Author Guest Post with Ateret Haselkorn: Call Me Obie

Fifteen-year-old Obie hates the word “artificial.”

Welcome to one of the December 16th stops on the blog tour for Call Me Obie by Ateret Haselkorn with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

My Favorite Scene in This Book…

Call Me Obie is set in an era when organs can be 3D-printed for people, gene therapy can be provided to the sick in their homes, and self-driving cars can fly. Even ice cream can be churned and scooped out on demand at a vending machine, in the flavor of the customer’s choice. 

In this amazing world, Obie lives in a “smart” home where an artificial intelligence named House keeps her home the right temperature, provides her with good advice, and turns her mattress into a back massager.

But, in this high-tech near-utopia, Obie can’t throw a satisfying tantrum.

My favorite scene in my novel is when Obie tries to vent her frustration in a familiar way – by running into her room and slamming the door. When House keeps the door from slamming (it would have been too noisy), Obie tries to stomp loudly (also muted and unsatisfying), and then to punch her bed (similarly foiled – read the book to see how).

IMHO, it’s a funny scene, although maybe not for her. So many sci fi novels are either set in a total utopia or dystopia. Call Me Obie is based in a world that is closer to a utopia, but with plenty of unintended consequences.

Thank you for having me on your site!

About the Book

Call Me Obie
by Ateret Haselkorn

Published 22 November 2022
Liminal Books

Genre: YA Science Fiction
Page Count: 268
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Fifteen-year-old Obie hates the word “artificial.” It has to be the Most Misunderstood Word of the Year 2100. The media puts it in front of anything. They started with artificial intelligence and now it goes with housing, law enforcement, and in Obie’s case, her heart.

Just because Obie’s vital organ was 3D-printed doesn’t mean that she’s fake. She’s simply misunderstood, especially by Humanists. They think that artificial organ recipients like her are an abomination, and that’s why Obie can’t let anyone know the truth about her heart.

But when Humanists injure her best friend Mateo, Obie needs to step up. She decides to get him a 3D-printed replacement spleen in secret. In order to succeed, she becomes a black-market criminal, a high-tech healer, and an authority on love (or maybe not the last one so much). But what else can she do when organs are sold by Jonas, a blue-eyed genius who can’t stand the system any more than her?

Call Me Obie explores the future of discrimination and the timeless power of empathy and forgiveness, with a few comedic mishaps along the way. It is the tale of one young woman’s coming-of-age in a future where nearly anything is medically possible and society must ask: When technology can modify humans, who gets to decide how?

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Excerpt

I looked at her shirt. It had a diagram of a monster with machine parts inside his body painted on the front. The heart was made up of a bunch of cogs. I raised my finger and pointed to it, feeling the words move up my throat and slide down my tongue. I wanted to tell her that picture was me but also wasn’t me, that on the inside I was just human. I would never treat others as badly as she did, so I was a better human than her. I must have been drunk on the power I felt from the pigeon fiasco because I’d never wanted to come out more, but as I opened my mouth, she turned her body and stood, leaning over me. “What’s the matter, honey?” she snarled, her hot breath smothering my face. “The devil got your tongue? He’ll sort you out soon enough.”

My blood cooled fast. I turned around and ran home.

About the Author

Ateret Haselkorn writes fiction and poetry. She is the winner of 2014 Annual Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest. Her children’s story was published as a finalist in the 2020 “Science Me a Story” contest of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom. Her work has been published in multiple literary and medical journals and can be accessed at AteretHaselkorn.com. Twitter and Instagram: @AteretHaselkorn

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Giveaway Alert!

Ateret Haselkorn will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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