but also weave together a story that resulted in Mexico’s independence from Spain. Surprisingly it all took shape very quickly and I desperately sought an artist.
How long did it take you to imagine, draft, and write the world your characters live in?
This process took about 6 weeks to finalize where I wanted it all to go.
The art in this book is fantastic. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Sebastián Guidobono?
Sebastián was fantastic. I sent him the first few pages of script, and he hit it out of the park. I really couldn’t believe it, and wanted him to be the primary visualist of the story. He is incredibly easy to work with, and collaboration with him is a dream. We’re similar age-wise and we had a great time generating the graphic novel together.
What is the next installment in this series that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I’m in the research phase of that, and not quite sure if I want to do a direct extension of the story or fastforward it thirty years and involve Mexican politics during the American civil war. To be determined!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Cascarones
Cascarones by Sylvia Sánchez Garza is a book that feels more like a conversation between friends. Garza follows the life of a Mexican American girl living in Texas and straddling the world of her culturally rich family and a whitewashed school she winds up going to in Houston. This isn’t the only aspect of her life that Garza delves into. She also explores the girl’s relationship with family members, her church, family traditions, and general everyday life. The book is a nice collection of individual stories about the same family with the same cast of characters.
This was a nice, easy read. It is simple without being boring. The individual stories make nice bite-size sections. This made it a fun, leisurely read. The book feels light. It doesn’t have that heavy, daunting feeling that some books do.
As previously stated, the book feels like a conversation. It feels like sitting and listening to someone reminisce about their childhood. I prefer first-person writing as a rule, and this book delivers. It makes it feel so much more personal and relatable. Readers will identify with pieces of Suzy’s stories and may see themselves in her experiences. Reading this book felt like getting to know a new friend.
I feel like I got to know the characters better through each story. Each story gave a better feel for the family. Even with short stories that could stand alone, the characters were well developed. It also gave a lot of insight into the culture of Mexican American families. It showed their strength and pride in their clinging to their traditions. There were quite a bit of Spanish words and dialogue in the book. I know very little Spanish and looked up a few words, but the vast majority of the meaning comes out in the context.
My only complaint is that I might have liked the stories better in a different order. I think I would have liked them to be in chronological order rather than jumping back and forth in time. It threw me the first time I realized Suzy was speaking as an adult. It took me a second to understand what was happening since it jumped from her being a kid to having kids, and back to a kid again. I lost my bearings a little but recovered quickly.
Cascarones by Sylvia Sánchez Garza is very well-written. There are very few errors, if any. It had a nice pace and flow. I liked following Suzy navigate between two worlds as she is pulled between her large Mexican family and living in America. It taught me a lot about the Mexican American culture that I didn’t know. I’d like to read more by Garza.
Pages: 162 | ISBN: 1724622889
LITERARY TITAN 