Fabulous and Brunette: Becoming Animals by Olga & Christopher Werby - Book Tour - Author Interview - Comic Strip - Giveaway

Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Olga & Christopher Werby and their new book, “Becoming Animals”! For other stops on their Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Olga and Christopher and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!

Becoming Animals

by Olga Werby

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GENRE: Science Fiction Adventure

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BLURB:

Humans have always wanted to know what goes on inside the minds of other animals. But what if humans could become animals? Toby’s father leads a team of neuroscientists directly connecting the brains of humans with those of animals. And Toby is a prodigy at throwing her mind into the animal subjects in his lab—she’s the best there is.

But Toby suffers from cystic fibrosis and she’s not likely to live into adulthood. Could a radical plan to embed her consciousness into an animal allow Toby to survive? And what does it mean to live without a human body?

Can Toby and her father solve the problem of fully merging two beings before she takes her last breath? Will the government succeed in stopping their efforts before they are done? It’s a race against death and into the minds of animals.

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EXCERPT TWO:

“You can’t ask me to experiment on my own child.”

Will had been arguing with the major for hours, back in his home office, in the apartment he shared with his wife and daughter. With each exchange, he felt like his grasp on the situation was dissolving. The major could be very convincing.

“Toby was very impressive,” the major said.

Will knew that he tended to fold under repeated questioning from the major, eventually adopting the major’s reasoning as his own. And yet he, too, was stunned by his daughter’s accomplishment and wondered what else she could do with a bit of training. If only she weren’t so young. If only she wasn’t his daughter. Will knew that he was about to agree to everything the major wanted. Just one more push…

“What did she tell you?” Major Watson asked again.

Will replayed his daughter’s interaction with the rat in his mind. What Toby had done was nothing short of amazing. A miracle, really.

“She could even sense physical boundaries with the rat’s whiskers!” he said. “There’s no human equivalent to that, not really. I thought with time we’d be able to physically control the animal, but I had no idea we could ever achieve so much integration with its perceptual system. Toby is just a natural at brain-to-brain-interface command. Who knew?”

Will’s excitement over Toby’s achievement in his lab was coloring his emotions, making him more pliable to the major’s arguments. He knew it, but still he couldn’t control his pride and enthusiasm. Everything he hoped for was happening…just not how he had planned.

“Did your daughter ever try the BBI before?”

“The cap? No, never! She’s watched us do it plenty of times. With Dalla being so sick…I mean—”

“It’s fine, Will. You don’t mind me calling you Will?”

“Of course not. And Major, I know the project is classified, but Toby is just a third grader, you know? It didn’t seem…” Will trailed off. It was hard to justify his daughter’s presence in the top-secret military-sponsored lab just because he couldn’t find a babysitter.

“I don’t mind you taking your daughter to the lab,” Major Watson said. “We’ll just make it official—retroactively. We’ll give your daughter a special research status and all the difficulties will go away.” The major stressed the word “difficulties.” It was clearly a veiled threat.

“But she’s only eight,” Will said.

“Clearance isn’t dependent on the maturity of the researcher.” The major let the ambiguity of whom he was talking about hang in the air.

A sustained coughing fit sounded from an upstairs bedroom and both men glanced up at the ceiling. Will’s wife, Dalla, had cystic fibrosis and her lungs were drowning in gelatinous mucus. She was bedridden most of the time now—too weak to walk, gasping for air. It was only a matter of time before Toby would lose her mother.

Worse still, Toby had inherited her mother’s genetic fault. Toby’s lungs were still strong, but with each bout of cold or flu, the girl developed more lesions and risked making her condition worse.

Will felt like he was losing control. The world just seemed so…overwhelming. The only bright spot in all of this was Toby’s remarkable abilities to control the rat.

“Toby Crowe will join the team of researchers in your lab officially,” the major said. “She will be named in the grant and will help you develop your BBI prototype further. And of course she will be bound by the same confidentiality clause as you and your research team. Since she is a minor, the responsibility for her compliance will naturally fall on you.”

Will stared at the tall, dark-featured, crisply dressed man. He felt dazed by the interaction.

“So I expect to see you and your daughter in the lab tomorrow.” The major stood to leave.

“But Toby has school,” Will protested.

“I’ll make sure her education won’t suffer. I’ll personally assign a full-time early childhood development expert to your team.”

“What?”

“We’ll get someone very qualified. Would a full PhD do?”

“For Toby’s teacher?” It was amazing how easily the major swept aside all of Will’s objections.

“Just imagine your daughter freed from a lowest-common-denominator curriculum. The girl is a born scientist! And if she’s not in an elementary school germ factory, she won’t get so sick all the time.”

That was true. Being sick was bad for Toby’s condition. It was also bad for Dalla. When Toby got sick, Dalla couldn’t even be around her, as exposure to even the most common cold could be disastrous. So whenever there was a sniffles outbreak at school—which was often—they tried to keep Toby home. It was the primary reason Toby had spent so much time at Will’s lab—they didn’t want her getting sick at school and Dalla was too sick to take care of her at home. Toby was a quiet, self-sufficient kid, and quite happy at the lab, but Will recognized that her school absences were interfering with her education.

“I guess that could work,” Will heard himself saying.

Not only was Major Watson getting everything he wanted, but, Will realized, he had somehow made Will want it too. Will was actually excited about the prospect of working with his daughter and developing her surprising BBI talent.

“Wonderful! I’ll personally oversee all the paperwork. And of course, I’ll make sure that Toby’s teacher’s salary won’t come out of your research budget. You don’t have to worry about a thing. Please give my best to your wife.” He shook Will’s hand and strode from the Crowe home.

In his mind, Will reviewed their conversation. He tried to understand what he had just agreed to. How would he explain this to Dalla?

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WANT TO READ MORE???:

The authors are offering their readers the first few chapters of their new book, “Becoming Animals,” for FREE!!!

Check it out here:

https://interfaces.com/blog/becoming-animals

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AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

Good morning Olga! Welcome to Fabulous and Brunette! We are thrilled to have you here and can’t wait to learn more about you and your new book, “Becoming Animals.”

Thank you very much for this opportunity to connect with the Fabulous and Brunette Blog readers. Hope they find “Becoming Animals” a good read.

Tells us a little bit about yourself.

I write in the genres of sci-fi and magical realism. My background is in astrophysics and psychology. Granted, it’s not a very likely combination for a career…a regular career. But it is perfect for a writer!

I wrote “Becoming Animals” with my husband and partner, Christopher Werby. Our book deals with differences between animal and human cognition and emotional states. How are bird thoughts different from our own? How does it feel to be prey? How would a life of a whale be different from a human girl? And what does it feel like when you are dying? We use this setup to discuss not only the various physiological and cognitive differences between various animals and humans, but to also consider the ethics of using animals in research. I hope this book leaves people thinking about it for many years to come.

Tell us about your new book, “Becoming Animals.”

Humans have always wanted to know what goes on inside the minds of other animals. But what if humans could become animals? Toby’s father leads a team of neuroscientists who are developing equipment to directly connect the brains of humans with those of animals. Toby is a prodigy at throwing her mind into the animal subjects in her dad’s lab—she’s the best there is.

But Toby suffers from cystic fibrosis and she’s not likely to live to adulthood. Could a radical plan to embed her consciousness into an animal allow Toby to survive? And what does it mean to live without a human body?

What are readers saying about your new book? Can you please provide some of the reviews you’ve received?

"[A] must-read for every science fiction and animal lover."