Today we have the honour of, in collaboration with other bloggers and Angry Robots, being the hosts of this cover reveal of the new book of Al Hess, World Running Down, whose publishing is scheduled for February 14th, 2023.

But first of all, let’s look at the blurb of the book:

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City – a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric.

Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer – an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine’s always dreamed of. But as they attempt to recover the “merchandise”, they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives.

The prize is tempting, but carrying out the job would go against everything Valentine stands for, and would threaten the fragile found family that’s kept him alive so far. He’ll need to decide whether to risk his own dream in order to give the AI a chance to live theirs.

Okay, let’s not wait more, here is the cover, designed by the own author, which makes it even more special to show:

If you are curious of more details of the process behind it, Al Hess has written a post about it:

https://www.alhessauthor.com/post/the-making-of-world-running-down-s-cover-sketch-to-finish

Finally, I just want to thank Angry Robots for giving us the opportunity to be part of this reveal!