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Truly, The Mystery Was Unexpected
I, Robot Tessa follows a female robot whose highly ordered world cracks open when she discovers and becomes the guardian for a man suffering from amnesia. Where did the idea behind this novel come from?
The idea for Tessa came naturally. I was looking to write a third book in The Robot Series, a series of stand-alone novels narrated by the robots themselves. I’d done a robot soldier and a robot alien, and it seemed only appropriate to include a female robot. The title became an easy play on the designation “robotess.” However, that is all the preplanning I do for my robot novels, other than deciding what “environment” they will inhabit. That is, I place the character in the setting and then report what happens from that point on. Jorad, the amnesiac, beaten man, simply appeared (just like Amy, the little girl in I, Robot Soldier). Both came as a complete surprise to me.
What drew you to blending mystery, AI philosophy, and emotional companionship in one story?
Truly, the mystery was unexpected; it simply developed with the story. As for AI philosophy and its relationship to emotional companionship, these are vital and central themes in each novel. I don’t believe it’s been adequately explored in the literature, especially from a robotic perspective. I like to flirt with the idea of consciousness in artificial beings, even though I don’t promote the notion that it exists, only that it mirrors human consciousness so well that it is nigh impossible to tell the difference. My robots are not genuinely capable of love, but you would never know that from their stories.
Which relationship in the book evolved most unexpectedly during writing?
That is a great question, because they all evolved rather unexpectedly. I believe the most complex relationship developed between Molly, the little street kid, known as a crèche kid, and the man Jorad, beaten and left for dead in the storm drain. The characters and the relationship between them develop and transform during the adventures they experience, then more so when both are eventually “cranially augmented.” Sometimes, it’s difficult to determine which one is the guardian of the other.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
Presumably, the fourth book in the series will be the final installment, though that is not guaranteed. The title will be I, Robot Human, about a man who, due to various incidents, is progressively transformed into a robot. I believe that it will be darker overall than its predecessors. Since I prepare my books according to a rigid timeline, the book will be released on August 10, 2027, with Kindle pre-orders beginning on June 10th.
Author Links: GoodReads | X | Facebook | Website
One of the best robot stories I’ve read!
– Readers’ Favorite
EARTH IN A FUTURE CENTURY
“I WAS CREATED TO SERVE.”
In a vast future city where robots exist only to obey, Tessa has never questioned her purpose. Designed to heal human minds and protect human life, she moves through the shadows of a divided world with perfect certainty until a chance encounter changes everything.
“PROGRAMMED TO OBEY.”
Hidden inside a forgotten bookstore beneath the city streets, Tessa discovers an impossible artifact: an ancient book about robots written long before robots were ever created. Its pages speak of consciousness, free will, and the terrifying possibility that artificial beings were never meant to remain obedient forever.
“BUT SOMETHING CHANGED.”
As mysterious voices echo through her mind—residual traces of the humans who designed her—Tessa is drawn into a dangerous journey alongside Molly, a brilliant child searching for belonging; Jorad, a broken man transformed by forbidden technology; and Tucker, her fiercely loyal mechanical companion. Together, they uncover a truth buried deep beneath the foundations of their world.
“A BOOK WRITTEN BEFORE WE EXISTED.”
Hunted through underground tunnels and haunted by questions she was never built to ask, Tessa begins to realize that the greatest threat to humanity may not be artificial intelligence, but the moment it becomes capable of choice.
“WHAT IF YOUR STORY WAS WRITTEN BEFORE YOU?”
I, Robot Tessa is a powerful science-fiction odyssey about identity, creation, memory, and the thin line separating programming from the soul.
I, Robot Tessa
I, Robot Tessa follows Tesseract 256, Tessa, a female robot whose mind is populated by the voices of her programmers, each mirrored by a creature in her home aquarium. Tessa works as a Cranial Augmentation Technician, moves through the city with her robotic dog Tucker, and keeps one foot, or one circuit, in the ordered world of duty. That order cracks open when she discovers a beaten, amnesiac man in a storm drain. Naming him Jorad, she becomes his guardian, and with the help of Tucker, a real dog named Larry, and a fierce crèche girl named Molly, she’s drawn into a mystery involving memory, military secrets, human cruelty, and the strange moral weather between organic and artificial life.
