Authors Interviewing Characters: Sarah Lahey

June 24, 2020 | By Sarah Lahey | Reply More

The first book in a brand-new science fiction romance trilogy, Gravity is Heartless by Sarah Lahey is bold, speculative fiction that propels readers into a deeply imaginative world on the brink of climate catastrophe.

The year is 2049, and when an unexpected tragedy occurs and her famous mother is presumed dead, cloud scientist Quinn Buyers is imprisoned on a deserted island and charged with 1,962 counts of capital murder, first degree. Once off the island, she embarks upon a quest for answers that takes her across the globe.

Author Sarah Lahey interviews her main character Quinn Buyers from her novel Gravity Is Heartless.

10.00 am. June 2050

Sarah Lahey: Hello and welcome. Please, take a seat and we’ll get started. I see you’ve brought a pet with you. How cute. Is that a . . . squirrel?

Quinn Buyers: A squirrel? No. It’s a meerkat. An AI, robotic meerkat.

SL: Fascinating, perhaps the . . . meerkat can take the seat next to you.

The meerkat: Thank-you. My name is Mori. I am an advanced learning system, programmed for cognitive thought. My technology allows me to emulate brain activity in the hippocampus, so I am creating my own memories. I am a human trapped in a meerkat’s body.

QB: Actually, you’re not. You’re a machine, a robot, trapped in a meerkat’s body. You’re not human, you don’t have feelings, or a sense of self, or conscious thoughts. We’ve talked about this.

SL: Was that a bit harsh? I think you’ve upset it.

QB: He’s not a biological thing. Also, he doesn’t have proper hands—how can he be human without proper hands?

SL: Okay, moving on, you have this meerkat robot because . . .

QB: Well, meerkats are my favorite animal. You see, Lise, my mother, loves lions, and my father, Matt, loves birds. In fact, he’s so obsessed with birds he talks to them. But for me it’s meerkats. I love the way they scan the skies for danger, and they protect and hug each other—they’re so cute. I find them mesmerizing. You know the whole Uncanny Valley thing—well, robots that look like people freak me out—that’s why he’s a meerkat.

SL: I think robots that look like people freak everyone out. But why do you have a robot with you?

QB: Oh, my best friend, Jin, made him for me, she’s super smart. Technically he’s an automated assisted living companion, one of the most advanced machines on the planet. She said he would help ‘ease my loneliness.’

SL: That’s funny, Jin and Quinn.

QB: Why is that funny?

SL: Because it rhymes. Never mind. So, are you lonely?

QB: Right now, I suppose I am. I’m pregnant, unemployed and in a long-distance relationship, and it’s just boring and frustrating. I really miss my partner. Honestly, I don’t know how people do it. The other day, my father, I’ve moved back home for a while, well, he asked if I’d tried haptic underwear, he said it might help with the loneliness. I was so embarrassed.

SL: Haptic underwear?

QB: Yes, it mimics the sense of touch, and you can control it from your TechBand. You just need to remember to charge your underwear.

SL: I see. So, you’ve moved back home, that must be nice. The comfort of family in your time of need.

QB: You would think, wouldn’t you? But no, living with Matt is not the uplifting experience I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, I love him dearly, but every morning we have the same conversation. He offers me three different types of berries, two varieties of homemade yogurt and five different types of tea.

SL: And that’s annoying because?

QB: I’m thirty, I can make my own breakfast. After that he asks if I want to go tree watching, or mountain watching with him. I thought the job of parents was to provide love and comfort in your time of need. But that’s not what they do. They drive you crazy.

The meerkat: Matt says she puts the knives in the wrong place, and she does not close the lids on the jars tightly enough. He said you need to create a vacuum to keep the produce fresh. Do you need me to explain it to you? I will explain it to you, space devoid of matter and—

QB: Okay, wait just a minute. I think we all know what that means.

SL: We do?

QB: Yes, space devoid of matter and atmospheric pressure creates a vacuum. Look, for the record I’m a scientist. I know how a vacuum works. Matt, he is a musician. And a man who talks to trees. A man who sometimes talks to mountains. Is it hot in here? I’m feeling a little . . . flushed. It must be the hottest day of the year. Are you hot?

SL: No.

QB: You don’t think I’ve got FF, Feline Flu do you?

SL: Sore throat, headache, cough, finding it hard to breath, noticed any yellow streaks in your eyes lately?

QB: No.

SL: You’re fine. By the way, I like the slogan on your T-shirt. Stand up for science. Retro?

QB: Yes. I found it at my father’s house. It’s decades old, I think from the 2020s. On the back it says; The Earth is not flat. Vaccines work. Climate change is real. No, chemtrails are not a thing. Yes, we’ve been to the moon. Corona viruses come from animals, not labs.

SL: Does your father really talk to trees?

QB: Yes. And mountains.

SL: Oh, the meerkat is . . . leaving. Where’s he going?

The meerkat: I need some fresh air. I am also feeling hot. I think I might have climate depression.

QB: No. You don’t. We’ve talked about this. Please come back, we’re not finished . . .

SL: Do you need to go?

QB: Yes, I’m sorry, but I need to stay with him. He’s not been himself lately. He hasn’t been in sleep mode for four weeks—it’s a problem. It’s all very well modelling a machine on the human brain, with hundreds of thousands of neurons and millions of connections, but it means the potential for something to go wrong is . . . massive.

SL: Okay, good luck with everything and thanks for your time.

—

ABOUT SARAH LAHEY

Sarah Lahey is a designer, educator, and writer. She holds bachelor’s degrees in interior design, communication, and visual culture, and works as a senior lecturer teaching classes on design, technology, sustainability and creative thinking. She has three children and lives on the Northern Beaches in Sydney, Australia.

GRAVITY IS HEARTLESS

What will the world look like in thirty years’ time? How will humanity survive the oncoming effects of climate change? Set in the near future and inspired by the world around us, Gravity Is Heartless is a romantic adventure that imagines a world on the cusp of climate catastrophe.

The year is 2050: automated cities, vehicles, and homes are now standard, artificial Intelligence, CRISPR gene editing, and quantum computing have become a reality, and climate change is in full swing―sea levels are rising, clouds have disappeared, and the planet is heating up.

Quinn Buyers is a climate scientist who’d rather be studying the clouds than getting ready for her wedding day. But when an unexpected tragedy causes her to lose everything, including her famous scientist mother, she embarks upon a quest for answers that takes her across the globe―and she uncovers friends, loss and love in the most unexpected of places along the way. Gravity Is Heartless is bold, speculative fiction that sheds a hard light on the treatment of our planet even as it offers a breathtaking sense of hope for the future.

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