At last! Cover art for “Dual Memory”

Here’s the cover for my next novel, Dual Memory, available May 16 (but you can pre-order now).

I love the art by Mike Heath—the combination of organic and inorganic minds tells you a lot about the novel. The colors and motif suggest a frigid island with waves whipped by stormy winds. Under the stars, someone and something are thinking together.

The art was delayed because at first my editor at Tor suggested using art from an AI, since there is an aspiring artificial intelligence artist in the book. Then problems with AI art were revealed, and it didn’t seem like such a good idea. So the process started over with a human artist.

A review by Library Journal sums up the novel well, I think:

Antonio Moro, climate change refugee, undercover mercenary, and self-taught artist, teams up with a chatty rogue AI with ADHD and a whole lot of attitude in this cli-fi techno-thriller. After the “Anthropocene Tip,” the economies and social networks of Earth are collapsing. The Arctic island of Thule, bastion of the wealthy and almost militantly neutral Sovereign Practitioners Association of medical oligarchs, is under attack by global pirates. Antonio and the sophisticated band of machine intelligences led by his AI will bend the laws of humans and robotics to save themselves—and save the islanders from their own selfish consequences as well. A story of human greed wrapped in a thriller, fronted by a confused and frequently petrified human who sees all too clearly that the machines are already running the world and that the best thing he can do is to strap in for a wild ride.

VERDICT This rollicking thriller from Burke moves at a fast pace but manages to maintain its focus on the true threats of climate change and human hubris, all the while keeping readers riveted and entertained.

“Rollicking thriller.” I love that, too. Who doesn’t want to rollick?