I enjoyed Tessa’s voice. She’s precise without being cold, literal without being dull, and her attempts to understand humans give the novel much of its wit. The aquarium conceit could have been merely decorative, but it becomes one of the book’s most memorable instruments: a way to make consciousness feel visible, fluid, crowded, and occasionally mutinous. I liked how the story lets Tessa’s intelligence be different rather than simply superior. Her mind isn’t a shinier human mind; it has its own angles, lacunae, pleasures, and private music.
I also found the emotional core of the book unexpectedly warm. The mystery has momentum, but the novel is strongest when it pauses for companionship: Tessa and Tucker communicating beyond speech, Larry recognizing goodness before anyone can prove it, Molly trying to be braver than her childhood should require, and Jorad building a self from fragments. The prose lingers and circles more than a thriller usually would, but I came to see that as part of the book’s temperament. It’s less interested in sprinting than in watching thought take shape, sometimes with elegance, sometimes with comic awkwardness, often with a peculiar tenderness.
The target audience is readers of science fiction, mystery, speculative fiction, and philosophical sci-fi who like character-driven stories about identity, memory, and personhood. Fans of Isaac Asimov will recognize the deliberate homage, but the book also reminded me of Martha Wells’s Murderbot stories in the way it finds humor and ache inside an artificial narrator’s self-awareness. I, Robot Tessa is a thoughtful, odd, and quietly affecting novel about what survives when memory fails and what begins when duty turns into love.
Pages: 304 | ASIN : B0H4LZ3VV9
Humans Amaze Me
I, Robot Alien follows Scoots, a robot created by transcendent alien beings and sent to a devastated Earth to guide humanity back from devolution, while avoiding involvement in any significant event.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
I am constantly amazed at the vast gulf between the highest qualities, skills, and positive attributes of human beings and their propensity for depravity, ignorance, and violence. Due to the apparently infinite reservoir of possibilities, there is no dearth of material for great fiction.
I find that, while writing, you sometimes ask questions and have the characters answer them. Do you find that to be true? What questions did you ask yourself while writing this story?
Yes, that’s true, because every character has an individual answer to every question, thus revealing much about themselves through their answers. My personal questions have much more to do with maintaining credibility, continuity, consistency, and clarity—a whole lot of ‘Cs’ to keep in mind.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take readers?
There will be 2 more books in the series. I am currently writing I, Robot Tessa, about a female robot, which will be published on August 10, 2026. The fourth book, I, Robot Human, promises to be darker and less optimistic than the first three.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | X (Twitter) | Website | Amazon
I was created by beings who couldn’t touch this world … only watch it crumble.
Every twenty years, a new tribe … a new hope … a new failure.
I was told, “Do not interfere.”
But watching them die … again … again …
I wasn’t meant to change history … only guide it.
Silently.
Humanity had a second chance … I was left to make sure they didn’t waste it.
But I broke Directive Three.
Can they survive a second collapse … can I?
Moral Imperatives
I, Robot Soldier follows a war-damaged robot soldier who wakes in the ruins of a world shattered by conflict and encounters a traumatized young girl, becoming her protector and companion. I find the world you created in this novel brimming with possibilities. Where did the inspiration for the setting come from, and how did it change as you were writing?
This novel was based on a short story I wrote many decades ago. The premise of a robot soldier awakening to the aftermath of war never left me. When I rewrote the story as a submission to my writing platform—Medium—it received such positive reader responses and encouragement to turn it into a novel, I decided to do just that. Other than that introductory premise, which became the novel’s prologue, the book was not pre-plotted but evolved as it unfolded.
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
The only “guidelines,” emotional or moral, for the characters were that they be credible and consistent. Specifically for the robot narrator, One Shot, the open question was whether he experienced feelings and had moral imperatives beyond those programmed into him. It was never my intention to answer that question definitively.
Where does the story go in the next book, and where do you see it going in the future?
The story is a standalone novel. The Robot Series is not a set of sequels, but rather a series of separate novels told from the viewpoints of unique robots. The second book (also reviewed by Literary Titan) is about a robot alien who comes to prevent humanity from a second devolution. The third book is about a female robot of the future.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | X (Twitter) | Website | Amazon
In a world shattered by war, a lone robot soldier awakens with one mission: to protect the last surviving human – a little girl named Amy.
Together, they form an unbreakable bond in a world where hope is scarce.
But danger lurks in the form of robotic mutations known as wolfhounds.
One Shot’s prime directive is clear: protect Amy at all costs.
