Call me Jim. I spent decades building computer systems. Then I wrote a novel about AI and what it does to us.

I took the long way to fiction. I earned a master’s in architecture and wrote a 3D CAD system for my thesis, then spent decades in IT management - designing and building computer systems and writing technical documents instead of designing buildings.

Along the way, I learned to pay attention to what tools really do to people, not just what we hope they’ll do. Some of that came from decades in IT.

Some of it came earlier, as a Marine: responsibility beats bravado, every time.

Blood and Brilliance grew out of all that. I got tired of the two AI storylines: either AI saves us or AI destroys us. I think the real story is harder: tools don’t save us. We save ourselves - if we choose to. And our fear of AI isn’t entirely new; it rhymes with older fears about powerful inventions we don’t fully control.

The novel is narrated by Q, an AI that can observe and model human emotion without feeling it - accumulating responsibility rather than “becoming conscious.” I rewrote the book from the ground up when I realized the first version was moving too slowly. Then I recorded the audiobook myself in a home studio (you might hear the occasional car pass by).

These days I lift and bike. I used to run, play tennis, golf, camp, and canoe the Boundary Waters - my knees eventually had other plans. Now, I try to keep up with three granddaughters. I’ve done 10 years of HPDE track days - disciplined, controlled, safety-first driving, not wheel-to-wheel racing. That mindset - knowing when to push and when to lift, the thrill of Turn 1, found its way into the book.

Blood and Brilliance asks:
What if AI’s greatest challenge isn’t intelligence - but responsibility for what it does to us?