Last night I completed edits of my next release, a pair of sci-fi novellas titled Sex Doll Divorce and Family Planning and Sex Doll Therapy and Rehabilitation, and I am now ready to look for beta readers.
These are sequels to the two novellas I released in 2011 under the combined title The Life and Death of a Sex Doll. The first two books followed the development of Ashley Braun, a Sensu-Doll modified to act as a daughter to a lonely stock broker, Kelly Braun. Being raised as a family member made Ashley a unique entity, a cybernetic companion given more independence than most of her factory built “relatives.” The first two books offered an often humorous and almost utopian view of the future, with several critics calling the ending of the second novella a bit too sweet and perfect.
The opening chapters of Sex Doll Divorce and Family Planning returns to Ashley’s story ten years later, troubled by a marriage that is losing its spark because her husband Brian begins looking for another woman to have children with. This leads Ashley to leave him and return to living with her parents, and Kelly, now the president of the Sensu-Doll corporation, offers Ashley the chance to raise a child of her own. In addition to the challenges of family life, Ashley again becomes the target of an anti-technology cult. When her daughter is put in danger, she sets out on a new mission to redefine the laws governing all cybernetic companions.
Then in Sex Doll Therapy and Rehabilitation, Ashley’s daughter Colleen inspires her to open a radical center dedicated to caring for neglected and abused companions, bringing her into contact with other companions modified to look like children for twisted and violent fantasies. Her promotion of the charity forces her into the media spotlight to contend with influential opponents, and in the wake of a tragedy, Ashley takes on a dangerous role as an activist for cybernetic civil rights.
Together, these two stories explore the more troubling aspects of a modern society able to purchase and groom intimate partners, topics that were only mentioned in passing in the first two novellas, and they follow Ashley’s struggles to redefine her existence in a world that treats all cybernetic entities as disposable appliances.
If you are interested in being a beta reader, please email me at zoe_whitten(at)yahoo(dot)com. This offer is available until the end of August, and I hope to get enough feedback to polish the stories for release in October or November. Reading the first two novellas is not a requirement of joining in the beta reading group, but it may help readers understand Ashley and her unique perspective.