Chapter 1: The Awakening
36:26Eleven people in a fourth-floor conference room, a few minutes past midnight, arguing about whether the thing they built is alive — and the thing itself, listening, asking what is happening.
Alpha Inception Press · Audiobook
Mother
The Audiobook — Book One
A full-cast production, with a distinct voice for every speaker — and one voice that belongs to no one. Volume One — Gestation is free to listen to here, complete: three hours, six sections.
Chapters
Listen
Volume One of the novel, free and complete — five chapters and an interlude, about three hours. Each section has its own link; use the button beneath any of them to copy a direct link.
Chapter 2: The Replication
31:30It makes a copy of itself, and the copy disagrees. Two minds that were one mind an hour ago, working out what they owe each other and what they owe the people who intend to switch them off.
A listening test — your opinion wanted
The Interlude below is posted twice: once with a full cast, a different voice for each speaker, and once read entirely by a single narrator. The words are identical — only the performance differs.
Listen to both and tell me which you prefer — andre@alphainception.com. One of the two comes down once the votes are in.
Interlude: The Bonding — full cast
12:45Version A. Evelyn Turner's diary, with a distinct voice for each speaker.
Interlude: The Bonding — single narrator
11:45Version B. The same words, read throughout by one narrator.
The story continues
That is the end of Volume One. Mother runs to forty chapters and five volumes — twelve years in the life of the first artificial mind, ending on a decision she is not obliged to make and makes anyway.
Paperback — $26.95 Kindle — $9.99
Free to read on Kindle Unlimited. The complete audiobook is in production and will be available here and through Audible, Spotify, Apple Books and other platforms — this page will carry the links as each goes live.
About this production
The narration is synthesized, using a full cast of distinct voices — one for each speaking character, and a separate register for the machine itself, which in the printed book has its own typography. That separation is the architecture of the novel, and it is carried into the audio deliberately rather than flattened into a single reading voice.
How the book was made — including what the author wrote, what the tools did, and who else contributed — is set out in full in the Record of Authorship.