New Book Spotlight

Dark Circuitry

A mini-interview with Kirk Bueckert

Tell us about Dark Circuitry?

Set in a VR city-state known as the Hive, Dark Circuitry tells the story of one corrupt detective’s downward spiral after a mysterious hacker threatens to expose his darkest secret. It’s True Detective meets Love, Death, and Robots: a cyberpunk fever dream for the CreepyPasta generation.

What aspect of the book was the most fun to write?

The worldbuilding was a lot of fun, although it felt less like building and more like falling down a rabbit hole. With each question answered, I found myself asking five more. What does day-to-day life look like within the virtual world these characters inhabit? What kind of culture would it cultivate? The people, the music, the fashion, the food; and, of course, what are its effects on the human mind (and the human soul)?

If there is one emotion or theme that you would hope that the reader connects with, what would that be?

Across much of the cyberpunk genre you’ll find a recurring theme of memory—whether it be in the form of memory loss, memory transfers, the false memories of androids. As it pertains to this book, I wanted to explore the concept of collective memory, particularly with regard to historical cycles of violence. My hope is that, when the reader puts down their copy of Dark Circuitry, they’ll feel compelled to break the current cycle we find ourselves in, lest the book’s fictional future become reality.