Volatile Memory

This is How You Lose the Time War meets Ex Machina: Seth Haddon's science fiction debut, Volatile Memory, is a sapphic sci-fi action adventure novella.

With nothing but a limping ship and an outdated mask to her name, Wylla needs a big pay day. When the alert goes out that a lucrative piece of tech lies hidden on a nearby planet, she calls on all the swiftness of her prey-animal instincts to beat other hunters to it.

What you found wasn’t your ticket out—it was my corpse wearing an AI mask. When you touched the mask, you heard my voice. A consciousness spinning through metal and circuits, a bodiless mind, spun to life in the HAWK’s temporary storage. I crystallized and realized: I was alive.

Masks aren't supposed to retain memory, much less identity, but the woman inside the MARK I HAWK is real, and she sees Wylla in a way no one ever has. Sees her, and doesn’t find her wanting or unwhole.

Armed with military-grade tech and a lifetime of staying one step ahead of the hunters, Wylla and HAWK set off to get answers from the man who discarded HAWK once before: her ex-husband.

"Propulsive, inventive, and delicious, Volatile Memory is a cyberpunk romance with a sweet and vengeful heart."--Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House

"Murderbot meets Firefly in a Thelma & Louise-style, high-tech, thrill-a-minute hunt for freedom, justice, and revenge."--Library Journal

"In Volatile Memory, Seth Haddon has given us something remarkable: a cyber-fabulous zoomorphic tale of breathtaking romance and adventure that is also a heartfelt--and sometimes heartbreaking--quest to trust, to love, and to seize one's own authentic life."--Ryka Aoki, author of Light From Uncommon Stars

"Compassionately written and juggling elements of intimacy and sweeping action, Volatile Memory is a surprisingly tender domestic tale dressed up as the best kind of pulp sci-fi.... It is a condemnation of the tyrannical past, a refutation to stasis. Joyfully, it picks apart the contradictions inherent to living, dying, and changing in a body, human or otherwise."--Hiron Ennes, author of Leech

"A dark but tender story about love, vengeance, the masks we wear for ourselves and others, and the never-ending quest for a more perfect sense of self. It's a beautifully intimate story set in the sprawl of space, especially recommended for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War."--Yume Kitasei, author of The Deep Sky

"It can be difficult to find new science fiction that imagines unique and fascinating technology with real human stakes--Volatile Memory wins that prize. Add in a beautiful transhuman love story and a seething revenge plot, and you've got a sharp, tight narrative that had me dying to know what's next."--Bethany Jacobs, author of These Burning Stars

"Volatile Memory is a thrilling sci-fi revenge story filled with complex questions surrounding identity, gender, capitalism, and queerness. I loved how Haddon captured the haunting, sapphic romance between two profoundly different women. This is perfect for fans of This is How You Lose the Time War and Arkady Martine."--Meredith Mooring, author of Redsight

"Propulsive and remarkable--biotech exploration at its finest and most intimate, pressing the seams of form and self and life in a world of suffocating regulation, especially on its women. I was instantly sucked in by Wylla and this unlikely love, with all of its wounds and deliciously righteous rage. This is sapphic revenge with a sharp, raw heart."--Wen-yi Lee, author of The Dark We Know

Seth Haddon is the queer Australian writer of Reforged, Reborn, and Reclaimed. He is a video game designer and producer, has a degree in Ancient History, and previously worked with cats. Some of his adventures include exploring Pompeii with a famous archaeologist and being chased through a train station by a nun.

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