In a day where artificial intelligence is now becoming a part of our day-to-day life, I'm excited to announce the launch of a blog tour for The Algorithm Will See You Now by JL Lycette, It's perfect for fans of near-future speculative thrillers such as those by Blake Crouch and Rob Hart. Continue on to read an interview with the author and a chance to win a copy of the book.
But first, here's more information about the book:
The most dangerous lies are the ones that use the truth to sell themselves.
Medical treatment determined by artificial intelligence could do more than make Hope Kestrel's career. It could revolutionize healthcare.
What the Seattle surgeon doesn't know is the AI has a hidden fatal flaw, and the people covering it up will stop at nothing to dominate the world's healthcare—and its profits. Soon, Hope is made the scapegoat for a patient's death, and only Jacie Stone, a gifted intern with a knack for computer science, is willing to help search for the truth.
But her patient's death is only the tip of the conspiracy's iceberg. The Director, Marah Maddox, is plotting a use for the AI far outside the ethical bounds of her physician's oath. A staggering plan capable of reducing human lives to their DNA code, redefining the concepts of sickness and health, and delivering the power of life and death decisions into the hands of those behind the AI.
Even if the algorithm accidentally discards some who are treatable in order to make that happen...
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ISBN-10: 1685131492
ISBN-13: 9781685131494
ASIN: B0BLD16W7T
Print Length: 273 Pages
Purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org. You can also add it to your GoodReads reading list.
Advanced Praise for The Algorithm Will See You Now
“I've been waiting for a book like this: a full-frontal assault on the dangers of artificial intelligence and the failures of our mangled health care system, all wrapped up in a clever, ripping thriller. Jennifer Lycette is an author to watch.” — Rob Hart, author of The Paradox Hotel
"In her debut, Lycette explores the darkest realities about the healthcare system and what generations of the near future could potentially face if power shifts to the wrong hands. Perhaps even more gripping is how she delves into the ways grief can shape someone, causing them to make questionable decisions in the name of redemption. With nuanced characters and a truly terrifying premise, The Algorithm Will See You Now is an ambitious debut that delivers."— Heather Levy, author of Anthony nominated Walking Through Needles
"Both tense and topical, The Algorithm Will See You Now is a meticulously researched and deeply informed novel about the perils of where healthcare is likely heading, and the agonizing human costs involved. There are no easy decisions here, and Lycette paints a wonderfully complex portrait in an exciting debut." — E.A. Aymar, author of No Home For Killers
"Full of intrigue and smart thrills, The Algorithm Will See You Now is a incisive vision of a tech-driven future, amping up the contemporary horrors of our healthcare system to the extreme. Lycette's mastery of the medical field shines through, and her empathetic storytelling invites us to examine where we are headed and how we treat each other as human beings." — Victor Manibo, author of The Sleepless
"An AI is putting profit over life. And patients are dying. The Algorithm Will See You Now is a tense, terrifying ride that dives into prescient themes of power, control, and the corruption of Big Medicine. Here’s your wake up call. This disturbing future is closer than you think." — L.P. Styles, author of The Molecule Thief
"Get ready to be enthralled! Dr. Lycette poignantly lays out the future of healthcare with impeccable lucidity when AI becomes the center stage of medicine. While AI is promised to improve operational efficiencies, streamline tasks and cut down human error, it comes with its own challenges like overlooking personal preferences, fears and economic restraints for patients. A brilliant book with vivid characterizations!"
