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Who Are We as a Species?
The Last Loop follows an AI agent from the future on a mission to restore balance to the universe and save humanity, who travels back in time and has her consciousness transferred to a 19-year-old girl. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I have always had a great imagination and a host of half jotted down ideas on my phone in the old yellow notepad app. This idea was at least a few years old. Scribbled, half cooked, more of a softer young adult idea less than 2 pages long that I lost interest in as I couldn’t envision it properly. It sat in my phone.
I’m a nurse and mum to 2 under 5, and I lost my mum to MND in Jan of this year. I was in quite a serious and heavy place, and I was coping by staying as busy as I could so I started working on an idea I had. A paranormal comedy, but it stalled.
I had gone back to this old idea on my phone of this fractured, broken android woman in this dystopian future, where our world no longer exists, standing in an iridescent, bio-luminescent false garden, trying to find the strength to return to Earth’s past once again, when she herself was so damaged, so conflicted. Most of that idea was rewritten immediately. For one, Cynth isn’t a victim and I wrote her originally as damaged, barely coping when really, she is an idealist and a battler. Someone who questions, and has learnt through trial and error and experience.
Also, with the realities of AI and technological advancements currently and how AI is changing various fields, business, art, literature, once I applied the concept of these androids being human AI, it felt I had something to ground the novel on where these androids originally began and where they were at, at Origin Point. I couldn’t stop writing. I could picture it differently and better than I originally had. I wrote easily over twenty pages in an hour or two and I just didn’t stop. I had this story burning clearly in my mind. The entry records came to me first. These crucial notes that slightly reflect later in the book. The initial conversation with SPEAKER. Every scrap of spare time I had, between work, kids, packing a house to move interstate, ect, I wrote. Most of it began on my phone but it got to a stage where I had written all these chapters in different notes on my phone and i kind of needed to get a laptop so I could put this story together.
The inspiration for my novel has always been there but to actually sit down to write and give it a go, came from trauma and coping with a hard reality. Losing my mum was a catalyst to just sit down and try. Start writing, and see where it led.
Finishing my first novel was as much for my sake as my mum’s. Publishing and having completed something I created was a huge tick on a personal goal that I was proud of and I thought she would be proud of. If people liked it or didn’t like it, regardless, it was done. I handed over a finished manuscript to Hannah, business owner of Bookish Trinity and she beta read, formatted and edited The Last Loop. It was a constant dialogue of communication. She would ask me to elaborate, expand, reword, adjust, add emotion, or make clearer to the reader.
I also chose to say no or explain why I was writing something that way or where I was going with that, or why I didn’t wish to change something. Working together, with her feedback during formatting and editing, led me to have a much better book than what I had originally perceived as finished.Truly, she was invaluable to this book and to me, as a first time author. I would work with her again.
There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?
I’ve read my entire life. I’m a reading enthusiast. I’m a serial reader. I know in the first couple of chapters, if I will like a book. Sometimes I’ve been disappointed, and sometimes pleasantly surprised by the story, but the characters are everything.
What I didn’t realise when I began writing is that Cynth, Warden, SIG, Harry, the apartment girls, Pam, LOR, all these characters had rented space in my brain and demanded to be written and heard.
I’m aware I packed so many concepts and ideas into this novel and I needed my charactors to be as believable and normal as I could get them, to help carry the heavy sci fi elements and concepts.
I wanted to blur reality and fiction. I wanted characters that pose questions at the heart of us that might resonate with the reader.
I tried to use humour and emotion, but this story is told not through great action scenes, but the day to day world we live in and the relationships we have. I wanted it to feel like any day of our lives.
Hannah really helped with expanding Harry’s opinion during Cynth’s monologues and prompt me to add more emotion.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Who are we as a species? where are we going as a species? what are we doing right now to fix problems in our world? What are some problems in our world? How might we react or deal with a species that might supersede us, or a sentient species in general. An idea of how we would really be seen by an intergalactic sentient culture. The idea of AI being sentient, helping to wipe us out but needing us later on, so trying to fix what they helped break.
Reincarnation. The far future, dystopian societies, time travel.
