Portstewart's Erwan Atcheson publishes first novel about a US President battling AI, cults...and a donut craving!
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Portstewart man Erwan Atcheson has just published his debut novel, Shorter Than The Day.
It’s a dark sci-fi comedy set in the near future. The US President, Adriana de Tocville, has to negotiate AI, murderous generals, weird cult leaders and her own craving for donuts to prevent humanity from succumbing to extinction.
"The main character becomes President accidentally,” said Erwan. “She’s a committed Anarcho-Syndicalist, which causes a lot of tension between her and the US establishment, as you would imagine.
"She wants to strengthen trade unions and dismantle the entire apparatus of Government. The US Establishment don’t like that. A lot of the funniest scenes revolve around that conflict.
"I was inspired by what’s been happening in the States since Donald Trump got elected in 2016. I bring some of the absurdities we’ve witnessed into this book – the twists and turns, the farce. It’s meant to be funny, but also dark, satirical.
"Migrants are being turned into war machines, end-of-days war threatening between Europe, China and the US, the threats of totalitarianism, of artificial intelligence. The book is fast-paced and (hopefully) a fun read.”
Erwan, originally from Portstewart, has been living and working in Belfast for several decades and writes in his spare time. This is his first published novel; he’s also completed a children’s book, Aliens versus Football, which will be out later in the year.
Shorter than the Day is available on Amazon in ebook, paperback and hardback formats and the audiobook is available on all major platforms.