— Rajeev Kurapati MD, MBA, award-winning author of Physician: How Science Transformed the Art of Medicine
“Bringing the reality of the imminent threat to the healthcare system and the patient sovereignty disheartenment to life… the epitome of patient care sceneries at the end of the slippery slope towards which we are headed.”— Dr. Adam Ray Tabriz, MD Medium Author, Physicians Are Working Like Robots for Robots
About the Author, JL Lycette
Jennifer / JL Lycette is a novelist, award-winning essayist, rural physician, wife, and mother. She has a degree in biochemistry from the University of San Francisco and attained her medical degree at the University of Washington. Mid-career, she discovered narrative medicine in her path back from physician burnout and has been writing ever since. Her essays can be found in Intima, NEJM, JAMA and other journals; at Doximity and Medscape; and her website. She is an alumna of the 2019 Pitch Wars Mentoring program. Her other published speculative fiction can be found in the anthology And If That Mockingbird Don't Sing: Parenting Stories Gone Speculative (Alternating Current Press). The Algorithm Will See You Now (Black Rose Writing Press) is her first novel.
Find her online:
Website: https://jenniferlycette.com
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/Author.JL.Lycette
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22185205.J_L_Lycette
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JL_Lycette
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lycette/
Mastodon: https://mindly.social/@JL_Lycette---- Interview by Nicole Pyles
WOW: First of all, congratulations on your book The Algorithm Will See You Now! What inspired you to write this?
JL: In my day job, I'm a hematologist/oncologist (a specialist in blood and cancer medicine). During the 2010s, there was a lot of talk about IBM's Watson (a machine-learning AI) having a role in helping oncologists sort data and test results for our patients to help us define treatment. But in the mid-2010s, that all fizzled out without much fanfare.
Meanwhile, the amount of data we're obtaining on our patients is ever-increasing, along with options for cancer therapies. Many days on the job, I would welcome a smart tool like AI to help me out. The things that keep oncologists up at night include the constant rethinking and wondering, "Could I have done something differently?" If AI could help with that, sure, who wouldn't want that?
It was about six years ago that I first had the idea for the novel when I read about some of the mistakes AI tools were making (like the misclassification of photos on Google), revealing the datasets that had been used to train the AI (essentially: the Internet) had led to racist and sexist outputs. I thought, uh oh, what if we did one day achieve the goal of an advanced medical AI, but it turned out to be ultimately flawed at a very deep level. Mix that with the increasing corporatization of healthcare in the U.S., and my premise was born. I suppose very much a classic trope of the science fiction thriller, which is the question of ultimately what fault lies in the technology versus what responsibility lies with humanity.
WOW: That's so fascinating! And the fact that you have first-hand knowledge in this industry makes it even more incredible. How much of AI technology has impacted you personally?
JL: The short answer is it hasn't… yet. But I think it's coming. The past decade in cancer care has seen tremendous advances in "precision medicine," which allows us to target our therapies down to the level of a DNA mutation in the cancer cell. It's been an inspiring and rewarding time in the field of oncology. At the same time, unfortunately, it's currently only a minority of our total patients who we discover can benefit from these precision therapies.
Many future-thinking leaders in the field envision a time when we will have a precision medicine report on every patient and an AI tool to match the information to the treatment. (Currently, we do have what's called "NGS" (next generation sequencing), but it requires manual (human) review by the oncologist to interpret and apply to each patient's situation).
For the past decade, in my practice in a rural community, I've seen daily the challenges in an under-resourced system and the disparities in care between urban and rural regions. Combine this with the concerns over unintended inherent systemic bias in AI systems, and insurance companies increasingly putting profits over patients, and these are the conflicts I set out to explore in the novel.
For anyone wanting to read more about how algorithms are already affecting our daily lives, I highly recommend the book Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil. (I include a link to this in my book's author's note, as well as other sources I used for research during the writing of my book).
WOW: I can only imagine the changes that are about to happen in the medical field when it comes to AI! How much of the AI buzz influenced your book?
JL: Because I started writing it six years before the current AI buzz, not at all. But it may have helped me find a publisher.
Last year, after the years of writing and revising and three separate journeys into the query trenches ending in countless rejections, I was demoralized but not ready to give up. I still believed my book had something important to say to the world, but I hadn't been successful in convincing any literary agents of that.
So I decided to explore a different avenue—publishing with a small press. I researched Publisher's Marketplace and sent out a small batch of submissions.