I think I went a bit nuts on the topics to be honest, so I can see how this novel migh be seen as complex and to be tackled by an adventurous reader. I think I will get better at this, as I go. I Just have to keep writing.
What is the next novel that you are working on and when will that be available?
My partner and I recently completed painting this house after an interstate move. I am full-time mum-ing at the moment. I don’t know when they will be available. I hope within six months. I have three paused for this month in various stages.
A sequel to the last loop, penned outline, two chapters. High paced, moving parts, tying in old and new characters. Complex. And split storyline between four key figures.
A paranormal comedy 1 quarter of the way through. This book will be light and humorous with absolutely endearing, funny charactors when I finish writing it, one day.
Lastly, a story that blends historical fiction, reality now and world building through plausibility. A thriller. It’s a great idea and story, and it’s very ambitious for the level of writing I am at but I’m giving it a go.
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One last chance to ARC drop an Agent to a human body, into a set time to try and alter humankind’s direction to stop them from being destroyed.
With no Agents able to return to Origin Point, Cynth is the last. The very last, they can send.
With ARC focal point set to the 2019 SARS pandemic, ARC drop 2020, Cynth must attempt something never done before successfully. No pressure, just success or total destruction.
With her Operator SIG monitoring her human life, returning to dimension CERN 2008, ARC drop year 2020, Cynth must fight to restore herself from a brain injury, to remember who she is and begin her task.
Trying to piece herself back together and fit into this new life her mind felt it was reaching for a place. A place so far away, so infinitely far, it was a different universe. She had never felt more alone, in that in-between place of knowing this was her life, and this absolutely, was not her life.
With the CERNR 2001 Anomaly’s Dimensional Disturbance destabilising the dimensions,
Origin Point under threat of destruction, and humankind being its usual ridiculous stubborn species, Cynth thinks it’s a big ask, to accomplish what she was sent to do.
The Last Loop
S.G. Adams’ debut novel, The Last Loop, is a captivating and thought-provoking entry into modern science fiction, tackling profound themes of identity, memory, and the absurdity of human existence. Set in a future where Earth has become uninhabitable and humanity is extinct, the novel presents an intriguing twist: humanity, despite its flaws, is essential to the survival of the universe. To fix what has gone wrong, an android named CYNTH is sent back in time to restore the balance. CYNTH’s consciousness is transferred into the body of Evie, a 19-year-old living in 2020. From there, CYNTH must navigate the complex challenge of maintaining her sense of self while inhabiting a human body. Simultaneously, she grapples with the gradual recovery of her lost memories, all while the world teeters on the edge of catastrophe. As CYNTH’s mission unfolds, the line between human and artificial intelligence begins to blur, making the stakes even higher for the future of both species.
Adams has crafted a novel that demands engagement and reflection. It’s a complex story but worth every ounce of effort. The intricate weaving of multiple timelines and perspectives adds depth to the narrative, and Adams masterfully connects these stories in ways that surprise and challenge the reader. The heart of the novel lies in its characters, particularly CYNTH/Evie. Adams delivers a fascinating portrayal of CYNTH’s internal conflict, where her android logic clashes with the messy, emotional reality of human experience. The result is a deeply relatable AI protagonist whose journey raises thought-provoking questions about consciousness, identity, and what it means to be human. The supporting characters are equally well-developed, adding further layers to the philosophical exploration of the novel. As a sci-fi enthusiast, I was particularly impressed by Adams’ world-building. She vividly depicts both the bleak dystopian future and the more familiar past/present, crafting environments that feel immersive and detailed. The concept of time travel and the “Remembering You” program is explained with care, ensuring the technological elements of consciousness transfer feel grounded and believable within the story’s universe. The novel opens with a dense exposition that leans heavily on sci-fi terminology. The complexity of the structure, particularly the interwoven timelines, might overwhelm readers who prefer a more straightforward narrative.
The Last Loop is a rewarding and unique read, especially for fans of cerebral sci-fi. Readers are taken on a journey exploring the question of what it means to be human and treated to a story that lingers long after the final page. Adams has created a memorable and ambitious debut, and I’m eager to see what she writes next.
Pages: 354 | ASIN : B0D96BZDSQ
LITERARY TITAN 