I have loved science fiction ever since I was a kid and read all my Dad's ancient issues of Analog Science Fiction and Fact from the 1940s. The first book I can remember reading was The Green Hills of Earth anthology by Robert Heinlein. Fast forward to the 1990s, when, as a new professor of computer science, I began adding sci-fi short stories and movies as extra credit for my AI and robotics courses. Later as a Faculty Fellow for Innovation in High-Impact Learning Experiences at Texas A&M, I created the Robotics Through Science Fiction book series as a companion to my textbook, Introduction to AI Robotics. A Firby-like robot pet becomes an international fad, where a "keeper" buys a little wheeled robot and is randomly paired with a "dweller" who teleoperates the robot.

This YA novel that being called a cross between Westworld and Warcross hits shelves in April. Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto has her whole life ahead of her. She's just graduated high school and is on her way to a party to spend time with the boy she's been in love with for years. And then…she's murdered before she can get there. When Nami wakes up, she finds herself in a place called Infinity, which is where human consciousness goes after their bodies die.