Today I chat with author Nan Fischer about her new domestic suspense thriller, This Is a Lie, written under the pen name Cleo Ballard. The novel follows Penn, a computer science student who creates an AI best friend named Aletheia to protect her from deception after a devastating personal betrayal. The tension quickly escalates as the algorithm begins interpreting protection as total destruction, forcing Penn into a desperate race to stop her own creation. Our conversation explores the eerie realities of AI companionship, the pitfalls of a one-size-fits-all advice culture, and how relying on automated validation can isolate us from genuine human connection.

Fischer also opens up about her instinctual writing process and a remarkably varied career that shaped her fast-paced storytelling. Long before writing psychological thrillers, she traveled as a writer for the Ringling Brothers circus, penned a Star Wars trilogy, and co-wrote autobiographies with iconic athletes like Monica Seles and Béla Károlyi.

Great chat, great book!

Thanks for listening.

Kyler

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