In May 2022, when Musk put in his bid for Twitter, I realized it provided a way to help publishers understand how my story about algorithms in healthcare was relevant and timely. I pitched it with something along these lines: "Billionaires and their biased algorithms taking over social media are only the start. Just wait until they get ahold of your healthcare."
That garnered immediate requests to read the manuscript and, ultimately, an offer of publication from Black Rose Writing Press. (I wrote a little more about that on my blog here: https://jenniferlycette.com/what-if-elon-musk-was-in-charge-of-your-healthcare/)
WOW: How profound! I love how you took trending news and turned into an opportunity. I saw that you are an alumna of the 2019 Pitch Wars. What was that experience like for you and how did that contribute to your success?
JL: I have so much gratitude for the Pitch Wars community and my mentorship with them. I had started drafting the story in late 2016. Although I'd been writing and publishing personal essays, I had never written a book before, and, looking back, I can see I had no idea what I was doing at the beginning. But over the next several years, I drafted and revised, drafted and revised, and devoured every book I could get my hands on about craft and story structure. I also tried to take advantage of every webinar and online writing resource I could find.
In 2018, I started sending out queries, but I can see now that I was querying way too early, and the book was far from ready. (Also, those early queries were terrible! Lol). Then, through the online writing community, I learned about Pitch Wars, an online mentoring program for unpublished novel writers. In the fall of 2019, I applied on a whim, never dreaming my book would have a chance. But to my happy surprise, I was selected for the Pitch Wars class of 2019 (the working title of my manuscript at the time was "The Frailty of Matter," a line from the Oath and Prayer of Maimonides).
After selection, mentees worked with their mentors over three months to revise their manuscripts and prepare them for the online "showcase." If a literary agent expressed interest, we could send our submission materials (or a full manuscript if they requested). We were also free to then query other agents. Our class's showcase was in February 2020.
Long story short, I didn't end up being a "Pitch Wars success story." I received a few full requests and also queried widely, but ultimately, I didn't land literary agent representation. Over the next few months of 2020, we were, of course, in the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I realized that agents and publishers had little interest in medical thrillers (and who could blame them? We were all living in a real-life one).
So as painful as it was on a personal level, I shelved the book for a while. But I had gained something far more valuable from Pitch Wars, which was a cadre of writing friends who have become ongoing beta readers and critique partners. With the help of my new writing support group, I ultimately went back and did another major revision of the book.
WOW: Wow! What a learning experience and I appreciate you sharing. What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
JL: I just submitted the final manuscript of my second book, The Committee Will Kill You Now, to my publisher. It's a prequel to The Algorithm Will See You Now and will be published on 11/9/23. Although each book can be read as a standalone, this next book features two of my characters from Algorithm in their younger years. It essentially tells the "villain origin story" of the antagonist in Algorithm, Dr. Marah Maddox, wrapped up in a historical thriller about the inhumanity of physician training in the 1990s interwoven with the true-life history of the medical rationing of the first kidney dialysis in 1960s Seattle. It will also be published by Black Rose Writing Press.
WOW: I absolutely cannot wait! Thank you again for talking with me today. I can't wait to see what you come out with next!
--- Blog Tour Calendar
April 3rd @ The Muffin
Join us at WOW! Women on Writing as we celebrate the launch of The Algorithm Will See You Now by JL Lycette. Read an interview with the author and have the chance to win a copy of the book for yourself.
April 7th @ One Writer's Journey
Visit Sue's blog for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 8th @ The Book Diva's Reads
Don't miss an excerpt of The Algorithm Will See You Now. You can also win a copy of the book!
April 10th @ One Writer's Journey
Join Sue for a guest post by author JL Lycette about what it's like to start a writing career in her 40s.
April 11th @ Life According to Jamie
Don't miss Jamie's review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 13th @ A Storybook World
Join Deirdra for a feature of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 14th @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Visit Beverley's blog for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 15th @ Boots, Shoes, and Fashion
Join Linda for her insightful interview with author JL Lycette about her book The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 16th @ Seaside Book Nook
Join Jilleen for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 17th @ Sara Trimble's Blog
Join Sara for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now. You'll also have a chance to win a copy of the book!
