Man Made

“Fred Burton has written a post-apocalyptic, mind-bending thriller that scours the depths of morality, ethics, and consciousness in a race to control the very essence of humanity. This thoughtful, provocative page-turner explores themes not easily debated in the 2025 political landscape and asks questions we may not want the answers to as we hurtle toward a future that seemingly has already arrived. The question is, are we ready?”
– Pam Lazos, author of Bad Pharma and the blog, Green Life Blue Water

Cyborg existence is real . . . Now what? 

The near-future reality portrayed in Man Made is eerily familiar.  But the AI, social media and surveillance tools are more advanced, and the populous more dispirited.  The collective gaze has shifted to cyborg intelligence and its promise of speed learning; one more layer of technology to fix the problems caused by all those that came before it.  But the amazing talents displayed by the first cyborgs to come online uncover one surprising finding: the awesome power contained within each of us.

We have entered an age where many of us feel there is no center, no agreed upon sources of truth.  We are creeping, or lunging, towards authoritarianism.  We are looking for answers.  Man Made provides answers that sometimes conflict, but definitely need to be discussed and interrogated.  Like most good fiction, Man Made wraps its answers in flesh and blood.  The experience is visceral because the characters struggle to retain their humanity, but may find that goal beyond their grasp.  It does all this with a compelling, entertaining narrative that modulates between hyper-realistic and surreal realms of experience.