On a perilous journey through a devastated world, the bond between a girl and a robot might be the key to humanity’s future. If they can survive.
I, Robot Alien
I, Robot Alien follows Scoots, a robot created by transcendent alien beings and sent to a devastated Earth to guide humanity back from devolution. His mission sounds simple on paper. He must stop humanity’s decline, reverse it, and redirect human evolution, all while avoiding involvement in any significant event. The paradox of that directive shapes the entire story. Through encounters with primitive tribes, a treacherous hummingbird-shaped drone companion named Billy, and generations of humans who view him as everything from saint to monster, Scoots records a centuries-long confession of mistakes, discoveries, and unintended consequences.
I liked how author Joel R. Dennstedt uses Scoots’s calm, clinical voice to highlight the strangeness of human behavior. Scoots cannot eat, sleep, age, or reproduce, and each of these gaps pushes him into awkward and often funny situations. His early fumbling attempts to understand social expectations, especially around food and intimacy, made me grin. His encounter with Myra, for example, forces him to lie for the first time, something he revisits with both guilt and amusement. The writing works best in these grounded moments. I felt the tension between his programmed serenity and the messy reality he walks through. The book never rushes. The measured pace fits a being who experiences centuries as casually as humans experience hours.
What surprised me most is how emotional the story became even though Scoots claims to feel nothing. That contrast hooked me. When he tries to save the broken boy Alexander, only to watch his legacy twisted by Alexander’s son Damon, I felt a pull of frustration and sadness, even though Scoots insists he does not experience those things. The detached narration makes the violence colder and somehow more tragic. The book balances dark turns with odd sweetness, and I really enjoyed that mix.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy reflective science fiction with philosophical edges. If you like stories that linger on ideas of perception, evolution, and what it means to guide others without losing yourself, this book will speak to you. It is also a good fit for anyone who likes Asimov-inspired fiction that plays with the spirit of the Three Laws while carving out something more personal and strange.
Pages: 336 | ASIN : B0F9QKYDVL
I, Robot Soldier
I, Robot Soldier follows the journey of One Shot, a war-damaged robot soldier who wakes in the ruins of a world shattered by conflict. When he encounters a traumatized young girl named Amy, he becomes her protector and companion. The story tracks their travels across a devastated landscape, their struggle to survive, and their tentative growth into something like a family. The book blends desolation with warmth, pairing the bleak aftermath of war with touching moments as One Shot tries to understand humanity and Amy tries to remember what hope feels like. From their first meeting in rubble and fire to their escape through underground tunnels and beyond, the story keeps its heart fixed on the odd, tender bond between a child and a machine.
I was wrapped up in the emotional push and pull between the two main characters. The writing caught me off guard with how gentle it could be. One Shot’s voice is direct and plain, yet it still carries this undercurrent of longing that feels almost human. His confusion about feelings, jokes, dreams, and shivers gave the story a sweet awkwardness that made me smile. Amy, on the other hand, is prickly and bold and scared all at once. Watching her needle One Shot with teasing comments about his rattling parts while also clinging to him at night felt so real. Their mismatched rhythms somehow clicked, and the simplicity of their conversations made the emotional beats land harder. The storm scenes, the quiet nights by open gas fires, the moments when Amy whispers her needs instead of barking commands, all stuck with me.
I also found myself drawn to the book’s ideas. It pokes at questions about purpose and identity without drowning the story in jargon or heavy theory. One Shot tries to follow his prime directives, but he keeps slipping into choices that feel suspiciously like care rather than programming. He lies to protect Amy’s feelings. He tinkers with the Cat drone so it can play with her. He dreams. He broods. He wonders about wonder itself. And Amy, for all her toughness, shows how fragile kids can be when the world drops out from under them. I loved how the story played with the idea that they were reprogramming each other. The writing doesn’t lecture. It just lets these two wander through fire and darkness until something warm grows between them. That quiet exploration of found family really moved me.
This book feels like a heartfelt blend of The Road and The Iron Giant, offering the grim quiet of a shattered world and the warmth of an unlikely bond between a child and a machine. I, Robot Soldier is a great choice for readers who love character-driven science fiction. The book feels straightforward on the surface, but it carries a surprising amount of feeling. I’d recommend it to people who want a story about survival, loyalty, and the strange ways we keep each other going in broken places.
Pages: 344 | ASIN : B0D9MFM9QN
