Your Forma Vol 2

Back on the beat as an Electronic Investigator, Echika finds herself up against a challenging new case: a string of assaults committed against people related to the RF Model Amicus. To make matters worse, victim testimonials suggest that the perpetrator is none other than Echika’s aide, Harold. As the stakes grow higher and the pair continue their investigation despite the rift forming between them, the true distinction between humans and machines becomes all too apparent. When the shocking truth about Harold comes to light, Echika struggles to make an agonizing decision…

Echika, burdened by her decision to hide the secret of Harold’s Laws of Respect, experiences a rapid loss of Brain Dive functionality. With her prospects of being reinstated as a Diver looking grim, Echika is assigned to her next case as a normal police investigator, only to find Harold working the same inquiry with the help of a new “genius” assistant. From there, the two former partners chase separate leads after a hacker known only as E, a self-styled mind reader who has been leaking classified Interpol information on a popular message board. But what is this mysterious figure really after, and why are they inciting their followers to violence?

The Your Forma—a “smart thread” installed directly into the brain that records all its user’s sensory perceptions and emotions. It’s Electronic Investigator Echika Hieda’s job to Dive into these recordings in search of clues to the world’s toughest and most serious crimes. Unfortunately for anyone who’s ever been paired with Echika, her data processing abilities are so off-the-charts that she usually puts her partners in the hospital in the process. Interpol’s solution: assigning an Amicus—a sentient android named Harold Lucraft—to be her new aide. With the exception of his cheekiness, Harold would be everything Echika wants in a partner—if only she didn’t hate all Amicus with a burning passion...

Harold and Echika may have brought their latest case to a close, but the developer of the AI who facilitated E’s campaign against Interpol is nowhere to be found. To ascertain the identity of this enigmatic individual, the pair request the aid of their friend Bigga, now a formal consultant with the Electrocrime Investigation Bureau. Yet even her help isn’t enough to give them a lead. Meanwhile, a series of spree killings against Amicus begin to unfold, and the modus operandi bears an eerie resemblance to the murder of Harold’s mentor...

In an alternate 2023, the Your Forma, a miraculous “smart thread” technology initially developed to treat a massive outbreak of viral encephalitis, has become an integral part of daily life. But these convenient devices come with an invasive drawback—they record every sight, sound, and even emotion their users experience. For electronic investigator Echika Hieda, diving into peoples’ memories via the Your Forma and hunting for evidence to solve the toughest crimes is all part of a day’s work. The problem is, she’s so good at what she does that her assistants literally fry their brains trying to keep up with her. After putting one too many aides in the hospital, the top brass finally furnish Echika with a partner on her level, a brilliant yet cheeky android named Harold Lucraft. Does this unlikely duo have what it takes to resolve their mutual suspicions and avert a deadly technological infection from sweeping across the globe before it’s too late?

Echika’s stubborn insistence on protecting the secret of the RF Models’ Laws of Respect has driven a wedge between her and Harold. As the two partners grow distant, it comes to light that TOSTI, the mysterious AI they’ve been investigating, may have been developed on Farasha Island, an artificial landmass constructed off the coast of Dubai where researchers pioneer new technologies. When Echika is ordered to travel there and investigate with a small team, she discovers that nearly everyone living on the island has been assigned an Amicus double in an experiment called Project EGO. But soon after Echika and the others’ search for answers gets underway, Bigga is rendered unconscious in a peculiar accident, and it becomes apparent that nothing on the island is as it seems...

The Tribunal, concerned principally with the claims of US nationals against Iran, is the most important to have sat in over half a century.

How do you attract an agent? Ever thought of funding your next book through crowdfunding? How do you deal with failure? Do you understand your royalty statements? What's a media kit, and should you have one? This, and many more questions, are answered in this second collection of articles that first appeared in Writing Magazine. Contributors include: Susie Kearley, Fran Tracy, Wendy Clarke, Sally Trueman-Dicken, Maggie Cobbett, Jo Sadler, Meg Kingston, Kayla Whaley, Imogen Howson, Kate Nash, Solange Hando, Jo Derrick, Esther Newton, Richard Blake, Judith Cranswick, Jennie Ensor, Sarah Plater, Carol Anne Strange, Morgen Bailey, Linda Priestley, Tracy Baines, Diane Wordsworth, JT Ellison, Jo Fitzsimons, Beatrice Charles, Alex Gazzola, Diane Perry, Jane Davis, Carolyn Henderson, Leah Mercer, P R Ellis, Sherry Ficklin, Catherine Cooper, Penny Legg, Helen Yendall, Julie Phillips, Janet Johnstone, Eric James, Caroline James, Hilary Jane Jones, Ros Ephraim, Margaret Murphy/Ashley Dyer, Ann Cleaves, Martin Edwards, Chris Simms, and Kate Ellis.