DarkFire Continuum

Book excerpt: Since the appearance of E. W. Farnsworth's 'DarkFire at the Edge of Time' in early 2016, the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increased exponentially. From AI to robotics, 2016 was long prophesied as the year when the machines would start "taking over"", Now it is happening, according to Vivek Wadhwa of Crunch Network. Yet AIs and robots have come as our friends and helpmeets to improve our lives. They will become, as Lincoln wrote, the "better angels of our nature." From the 'Sarah Tetralogy' through the journey of Spaceship Arcturus conveying brilliant humans, artificial intelligences and avatars beyond the end of the universe, to 'Renaissance', which recounts the spaceship's successful return to instantiate a new Eden which replaces the black crisp that humans have made of Earth, these stories continue in the vein of DarkFire and his friend, the inimitable Loc Phuket. Science Fiction to some, perhaps, yet, day by day, increasingly part of our current events.