New Release & Excerpt – Anywhen by Beth Duke
Synopsis
Baezy is born in 2069, the centennial of the legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Everything peace, love, and flower power is celebrated that year in a wave of nostalgia that takes over fashion, music, and the public’s imagination. She grows up listening to and loving the artists of that time, dreaming of witnessing everyone from Joan Baez to Santana in person. When presented with the opportunity to time-travel, Baezy immediately chooses Woodstock as her destination. She plans to enjoy a glorious weekend of vibrant sights and sounds; her bell bottoms and a peasant blouse are packed for the adventure and she’s excited to surprise her great-great-great-grandmother, Kelly Adams.
While Baezy’s certainly not a typical Woodstock attendee, Kelly isn’t either. She is at the very beginning of a stellar career researching artificial intelligence in the 1960s, and will later develop much of what will lead to the utopian society Baezy lives in. Kelly’s future family is immensely proud of her historic accomplishments.
The contrast between Baezy’s 2101 and 1969 is stunning from her first moment. Woodstock exceeds her wildest expectations, but holds far more than an introduction to her distant grandmother. Baezy quickly finds herself in life-altering situations she could never have anticipated.
Part sci-fi, part historical fiction, and all heart, Anywhen is an intriguing concoction sure to delight readers. Imagine it as Cloud Cuckoo Land meets Back to the Future meets The Woodstock Music and Art Fair of 1969. This is a must-read for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and The Midnight Library.
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Excerpt
1
Unity SE35.86
December 9, 2101
As I type this on an antique “laptop” a chittering monkey sits opposite me and watches, occasionally lifting a paw to his mouth and gnawing at it. I have never seen him before and likely won’t again.
He is an apparition, an artificial intelligence-generated manifestation of my nervousness.
I am your direct descendant and so is this situation. So, it seems a good way to introduce myself and the world I live in. The work you did at the dawn of artificial intelligence led to this incredible place, well over a century later.
The first known instance of animagenesis (animal genesis) was two years ago in what you’d have known as Coventry, England. A woman slammed the door of her homepod and stalked away from her husband as passersby stared at the Bengal tiger padding along slightly behind her, baring its teeth at those in proximity.
Of course, no one has seen a Bengal tiger in more than fifty years. All of Unity NE521.5 was terrified until the truth was known. They cowered indoors well after the tiger strolled out of sight with the oblivious, furious wife.
Then, people all over Unity started having animals appear, always reflecting their moods. My neighbor, when he became eligible to begin his Reproduction Cycle, was accompanied everywhere by a panting labrador retriever whose penis was exposed like a 20th century lipstick. A lady who lives by the town square walks to the park alongside a sloth; her male companion occasionally appears with a menacing wolf.
I think the monkey is here because I finally decided to sit down and write to you. I’m generating text on paper with this computer and printer my friend Daniel found and persuaded to work.
These days, we all find the animals amusing, if a little embarrassing sometimes. I thought you’d be interested in them as an illustration of how far artificial intelligence has come since the days of your research.
I’m called Baezy (rhymes with daisy). I’m almost thirty-two years old and you are my M5, my great-great-great-grandmother on the maternal side. You’re a legend to me for so many reasons, Kelly Jean Adams, especially your experience at Woodstock. Does it surprise you we know all about that? Well, the year I was born was the centennial anniversary of The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, of all things hippie, peace, and flower power. Much of the world went crazy in 2069 with celebrations; there were holos on every town square of many of the original performances, and singer/actors hired to imitate Janis Joplin, Santana, and Joan Baez. (With modern prosthetics, you’d never have known the difference.)
That’s where my name comes from: Joan Baez Smith. Baezy for short. My mother wore a beaded headband and bell bottom jeans; she kept a pink flower tucked behind her ear, accenting long, straight purple hair, through her entire pregnancy.
We celebrate every truth your generation realized, and I want you to know we’ve achieved the world you dreamed of.
You began it all, Grandmother. From crude computers to the society we’ve achieved through artificial intelligence and human compassion. There is no hunger here. There is no war. The average lifespan is one hundred and fifty years, thanks to our ability to eradicate disease and combat aging at a cellular level. To you, I’d look about seventeen, and I won’t even begin my Reproduction Cycle until I’m at least thirty-five or forty.
Our lives hold promise like no generation’s before.
My mother (your M+4, gr-gr-granddaughter) was one of the most celebrated mathematicians and physicists of the 21st century. You would be very proud of her. Her name is Anantha and along with your brilliance she has a great beauty; I can even see a bit of you in her, especially her green eyes.
Of course, human work has been supplanted by AI in her field, but Mom’s still well-connected at TIP (Time Insertion Protocol). This visit with you at Woodstock is her birthday gift to me, a huge honor as there are many with greater qualifications and privileges who could be traveling instead.
Of all the times I could choose, you and the greatest gathering of love the world has seen are an irresistible combination.
About the Author
Beth Duke is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author and the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her books. She is best known for writing Southern Fiction with a twist of sublime. Her best selling novel It All Comes Back to You has been a book club favorite.
Her book TAPESTRY was the Bronze Medal Winner in Southern Fiction in Publishers’ Weekly’s 2020 Readers Choice Awards, an Award-Winning Finalist in the 2020 International Book Awards, and a Five Star Readers’ Favorite Award Winner.
Beth lives in the mountains of her native Alabama with her husband Jay and an assortment of dogs—including a recently-rescued coonhound named Daisy who has stolen her heart. Beth is the adoring and proud mother of Jason, Savannah, and her new son-in-law, Matt. She is a constant reader, travel aficionado, and likes to pretend she’s in baking competitions.
Her brain is stuffed with trivia and she wins every round of Jeopardy from her living room sofa. However, she would be a combination of a deer, a rabbit, and a Rhode Island Red quaking in the headlights of the studio.
Her books DELANEY’S PEOPLE, DON’T SHOOT YOUR MULE, IT ALL COMES BACK TO YOU, TAPESTRY, DARK ENOUGH TO SEE THE STARS and yes, ANYWHEN, are all love letters to her home state.
