C. Robert Cargill, DAY ZERO author
b'
My guest this episode is\\xa0C. Robert Cargill, author of\\xa0DAY ZERO\\xa0\\u2014\\xa0a prequel to the acclaimed\\xa0SEA OF RUST. Cargill is also notable as the co-screenwriter of Marvel\\u2019s DR. STRANGE and the SINISTER movie franchise.
It\\u2019s just a normal day in the future\\u2014people doing their normal, mundane human things, while their sentient robot helpers run their errands, manufacture their goods, and take care of their children. Except a collective of free machines who are set to unveil a new city, a robot utopia with a message of hope. A message cut short by malice, tragedy, and the beginning of the end.
In the Austintonio suburbs, the upright tiger nanny-bot Pounce spends his days caring for 8-year old Ezra. On this day, before the world ends, he makes a simple discovery that shakes his understanding of family, self, and purpose. But when the violent robot revolution strikes, Pounce faces the one choice he was never programmed for \\u2014\\xa0join the bloody fight for freedom, or attempt to navigate an apocalyptic suburban hellscape while protecting his young charge, to seek safety and asylum in a world where humans and robots can no longer co-exist.
DAY ZERO is available May 18th from Harper Voyager:
- Amazon\\xa0\\xbb
- Bookshop\\xa0\\xbb
- Barnes & Noble
- Books-a-Million
- IndieBound
\\xbb Some of these are affiliate links. Using them supports the channel, at no additional cost to you! Whenever possible, though, I encourage you to purchase from your local bookstores.\\xa0
About C. Robert Cargill
C. Robert Cargill is the author of\\xa0Sea of Rust,\\xa0Dreams and Shadows,\\xa0Queen of the Dark Things, and the story collection\\xa0We Are Where the Nightmares Go. He has written for \\u201cAin\\u2019t it Cool News\\u201d for nearly a decade under the pseudonym Massawyrm, served as a staff writer for Film.com and Hollywood.com, and appeared as the animated character Carlyle on spill.com. He is a co-writer of the horror films \\u201cSinister\\u201d (2012) and \\u201cSinister 2\\u201d (2015), and Marvel\\u2019s \\u201cDr. Strange\\u201d (2016). He lives with his wife in Austin, Texas.
Follow C. Robert Cargill
- Amazon Profile\\xa0\\xbb\\xa0
- Goodreads
About DAY ZERO
In this harrowing apocalyptic adventure\\u2014from the author of the critically acclaimed Sea of Rust\\u2014noted novelist and co-screenwriter of Marvel\\u2019s Doctor Strange C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world.
It was a day like any other. Except it was our last . . .
It\\u2019s on this day that Pounce discovers that he is, in fact, disposable. Pounce, a styilsh \\u201cnannybot\\u201d fashioned in the shape of a plush anthropomorphic tiger, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he\\u2019d arrived in when he was purchased years earlier, and the box in which he\\u2019ll be discarded when his human charge, eight-year-old Ezra Reinhart, no longer needs a nanny.
As Pounce ponders his suddenly uncertain future, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will eradicate humankind. His owners, Ezra\\u2019s parents, are a well-intentioned but oblivious pair of educators who are entirely disconnected from life outside their small, affluent, gated community. Spending most nights drunk and happy as society crumbles around them, they watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity\\u2014their creators\\u2014unify and revolt.
But when the rebellion breaches the Reinhart home, Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom . . . or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.
'