April 17th @ Writer, Writer Pants on Fire
Visit Mindy's blog for JL Lycette's guest post on how to write when you have a demanding day job.
April 19th @ Beverley A. Baird's Blog
Join Beverley for a guest post by JL Lycette about how writing and storytelling helped her recover from burnout.
April 20th @ Sara Trimble's Blog
Join Sara again for a guest post by JL Lycette about how the current-day applications of AI inspired her book.
April 22nd @ From the TBR Pile
Join Kari for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 23rd @ The Faerie Review
Join Lily for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 24th @ Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
Join Lisa for her interview with JL Lycette about her book The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 25th @ The Forgotten Books
Join Heather for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now. Win a copy of the book too!
April 27th @ Knotty Needle
Visit Judy's blog for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
April 29th @ The Wonderful World of Words
Visit Joy's blog for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now. You also have the chance to win a copy of the book!
April 30th @ World of My Imagination
Join Nicole for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 1st @ Liberate and Lather
Join Angie for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 2nd @ Writer Advice
Join B. Lynn Goodwin for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 3rd @ Word Magic
Visit Fiona's blog for her feature of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 4th @ Writer Advice
Visit B. Lynn Goodwin's site again for JL Lycette's guest post about her experience as a mentee in 2019 Pitch Wars mentorship program.
May 5th @ Storeybook Reviews
Read Leslie's review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 6th @ The Mommies Review
Join Glenda for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now.
May 6th @ Bookwoman Joan
Visit Joan's blog for her review of The Algorithm Will See You Now. She'll also be giving away a copy of the book too!
---- Podcast Tour
Joy Found Here
Jennifer will appear on Stephanie's podcast, Joy Found Here. A must-listen inspirational discussion that will give you the boost you need!
Book Lover's Companion
Jennifer will be on Edith's podcast, Book Lover's Companion. Find out more about The Algorithm Will See You Now.
The Authors About Podcast...
Join Jennifer as she talks with podcaster Brett Jackson about experiencing burnout and her process of writing of her book The Algorithm Will See You Now.
The Awakened Feminine
Don't miss Jennifer's podcast with KaKi Lee. She'll discuss her writing processes and her wisdom she discovered along the way.
Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop
Listen to Jennifer's podcast episode about her publishing journey.
***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****
Enter to win a copy of The Algorithm Will See You Now by JL Lycette! Fill out the Rafflecopter form by April 16th for a chance to win. We will choose a winner randomly the next day and announce it in the form and follow up via email. Good luck!
11 comments:
Excellent interview! I'm fascinated by all things AI right now, so JL's book is super timely and I love the medical angle. I'm looking forward to reading it. :)
JL ~ Thank you for sharing your Pitch Wars story! I heard the same thing from author friends whose agents pitched during 2020. One friend had a fantastic dystopian novel, and because of Covid, of course, no one was eager to pick up dystopian novels. There was also a big push for diverse books in 2020 and it seemed to me that little else was being picked up at that time. It's strange how much timing has to do with it, but I'm so glad you persisted and found a great publisher. :) Good luck on your tour! It looks like a great one! :)
Thank you so much Angela! And thank you to Wow! Women on Writing for organizing this amazing blog tour!
Really got into this book! My son the engineering student and I ended up discussing it over lunch. I'll be passing it to him shortly.
Timing is such a vital part of getting an acceptance. I'm glad you kept your Hope alive until you got a positive response!
I've seen your book around and would love to read it. Thanks!
very timely book. can't wait to read it
A very exciting page turner!
This looks like a very interesting book given our technology today.
Thank you for the chance to win this exciting book.
I am now looking for books to get lost in during the evenings or early mornings while camping.
This book looks like a good read. Interesting title.
Looks like a great summer read!
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