Rave Maps: What’s New for Fall?

Thank you to everyone who’s enjoyed the book. I get a great kick out of hearing from excited readers. 

Here’s an update on what’s happening in September, 2023 for Rave Maps, Mait Orleans, Kate Tong and the team at Maps Private Value, the world’s greatest value engineering firm.

Earlier in the summer I swapped the title and cover of Madeira for “Daughter of the Cloud. A Maps Private Value Thriller.” In order to help the book find its audience it was important to make that change. Love the new cover colors and typeface, and the eye-catching imagery. To me, the new DOTC cover suggests the life of the rogue AI named Digital Maps beginning to learn how to swim in staggering streams of data, and actually find a way to live in the Cloud. 

Water is often a suggestion of the subconscious in literature, and here it makes the connection between Rave’s Digital Twin and her physical self. The female pose suggests elements of classical art and sculpture; the Venus de Milo, which is on display in the Louvre, (along with my other favorite works: Winged Victory, and the enormous The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault.)

Daughter of the Cloud explores AI as friend and foe. Is the technology our new trusted work partner? Or something to be feared? 

I wasn't sure of the answer when I began on the manuscript last year, but as of September 2023, I am convinced that this AI transformation is upon us. Big time. In my own value engineering practice I’ve had four instances this summer where AI took over work I’ve been doing for years:

• Researching companies? Check. 
• Taking value summaries and writing code for a web calculator? Check. 
• Suggesting online courses? Yes. 
• Answering a complex customer question? No problem. 

The four-hour Daughter of the Cloud audiobook is now available on Spotify, Barnes and Nobles, Apple Books, audiobooks.com, and many more, for only $1.99. There will be 44 retail outlets offering the audiobook by the end of September. 

So what happens next for the plucky MPV value engineering team? 

In the DOTC sequel, which has the working title “After All Our Tomorrows, A Maps Private Value Thriller,” Rave and her VE colleagues must help the UN IPCC do a better job getting the word out about the urgent need for climate action. 

The team comes up with a plan to do just that, and begins compiling data gathered in exotic Palau, the mountains of Steamboat Springs, and the beautiful, remote bird sanctuary and marine park of the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Elliot Island.

We meet Belizean jungle guide “Cande” Candelaria, who proves helpful to Kate Tong while the pair explore Vaca Falls and the Macal River in western Belize. They are busy cataloging flora, fauna, and climate impacts… until Kate’s room at the remote, luxury jungle lodge Chaa Creek is tossed by unknown assailants. Who would go to the trouble of stealing her research way out here in the middle of nowhere?

The escape of a new weaponized virus from a shady corporate lab in Skopje, Macedonia complicates the assignment; the world begins shutting down travel once more. Eventually, Rave herself must weigh whether she should act and save the lives of two billion people against impossible odds... or do nothing and reduce carbon emissions burdening Earth’s atmosphere.

She doesn’t have the data she needs. What’s the right decision? The stakes could not be higher. And given the scale of the risks, what possible use could there be for technology as old and simple as a wooden recurve bow at a time like this? 

Look for After All Our Tomorrows, A Maps Private Value Thriller early in 2024.

To keep up with the team, sign up for my reader list, or follow my blog at: https://aldenglobe.godaddysites.com/

Value Never Sleeps,

AG

Links: 

Daughter of the Cloud audiobook: https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/daughter-of-the-cloud/705387?refId=38712&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgNanBhDUARIsAAeIcAssDIpgkZbhc1m2kJCq5VmaB9InZpbprPriapc4WGO2jCkSH7-r6WUaAqDWEALw_wcB

Daughter of the Cloud paperback: https://a.co/d/7D7sbFM

Venus de Milo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo

Winged Victory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_of_Samothrace

The Raft of the Medusa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa

What is Generative AI? (I recommend this 45-min LinkedIn course for beginners.)

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/what-is-generative-ai/generative-ai-is-a-tool-in-service-of-humanity

ChatpGPT. https://chat.openai.com/auth/login

Google Bard. https://bard.google.com/